Airtunes dropouts with Mac mini to Airport Express

Markphd,
What are you sending over the enet cables? are you using a mac?
-ed

Yes. Have had the problem of dropouts. Cause? who knows. neighbors phones, microwaves, time transporter ?.....

Sometimes "Use Interference Robustness" in wireless preferences helps. Sometimes.

I stopped using the AE for my main system, went to a long cable. I know that is not practical for everyone. Still use the AE for background music setups and live with the drops.

good luck

Etep29,

Does the configured AEx show up in the Speakers pulldown in iTunes? Therefore it would be an optional Airtunes speaker. It would help to know for those looking for hardwiring options.

It doesn't seem possible that the Ethernet would be a choice in the System Prefs via Audio Midi Setup settings for Audio Output. But maybe it shows up in the outputs after the AEx is connected?

-ed

Cool Jeanluc. The iTouch is definitely a bonus.

jeanluc,

I use a 9ft USB cable from a G5 Mac to a USB DAC through two walls into the main system (living room)

your concern about the mac mini sound is likely when you are in front of the mac mini right? I use my computer in my office with another set of powered speakers in that room-I can either use mini-jack(analog) or the Toslink to a separate DAC. You just need to select the output choice in the Audio Preferences or the Audio MIDI setup - the USB DAC shows up as an option in the output menu. Pretty easy to set up. So in my set up itunes is either playing in the office or the living room, not both when using the digital outputs. I can use the headphone out (mini-jack) and have sound going to Toslink simultaneously. But on my computer USB and mini-jack do not work simultaneously. BTW: older G5 PPC dual proc. OS 10.4.11

I am pretty sure you cannot use the ethernet from computer to AE for music.

hope that helps. send me a PM if you need more details.

04-26-09: Jeanluc07
Edo_musica,
When you run itunes for your main audio system or office system, can somebody use the computer (mac) for movies with sound coming thru the computer? Therefore the mac would be real multitasking.

Sure you can run anything you want along with itunes playing. The processing resources are there. but you cannot dicate where the audio is sent for each app. All audio goes to the same output. For instance, I can have iTunes running and Pandora running and the audio from both overlap one another. I don't know of a way to send Browser or DVD player audio to output A and iTunes audio to output B. It would be awesome to be able to route the audio to different outputs!

04-26-09: Jeanluc07
If I run ethernet from my mac mini to my airport express, i can hook the toslink from the airport to the DAC. Will this work?

I haven't seen that done.

BTW, I also have a 9ft Toslink cable from my computer to my AVR receiver as a alternative/backup. Sounds OK, but obviously using the AVR's DAC.