Airplay 2 Sync Issue

[IsbellFan]

Hi, I apologize if this has been discussed but I didn't see a thread on it. I'm having sync issues between my 2 Apple TVs (4k model) and other airplay 2 targets, including my 2 HomePods. Essentially, the HomePods and other speakers are late compared to the Apple TVs sound. In other words, the Apple TV plays the sound first and then it plays on the speakers/homepods.

I've run the wireless audio sync on both Apple TVs and it didn't really fix anything. I suspect this has to do with what I've read about airplay 2 - that there's an inherent lag built into it due to buffering. That's consistent if I try to airplay from my mac. There's a second or two between when I hit play/pause and when it actually happens.

But I guess I don't understand why the ATVs don't also sync up with this. I called apple support and they suggested me play from my Mac on both the HomePod and the internal speakers. I did that and they were in sync, so the issue does seem to be the appleTVs. I've run them through my TV and optical audio out and I've also connected them directly via HDMI to my soundbar. Doesn't seem to make a difference.

It doesn't seem to make a difference if I start the content on the TV and then airplay to the other speakers or vice-versa.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[waw74]

Macs to HomePods are airplay1, which has the buffering delay, appleTV to HomePod should use airplay2, which is supposed to get rid of that lag a bit
when you stream to Mac+airplay, it delays the audio on the Mac to match the other speaker, it can also delay the visuals to be in sync with the audio on the speaker, (the video part depends on what you're streaming and what app you're using, mostly it's syncing the playback status to audio only playback)

have you tried rebooting your router?
have you tried hardwiring the aTV to ethernet if you can?

airplay and HomePods require a very strong and very stable wifi connection, if your router is on the other side of your house, you might have issues.

an easy way to improve wifi if you think that's the issue is power line networking, they come with 2 boxes, one plugs into an outlet by your router, and gets connected via ethernet. The other goes where you need a wifi boost, and depending on model it can have an ethernet jack, wifi radio, or both. the 2 boxes connect via the power lines in your house. Having a wifi base in the room with the aTV and HomePod can help. You could also use this to hardwire the appleTV.

you can also get a wifi repeater, but be mindful of where you place it, It needs to be in a place with decent wifi, if you place it where the signal is bad, then the devices that connect to it will have a strong signal, but will still be relying on the poor wifi connection between the repeater and base.

 

[IsbellFan]

Thanks waw74! Good to know about the airplay 1 vs 2 difference between the Mac. Now that you mention it, I think the Apple customer service rep had me stream to the HomePod in the Apple Music app, not the Native Mac sound output. I seem to recall that was why he said to do that.

In any case - have rebooted the appleTVs and the routers and doesn't seem to have fixed it. To be fair, I haven't shut down my entire home network and rebooted it from scratch. My network consists of several different Eeros (3 "Pro" models with ethernet wired backhaul and 2 beacons). The Apple TV's are all wired into ethernet, so in theory, they should be the strongest link in the chain.

I've also tried with 3 different Sonos speakers I bought to try out. I also have an old airport express I plugged into an input on the Soundbar for one of the appleTVs. The Homepods, the Sonos speakers, and the airport express all sync up. The ATVs all are about a second early.

Like you suggest, maybe I'll just shut EVERYthing down and power cycle the whole network.

 

[IsbellFan]

Ok, power cycled the whole network today. No change. TVs still play audio earlier than all of the other airplay 2 speakers. Interestingly enough, if I start a video on the Apple TV and then select another speaker, then reselect "TV Speakers", it's all in sync. But if I start music playing on the Apple TV and then do the same thing, they're out of sync. If I start music on one of the other speakers and then add the Apple TV, it's out of sync.

It seems that the only in-sync audio is when watching a video started on the Apple TV.

Help??

 

[iChrist]

this is common problem, apple hints will only be fixed in airplay 3

 

[UMHurricanes34]

Hi, I apologize if this has been discussed but I didn't see a thread on it. I'm having sync issues between my 2 Apple TVs (4k model) and other airplay 2 targets, including my 2 HomePods. Essentially, the HomePods and other speakers are late compared to the Apple TVs sound. In other words, the Apple TV plays the sound first and then it plays on the speakers/homepods.

I've run the wireless audio sync on both Apple TVs and it didn't really fix anything. I suspect this has to do with what I've read about airplay 2 - that there's an inherent lag built into it due to buffering. That's consistent if I try to airplay from my mac. There's a second or two between when I hit play/pause and when it actually happens.

But I guess I don't understand why the ATVs don't also sync up with this. I called apple support and they suggested me play from my Mac on both the HomePod and the internal speakers. I did that and they were in sync, so the issue does seem to be the appleTVs. I've run them through my TV and optical audio out and I've also connected them directly via HDMI to my soundbar. Doesn't seem to make a difference.

It doesn't seem to make a difference if I start the content on the TV and then airplay to the other speakers or vice-versa.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Did you ever end up figuring out a fix IsbellFan? Our HomePods recently started suffering sync issues between one another. Our house has 7 HomePods that all synced up together perfectly fine until very recently, perhaps due to a software update. You walk from one room to another and they're out of sync - it drives me NUTS.

 

[waw74]

try rebooting your router and and any wifi gear