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Author Topic: Buzzing sound with Airfoil  (Read 8582 times)

adamsp70

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Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« on: November 08, 2011, 11:07:23 am »

I'm using Airfoil to broadcast MC around the house - it's all been working perfectly with MC15.

I've installed MC17, but when it plays, although the graphic equalizers in both MC and Airfoil show that music is being played - what comes out of the Airfoil speakers (both on PCs and Airport Expresses) is just a constant buzzing sound (the buzzing stops when i press Stop on MC)

If i go back to MC15 again, everything is fine.

Any ideas why this isn't working?

Many thanks.....
   Paul
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JimH

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2011, 11:19:14 am »

Conversion settings?
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bspachman

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2011, 11:31:33 am »

MC17 works fine for me with Airfoil (with several exceptions that have also applied to older versions of MC). I need to make sure that the audio output of MC is set to DirectSound. Any of the other output methods (Kernel Streaming, ASIO, WASAPI) cause Airfoil to crash.

The only time I've heard digital noise out of my Airfoil destinations have been when the buffers get corrupted. This happens infrequently, and is usually a sign that I need to reboot the machine.

brad
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adamsp70

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2011, 11:45:09 am »

Thanks for the quick replies


Unlikely to be conversion settings (although i'm struggling to find where these are) as all the settings should be the same as my MC15 settings (and i don't remember ever asking for conversions).

Already on DirectSound - again the same as my MC15 settings.

OK - just found something which may help. Tried playing a radio stream - and it worked perfectly. Then i tried playing a FLAC file - worked perfectly. Went back to a few MP3 files - all of them nasty buzzing!

Do i need to re-install an MP3 decoder or something?
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bspachman

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2011, 05:19:24 pm »

I shouldn't imagine that you need to reinstall just the decoder part.

One test you should definitely try is to see if your problem files play properly with MC17 locally.

Another test you can try (if you have iTunes installed--gasp!) is to see if the problem files play via iTunes' AirPlay option.

Finally, are you using Airfoil directly--without doing any DLNA hocus-pocus? It's possible that the "Instant Hijack" feature of Airfoil is misbehaving.

brad
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adamsp70

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2011, 07:01:11 am »

One test you should definitely try is to see if your problem files play properly with MC17 locally.

Would do if i could - but it's a headless server with no sound card. I use a virtual one, which works great with Airfoil for MC15, Spotify etc etc

Another test you can try (if you have iTunes installed--gasp!) is to see if the problem files play via iTunes' AirPlay option.

No iTunes, but MC15 is still on there and works fine with all those MP3s.

It's defintely just the combination of MP3 and MC17 on this particular machine - i've tried it on my work PC and it's all fine there. I don't really think Airfoil comes into it now, given all the other facts.

Hmmmm.....
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adamsp70

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2011, 03:32:18 am »

Still trying to test things to see if i can narrow this down. I have updated MC to the most recent build just in case.

I use MC to convert existing MP3s, FLACs etc into lower-bitrate MP3s for an MP3 player. If i use MC17 to do this, the resultant MP3 files again play fine on the player, and on MC15. But the buzzing is still there for MC17.

So it's not the MP3s themselves - and the MP3 converter that MC17 uses is obviously fine - it's purely on playback that it fails.

Really frustrating!
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rjm

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2012, 01:59:25 am »

Bought an Airport Express today. Want to connect MC.

Prefer not to use Air UPnP because I need iTunes on same system as MC and apparently this breaks Air UPnP.

Tried Airfoil but I too am getting buzzing.

Anyone out their using MC17 with Airfoil? Care to share any tips? Thanks.
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rjm

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2012, 12:08:32 pm »

Did some more testing...

As reported earlier, confirmed MC plays flac ok but mp3 buzzes.
Updated to latest beta Airfoil - still buzzing.
Tried many different JRiver audio settings - still buzzing.
Confirmed Airfoil works with other applications on my system.
Confirmed Airplay via iTunes works on my system.

Anyone got MC17 working with Airfoil?

I will also contact Airfoil developer with same question.
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adamsp70

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2012, 12:46:58 pm »

I found no easy solution to the problem.

Eventually reinstalled Windows from scratch, and put MC17 and Airfoil on - and now it works a treat.

Not an ideal solution though.....
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rjm

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #10 on: January 05, 2012, 02:05:05 pm »

Interesting, thank you. Unfortunately I can't spend the 24+ hours needed to rebuild my system.

Can you please confirm a couple things?

Windows version, MC version, Airfoil version, MC output mode.

Thanks.
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adamsp70

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2012, 02:09:27 pm »

Windows version
7

MC version
17.0.46

Airfoil version
3.1.3

MC output mode.
Direct Sound
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rjm

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2012, 02:15:26 pm »

Thanks!
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rjm

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #13 on: January 05, 2012, 03:05:09 pm »

Problems I reported above were on an XP system. Just tested MC and Airfoil on Windows 7 and it works ok.

Any ideas on what I might do to make XP work would be appreciated.
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bspachman

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #14 on: January 05, 2012, 09:11:38 pm »

No thoughts on XP, but I can tell you that Vista also works fine for me with Airfoil and MC17...

Airfoil will NOT play nicely with the WASAPI modes....

brad
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toomanybarts

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #15 on: March 23, 2013, 09:20:15 pm »

Just got Zeppelin air and want to sync playback with MC in Living Room - trying Airfoil...
Same issues exactly with MC17 : buzzing for mp3 playback.

Changed playback method in Tools>options>File Types>mpeg audio from "automatic" to "quicktime engine" = no buzzing (just takes about 5 sec to start / stop playing though.
(very annoying).

As others have said Flac plays just fine though??
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toomanybarts

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Re: Buzzing sound with Airfoil
« Reply #16 on: May 18, 2013, 02:27:38 pm »

Anyone know if this is solved for MC18?
(May be worth updating...?)
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toomanybarts

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Re:
« Reply #17 on: July 14, 2013, 01:18:39 am »

Anyone?
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