Airplay Question

[emacnewbie]

Using Airplay 2 from Apple Music on an iMac to send songs to an Airport Express connected to a receiver. The receiver feeds wired outdoor speakers. After working correctly for an hour or so the songs quit playing through the speakers. The Remote App on my iPhone shows the songs are playing. After using the app to switch from play to pause to play a few times the song resumes through the speakers. If I skip the Airport Express and receiver and instead use Sonos Roam speakers the same thing happens. Song can’t be heard but the Remote App shows the song playing and can be heard again after off and on a few times on the app. Same using the receiver set up combined with the Roams. This always seems to happen after an hour or more of everything working as it should. Only started doing this recently. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

 

[chadamorrill]

Are your iMac's power/sleep settings set for about an hour also? I've noticed the same behavior when Airplaying a movie from my MacMini's iTunes library to an AppleTV. You'd think it'd be smart enough to realize it was doing something like playing music or a movie and NOT put itself to sleep, but....

 

[emacnewbie]

Thanks. Not sure if I’m looking in the right place but under Lock Screen the “Start Screen Saver when inactive” is set at 20 minutes. If I search for power settings “Energy Saver” opens and doesn’t have any timer for going to sleep. Perhaps I should come inside when the music stops and see what the computer is doing and not play around with the Remote App

 

[chown33]

It looks like you've only tried wireless audio output devices so far.

I suggest a temporary setup using wired output from the iMac, to some wired audio output device you have. If that works for more than an hour, with no other settings changed (screen saver, power, sleep, etc.), then the problem is likely somewhere in the wireless audio chain.

If the wired setup also mutes after about an hour of play, then the problem is probably somewhere in the iMac's audio production chain, i.e. either the app you're using to play audio, or perhaps an audio daemon the OS is running to play the audio. In that case, I suggest trying a different audio playback app.

You might be able to fiddle around with audio output device configuration with this Apple app:

Set up audio devices in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac

In Audio MIDI Setup on your Mac, set up audio input and output devices.

support.apple.com

Which OS version is the iMac running? Exactly which iMac model?

 

[emacnewbie]

Thanks. Running Ventura 13.2.1 and the iMac is a 2019 27".