Bluesound's Generation 2i Speakers and Home Theater Systems to Receive AirPlay 2 Update on December 11

[MacRumors]

Bluesound today announced that its Generation 2i line of high-fidelity wireless speakers and home theater systems will each receive a software update on December 11 that will enable AirPlay 2, including the Pulse 2i, Pulse Mini 2i, Pulse Flex 2i, Pulse Soundbar 2i, Node 2i, Powernode 2i, and Vault 2i.

With the AirPlay 2 update, multi-room audio playback will be possible between multiple Generation 2i speakers or systems and other AirPlay 2-enabled devices, including the HomePod, Apple TV, select speakers from Sonos, Libratone, and Bang & Olufsen, and select audio receivers from Denon and Marantz.

AirPlay enables users to easily stream audio from Apple devices to Generation 2i speakers, including music, movies, videos, news, podcasts, radio, audiobooks, and more from apps such as iTunes, Netflix, and YouTube on a Mac or iOS device.

AirPlay also allows for Siri control of Apple Music or Podcasts playback via iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, HomePod, and Apple TV.

Generation 2i speakers and systems will appear in the AirPlay Picker within most apps and in Control Center on devices running iOS 11.4 or later. With AirPlay 2, the speakers can also be added to the Home app on iPhone, enabling users to control all of their HomeKit and AirPlay-enabled products from one place.

Using the BluOS Controller app for iPhone or iPad, it will be possible to group older Bluesound speakers and systems with a Generation 2i speaker or system, allowing them to stream the same AirPlay 2 content throughout the home.

AirPlay 2 is Apple's latest wireless streaming protocol, released in May. Apple maintains a list of supported speakers on its website.

Article Link: Bluesound's Generation 2i Speakers and Home Theater Systems to Receive AirPlay 2 Update on December 11

 

[Tucom]

Damn, the design of their speakers must of made SONOS feel pretty blue...


K.

 

[Mike Oxard]

That's two companies that have added Airplay 2 this week. Is it just coincidence?

 

[Braderunner]

AirPlay also allows for Siri control of Apple Music or Podcasts playback via iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, HomePod, and Apple TV.

What's missing from this list? Apple Watch! Why?!

 

[cwanja]

This is pretty astounding that Sonos could not add this to their older products. Their explanation is as big of a joke.

Good on Bluesounds and B&O.

 

[bluespark]

For more than a year, Blusound has been promising AirPlay 2 and Apple Music support on their *existing* speakers. Now they tell us we need to buy new ones for this functionality?

 

[dfs]

Curious, I just visited the Bluesound website. They offer various speakers and various equipment for multi-room lashups. But they don't offer any home theater package or give any advice on how one could be cobbled together from the individual items on the list

So I respectfully suggest that MacRumors might do well to delete the reference to home theaters from this article, it appears to have been written in error.

 

[imgroot]

Curious, I just visited the Bluesound website. They offer various speakers and various equipment for multi-room lashups. But they don't offer any home theater package or give any advice on how one could be cobbled together from the individual items on the list

So I respectfully suggest that MacRumors might do well to delete the reference to home theaters from this article, it appears to have been written in error.

Their "home theater" is the sound bar and sub they offer.

 

[saschke]

And you can combine those with two Pulse Flex 2is to get a surround setup.

 

[Binarymix]

Where's the Airplay 2 iHome updates for the W1 and W2 speakers?

They work with a Mac for multiple speakers, which is ok I guess, but why not update to airplay 2 so I can control them all at the same time from my iOS device? Not to mention they stopped working properly before the 10.14.2 update.

I'm getting sick of this disposable electronics world we are becoming, especially when they cost so much money - you expect them to last until they die from hardware malfunction (which usually isn't long anyways!).

My 3 year old Denon receiver won't even support Airplay 2 FFS.

 

[Tech198]

Neat speaker setup..