diff --git a/amodem-cli b/amodem-cli
index b25463c..940ceee 100755
--- a/amodem-cli
+++ b/amodem-cli
@@ -70,8 +70,7 @@ def FileType(mode, audio_interface=None):
                 s = audio_interface.recorder()
                 return async.AsyncReader(stream=s, bufsize=s.bufsize)
             if 'w' in mode:
-                s = audio_interface.player()
-                return async.AsyncWriter(stream=s)
+                return audio_interface.player()
 
         if fname == '-':
             if 'r' in mode:
@@ -208,6 +207,7 @@ def _main():
                 except KeyboardInterrupt:
                     pass
         finally:
+            log.debug('Closing input and output')
             args.src.close()
             args.dst.close()
 
diff --git a/amodem/async.py b/amodem/async.py
index df228e8..9391d5d 100644
--- a/amodem/async.py
+++ b/amodem/async.py
@@ -47,46 +47,3 @@ class AsyncReader(object):
             self.thread.join()
             self.stream.close()
             self.stream = None
-
-
-class AsyncWriter(object):
-    def __init__(self, stream):
-        self.stream = stream
-        self.queue = six.moves.queue.Queue()
-        self.error = threading.Event()
-        self.stop = threading.Event()
-        self.args = (stream, self.queue, self.error)
-        self.thread = None
-
-    @staticmethod
-    def _thread(dst, queue, error):
-        total = 0
-        try:
-            log.debug('AsyncWriter thread started')
-            while True:
-                buf = queue.get(block=False)
-                if buf is None:
-                    break
-                dst.write(buf)
-                total += len(buf)
-            log.debug('AsyncWriter thread stopped (written %d bytes)', total)
-        except BaseException:
-            log.exception('AsyncWriter thread failed')
-            error.set()
-
-    def write(self, buf):
-        if self.error.isSet():
-            raise IOError('cannot write to stream')
-
-        self.queue.put(buf)
-        if self.thread is None:
-            self.thread = threading.Thread(target=AsyncWriter._thread,
-                                           args=self.args, name='AsyncWriter')
-            self.thread.start()  # start only after there is data to write
-
-    def close(self):
-        if self.stream is not None:
-            self.queue.put(None)
-            self.thread.join()
-            self.stream.close()
-            self.stream = None
diff --git a/tests/test_async.py b/tests/test_async.py
index 380ea17..1a5322d 100644
--- a/tests/test_async.py
+++ b/tests/test_async.py
@@ -22,49 +22,9 @@ def test_async_reader():
     r.close()
 
 
-def test_async_write():
-    result = []
-
-    def _write(buf):
-        time.sleep(len(buf) * 0.1)
-        result.append(buf)
-    s = mock.Mock()
-    s.write = _write
-    w = async.AsyncWriter(s)
-
-    w.write('foo')
-    w.write(' ')
-    w.write('bar')
-    w.close()
-    assert w.stream is None
-    w.close()
-    assert result == ['foo', ' ', 'bar']
-
-
 def test_async_reader_error():
     s = mock.Mock()
     s.read.side_effect = IOError()
     r = async.AsyncReader(s, 1)
     with pytest.raises(IOError):
         r.read(3)
-
-
-def test_async_writer_error():
-    s = mock.Mock()
-    s.write.side_effect = IOError()
-    w = async.AsyncWriter(s)
-    w.write('123')
-    w.thread.join()
-    with pytest.raises(IOError):
-        w.write('456')
-    assert s.write.mock_calls == [mock.call('123')]
-
-
-def test_underflow():
-    s = mock.Mock()
-    w = async.AsyncWriter(s)
-    w.write('blah')
-    w.thread.join()
-    assert s.write.mock_calls == [mock.call('blah')]
-    with pytest.raises(IOError):
-        w.write('xyzw')
diff --git a/tests/test_transfer.py b/tests/test_transfer.py
index 5c0a842..308d6bc 100644
--- a/tests/test_transfer.py
+++ b/tests/test_transfer.py
@@ -70,11 +70,6 @@ def test_small(small_size):
     run(small_size, chan=lambda x: x)
 
 
-def test_async():
-    run(1024, chan=lambda x: x,
-        reader=lambda s: async.AsyncReader(s, 128))
-
-
 def test_error():
     skip = 32000  # remove trailing silence
     run(1024, chan=lambda x: x[:-skip], success=False)