diff --git a/src/lib/alsa/PeriodBuffer.hxx b/src/lib/alsa/PeriodBuffer.hxx
index a1a683e68..473577a49 100644
--- a/src/lib/alsa/PeriodBuffer.hxx
+++ b/src/lib/alsa/PeriodBuffer.hxx
@@ -81,6 +81,17 @@ public:
 		return head > 0;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Has all data for the current period been drained?  If not,
+	 * then there is pending data.  This ignores the partial frame
+	 * which may have been postponed by FillWithSilence().
+	 */
+	bool IsDrained() const noexcept {
+		/* compare head with capacity, not with tail; this
+		   method makes only sense if the period is full */
+		return head >= capacity;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Returns the tail of the buffer, i.e. where new data can be
 	 * written.  Call GetSpaceBytes() to find out how much may be
diff --git a/src/output/plugins/AlsaOutputPlugin.cxx b/src/output/plugins/AlsaOutputPlugin.cxx
index cae0d04ac..354788307 100644
--- a/src/output/plugins/AlsaOutputPlugin.cxx
+++ b/src/output/plugins/AlsaOutputPlugin.cxx
@@ -753,7 +753,7 @@ AlsaOutput::DrainInternal()
 		period_buffer.FillWithSilence(silence, out_frame_size);
 
 	/* drain period_buffer */
-	if (!period_buffer.IsEmpty()) {
+	if (!period_buffer.IsDrained()) {
 		auto frames_written = WriteFromPeriodBuffer();
 		if (frames_written < 0) {
 			if (frames_written == -EAGAIN)