[PROBLEM] Airplay stuttering since moOde 9

[TheOldPresbyope]

I've been listening to music streaming from Tidal to my iPad and thence via AirPlay to moOde 9.0.2 on a Pi 3A+ with Bluetooth speaker. The iPad and the moOde player are both communicating via 5 GHz WiFi to my access point. Stock AirPlay renderer settings in moOde.

No audio artifacts in the last two hours.

Whatever is going on with you seems specific to the Pi 3B+.

At this point all I can suggest is you pose the issue* on the shairport-sync github repo. If you search their issue log (both open and closed) you'll notice various comments about stutters, etc., but it's hard to tell which might match your circumstances. Like Tim, Mike Brady, the shairport-sync dev, is a very accommodating guy.

Good luck.

Regards,
Kent

*With lots of detail: they won't be interested in moOde 8.3.9 vs moOde 9.0.2 per se but in versions of kernels, shairport-sync, and the like.

[cramcram]

@TheOldPresbyope Thank you for your detailed advice. Before I open up an issue with the friends shairport-sync I do have one last questions to @Tim Curtis : Is it possible that something could be done on the network / wifi side of Bookworm? I'm not yet a 100% sure that the issue originates from shairport-sync for 2 reasons: There is no stuttering as soon as I connect via Ethernet which kind of excludes shairport-sync as the source of the problem. Via Wifi there has been no stuttering with Bullseye, only since moOde 9 and Bookworm I do have the stuttering issues with Airplay via Wifi.

It's a pity the issue couldn't be fixed but thank you anyway for the very warm welcome in this forum!

[Tim Curtis]

Network config on Bookworm is handled by NetworkManager using .nmconnect files.
Look in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections

The .nmconnect key files that moode creates have the same keys as the default file thats created by the Raspberry Pi Imager.
The nmcli command can be used to alter settings.

I have a 3B+ system that I can run some later today or tomorrow.

Couple troubleshooting things;

# Look for errors in the system journal log associated with networking
journalctl -f

# Run shairport sync with moode Debug logging on (System Config), restart AirPlayr and then examine the log
/var/log/moode_shairport-sync.log

[Tim Curtis]

AirPlay from iPhone 14 to Pi 3B+ working perfectly for last couple of hours.
Not able to repro your issue.

[cramcram]

AirPlay from iPhone 14 to Pi 3B+ working perfectly for last couple of hours.
Not able to repro your issue.

Thank you for testing!

[cramcram]

Couple troubleshooting things;

# Look for errors in the system journal log associated with networking
journalctl -f

# Run shairport sync with moode Debug logging on (System Config), restart AirPlayr and then examine the log
/var/log/moode_shairport-sync.log

journalctl -f

Code:

Jun 18 09:30:13 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:30:13 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_readframes: read 1092 bytes from channel 2 failed: -5
Jun 18 09:30:13 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:30:23 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:30:23 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: mmc_submit_one: CMD53 sg block read failed -5
Jun 18 09:30:23 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxglom: glom read of 2048 bytes failed: -5
Jun 18 09:30:23 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:30:41 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:30:41 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_readframes: read 1299 bytes from channel 2 failed: -5
Jun 18 09:30:41 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:30:42 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:30:42 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_readframes: read 1123 bytes from channel 2 failed: -5
Jun 18 09:30:42 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:30:44 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:30:44 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_readframes: read 1196 bytes from channel 2 failed: -5
Jun 18 09:30:44 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:30:57 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:30:57 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: mmc_submit_one: CMD53 sg block read failed -5
Jun 18 09:30:57 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxglom: glom read of 2048 bytes failed: -5
Jun 18 09:30:57 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:30:59 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:30:59 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_readframes: read 1241 bytes from channel 2 failed: -5
Jun 18 09:30:59 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:31:19 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:31:19 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_readframes: read 1094 bytes from channel 2 failed: -5
Jun 18 09:31:19 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:31:23 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:31:23 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: mmc_submit_one: CMD53 sg block read failed -5
Jun 18 09:31:23 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxglom: glom read of 2048 bytes failed: -5
Jun 18 09:31:23 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:31:36 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:31:36 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: mmc_submit_one: CMD53 sg block read failed -5
Jun 18 09:31:36 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxglom: glom read of 2048 bytes failed: -5
Jun 18 09:31:36 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:31:38 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:31:38 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: mmc_submit_one: CMD53 sg block read failed -5
Jun 18 09:31:38 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxglom: glom read of 2048 bytes failed: -5
Jun 18 09:31:38 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame
Jun 18 09:31:53 homeoffice kernel: mmc1: Controller never released inhibit bit(s).
Jun 18 09:31:53 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: mmc_submit_one: CMD53 sg block read failed -5
Jun 18 09:31:53 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxglom: glom read of 4608 bytes failed: -5
Jun 18 09:31:53 homeoffice kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_rxfail: abort command, terminate frame

/var/log/moode_shairport-sync.log

Code:

139.265355988 "player.c:2906" Large negative (i.e. early) sync error of -5805 frames (-0.131633 seconds), at frame: 3951092541.
34.692949675 "player.c:1171" Aliasing of buffer index -- reset.
1.867543749 "player.c:2906" Large negative (i.e. early) sync error of -5322 frames (-0.120680 seconds), at frame: 3952704701.
41.657132484 "player.c:2906" Large negative (i.e. early) sync error of -3066 frames (-0.069524 seconds), at frame: 3954540381.
12.311705776 "player.c:2906" Large negative (i.e. early) sync error of -2970 frames (-0.067347 seconds), at frame: 3955083165.

[Tim Curtis]

Try searching issues at shairport-sync Git repo for "Large negative (i.e. early) sync error".
https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-s...sync+error

Below is one example
https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync/issues/1845

[TheOldPresbyope]

Try searching issues at shairport-sync Git repo for "Large negative (i.e. early) sync error".
https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-s...sync+error

Below is one example
https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync/issues/1845

At the end of the example cited, the OP and Mike Brady seem to be implicating the DAC involved---it apparently can accept only 48 kHz streams but advertises it can accept 44.1 kHz streams. Shairport-sync can talk only 44.1 kHz---and multiples of same---so thinks everything is good to go. Oops.

As for @cramcram 's journalctl output, those are some brutal kernel messages involving mmc1 (in the SDCard controller driver) and brcmfmac (in the closed-source Qualcom WiFi driver). I've never seen messages like these in my logs on any device. Not sure how best to diagnose these...a quick consult of the InterWeb™ shows lots of folks taking wild stabs at the causes.

Regards,
Kent

[cramcram]

I won't invest more of my and your time here - I presume I wont' find the culprit for my issue. Thank you very much for all your support.

[jammyb]

I have the same issue here with moOde 9.0.0 and the following equipment:

WiFi connection from 2016 MacBook Pro > Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (Kingston Canvas Go! Plus SD card) > JustBoom Digi Zero pHAT (Optical SPDIF output) > Schiit Bifrost 2 (OG) DAC.

Stuttering can be quite frequent, up to a couple of times per minute. Changing the buffer has made no difference (does anybody know the range for this parameter, by the way?).

I have a Chord Mojo DAC I could try as well, plus Coaxial SPDIF cables, but I'm back on moOde 8.3.9 now (no stuttering).