No Audio with Pipewire and with Alsa the service does not work, but plays audio when executed in terminal with shairport-sync --statistics

[Groeniger]

Hi,

I would like to stream from an iPhone to a Fedora XFCE Desktop Linux PCs speakers.
The speakers are nuBoxx A-125 pro and connected via USB with the PC.

I installed shairport-sync via dnf repos,
(https://packages.fedoraproject.org/pkgs/shairport-sync/shairport-sync/index.html)
but it did not seem to connect so I installed the dependencies from:
https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync/blob/master/BUILD.md#fedora-fedora-40
which were not yet installed.

After that I installed nqptp manually like shown in the Build.md

I opened these ports in Fedora:
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=ptp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=3689/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=5353/udp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=5000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=6000-6009/udp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=319-320/udp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=7000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=32768-60999/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=32768-60999/udp

I still got the message on the iPhone that it can't connect to the PC, so I just ran shairport with statistics to see if there would be listed a problem.
Suddenly I got the Audio to the PCs speakers as long as shairport-sync --statistics ran in the terminal:

shairport-sync --statistics
Connection 1: Playback started at frame 3121950841 -- Classic AirPlay ("AirPlay 1").
Sync Error ms | Net Sync PPM | All Sync PPM | Missing | Resend Reqs | Output FPS (r) | Output FPS (c)
         1.13            0.0            0.0         0             0              N/A              N/A
         1.58          -34.0           34.0         0             0         44098.36         44097.52
         1.55            0.0            0.0         0             0         44100.38         44099.54
         0.87            0.0            0.0         0             0         44101.06         44100.22
         1.11            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.34         44100.50
         0.74            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.54         44100.70
         0.72            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.66         44100.82
         0.40            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.74         44100.90
        -0.01            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.80         44100.97
         0.34            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.85         44101.01
         0.17            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.90         44101.06
        -0.24            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.94         44101.10
         0.00            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.97         44101.13
        -0.20            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.98         44101.15
        -0.23          235.1          405.0         0             1         44101.60         44100.77
         1.81         -169.9          169.9         0             1         44101.67         44100.84
         0.81            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.81         44100.97
         0.45            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.83         44100.99
         0.04            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.86         44101.02
        -0.38            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.88         44101.05
        -0.80            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.90         44101.06
        -1.21            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.92         44101.09
        -1.63            0.0            0.0         0             1         44101.94         44101.10
        -1.98           19.8           19.8         0             1         44101.95         44101.11
        -2.04           59.5           59.5         0             1         44101.96         44101.13
         5.81         -668.4          668.4         0             1              N/A              N/A
         0.06          -22.7           22.7         0             1              N/A              N/A
        -0.73            0.0            0.0         0             1         44102.39         44101.55
        -1.15            0.0            0.0         0             1         44102.27         44101.43

When I pressed ctrl-c the audio was gone again, thus I looked what the status of the service showed:

sudo systemctl status shairport-sync.service 
× shairport-sync.service - Shairport Sync - AirPlay Audio Receiver
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2025-11-22 20:10:29 CET; 6min ago
   Duration: 6.104s
 Invocation: 647dda693c174c2c95c2a5f218ad97e4
    Process: 25137 ExecStart=/usr/bin/shairport-sync --log-to-syslog (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Main PID: 25137 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Mem peak: 4.9M
        CPU: 1.522s

Nov 22 20:10:23 localFedo systemd[1]: Started shairport-sync.service - Shairport Sync - AirPlay Audio Receiver.
Nov 22 20:10:29 localFedo shairport-sync[25137]: fatal error: An unrecoverable error, "output_device_error_2", has been detected. Doing an emergency exit, as no run_this_if_an_unfixable_error_is_detected program.
Nov 22 20:10:29 localFedo systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 22 20:10:29 localFedo systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Nov 22 20:10:29 localFedo systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Consumed 1.522s CPU time, 4.9M memory peak.

---

Since the default for shairport is Alsa, but Pipewire is the is the default sound server for Fedora, I tried to use Pipewire.

Here is the output of -h switch:

shairport-sync -h
Please use the configuration file for settings where possible.
Many more settings are available in the configuration file.

Usage: shairport-sync [options...]
  or:  shairport-sync [options...] -- [audio output-specific options]

Options:
    -h, --help              Show this help.
    -V, --version           Show version information -- the version string.
    -X, --displayConfig     Output OS information, version string, command line, configuration file and active settings to the log.
    --statistics            Print some interesting statistics. More will be printed if -v / -vv / -vvv are also chosen.
    -v, --verbose           Print debug information; -v some; -vv more; -vvv lots -- generally too much.
    -c, --configfile=FILE   Read configuration settings from FILE. Default is /etc/shairport-sync.conf.
    -a, --name=NAME         Set service name. Default is the hostname with first letter capitalised.
    --password=PASSWORD     Require PASSWORD to connect. Default is no password. (Classic AirPlay only.)
    -p, --port=PORT         Set RTSP listening port. Default 5000; 7000 for AirPlay 2.
    -L, --latency=FRAMES    [Deprecated] Set the latency for audio sent from an unknown device.
                            The default is to set it automatically.
    -S, --stuffing=MODE     Set how to adjust current latency to match desired latency, where:
                            "basic" inserts or deletes audio frames from packet frames with low processor overhead, and
                            "soxr" uses libsoxr to minimally resample packet frames -- moderate processor overhead.
                            The default "auto" setting chooses basic or soxr depending on processor capability.
                            The "soxr" option is only available if built with soxr support.
    -B, --on-start=PROGRAM  Run PROGRAM when playback is about to begin.
    -E, --on-stop=PROGRAM   Run PROGRAM when playback has ended.
                            For -B and -E options, specify the full path to the program and arguments, e.g. "/usr/bin/logger".
                            Executable scripts work, but the file must be marked executable have the appropriate shebang (#!/bin/sh) on the first line.
    -w, --wait-cmd          Wait until the -B or -E programs finish before continuing.
    -o, --output=BACKEND    Select audio backend. They are listed at the end of this text. The first one is the default.
    -m, --mdns=BACKEND      Use the mDNS backend named BACKEND to advertise the AirPlay service through Bonjour/ZeroConf.
                            They are listed at the end of this text.
                            If no mdns backend is specified, they are tried in order until one works.
    -r, --resync=THRESHOLD  [Deprecated] resync if error exceeds this number of frames. Set to 0 to stop resyncing.
    -t, --timeout=SECONDS   Go back to idle mode from play mode after a break in communications of this many seconds (default 120). Set to 0 never to exit play mode.
    --tolerance=TOLERANCE   [Deprecated] Allow a synchronization error of TOLERANCE frames (default 88) before trying to correct it.
    --logOutputLevel        Log the output level setting -- a debugging option, useful for determining the optimum maximum volume.
    -M, --metadata-enable   Ask for metadata from the source and process it. Much more flexibility with configuration file settings.
    --metadata-pipename=PIPE send metadata to PIPE, e.g. --metadata-pipename=/tmp/shairport-sync-metadata.
                            The default is /tmp/shairport-sync-metadata.
    -g, --get-coverart      Include cover art in the metadata to be gathered and sent.
    --log-to-syslog         Send debug and statistics information through syslog
                            If used, this should be the first command line argument.
    -u, --use-stderr        [Deprecated] This setting is not needed -- stderr is now used by default and syslog is selected using --log-to-syslog.

Available mDNS backends: 
    avahi

Available audio backends:
    alsa (default)
    pw
    pa
    pipe
    stdout
    dummy

Settings and options for the audio backend "alsa":
    -d output-device    set the output device, default is "default".
    -c mixer-control    set the mixer control name, default is to use no mixer.
    -m mixer-device     set the mixer device, default is the output device.
    -i mixer-index      set the mixer index, default is 0.
    hardware output devices:
      "hdmi:HDMI"

There are no settings or options for the audio backend "pw".

There are no settings or options for the audio backend "pa".

Settings and options for the audio backend "pipe":
    Provide the pipe's pathname. The default is "/tmp/shairport-sync-audio".

There are no settings or options for the audio backend "stdout".

There are no settings or options for the audio backend "dummy".

For Alsa it somehow shows only "hdmi:HDMI", not usb or anything like that.

Then I changed the following in the config:
output_backend = "pw";

Then I played from iPhone but no audio on speakers.
Status shows:

sudo systemctl status shairport-sync
● shairport-sync.service - Shairport Sync - AirPlay Audio Receiver
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-11-22 21:04:48 CET; 2min 5s ago
 Invocation: f5f3d99b38234137926fd2879d45fc04
   Main PID: 27760 (shairport-sync)
      Tasks: 8 (limit: 37818)
     Memory: 7.6M (peak: 11.8M)
        CPU: 1.970s
     CGroup: /system.slice/shairport-sync.service
             └─27760 /usr/bin/shairport-sync --log-to-syslog

Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?
Nov 22 21:06:45 localFedo shairport-sync[27760]: warning: Shairport Sync's PipeWire backend can not get timing information from the PipeWire system. Is PipeWire running?

At least no error and whe I want to run: shairport-sync --statistics, I get an error saying Port 5000 is already used, so the service seems to work now.

Could the problem maybe lie there that pipewire service is not running?

systemctl --user status pipewire.service
and
systemctl --user status pipewire-pulse.service
show that they are disabled.

But when playing anything in the Browser, so not over airplay the speakers work with pipewire.

Or could the problem probably be, that shairport is running as global service with sudo?

Sadly, when I want to start it with --user it is not found:
systemctl --user enable shairport-sync.service
Failed to enable unit: Unit shairport-sync.service does not exist

Would the output of the following useful?
aplay -l

pw-cli ls Node

wpctl status

Any Idea how I should proceed now?

[mikebrady]

Thanks for the post, would you be kind enough to submit it as an Issue please?

There is also quite a bit of information in the BUILD.md guide and the TROUBLESHOOTING.md about setting up.