HI,
I suspect this has to do with the addition of Stereo Support to mod_shout around June.
This only happens when one uses "<param name="rate" value="48000”/>” in local_stream.conf.xml
I think the padding being added is actually less than the "1s of empty audio” - because the largest value passed to ‘memset’ in mod_shout.c can be 64K.
Adding stereo halved the original pad duration. So with a 64Kbuffer @ 48000 (2 bytes per sample and Stereo), I think you only get 0.3 seconds of ‘buffer’, which is just not enough for the streaming to keep up reliably and therefor the repeated ‘gaps’.
Change it to "<param name="rate" value=“32000”/>” and the issue goes away as it then gives 0.5 seconds of buffer (which was 1 second before stereo).