Video: Belkin's Soundform Connect Adds AirPlay 2 to Your Existing Speakers

[RachelleK]

Interesting, albeit costly, IMO.

Does anybody know if something similar can be done for the sound + video? I am thinking along the lines of mirroring the video played on my iPhone or iPad on a big non AirPlay compatible TV. Many thanks for any suggestions.

An AppleTV or an inexpensive Roku will do sound and video over Airplay 2.
I ordered a Belkin because it is so compact (and it was $75 with a code). However, a Roku Express 4K + with an inexpensive device to extract sound from from HDMI would be about half of the price of the Belkin. And, the Roku does WiFi or ethernet.

 

[MareLuce]

letting users turn their traditional speakers into AirPlay 2-enabled devices.

Can I turn a hotel TV into an airplay speaker with this?

 

[MacCurry]

Can Airplay 2 support streaming in 24-bit/192 KHz?

 

[coolajami]

I think we're missing the point here. The major benefit of the Airplay 2 over Airplay 1 is the multi-room support.

There are ways to get limited multi-room capability on Airplay 1 (Via Airfoil etc) but not through iOS devices. Most major audio companies have their own propriety protocol to offer you multi-room capabilities, like Sonos, Bose etc, and they usually also play well with Alexa or Google and occasionally Airplay 2.

So, except if you're already have a multi-room system capable of Airplay 2, and you're looking to add another HiFi system that doesn't, the Belkin Soundform is just ok, as you can practically do the same thing with an Airport Express in 1/3 of the price.

Other than that, it's 4 years too late.

 

[coolajami]

Can Airplay 2 support streaming in 24-bit/192 KHz?

No

 

[coolajami]

Can I turn a hotel TV into an airplay speaker with this?

Unlikely, except if the TV has an audio Line-in and that's not locked by the owner. Most TV's however don't have a line in.

 

[solace]

Can Airplay 2 support streaming in 24-bit/192 KHz?

Far as I’ve seen, no mainstream wireless streaming device will support that much audio bandwidth currently, not just AirPlay 2.

 

[coolajami]

Am I being daft, or would this Device allow me to connect a Vinyl Player to a set of HomePods?

Basically, I want to have a HomePod stereo setup but due to it’s lack of ports and Apple choosing to make the HomePod not support Bluetooth via thirdparties, I’m at a loss.

Hopefully, this Will do the trick!

If any one can confirm that would be amazing!

The Belkin device is an audio output through Wifi, not an input device. So you get audio out of this (you stream something through), but you cannot input audio.

I don't think there is a reliable Airplay 2 transmiter in the market that does what you're asking for. There are ways to stream other sources through airplay 2, but they will require an Aiplay 2 capable iOS device, and some extra compoments like an audio interface and connectors to convert the analogue audio signal to digital and transfer it through.

 

[one more]

An AppleTV or an inexpensive Roku will do sound and video over Airplay 2.
I ordered a Belkin because it is so compact (and it was $75 with a code). However, a Roku Express 4K + with an inexpensive device to extract sound from from HDMI would be about half of the price of the Belkin. And, the Roku does WiFi or ethernet.

Thanks a lot, will look them up. 🖐

 

[MacCurry]

I'm thinking this thing is better than Bluetooth streaming with AptX capability. After contemplation, and needing a streaming player for my home system, I will probably opt for the Blue Sound Node 2i.

 

[DiSTURBED-oNE]

meh, give me ethernet and let me power via PoE instead of USB and I will pay the large price tag.

 

[DiSTURBED-oNE]

You can do the same thing with an airport express for 1/4 the price.

Yes (if you can get one second-hand), and it comes with ethernet

 

[Lvivske]

Community has found that real bit perfect 16/44 play is only guaranteed pn airplay 1. Because Airplay 2 is capable of AAC, iOS and MacOS sometimes convert it to lossy.

AudiophileStyle article on this mess.

not true, depends on source device and settings

Apple Music Lossless Mess Part 2: AirPlay - Bits and Bytes - Audiophile Style

 

[MacNewsOverload]

Yes (if you can get one second-hand), and it comes with ethernet

Exactly. $50 on EBay and can be wired on the network? Perfect. Now Apple just needs to have an actual remote control app for Apple Music so we can run multi-room through a stationary iMac or Mini.

 

[jameskachan]

Important concept, but a bit expensive for what it is. Airport Expresses on ebay still get the job done for a third of the price.

Yes, however — those ancient Airplay Express's are very unstable, especially the older wall brick style.
Airplay 2 seems to promise to be much better.

It's kinda bonkers Apple hasnt enabled the HomePod mini or some other device to support AirPlay 2. I hope they make some kind of Matter bridge that also would enable AirPlay 2 — but till then, this Belkin thing fills a gap that has been around for years.

Can't wait to get mine.

 

[phil83]

Anyone else able to actually purchase one? I bought mine directly from Belkin on June 3rd and I'm still waiting for delivery to start. Haven't seen it available anywhere else other then Amazon (which has been sold-out since June).

 

[crashnburn]

https://rn.dmglobal.com/usmodel/Differences_between_AirPlay_vs._AirPlay-2.pdf

@bluespark - How/ where were you able to pull such tech specs from?
I wanted to pull similar info for Max Screen Res (Display Mirror/ Extend) that can be supported via Airplay 2. Any idea how to get that info?

Use AirPlay on your Mac

Use AirPlay on your Mac to share what’s playing with a TV.

support.apple.com

Use AirPlay to stream what’s on your Mac to an HDTV

Wirelessly stream whatever is on your Mac to your HDTV.

support.apple.com

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204289
@ouimetnick @eas @zoomp @Lvivske - Thanks for the geeky tech insights. ^ Any inputs on the above?

AirPlay 2 currently maxes out at 16 bit/44.1kHz (CD quality) just like AirPlay 1

AirPlay 2 supports 24-bit, in some contexts. Where do you get that it supports 192KHz sample rates? The people reverse engineering the protocol have only found evidence of support up to 48KHz.

Community has found that real bit perfect 16/44 play is only guaranteed pn airplay 1. Because Airplay 2 is capable of AAC, iOS and MacOS sometimes convert it to lossy.

AudiophileStyle article on this mess.

not true, depends on source device and settings

Apple Music Lossless Mess Part 2: AirPlay - Bits and Bytes - Audiophile Style

 

[MacGekko]

I am dearly hanging on to my second gen Airport expresses. I cannot understand why Apple kills useful products. Airport Express had Airplay with both analog and optical output and ATV3 had optical output and Apple decided to delete it on ATV4. Why?

You can't turn off the phone and have the internet radio station still play through the Airport Express, correct? And the same with the Belkin device?

 

[bingeciren]

You can't turn off the phone and have the internet radio station still play through the Airport Express, correct? And the same with the Belkin device?

If you mean completely turning off the phone, yes because it's the phone doing the streaming from the radio station. But just shutting the display off won't interrupt the play.

 

[nsayer]

Just for posterity, I will leave my review of this device.

The analog audio output is at least 15 dB too low. I built a 15 dB preamp as a workaround, and that's fine. Just turning the volume up on my power amp just raised the noise floor unacceptably, but with a preamp this isn't a problem. This problem does not affect the optical output, so it's clearly some sort of design flaw in the analog output stages. As others have noted, the digital output is 16 bit 44.1 kHz. Run through a good external DAC (I built one based on the PCM1793) the sound quality is as good as you can expect. Running the output from my "good" DAC into the analog input of my AirPods Max yields audio that is indistinguishable to my ear from the same audio streaming directly to the APM over BT.

I had to try the initial connection a few times before it stuck, but since then it's been perfectly reliable. The connection via our home WiFi is far, far more reliable than the old bluetooth box it replaced.

The only other issue I'll mention is that this box is the same price as a HomePod Mini, but has no Siri functionality. That, in my opinion, makes it overpriced. If it were more like $60 instead of $100, I wouldn't have an issue.