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Apple Releases Firmware Update for AirPort Express With AirPlay 2 Support

Updated my 2nd Gen units to 7.8, both hooked up to old Bose Solo speakers here in my field office via MJ - AirPlay 2 rocks, and now I get to while everybody's out in the field.

Plugged in and checked my 1st Gen Express that I use while hoteling and moteling, 7.6.9 and no update (yet?). I'll leave it plugged in and update this if there's an update...
 
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Winter Charm said:
I would love for Apple to create a mesh router. Maybe discontinuing the AirPort series was the first step in apple creating a good mesh router.
Click to expand...

Instead they just ceded the market to whomever - and washed their hands of making networking so easy it just worked. Maybe they'll also announce new features in Back to My Mac before they kill it :)
 
I own one of these and I'm surprised they have decided to add support. It's very welcome though, I still use mine every day.

I was expecting to have to buy an Apple TV at some point to continue using it for music streaming to my speaker system but seems I can put that off for a few more years.
 
Really stinks that Apple gave up on routers. My previous gen Time Capsule drive died about 6 months ago and rather than replace the drive or get the last Time capsule I decided it was time to look elsewhere for a router. Decided on a Netgear Nighthawk R8000. While it has been a very good router, Timemachine backups have been a nightmare with each of my 3 macs having issues finding the routers attached drive at various times. I miss the “it just works” factor. I’m tempted to go back to the Time Capsule, but it took me a month to move all my devices to the new WiFi networks (I took advanage of all the different ones netgear can configure segregated) and really don’t want to go through that again.
 
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Ceddi said:
So. This means Thie 2008 Model Supports AirPlay 2 as well. Can anyone confirm?
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I doubt it'll be coming. Getting AirPlay 2 on a 10 year old AirPort Express would be like Apple releasing iOS 12 for the iPhone 3G. It's surprising that it even came out for the 2012 AirPort.
 
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macduke said:
Good job Apple!

Now just bring back the entire AirPort system redesigned to be a fully modern mesh network on 802.11ax and I'll be happy, lol.
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Why does everyone want mesh nowadays? It just takes quite a bit more of the available bandwidth.
I would rather have an access point (APs) in every room, that connects via cable to my router or switch,

Something I would value a lot more than mesh is built-in functionality for z-wave and other such protocols for home automation, so that I don't need to have hubs for Philips Hue and other stuff. Hue is not the only HomeKit "compatible" thing that needs its own hub.

Besides Apples routers already do a kind of mesh. At the moment I have a Time Capsule in my living room, and I have some stuff connected to it via cable there. I also have a Mac mini and an Apple TV in my bedroom. The Mac mini is connected via cable to the TC in the living room, but since I don't have a switch in my bedroom (yet), and I also have the AppleTV, iPhones and iPad, that I sometimes use in the bedroom, and the signal from the TC is a bit weak in my bedroom, I also have an AirPort Express in my bedroom. That one is NOT connected via cable to the TV, but it extends the wireless network from the TC, so the phones and iPad connects wirelessly to the Express, which sends it wirelessly to the TC. It wasn't called mesh at the time though, but it's kind of a simple mesh, but I would prefer to connect it via cable, since the bandwidth is effectively cut in half.

First my iPhone sends to the Express which forwards wirelessly to the TC. That is TWO wireless transmissions for every packet. The solution is for me to either install a switch in my bedroom or another cable going from the Express to the TC.

The AppleTV 4k is connected via cable to the Express.

mithion said:
I'm sad that their wireless networking gear appears to have been discontinued. I was hopping to get airport device with 802.11ax but that looks like it's now a pipe dream.
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That would be awesome, especially if the made a router with more than 4 LAN ports, and a couple of simpler Access Points, that I can connect with cable to the router. These Access Points should be like the AirPort Express, but without the router functionality. Like I said commented to the previous quote, it would also be nice to have the z-wave (and zigbee) functionality built-in, so I don't need proprietary huds like the one for Philips Hue and other home automation stuff.

nofunsir said:
AirPort Express (and AppleTV) have always supported multi-room playback. Am I missing something, or hearing things every Saturday during chore time and I blast the music in every room?

Now I'm afraid to update lest this conveniently breaks functionality with my older Airport Expresses
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You could do multi-room audio from the Mac, but not from iOS with AirPlay 1, and also the latency is lower in AirPlay 2, which is good when watching movies on the AppleTV 4k, so that the sound stays in sync with the movie.
AurPlay 2 devices also show up as HomeKit devices.
 
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azentropy said:
Really stinks that Apple gave up on routers. My previous gen Time Capsule drive died about 6 months ago and rather than replace the drive or get the last Time capsule I decided it was time to look elsewhere for a router. Decided on a Netgear Nighthawk R8000. While it has been a very good router, Timemachine backups have been a nightmare with each of my 3 macs having issues finding the routers attached drive at various times. I miss the “it just works” factor. I’m tempted to go back to the Time Capsule, but it took me a month to move all my devices to the new WiFi networks (I took advanage of all the different ones netgear can configure segregated) and really don’t want to go through that again.
Click to expand...

You don’t have to do all that again. Just use both devices. Put the time capsule in bridge mode, disable wireless, and plug it in to the Netgear. You’ll be using time capsule for it’s time machine function, via the wireless connections you set up on the netgear.
 
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azentropy said:
Really stinks that Apple gave up on routers. My previous gen Time Capsule drive died about 6 months ago and rather than replace the drive or get the last Time capsule I decided it was time to look elsewhere for a router. Decided on a Netgear Nighthawk R8000. While it has been a very good router, Timemachine backups have been a nightmare with each of my 3 macs having issues finding the routers attached drive at various times. I miss the “it just works” factor. I’m tempted to go back to the Time Capsule, but it took me a month to move all my devices to the new WiFi networks (I took advanage of all the different ones netgear can configure segregated) and really don’t want to go through that again.
Click to expand...
The drives are fairly easy to replace.
 
Never quite understood why they abandoned these little guys, not to mention Time Capsules, etc. If you've ever tried to buy a router…you probably appreciate these products. There is absolutely a market for a powerful, no-brainer wifi/network/backup/airplay solution.

I think sometimes Apple follows the shareholders too closely. Even though this product line might not deliver huge profits, it's a really important part of the brand ecosystem. I hope this means they've realized the error of their ways.
 
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I thought AirPlay 2 should have no delay at all, however I'm still experiencing the same delay as without the latest update, about 2 sec. Did I understand wrong?
 
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Wow, I'm very surprised they did this, though there were certainly indications it was a possibility since the AP Express showed up in HomeKit awhile back. Good on Apple.
 
fokmik said:
My GOD>..wtf ??? and the wifi AC Apple’s AirPort will not receive this ?? an ancient Airport express will?
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Did I miss them adding an audio jack to the Airport Extreme? Isn't that the reason the Airport Express was so popular and people wanted this so badly.

What purpose would this serve on an Airport Extreme?
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Ollifi said:
I thought AirPlay 2 should have no delay at all, however I'm still experiencing the same delay as without the latest update, about 2 sec. Did I understand wrong?
Click to expand...
Apps need to be updated. Overcast for example has some delay, while Apple Music has virtually none.
 
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My hope is that one day Apple will go back into the router market and come out with a router with 5+ LAN ports, 802.11AX, mesh networking, etc. Something suitable for large houses with 30+ devices connected all at once. Maybe they'll introduce some kind of mesh networking that doesn't suck (Google's solution, for example, is atrocious).
 
DaveOP said:
Apps need to be updated. Overcast for example has some delay, while Apple Music has virtually none.
Click to expand...

Thanks, did some test and indeed Apple Music / Music app itself seems to be better vs. Spotify for example. However, even for the Music app, it doesn't seem to be 100% stable - sometimes the audio continues to play immediately after I've done the scrubbing, sometimes it takes even 3-4 sec which is longer than Spotify.
 
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