Airplay 2 Cast Beta - Testing experiences

[Brantome]

Please use this thread only to discuss your personal experience with the testing of the Airplay 2 Cast feature and the beta firmware you requested. This thread should not replace submitting tickets as that route provides WiiM support with the necessary device and app logs to diagnose and hopefully fix any issues.

From what WiiM have already posted:

“For those testing please see the tutorials below.

• AirPlay 2 Casting

We appreciate your ongoing participation as a Beta tester. To use AirPlay 2 Cast, please update your WiiM Home App to the newest version. For iOS users, please update to version 2.5.5, and for Android users, please update to version 2.5.4.

Firmware 4.8.525058 only includes the AirPlay 2 Cast feature.

If you encounter any issues during the update process or while using this function, please do not hesitate to contact us. Your feedback is invaluable to us.

Thank you for your continued support and contribution to our Beta testing program!”

 

[Brantome]

I think these clipping/saturation issues I've reported are related to the way WiiM works as an AirPlay receiver actually. I recognize that I was able to get lossless and bit-perfect transfer over AirPlay to my WiiMs when the Mac was used as the sender, but it no longer works.

Doesn’t work at all now, or is no longer bit perfect? It’d be interesting to have WiiM’s view on this.

@WiiM Support , @WiiM Team - thoughts?

 

[onlyoneme]

Doesn’t work at all now, or is no longer bit perfect? It’d be interesting to have WiiM’s view on this.

@WiiM Support , @WiiM Team - thoughts?

No longer bit-perfect for 44.1/16. I see similar behavior for my test signals to the one I reported above.
I'm pretty sure I was able to pass bit-perfect tests when the Mac was a sender and WiiM AirPlay receiver was added globally as the sound output. This scenario was also mentioned in the materials you were linking before, as one of the confirmed lossless paths.

 

[onlyoneme]

This scenario
"Apple's Music App, lossless streaming content, Airplay 2 to Bluesound Node 2i - bit perfect at 44.1 only if the system-wide AirPlay device is set."
was working for me with WiiM as the receiver. Now I cannot get bit-perfect result.

 

[Brantome]

Hopefully WiiM are following this thread and reacting to the submitted tickets and can provide an explanation or even better a fix for this.

 

[Brantome]

The Android app however shows “Change” rather than “Connect” on the same output menu, but doesn’t list any target airplay devices. While I appreciate Airplay isn’t native to Android, I would have expected it to pick up the targets that the Pro, not it, can see.

WiiM have just responded to say that an updated Android app should be available in a day or so to fix this

 

[jfbuk]

Hi,

I have a Raspberry Pi running PiCorePlayer with LMS and with the ShairTunes Plugin installed.

When I try to cast from my iPad over Airplay the RPi correctly displays in my list of my available receivers.

The RPi does not appear in the list of available Airplay receivers in the new Wiim home app.

Ticket number #489118

 

[WiiM Support]

This scenario
"Apple's Music App, lossless streaming content, Airplay 2 to Bluesound Node 2i - bit perfect at 44.1 only if the system-wide AirPlay device is set."
was working for me with WiiM as the receiver. Now I cannot get bit-perfect result.

Hi onlyoneme,

It seems that you're casting the network input source from the WiiM Pro to another AirPlay 2 receiver. If your input is at 44.1k/16-bit, it should be bit-perfect, as the lossless ALAC format is used. Could you please provide more details on why you believe it's not bit-perfect? Your insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[onlyoneme]

Hi onlyoneme,

It seems that you're casting the network input source from the WiiM Pro to another AirPlay 2 receiver. If your input is at 44.1k/16-bit, it should be bit-perfect, as the lossless ALAC format is used. Could you please provide more details on why you believe it's not bit-perfect? Your insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

It's based on my experience with 44.1/16 test signals, I have published plots in this thread. Captured stream should look exactly the same as the source stream, but it does not happen.

 

[onlyoneme]

@WiiM Support

Let me show you the comparison of captured RME bit-perfect test signal for 44.1/16 resolution, casted over AirPlay 2 from the Pro, with an original signal:




It's not bit-perfect at all.

 

[WiiM Support]

@WiiM Support

Let me show you the comparison of captured RME bit-perfect test signal for 44.1/16 resolution, casted over AirPlay 2 from the Pro, with an original signal:

View attachment 1893


It's not bit-perfect at all.

How do you pass the test signal to WiiM Pro?

 

[onlyoneme]

How do you pass the test signal to WiiM Pro?

Using WiiM Home app either on the phone and connected to DLNA server or on my PC and the test signal stored locally.

The same signal captured on the optical output of the Pro and fed any of mentioned ways, is giving a bit-perfect result.

 

[WiiM Support]

Using WiiM Home app either on the phone and connected to DLNA server or on my PC and the test signal stored locally.

The same signal captured on the optical output of the Pro and fed any of mentioned ways, is giving a bit-perfect result.

Hi onlyoneme,

After a quick consultation with our engineering team, I must clarify that AirPlay will not provide bit-perfect output, even when using ALAC lossless coding. Each receiver synchronizes its own clock to the master sender, and this process involves skew processing that alters the input signal. I hope this explanation clears up any confusion. Thank you!

 

[onlyoneme]

Hi onlyoneme,

After a quick consultation with our engineering team, I must clarify that AirPlay will not provide bit-perfect output, even when using ALAC lossless coding. Each receiver synchronizes its own clock to the master sender, and this process involves skew processing that alters the input signal. I hope this explanation clears up any confusion. Thank you!

That explains why I'm getting the same non bit-perfect results when casting from the Pro to the Pro Plus over AirPlay 2, and when casting to the Pro using LMS with AirPlay bridge.

What still seems to be weird to me is that I'm pretty sure I was able to get bit-perfect stream over Airplay for 44.1/16 content in the past.

 

[onlyoneme]

And also I do not understand how is this synchronization process related to the signal level as shown on the multitone plots - introduced distortion levels vary.

 

[Smartplug]

Long time ago, wiim release a firmware that states bit perfect airplay. Now the new firmware is not bit perfect?

 

[onlyoneme]

@WiiM Support



Was this feature a wrong decision due to for example unwanted side effects like lack of smoothness, clicks/pops etc. or something went wrong in the meantime and it's still possible to have bit-perfect AirPlay 2 back?

 

[Hiphiman]

That explains why I'm getting the same non bit-perfect results when casting from the Pro to the Pro Plus over AirPlay 2, and when casting to the Pro using LMS with AirPlay bridge.

What still seems to be weird to me is that I'm pretty sure I was able to get bit-perfect stream over Airplay for 44.1/16 content in the past.

If I recall, Airplay 1 could be 44.1/16 bit perfect (using the likes of an AirPort Express) and many regard Airplay 2 as a retrograde step in this regard.

 

[Brantome]

If I recall, Airplay 1 could be 44.1/16 bit perfect (using the likes of an AirPort Express) and many regard Airplay 2 as a retrograde step in this regard.

Yeah, I’ve probably posted this link more times than I’ve had hot dinners

Apple Music Lossless Mess Part 2: AirPlay

Earlier this month I dug into Apple Music's Lossless and Hi-Res offerings, running several bit perfect rests on the audio output of my Macs and iOS devices. The results were less than stellar (link). This week I dug into Apple Music lossless over AirPlay. One would think that the results would be...

audiophilestyle.com

 

[WiiM Support]

So I submitted a few tickets to the @WiiM Support team already related to this so far - but here is my experience with Airplay 2:
1. Worked to an Denon AVR (but no album art)
2. Worked to other LinkPlay devices (I have another Wiim and a Belkin Speaker)
3. Didn't work to my Samsung TV or my Apple TV - both required a PIN which was displayed on the TV but when entered into the Wiim App didn't connect. I switched the Samsung TV method to a fixed password instead of a PIN and it worked - but again no album art)
4. Turning off the Airplay PIN an my Apple TV did not work - its still seemed to require a PIN - not sure if this is Apple or Wiim's issue.

I also noticed that muting issue again once this morning - very intermittent.

Overall its a great feature though - I forgot my Denon had Airplay 2 - so I don't need to use the HEOS app anymore and being able to setup a group with a few devices from different manufacturers all playing synced music is great

Hi Jeromeof,

We've released new firmware (version 4.8.525744) that addresses the two reported issues: muting and connection to Apple TV. When you have the opportunity to test it, please let us know if it resolves the problems for you. Thank you!

 

[onlyoneme]

Yeah, I’ve probably posted this link more times than I’ve had hot dinners

Apple Music Lossless Mess Part 2: AirPlay

Earlier this month I dug into Apple Music's Lossless and Hi-Res offerings, running several bit perfect rests on the audio output of my Macs and iOS devices. The results were less than stellar (link). This week I dug into Apple Music lossless over AirPlay. One would think that the results would be...

audiophilestyle.com

And there is the AirPlay 2 scenario described when bit-perfect is achieved, which was working for me before but it doesn't work with WiiMs any longer.