Some bug reports for Audio Share

[RobertPeetsalu]

First, thanks for the effort of making the app. I hope my feedback will help improve it.

I had no problems installing the android APK v0.0.17 from F-Droid and running the Windows exe with the same version, (although Windows didn't like the "publisher Unknown" and Android got all panicky about installing unknown stuff) but I ran into 2 problems when I tried to play some music:

Sound signal is quiet and distorted
The first problem is that the sound played from the phone's audio server is distorted. I made a recording:
https://github.com/mkckr0/audio-share/assets/892058/7c4a9b6d-151f-407a-afb4-0f03063b6cc2

The only things that I changed in server settings were:

• I set to ignore battery optimizations in hopes that it will fix the problem - it didn't help.
• I set Loudness Enhancer to 1000mB. Otherwise the sound was so quiet that I couldn't hear it over my laptop's built-in speakers. At 1000mB the sound became as loud as normal volume on my laptop speakers. So I assume it's quieter than it should be.

If I play the same music directly from my phone, there are no distortion or volume problems.
I also tried plugging my stereo speakers to the phone and they also played with distortion.

Can't set the phone as the only speaker for the PC
I installed the app so that I could plug my sound system to my phone instead of my Laptop, so I wouldn't have to drag cables with me when I move with the laptop. So I need to play PC sound from the phone only.

This leads us to the second problem - audio server on the laptop doesn't create a new audio output option for Windows, but rather repeats sound coming from the existing default sound output, which in my case are "Speakers (Realtek (R) Audio)". As a result when I play music, I hear it from the laptop speakers and with some delay from the phone.

I looked for a workaround in the volume mixer, but there I could only either mute everything or only mute the audio server as a program. I can't mute the speakers without also muting the audio server, because the speakers work as the source of sound for the server.

My phone: Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro running MIUI Global 12.0.3 and up to date Android 10.
My laptop: ASUS TUF Gaming A15 with updated Windows 11 and updated Realtek audio drivers.

[RobertPeetsalu]

here's my server log
server.log

and config:
[App]
AutoRun=1
Running=0
[Network]
host=192.168.3.4
port=65530
[Audio]
endpoint=Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)

[mkckr0]

You can mute the laptop by #4 (comment)

For the lower volume, it's a known bug but not clear about the reason. "Loudness Enhancer" is a temporary measure. #34

For the distorted sound, it may be caused by the network. You can try to use a USB tethering to test it.

[mkckr0]

You can install a virtual audio device https://github.com/mkckr0/audio-share#method-2-install-a-third-party-virtual-audio-device-driver

So the laptop won't make any sound.

[RobertPeetsalu]

ahh, the distortion is back again with no apparent cause =S

[RobertPeetsalu]

Installing Steam Link on the laptop added the Steam Streaming Speakers output and using that as output works - now the laptop sound comes only from the phone.

[RobertPeetsalu]

Next problem encountered is - the mobile audio server sometimes has gaps in sound and says that there's a "heartbeat timeout". After googling a bit it seems to have something to do with "applications that perform lengthy processing in the same thread" without adding regular heartbeat messages. Is there some workaround to prevent those?

[mkckr0]

It's a network problem that your network quality is low and the delay is over the limit. USB tethering is the best measure because it provides a wired network connection. The "connection timed out" may be because you didn't choose a right IP address for "AudioShareServer.exe"

You can also use the Mobile Hotspot to connect you phone to laptop directly without a WiFi router. It may also be effective.