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I wonder how many people that are commenting how excited they are realize they could have been using almost all the same features from iTunes on a mac for the last...what, 5 years now?
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Hook it up to an Apple TV 4k.

Have you actually tried to use AirPlay via mac? It was an echoing mess for my system using it to stream to both an airport express and apple TV. Some days it was fine, other days it was headache inducing. AirPlay 2 was a much MUCH needed update.
 
So is Bose pulling out of the AirPlay 2 rollout? Was really looking forward to giving my SoundTouch speakers that were replaced by HomePod something to do.
I sold my SoundTouch 10 speakers after becoming fed up with multi room not working reliably and general terrible support from the manufacturer (blaming my router [a Netgear NightHawk], despite it working perfectly until they released a certain firmware update).

I bought a pair of HomePods as a replacement and glad I did - AirPlay 2 is working perfectly.
 
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Have you actually tried to use AirPlay via mac? It was an echoing mess for my system using it to stream to both an airport express and apple TV. Some days it was fine, other days it was headache inducing. AirPlay 2 was a much MUCH needed update.

This used to be the case when I first tried it. Hasn’t been the case though for at least two years - it works really well throughout my network, perfectly synched and never goes out of sync: and I would imagine my setup was fairly testing, or at least eclectic: libratone zipp mini, 2x airport express, and a pure countour i1 air.
 
Never in a million years. I was already very suspicious when this was reported as it’s very unlike Apple. Let’s hope some third-party vendor comes up with a similar device So we don’t have to throw away our speakers.

I have a sneaking suspicion Apple will never certify a Airplay 2 device that acts as a bridge for a speaker. We never saw one for Airplay 1, so I doubt this will suddenly appear for Airplay 2. Yes, we had an Airport Express for Airplay 1, but if it was going to happen (a 3rd party bridge device for Airplay 1), it would have happened. It didn't.

The best we can hope for is for someone to reverse engineering the Airplay 2 protocol, and for support on a Raspberry Pi.

The same was done for the Airplay 1 protocol - https://www.matthewwegner.com/raspberry-pi-airplay/
 
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So no Airplay 2 for existing Airport customers? I guess they are too busy building self driving cars to be bothered with their current customers. I guess thats why Apple's percentage share of the computer marked goes down every year.
 
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AirPlay 2 does not work for me. Maybe it works how it is supposed to but that would be not good enough for me.

All I wanted to do is play the same music on my several speakers (as you could do in itunes from your mac). Looks like this is not working. Sorry not buying new speakers!

My old receiver and Sony speakers have also Chromecast built in ... :) Yeah! I just need to switch ecosystem. Cheaper!
 
Hey Tim Cook how about continuing support for Airport Extreme and Express for AirPlay 2 oh wait driverless cars are the new routers forgot.
 
Never in a million years. I was already very suspicious when this was reported as it’s very unlike Apple. Let’s hope some third-party vendor comes up with a similar device So we don’t have to throw away our speakers.

I have a sneaking suspicion Apple will never certify a Airplay 2 device that acts as a bridge for a speaker. We never saw one for Airplay 1, so I doubt this will suddenly appear for Airplay 2. Yes, we had an Airport Express for Airplay 1, but if it was going to happen (a 3rd party bridge device for Airplay 1), it would have happened. It didn't.

The best we can hope for is for someone to reverse engineering the Airplay 2 protocol, and for support on a Raspberry Pi.

The same was done for the Airplay 1 protocol - https://www.matthewwegner.com/raspberry-pi-airplay/

So no Airplay 2 for existing Airport customers? I guess they are too busy building self driving cars to be bothered with their current customers. I guess thats why Apple's percentage share of the computer marked goes down every year.

Earlier today I was pretty bummed about lack of AirPlay 2 for the AirPort Express. Especially since I often use it as an AirPlay destination to play music in my backyard/patio.

But, I have a handful of Apple TV 4s (since replaced with Apple TV 4Ks) that I can repurpose as AirPlay 2 destinations, with a $20 HDMI audio extractor from Amazon. I had a feeling that Apple wouldn't show the AE any love. At least the Apple TV 4 should get some support for several more years.
 
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HomePod is soaring with updates today. Honestly, this is what we should have expected somewhat earlier, but Its refreshing to see all new additions.

Indeed!

Sonos ... look at your competition here ... you see THIS IS how you implement AirPlay2 and make your existing customers happy. It's Markting 101: Brand Recognition and Continuance. Guess what ... my Play:1 is not going to continue my business with you even if you announce AirPlay 2 for Play:1 tomorrow. You've already soured your brand in my mind ... so I'm looking at B&O or HomePod as it's coming to Canada shortly.

Well done Apple ... Craig your team has just about redeemed yourselves and your leadership in my mind; just about.

Apple hardware team ... where is the modern MBP 13" with QuadCore i7 and internal GPU (to match Lenovo T480s; their X1 Carbon 6th Gen competes with MBP 15") and Mac Mini?

Again SOLID updates to iOS, WatchOS, TVOS and HomePod
 
Never in a million years. I was already very suspicious when this was reported as it’s very unlike Apple. Let’s hope some third-party vendor comes up with a similar device So we don’t have to throw away our speakers.
The fact that no third party vendor ever came out with a similar device, and now to expect them not only to come out with a device that covers all of the AirPort Express capability including a TOSLink feed that will be compatible with/supported by AirPlay 2? Now that is a never in a 100 million years. The good news: the new 12.7.5 iTunes has not dropped its full support for multiple AirPort Express connections via AirPlay. Just keep your Mac, and you'll never need to throw away your speakers...
 
I wonder how many people that are commenting how excited they are realize they could have been using almost all the same features from iTunes on a mac for the last...what, 5 years now?

iTunes on a PC too. And it's been 14 years since AirPlay (originally called AirTunes) came out.

Call me when I can open my door and have my own entrance music.

Yeah, call me in a week when that entrance music has gotten on your very last nerve and you can't wait to disable it.
 
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I picked up a second HomePod today at Costco ($329.99, Space Gray only). Set it up on the bedroom. I updated my iPhone, HomePod Kitchen and HomePod Bedroom to iOS 11.4.

Then the HUGE disappointment began.

All this time waiting for AirPlay 2 and HomePod is PATHETICALLY unable to do the basic commands that a SONOS ONE (or Amazon Echo Dot connected to other SONOS models) can do with ease.

I got some Sinatra playing in the Kitchen just by touching the top of the Kitchen HomePod (that was the last thing it was playing). Then I walked to the bedroom and said, "Hey Siri, play Neil Diamond in the Kitchen". That worked fine.

While I was still in the Bedroom, I said, "Hey Siri, play Frank Sinatra in the Bedroom". Sinatra started playing in the Bedroom. Then I walked back to the Kitchen and that HomePod had paused. I then said (in the Kitchen), "Hey Siri, resume playback in the Kitchen". Siri's response: "Now resuming in the Bedroom".

The Bedroom wasn't paused.

Then I tapped the top of the Kitchen HomePod to try to resume playback of Sinatra. It played something completely different, apparently at random.

It DOES work if you say "Hey Siri, play Sinatra everywhere." But I could do that with AirPlay 1 from my iMac.

This is totally pathetic. I've waited all this freaking time for HomePod to have similar functionality to Alexa with SONOS and HomePod doesn't even come close. Freaking failure!

I will be returning HomePod #2 to Costco. If I could return HomePod #1 to the Apple Store, I would.

I should have bought SONOS ONEs.

OMG, I miss Steve Jobs!

Mark
 
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Are you saying this in regards to AirPlay 2/calendar, or are there other improvements you are seeing? I won't be able to play around with mine until tomorrow.

Airplay 2. Being its now compatible with my Sonos speaker, also all the HomeKit updates as well have some nice additions. I’m still experimenting more myself.
 
what i imagined i might be able to do was play audio on my ipad (through docked speaker) and then also stream to wireless speakers - for example to sync iPlayer radio in different rooms.

However, seems like you can't play on iOS device and stream at same time (only been able to try this on iPhone internal speaker and AppleTV so far) sound right?
 
I believe it needs to be able to support storing minutes of lossless audio, not just compressed AAC.

Airplay has always been lossless, no decoding done on the AirportExpress endpoints. Decoded before transmission.

I think it uses ALAC, so some decoding I guess would have to be going on there, just not using a lossy codec.

ALAC is around 5mb/s. I think the hardware requirements are not a reason to drop AP2 support. They wouldn't have even tried to implement it if that was the case. Must have been another reason for them to remove the indication of a AP2 support for the latest AE. I hope it's just a matter of time and they will add AP2 support...
 
Airplay 2. Being its now compatible with my Sonos speaker, also all the HomeKit updates as well have some nice additions. I’m still experimenting more myself.

Cool thanks, just checking to see if there were improvements I may be missing. Looking forward to trying them out later today. May need a 2nd HomePod now though haha.
 
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iTunes on a PC too. And it's been 14 years since AirPlay (originally called AirTunes) came out.
Though AirPlay 2/iOS still hasn't caught up to the Mac (and PC) iTunes version which can play music through every single TOSLink input equipped receiver in the universe vi the AirPort Express...
 
Airplay has always been lossless, no decoding done on the AirportExpress endpoints. Decoded before transmission.
So, can anybody explain to me why Apple won't allow the Airport express to work with the new Airplay 2? Software or is it "really" a hardware problems?
 
This section of the site lists all of the upcoming speakers and receivers that will be updated with AirPlay 2 support now that the AirPlay 2 protocol is available.

Today's list is limited to manufacturers who have already pledged support for AirPlay 2, but it is likely to grow as additional companies announce AirPlay 2 functionality. A full list of speakers gaining AirPlay 2 support is below:
[*]Apple HomePod
[*]Beoplay A6
[*]Beoplay A9 mk2
[*]Beoplay M3
[*]BeoSound 1
[*]BeoSound 2
[*]BeoSound 35
[*]BeoSound Core
[*]BeoSound Essence mk2
[*]BeoVision Eclipse (audio only)
[*]Denon AVR-X3500H
[*]Denon AVR-X4500H
[*]Denon AVR-X6500H

[*]Libratone Zipp
[*]Libratone Zipp Mini
[*]Marantz AV7705
[*]Marantz NA6006
[*]Marantz NR1509
[*]Marantz NR1609
[*]Marantz SR5013
[*]Marantz SR6013
[*]Marantz SR7013

[*]Naim Mu-so
[*]Naim Mu-so QB
[*]Naim ND 555
[*]Naim ND5 XS 2
[*]Naim NDX 2
[*]Naim Uniti Nova
[*]Naim Uniti Atom
[*]Naim Uniti Star
[*]Sonos One
[*]Sonos Play:5
[*]Sonos PlaybaseNone of these speakers are available with AirPlay 2 at the current time, but many of them will gain support for the feature following firmware updates that will likely start trickling out now that iOS 11.4 has launched.


Some of the items in the list are not speakers, is there none which even realised this before, I bolded a few, Denon AVR series for instance are Audio Visual receivers as in AVR in their type number.
Pretty sure Marantz are also AVR's.
 
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