Trying to play pass the parcel at the kids birthday party was a disaster! So frustrating.
When using Plexamp on iOS devices ie iPhone/iPad while AirPlaying to a single or multiple speakers around my home, there is a significant delay of around 2.5 seconds when pressing pause. The delay to resume playback is also around 2.5 seconds. Using Bluetooth with the same speaker for example has no real delay at all so it’s only when using AirPlay.
There is no delay with other apps or audio, just when using Plexamp. This also happens in the Car with CarPlay. I also tested with offline files that were downloaded to my phone to rule out the server but the delay is the same. iPad and iPhone experience is the same and again no delay with other apps or when using Bluetooth, just with Plexamp and AirPlay.
there are two types of AirPlay streams, apps support one or the other (not both) …
“real-time” (aka AirPlay 1) streams have the ~ 2 second delay that you describe … lossless up to CD quality and maintains app playback features such as Plexamp’s real-time EQ adjustment … this is the AirPlay streaming type used by Plexamp (and many other music apps … Amazon, Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, etc.)
“buffered” (aka AirPlay 2) streams have less delay after play/pause (along with some other advantages such as fewer dropouts) … but all content is compressed to lossy AAC, and features such as real-time EQ are either not supported or very difficult to implement (due to a much larger/longer buffer at the player/receiver end) … apps supporting this streaming mode include Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube Music
agree the 2 second delay can be annoying, but this is expected for the AirPlay streaming type used, not a bug
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. Makes total sense and would probably explain the sheer frustration and difficulty I have with multi room audio dropping out all the time! Thanks tgp-2
