Bowers & Wilkins Will Soon Release AirPlay 2 Receivers

[MacRumors]

British audio equipment maker Bowers & Wilkins is expected to release its first AirPlay 2-enabled receivers in the near future.

A pair of new Bowers & Wilkins receivers named Formation Audio and Formation Duo are listed as "coming soon" in Apple's recently updated list of HomeKit and AirPlay accessories. Bowers & Wilkins releasing receivers is interesting in itself, as the company is better known for high-fidelity speakers and headphones.

Bowers & Wilkins has yet to announce the products, but we did find a cached GDPR-related fair processing notice page on its website from December 2018 that mentions a line of Formation products, including the Formation Duo, Formation Audio, Formation Bar, Formation Wedge, and Formation Bass.

AirPlay 2 would allow the receivers to work with other AirPlay 2 devices such as the HomePod, the Apple TV, and Sonos speakers. AirPlay 2 receivers also appear in Apple's Home app across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.

Bowers & Wilkins, acquired by Eva Automation in 2016, will join Denon and Marantz, Bluesound, and Naim in offering AirPlay 2 receivers.

Article Link: Bowers & Wilkins Will Soon Release AirPlay 2 Receivers

 

[Frankied22]

I still use my wired B&W P5's all the time. They sound amazing and are super comfortable now that they are broken in. I would love to hear the sound quality of a B&W airplay speaker. They are going to be super expensive though lol

 

[travis64]

So can the homepod work with apple tv?
For movies?

 

[12vElectronics]

Wow B&W making receivers. This should be cool!

 

[chinafbi]

Nice. Hopefully they are affordable. I love the new 700 series speakers. They are amazing.

 

[SanJoseEd]

So can the homepod work with apple tv?
For movies?

Absolutely and quite nice when two are used as a 'stereo pair'. I've never even used them for music - just TV and movies pumped out of an ATV4. There was a break-in period in late Spring last year before the HomePods' latter OS was published, but ever since then, volume's been fine and the 'stereo' output does at times seem to project appropriate noise and sound from the movies' soundtracks making it sound like something more than stereo.

 

[JDHiro]

I hope these are separates...

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Very cool. I love their speakers

 

[jljue]

I love their speakers--have them in the current house. I was actually thinking of buying Sonos for the new house under construction, but I think that I can hold off this purchase a while to see how the B&W Formation line develops.

 

[Pipper99]

Receivers? Interesting. I've loved my B&W speakers since I got them in 2001: they still sound wonderful. Looking forward to their new offerings.

 

[apolloa]

One of THE best speaker makers on the planet! If I won the lotto I would have a cinema room stuffed full of their speakers, so this is great news. I still really want a Zeppelin.

 

[tom.humphrey]

I've got a B&W A5 which sounds amazing when the airplay works. Constantly plagued with audio drop outs.

 

[chinafbi]

I've got a B&W A5 which sounds amazing when the airplay works. Constantly plagued with audio drop outs.

My friend has the a7 and the sound is very awesome. It is a bigger brother of the a5. Its amazing.

 

[goslowjoe]

I have a pair of 703 loudspeakers that I purchased in 2005 and they are still amazing after all these years. Right now my P7 wireless headphones are on my head (where else?) and I will soon have a pair of PX headphones. A receiver to go with these... wow!

 

[fairuz]

AirPlay 2 in receivers is great, but I'd really like a standalone AirPlay 2 device too... like the AirPort Express was for AirPlay 1 and AirTunes. That paired with whatever receivers we had made for a great home music setup as far back as ~2003.

 

[cmaier]

Love my B&W’s. Outfitted our home theater with them.