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AirPlay 2 Sound Bar

P

Preclaro_tipo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 6, 2003
179
190
West Lafayette, IN
I'm ready to upgrade my 'family' theater (I don't need Reciever+8.1 speakers + Atmos, etc).

I AM going to get a 4K with HDR, and a new AppleTV.

Does anyone recommend an AirPlay 2 Sound bar? I'd like to both play the sounds from the TV and be able to stream music (from an iOS device) to the sound bar for sound only music.
 
I would hold off a bit, nothing has Airplay 2 yet (not even Apple TV)

I saw someone from Bose say they would have firmware updates to their soundbar to support the feature but that's no guarantee, and I haven't seen a whole lot of information from other vendors.
 
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ersan191 said:
I would hold off a bit, nothing has Airplay 2 yet (not even Apple TV)

I saw someone from Bose say they would have firmware updates to their soundbar to support the feature but that's no guarantee, and I haven't seen a whole lot of information from other vendors.
Click to expand...

i would wait another 6 months ... they should be out in droves w/AP2 come christmas time ... the AP2 protocol was just released ... i'd imagine most existing SB's hardware wont meet minimum requirements of AP2 ...
 
What I would love is a portable speaker, preferably b&o, that has airplay 2 support...
 
Snos have said their playbase and Sonos 1's will be getting AP2, however, they also said they'd support Atmos, if you really want Atmos that is.
 
More exciting is whether we'll see more Dolby Atmos sounders at the end of this year thanks to Apple TV and iTunes! At present, the SONY and Yamaha models seem to be doing it right. The LG model is getting so-so reviews from customers. LG have however, just launched a top model with UK hifi specialist Meridian!

Will we see an Apple sounder with Atmos in the future? Never say never :) In fact, with the love Apple TV is getting and the driving force of iTunes, it's quite likely!
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
More exciting is whether we'll see more Dolby Atmos sounders at the end of this year thanks to Apple TV and iTunes! At present, the SONY and Yamaha models seem to be doing it right. The LG model is getting so-so reviews from customers. LG have however, just launched a top model with UK hifi specialist Meridian!

Will we see an Apple sounder with Atmos in the future? Never say never :) In fact, with the love Apple TV is getting and the driving force of iTunes, it's quite likely!
Click to expand...

Pump the breaks a bit. HomePod sales haven’t exactly been through the roof, so I’m not sure Apple is going to be ready to release another expensive home audio product anytime soon. If they do, signs are pointing to a smaller, cheaper version of HomePod.
 
vipergts2207 said:
Pump the breaks a bit. HomePod sales haven’t exactly been through the roof, so I’m not sure Apple is going to be ready to release another expensive home audio product anytime soon. If they do, signs are pointing to a smaller, cheaper version of HomePod.
Click to expand...

Let's see! 2019 is going to be one of the most interesting AV years for HDMI 2.1 TVs and Atmos soundbars.
Shame about the HomePod - compared to BlueTooth speakers which you can take anywhere, I'm not sure how strong the market is for stationary speakers in 2018 - certainly with my Bluetooth speaker (B&O A1) I take it outside etc.
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Let's see! 2019 is going to be one of the most interesting AV years for HDMI 2.1 TVs and Atmos soundbars.
Shame about the HomePod - compared to BlueTooth speakers which you can take anywhere, I'm not sure how strong the market is for stationary speakers in 2018 - certainly with my Bluetooth speaker (B&O A1) I take it outside etc.
Click to expand...
The sonos beam, is kind of a product apple should have launched, except that it is not powerful enough, should have been bigger and at least should have featured dolby hd and dts hd, and perhaps 2 or 3 hdmi inputs. It would be more expensive than the 399(more like 599) but i gladly would have paid for it.
I think apple passed up the opportunity to integrate homepod with apple tv, by not releasing this kind of product(yet).

A nice soundbar by apple and the ability to use 2 homepods as rear/surround channels, with siri (shortcuts) and the ability to voicecontrol the tv, Would have been great.
I guess we’ ll have to wait 1 to 3 years now, to get a setup like this.

Will be looking at the new yamaha ysp or musiccast bars , denon heos bar , perhaps even the lg sk-10y instead.

But if you only use a apple tv 4k as your device to show content, you could try the sonos beam and 2 homepods in stereo as fronts to output sound at the same time , to get some very nice sound and wide soundstage(no rears, though)
 
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ValO said:
The sonos beam, is kind of a product apple should have launched, except that it is not powerful enough, should have been bigger and at least should have featured dolby hd and dts hd, and perhaps 2 or 3 hdmi inputs. It would be more expensive than the 399(more like 599) but i gladly would have paid for it.
I think apple passed up the opportunity to integrate homepod with apple tv, by not releasing this kind of product(yet).

A nice soundbar by apple and the ability to use 2 homepods as rear/surround channels, with siri (shortcuts) and the ability to voicecontrol the tv, Would have been great.
I guess we’ ll have to wait 1 to 3 years now, to get a setup like this.

Will be looking at the new yamaha ysp or musiccast bars , denon heos bar , perhaps even the lg sk-10y instead.

But if you only use a apple tv 4k as your device to show content, you could try the sonos beam and 2 homepods in stereo as fronts to output sound at the same time , to get some very nice sound and wide soundstage(no rears, though)
Click to expand...


I’ve preordered a Beam, just for our TV in our bedroom as I like the small form factor which means I can get shot of this old speakers system I have, plus Airplay 2 makes it easier when listening to music with the Sonos speakers on my downstairs speakers.

I really don’t know what direction Apple are going in with their audio hardware. It would have been hard for them to develop a Sonos, and many other manufacturing businesses, style speaker system to sit nicely with their ATV units. But then again, what happened to the much fabled full Apple TV, was it a Steve Jobs miss direction, smoke and mirrors
 
570934 said:
I’ve preordered a Beam, just for our TV in our bedroom as I like the small form factor which means I can get shot of this old speakers system I have, plus Airplay 2 makes it easier when listening to music with the Sonos speakers on my downstairs speakers.

I really don’t know what direction Apple are going in with their audio hardware. It would have been hard for them to develop a Sonos, and many other manufacturing businesses, style speaker system to sit nicely with their ATV units. But then again, what happened to the much fabled full Apple TV, was it a Steve Jobs miss direction, smoke and mirrors
Click to expand...

I don’ t agree, that it would be hard for apple.
In the homepod there is advanced enough hardware for eq, channel seperation, detection of placement of other homepods in the room, tuning of the sound for speaker placement in the room, etc.The groundwork has already been done with the homepod. So making a soundbar that fits in, and do the sound processing, and to send the sound to other homepods wouldn’ t be too hard.
What could be hard for apple is hdmi processing and switching, they haven’ t done hdmi input on their devices, just output. On the other hand , hdmi implementation on the sonos beam is very low tech, no hd formats, no switching, just cec controlling.

They could have taken a step to really compete with sonos by moving forward instead of thinking about a rumored lower priced homepod. Instead of that , they should have concentrated on adding value to the excisting homepod by adding a hometheatre option . They could even sell sets at a reduced price.
 
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