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[jmone]

16 June 2018 Update - Review of Airfoil V5

New beta of Airfoil V5 is working much better and have updated the following.
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When looking at MC playback to Whole House Audio solutions a couple of years ago, TuneBlade as discussed in this thread AirPlay Whole of house in Sync with JRiver Media Center came up trumps.  It works, is reliable and keeps audio distribution in Sync.... but you need all AirPlay compatible devices.  Things have changed a bit since then, including:
- MC24 Introducing Sync Playback between Instances (across Win, OSX and Linux)
- Greater adoption of Chromecast Audio driven by Google Home compatible devices

Airfoil V5 for Windows has just been released as a Public Preview and now includes audio streaming support to:
- Chromecast (Chromecast Audio, Google Home etc)
- Airplay (Airplay, Airport, Apple TV, HomePod etc)
- Windows, Macs, Linux PCs (by running their companion app "Airfoil Satellite")
- Android and iOS Devices (by running their companion app "Airfoil Satellite")
- Bluetooth Devices

Coupled with MC 24's "Link Zone", it now seems like we have the ability to stream to pretty much any device on any platform.  Here is some of my results testing MC24 and Airfoil V5 Beta.

Airfoil Setup:  Download and installing Airfoil is straight forward.  Once running you will see the ability to select a Source (in this case Media Center 24) and available speakers that you can turn ON/OFF and adjust the volume including in this example, Chromecast, Airplay and an Android Phone.  See Pic AF1  The companion "Airfoil Satellite" app gives you a similar view and control from you phone/tablet.

MC Setup:  In MC I created a new Zone with the Default Audio Device = Direct Sound (Airfoil does not like WASAPI), and an A/V Sync Correction of "-2000" (to offset the Audio delay so if you play Video the Audio will be in-sync on your devices).  See Pic AF2

Known Issues:  The blog post for the Public Preview lists some known issues they are working on.  In particular is that they still have not yet nailed sync with between Chromecasts and with Chromecasts and other devices (eg Airplay). Fixed!  I had no issues with sync between Airplay, Chromecast, and "Airfoil Satellite" on on both PC and Andriod devices.

How did Airfoil V5 go?

In my test I had 10 speakers playing from MC via Airfoil inclulding
- Main PC (wired and running MC and Airfoil + Airfoil Satellite)
- 2 x Airplay AVRs (wired)
- 1 x Android Phone running Airfoil Satellite (wireless)
- 2 x Airplay Speakers (wired and wireless) that were different brands
- 3 x Google Homes (wireless)

....and the results are (without trying to adjust the sync sliders for each device):
- All devices played perfectly in sync and remained so over the test (about 1 hour)
- The Android Client required a slight sync adjustment in Airfoil to bring it into line with the rest
- Don't use native desktop playback on the PC running Airfoil (as it will be out of sync) but instead also run "Airfoil Satellite" if you want to hear insync audio on this PC.

Nice update from the previous beta as Chromecast is now playing in sync with the other devices.  Looking forward to seeing how the Public Preview develops.   

Things I liked:
- Very easy to setup and get running
- Support for heaps of devices (Airplay, Chromecast, BT Speakers)
- Good range of "Satellites" for all the major OS including Windows, OSX, Linux, Apple TV, even Android and iOS! You can now use your old phone/tablet as an audio renderer!  These clients are also remotes so you can control Airfoil from these devices.  Nice!

Things I Did Not Like:
- Inability to select a specific audio end point to capture the MC output from.  You can select Media Center, or System Audio but it is all or nothing.  With TuneBlade you can set a specific audio end point.  This is a better idea as in the MC Zone you can then output audio device to be the one to be captured by Airfoil
- Inability to change the overall audio delay, it is set at 2000ms.  TuneBlade also defaults to 2000ms (this is the standard for Airplay) but allows you to change it to lower values.
- Airfoil Satellite on Android crashed on me a few times (logs sent)
- Airfoil Satellite on Android does not have an option to start and boot and run in the background

[RD James]

Thanks for the review.
Disappointing that you still cannot specify the device to capture from, as with previous versions. That makes all the difference for me with TuneBlade.
Seems like it would be useful otherwise, since TuneBlade only handles AirPlay devices.

[jmone]

Yup, the ability to capture from an audio end point is one of TuneBlades big advantages over Airfoil.  That said, Airfoil is still under active development where as TuneBlade has been quiet for awhile.  Airfoil also has better device support and runs on many more platforms.  Lets see how the control of sync audio goes to Chromecast.  I've now got 3 x Homes, 3 x Chromecast devices and am interested in Google Smart Displays (if they ever make one with a decent sized screen).

[jmone]

FYI - Chris from Rogue Amoeba got back to me on a couple of points:

Thanks for following up with us. Currently, no, our audio capture engine is designed to target an application process, not an audio output device (aside from the System Audio source).

As far as the delay is concerned, Airfoil is specifically designed to work with the 2 second AirPlay protocol's standard. The "Advanced Speaker Options" window does allow you to tweak sync between speakers, but we don't offer a way to eliminate it completely.

I can live with the delay of 2000ms if/when they get chromecast sync working, but the restriction of capturing all MC output (not just a Audio End Point) is tougher.  There may be another way around it using something like VB-Cable but I'll have to have a play.

[jmone]

After some more discussion with Chris from Rogue Amoeba it looks like they may consider selectable audio renders for capture.  

Thanks for that clarification. We’ll have to see about targeting an output device for audio capture. Stay tuned for updates and do let us know if you come across any other questions or issues.

[jmone]

Updated the review based on the latest beta.  Looking much better as I had no issues with Chromecast sync this time.

[gibman]

Been using tuneblade for quite a while but wanted to test out airfoil.

Airfoil has a so called "silence monitor" that will disconnect the airplay receivers when no audio has been rendered on the host machine for eg. 1 min.

It does work.. sort of... it disconnects correctly after 1 min. but from then on it won't reconnect when new audio is rendered on the host.

Even the VU meter is not picking up the audio.

tuneblade's silence/disconnect/reconnect feature works much better.

Anyone else seeing the same ?

[bigbwb]

Thinking of trying Airfoil to sync my two zones in JRiver.  Here is some info of my setup:

   I’ve got a Schiit DAC as my main player/zone and my second zone is DLNA to a Yamaha AV receiver.  Music plays fine but the DLNA device (Yamaha) is a second or so behind.  I adjusted the link timing and it didn’t seem to have an impact.  The Schiit is set for wasapi however I have no option to chose it for the Yamaha. 

A few questions,
Will airfoil work in my setup and sync the audio properly?
Does airfoil manipulate the audio at all?  I know jriver is bitperfect and I don’t want another layer of processing etc.

Is it easy to use?  Once setup, do,I still use JRemote to control music etc?

[jmone]

Regardless of what app you use (including MC), if you are using native DLNA as the transport you will not be able to get sync audio working.   It will drift and no amount of stuffing around with it will make it work.  I know I've spent countless hours trying to get it working.

What Yami do you have (some have Airplay support and that protocol does support SyncPlay).  The other option would be to add a device like an Airplay HW receiver (or chromecast) or better still a device running MC as a zone and then use that as an input to the Yami.

[bigbwb]

Regardless of what app you use (including MC), if you are using native DLNA as the transport you will not be able to get sync audio working.   It will drift and no amount of stuffing around with it will make it work.  I know I've spent countless hours trying to get it working.

What Yami do you have (some have Airplay support and that protocol does support SyncPlay).  The other option would be to add a device like an Airplay HW receiver (or chromecast) or better still a device running MC as a zone and then use that as an input to the Yami.

Gotcha regarding the DLNA scenario....scratch that I guess;).

It’s a Yamaha rx-a1070 and it does work well with AirPlay!  So how do I set it up as my second zone in MC via AirPlay?  Appreciate the help on this!  The two rooms are literally back to back so audio sync up is crucial.

[jmone]

Ok - For Local DAC and External Airplay you want to try Tune Blade as per this thread - https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,95760.0.html

[bigbwb]

Ok - For Local DAC and External Airplay you want to try Tune Blade as per this thread - https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,95760.0.html

Wow, looks a bit too complex for me! 

[jmone]

Airfoil for Windows is dead - https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/windows/

Long live Tuneblade. 

[TheShoe]

Airfoil for Windows is dead - https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/windows/

Long live Tuneblade.

indeed it is.    i just set up Tuneblade.   using the onboard hd audio chipset i created a zone for it and with tuneblade listening to that audio device, i can “airplay” from MC.  now what i need are multiple “airplay” zones so that i can select from jremote or panel the airplay device i want to stream to.

[jmone]

Yeah - I use Tuneblade to expose Airplay devices which is great when when I want to "separate" the video from the Audio (eg when playing a Video to an outside PJ Screen and have the sound go via a separate amp feed by an Airplay Renderer).  It was also pretty good to have a bunch of zones in sync.  The downfall for me however was having to use two UI's to control all of this (MC and TuneBlade).  I did combine it all into the Gizmo but it got kinda hard - have a read of this old thread started by Hilton - https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=95760.

[TheShoe]

Thanks!  I read it and found it interesting I largely did the same thing he did .  And here I thought I was being clever...

It's a decent enough solution - but unfortunately there is no easy way to have multiple "Tuneblade" zones and therefore MC can only "airplay" to one airplay zone (audio device).  I could set up multiple virtual audio devices in Windows 10, but Tuneblade and any other solution I have found will only attach to one.

Ideally I would set up in JRiver a zone for each Airplay device, e.g.

Homepod (Kitchen)
AppleTV (Bedroom)
AppleTV (Family Room)
...and so on...

[jmone]

It's all a bit of a kludge and I'm trying to get away from Airplay.  There is an API for Tuneblade and there was some interest from both JR and the Authors of Tuneblade to make an MC Plugin a few years ago but never took hold.  Like with Bubble Server (for Chromecast devices) this would have exposed each Airplay device directly in MC as native zones.

[TheShoe]

It's all a bit of a kludge and I'm trying to get away from Airplay.  There is an API for Tuneblade and there was some interest from both JR and the Authors of Tuneblade to make an MC Plugin a few years ago but never took hold.  Like with Bubble Server (for Chromecast devices) this would have exposed each Airplay device directly in MC as native zones.

We're largely an Apple family and people are used to - and like - the simplicity of Apple integration and services.  Devs may not like it, but most seem to support it well enough.

Looking at the API, it seems a pretty straightforward RESTful API with JSON as the message format.  Looks like it's also possible to set the capture device to one of the available audio devices in Windows.  This would still not solve the problem of multiple zones.  I did email Tuneblade suggesting a feature to add ability to define multiple capture devices  where you could associate 1:1 capture device to airplay receiver.  Then it would be possible to create the zones in MC to achieve airplay to a specific device.

I'm assuming this is how Tuneblade integrates its mobile APP with the app running on Windows