diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3c6d12e33..d0eb9126b 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ ver 0.20 (not yet released)
   - soxr: allow multi-threaded resampling
 * player
   - reset song priority on playback
+  - reduce xruns
 * write database and state file atomically
 * always write UTF-8 to the log file.
 * remove dependency on GLib
diff --git a/src/output/OutputThread.cxx b/src/output/OutputThread.cxx
index 2ac59f534..799626f33 100644
--- a/src/output/OutputThread.cxx
+++ b/src/output/OutputThread.cxx
@@ -493,10 +493,21 @@ AudioOutput::Play()
 		in_playback_loop = false;
 	};
 
+	unsigned n = 0;
+
 	do {
 		if (command != Command::NONE)
 			return true;
 
+		if (++n >= 64) {
+			/* wake up the player every now and then to
+			   give it a chance to refill the pipe before
+			   it runs empty */
+			const ScopeUnlock unlock(mutex);
+			player_control->LockSignal();
+			n = 0;
+		}
+
 		if (!PlayChunk(chunk))
 			break;