Airplay sound stuttering when using 5ghz

[stellahell]

So I bought the new Airport Express for AirPlay use.

I've set up a 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz network. I use the 2.4 ghz for iPhones and such and the 5 ghz for my MBP. Only problem is that the sound is stuttering and sometimes freezing when I use Airplay through iTunes on my MBP over the 5 ghz network. However, when I switch to the 2.4 ghz network there's no lag...

Anyone else experiencing this and have any idea why it's stuttering when using the 5 ghz network - which should be much faster than the 2.4 ghz?

I occasionally have similar stuttering issues with my iPhone 4 and 4S when using airplay even though the iphone is about 2 feet away from my airport express.

It's starting to bug me that I can't use Airplay in a sensible way...

Btw, it's a MBPr with Mountain Lion up to date.

[ThisOneHere]

I always had my iPhone on 5GHz (I have the latest gen Airport Extreme) and I noticed the same issue once I got my new Harman/Kardon AVR 1700 with AirPlay. I thought it was a problem with the receiver itself, but my buddy has the same setup and same receiver and was problem-free. It wasn't very obvious to me at first since I even had the receiver connected via Cat6 Gigabit Ethernet to my router, so only the iPhone was on Wi-Fi. We determined that the only variable between my buddy's setup and mine was that I was on 5GHz and he wasn't. I switched to the 2.4GHz network and haven't had any issues since with either AirPlay skipping or another problem I was seeing with the Harman/Kardon iOS remote control app "losing" sight of my receiver.

I can only speculate as to why 2.4Ghz works better, but I assume it's related to a multicasting setting, using "wide-channels" with 5Ghz, or perhaps the channel being auto-selected by the 5Ghz band is conflicting with something else. Considering I really don't "need" 5Ghz on the iPhone, simply switching to 2.4Ghz wasn't too upsetting. I don't AirPlay much from my MBPr but I fully understand why this would be more annoying for you, as I wouldn't want my MacBook on 2.4Ghz or to have to switch back and forth.

[waw74]

5GHz doesn't go through things as well as 2.4, so put a couple walls between you and the router, and you may have a better signal on 2.4.

wifi can have problems if things are too close.


wifi isn't an exact science, there are a lot of outside influences that come into play. construction of your building, furniture, other electronics, other wifi networks.
i try to hardwire as much of my gear as i can for this very reason

[bohbot16]

Originally Posted by waw74

5GHz doesn't go through things as well as 2.4, so put a couple walls between you and the router, and you may have a better signal on 2.4.

This. I've found that if you're using all Apple gear that setting the 2.4 and 5GHz networks to the same name and letting the devices sort it out works surprisingly well. I have had to manually select a 2.4GHz channel with this configuration, though, to reduce interference with neighboring apartments.

[stellahell]

Thanks for the replies, guys! I guess we won't come any closer to an actual solution, but I did learn a little regarding wifi But like waw74 said, it's not an exact science.

[Macman45]

Originally Posted by stellahell

Thanks for the replies, guys! I guess we won't come any closer to an actual solution, but I did learn a little regarding wifi But like waw74 said, it's not an exact science.

One thing you could try is changing the channel setting from "Auto" to one of the other options there 40,41 etc. I have both my ATV's running on 5GHZ and they don't miss a beat.

[stellahell]

Cool. I'll give that a try when I get home