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Apple Releases Firmware Update for AirPort Express With AirPlay 2 Support
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So, the Airport Express has an optical audio out (toslink).
Can I connect it to a receiver and stream 7.1 audio to it? The source will be an TV 4k (plex/netflix etc.) with 5.1/7.1 audio streams. I will select the Airport as audio out during TV playback. Can someone test this\confirm this?
Additionally, when I stream music to the AE, and someone calls, will the audio from the call be heard on the Airplay speaker?
Can I connect it to a receiver and stream 7.1 audio to it? The source will be an TV 4k (plex/netflix etc.) with 5.1/7.1 audio streams. I will select the Airport as audio out during TV playback. Can someone test this\confirm this?
Additionally, when I stream music to the AE, and someone calls, will the audio from the call be heard on the Airplay speaker?
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Hmmm...
Old product with no financial benefit = no update.
Old product that can help sell new speaker = update.
What is this rocket science you speak of.
[doublepost=1535541793][/doublepost]NOT from iOS. This was possible only with Mac OS. AirPlay 2 allows multiroom audio controlled with compatible iOS devices. They must run 11.4.x at least.
Extremely annoyingly, no. Got to buy the cheap version if you want the full featured one, as it turns out.
And the usb2 port well into the usb3 era... dumb. They took it 80% of the way to great, then gave up, sold a bunch of them, and discontinued it. Poorly managed.
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That's how I use them now. I have all of the network functionality turned off and they are hardwired to an Orbi Mesh router system. It works flawlessly.
Same here. And it figures...the older one is specifically set up in the basement to pump to a receiver running outdoor speakers, while the newer one is serving as a network extender in our bedroom. I guess I gotta switch them around if I want tunes to play in the living room and outdoors at the same time.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
I have a first generation 802.11n Airport Express, but I don't see an update using either the Mac or iOS Airport utility. I'm on version 7.6.9, which it says is the newest.
Edit: Nevermind, I see it's updated to say 2012-only models. Too bad. But still works very well for what I use it for. It's probably my favorite Apple product right now. If it ever stopped working, I don't know what I would replace it with. Is there any other product that lets you stream all your Mac's audio from the entire system to any connected speaker? They should have double-downed on Airport Express over HomePod.
Edit: Nevermind, I see it's updated to say 2012-only models. Too bad. But still works very well for what I use it for. It's probably my favorite Apple product right now. If it ever stopped working, I don't know what I would replace it with. Is there any other product that lets you stream all your Mac's audio from the entire system to any connected speaker? They should have double-downed on Airport Express over HomePod.
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Been very happy with this. Use ethernet instead of wifi for connectivity and has worked flawless. It supports two zones ( only A, only B or A+B) as i have a pair of ceiling speakers in the living room and a pair outside in the patio.
Marantz M-CR611 Network CD Receiver with AirPlay, Spotify, Bluetooth & Internet Radio
Yep, also using Ethernet connection to my AE and Apple TVs, with the Orbi system and everything works well. Actually things started working really well when I got the Outdoor Orbi satellite. Does great for my outdoor HomeKit accessories, and for using AirPlay from phone (outside) to AirPort Express (inside) feeding an AVR which pumps the music back outside.
Yes, you will still be able to use them. They will connect to your mesh network just like any other phone or computer and will announce themselves as AirPlay 2 targets.
I'm encountering a crash bug. If I start iTunes on my iMac and AirPlay music to my newly-updated Airport Express, it works fine. But as soon as I switch my iMac to a new account, iTunes crashes. This used to work with AirPlay 1. I did it twice in a row.
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
Termination Signal: Segmentation fault: 11
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0xb
Terminating Process: exc handler [0]
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
Termination Signal: Segmentation fault: 11
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0xb
Terminating Process: exc handler [0]
I've updated both of my Expresses and neither are showing up as AirPlay2 targets.... I can see my three (3) AppleTV 4Ks no problem but the Expresses still show up as AirPlay devices. Only odd thing about my setup is I have the wireless turned off as these are hardwired in to the LAN port. Anybody else seeing this behavior?
All my AirPort Express devices are used only for the sole purpose of AirPlay and they're all working perfectly via wireless.
How did you do 2nd Gen? I'm in the app on MacOS and iOS for me and both say 7.6.9 is the latest. I have 802.11n (2nd Generation)
So still support for old AirPort but not for the last version? Makes no sense why move the whole AirPort department to work on driverless cars heck who cares about driverless cars, Tim Cook is really moron.
One additional note after around a day of using one of these units with my iMP. My iMP is hovering over one of the Bose Solos (my iMP is mounted on an arm). In my past use of AirPlay I'd pretty much always heard a bit of a out-of-sync delay when using an Express with my previous iMac or rMBP, just enough to be really annoying - there's no more delay/offset now. The combo of the Solo and iMP are good enough for me, happy now...
The second Express update was easier. I backed up the config file, used the Reset button (on the Express), found the second Express with the "OtherWi-Fi Devices" option in the Airport Utility, and found the update option available - and updated it. QED. Then, I restored the second Express with the saved config file. This route took a couple extra minutes but without the head-scratching bit at the end.
Both are working just fine...
Two different ways. The first was a bit of a PITA and not the way I updated the second Express - opened Airport Utility and left it open/running for a few minutes then saw the Red "1" update indicator for both of the Expresses, selected one of the two units, then selected the "Update" button; after several minutes I got an error message dialog indicating that the update failed, so I tried again and again received the error message. I unplugged the affected Express, waited a minute and powered it back up - when it was fully up and running again the 7.8 FW was installed and up and running. :scratched head:
The second Express update was easier. I backed up the config file, used the Reset button (on the Express), found the second Express with the "OtherWi-Fi Devices" option in the Airport Utility, and found the update option available - and updated it. QED. Then, I restored the second Express with the saved config file. This route took a couple extra minutes but without the head-scratching bit at the end.
Both are working just fine...
So what you are saying is that with good Airport 2 device, you could initiate from Siri on you iPhone to play to it, and then shut off your iphone and it will continue to play? This is similar to how Sonos works?Yes - see my earlier response. I don't think this firmware update supports it
[doublepost=1535494412][/doublepost]
Well - maybe? I tried again from my iPhone ("Play Chill Radio on Living Room"). It did indeed play Chill Radio on my Airport Express, but with my iPhone as the source. Note this is very different from HomePods and Apple TVs, which can play back music independently of an iOS device.
Does this matter? Maybe, maybe not. I'll be curious what happens if I try this from HomePod.
I also think that the Sonos One has the minimal Airplay 2 support.