HUGE AirPlay Sync Problems (playback and volume) after Updating to 2.8.x

[robkjr]

I'm having sync problems after updating to v2.8 that honestly makes MA unusable. This wasn't a problem in 2.7.

Playback: Although there was occasional drifting in v2.7, restarting playback typically fixed the issue. After installing 2.8, my AirPlay devices can be as much as 2 seconds out of sync. Clearly, this makes using MA impossible.

Volume: I've also noticed that volume control is inconsistent between AirPlay devices. Volume changes don't change the volume equally across devices. Some change several notches, while others change only a few.

Is there any way to fix this? I want to build my HA media experience around MA, but until the sync works, it's not possible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[OzGav]

How are the latest versions? Also you need to advise what protcol is being used for the sync. Check the Audio Pipeline for that info.

[OzGav]

Only that player or all players?

[robkjr]

I believe that it's only that player.... But now I have a new issue. What was working well all day yesterday will not play to the established groups. It starts to play, then stops and shows an error: Playback failed to start...

[OzGav]

This is starting to sound like a device problem. What is this device? Confirm it is only one device that is causing problems?

[robkjr]

No its not just one device. Prior to the last major update, things were working very well, and I was in the process of building automations around MA. Since the last major update, things have stopped working at random, to the point that every time I update HA or MA, something new stops working. Now the 4 amps that were happily grouped together don't even appear in the drop-down list for adding them to a group. Yesterday, I could start playing on one amp and then add others in individually, but today I can't. The option to add another play is no longer available. It's as if something in the configurations has become corrupt. I'm to the point where I just want to punt and start over. Is there a way to just reset everything and start from scratch?

I see huge potential in MA, but wow, has this been a pain.

I really want to get this all working because it seems to be the best solution for what I need. I'm more than happy to take this offline and work with you directly to debug the system and get it working correctly.

[OzGav]

Can you have a look through the issues and see if any are what you are experiencing https://github.com/music-assistant/support/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3Aairplay