what can I use to replace my Airport Extreme in my home stereo?

[Sill]

I like to send music to my home stereo through the MacOS Music app via Airplay. I've been using discarded Apple Airports for a few years, with more than acceptable fidelity from the built-in DAC on the later models. They last a few years and then start screwing with my network, so I toss them and put another one in service. The supply of used $50 Airports is drying up, though, so I need to find something else.


requirements:

built-in DAC
Wifi not BT
Airplay 2 preferable rather than proprietary stuff
< $100 because I have multiple stereos
NO GOOGLE PRODUCTS

 

[iStorm]

I don't have one, but have heard of the Belkin SoundForm Connect.

AirPlay 2 Audio Adapter with Optical + 3.5mm | Belkin

Our Audio Adapter with AirPlay 2 is a plug-and-play way to wirelessly stream from your iOS device to any speaker with an optical or 3.5mm input. Shop now.

www.belkin.com

 

[Sill]

Thank you for posting that. I checked out that Belkin SoundForm on AudioScienceReview, it got mixed reviews. Connectivity issues and fidelity were big questions, and one person discovered the SoundForm kept phoning out to a couple of IP addresses, which is a big red tag for me. Another poster actually recommended doing what I've been doing, which is buying up old Airport Extremes.

I saw mentions there for the WiiM Mini and the Songbird from Andover. The WiiM seems kind of objectionable for security purposes. The Songbird looks interesting, but its $150, which is more than I'd wanted to spend. If I can't find anything more reasonable I'll take a longer look at it.

 

[arw]

In case one of your stereos has an optical input, a used Apple TV (3rd gen or lower) may be a stable alternative. Although Airplay 1 only.
A free but "hacky" solution is a jailbroken iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch which serves as an AirPlay receiver (the iPhone 4 a.e. has an excellent DAC and should provide great quality via dock connector line-out.
I use AirSpeaker.

 

[Sill]

No optical inputs on anything in my house except for an old soundbar I'm no longer using. If I had to illustrate this, picture trying to add digital streaming to an old Marantz or Fisher tube receiver. Best of both worlds then.
Your suggestion about the old iPhone is interesting but I don't have anything breakable here.

 

[arw]

No optical inputs on anything in my house except for an old soundbar I'm no longer using. If I had to illustrate this, picture trying to add digital streaming to an old Marantz or Fisher tube receiver. Best of both worlds then.
Your suggestion about the old iPhone is interesting but I don't have anything breakable here.

I fully understand. I don‘t have a receiver to recommend except to skip cheap adapters (sub 20-30 $), the two no-name ones I tested were unusable due to stability/network problems (and there‘s the privacy concern).

Of course this is not an out-of-the-box solution but I‘d still like to mention a Raspberry Pi. Without a case and power brick your‘re looking at half the price of off-the-shelf receivers.

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (16 €)
• HiFiBerry DAC+ Zero (21 €)
• Shairport-sync

 

[topcat001]

Alternatively the Pi’s HDMI port can be used to directly output digital audio to a receiver if supported (I understand this is not what the OP needs). I loved the shairport-sync idea, being primarily a Linux and OpenBSD user (for work and play) with some Apple toys for casual use.

 

[MajorFubar]

Another option would be Airport Express like I use. Again you're limited to buying used ones. Here in the UK the prices have rocketed since they were discontinued. Same with the Extremes. But you might be lucky, because the US has a bigger glut of used Apple gear keeping prices rock bottom.

 

[Sill]

I fully understand. I don‘t have a receiver to recommend except to skip cheap adapters (sub 20-30 $), the two no-name ones I tested were unusable due to stability/network problems (and there‘s the privacy concern).

Of course this is not an out-of-the-box solution but I‘d still like to mention a Raspberry Pi. Without a case and power brick your‘re looking at half the price of off-the-shelf receivers.

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (16 €)
• HiFiBerry DAC+ Zero (21 €)
• Shairport-sync

I've been waiting for about 2 years for the Tau DAC to be released but there's no word on that. Are you familiar with that one?

 

[Sill]

Another option would be Airport Express like I use. Again you're limited to buying used ones. Here in the UK the prices have rocketed since they were discontinued. Same with the Extremes. But you might be lucky, because the US has a bigger glut of used Apple gear keeping prices rock bottom.

They're less than $50 here lately, but the issue is finding one that hasn't been abused. Bad environment like heat and humidity shortens the life, and then there's the chance that there's some internal fault was exposed that caused the previous user to get rid of it. I've lost two Express and an Extreme in the past year alone.

 

[srbNYC]

Thank you for posting that. I checked out that Belkin SoundForm on AudioScienceReview, it got mixed reviews. Connectivity issues and fidelity were big questions, and one person discovered the SoundForm kept phoning out to a couple of IP addresses, which is a big red tag for me. Another poster actually recommended doing what I've been doing, which is buying up old Airport Extremes.

I saw mentions there for the WiiM Mini and the Songbird from Andover. The WiiM seems kind of objectionable for security purposes. The Songbird looks interesting, but its $150, which is more than I'd wanted to spend. If I can't find anything more reasonable I'll take a longer look at it.

Brand new owner of the Belkin, replacing an AirPort Express that was spottier and spottier with connectivity and Home automation reliability

Have to say, so far I’m super happy. Immediately updated the firmware with Belkin’s app (choose carefully; there are several and the first I used couldn’t find my device). Great compatibility with Home and 100% reliability so far. Did have to raise the volume on my receiver a bit but quality sounds great—better in fact (at least I think so!) than my very old and tired Express.

 

[Sill]

Brand new owner of the Belkin, replacing an AirPort Express that was spottier and spottier with connectivity and Home automation reliability

Have to say, so far I’m super happy. Immediately updated the firmware with Belkin’s app (choose carefully; there are several and the first I used couldn’t find my device). Great compatibility with Home and 100% reliability so far. Did have to raise the volume on my receiver a bit but quality sounds great—better in fact (at least I think so!) than my very old and tired Express.

Thanks for posting that. I'll take another look at the Belkin, perhaps they put some attention towards the security leaks.

 

[eXan]

I was looking into it last year and then decided upon WiiM Mini which I have been using since March 2023. It was sub CAD$100 from Amazon, and supports Airplay 2. I use it to play music from my Music.app library as well as from my phone. Overall very happy with it, but there was one feature that I was not able to get working. It was Amazon Alexa's setup for another "room". Once set up, it promised that I could tell her to play music "in the living room", but for some reason it doesn't work properly. Not too big of a deal to me, as I mostly play from Mac and from the phone anyway.

 

[helmetguy]

I fully understand. I don‘t have a receiver to recommend except to skip cheap adapters (sub 20-30 $), the two no-name ones I tested were unusable due to stability/network problems (and there‘s the privacy concern).

Of course this is not an out-of-the-box solution but I‘d still like to mention a Raspberry Pi. Without a case and power brick your‘re looking at half the price of off-the-shelf receivers.

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (16 €)
• HiFiBerry DAC+ Zero (21 €)
• Shairport-sync

I've used this exact Raspberry Pi setup for years in my stereo.

A Pi allows you to customize the audio output to whatever you want using different GPIO HATs. E.g. if you need a receiver with coaxial S/PDIF output.

 

[Sill]

I've used this exact Raspberry Pi setup for years in my stereo.

A Pi allows you to customize the audio output to whatever you want using different GPIO HATs. E.g. if you need a receiver with coaxial S/PDIF output.

Have you tried the TauDAC hat I mentioned earlier in this thread ? Three years later the developer hasn't mentioned a release date. Meanwhile, I've seen a few people on various forums saying they're already using it.

 

[helmetguy]

Have you tried the TauDAC hat I mentioned earlier in this thread ? Three years later the developer hasn't mentioned a release date. Meanwhile, I've seen a few people on various forums saying they're already using it.

No, although it looks really impressive. From a quick bit of research, it looks like people who are using the TauDAC have contacted the developer directly to obtain one. This may be the best option if you are interested in buying one.