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Apple Adds AirPlay 2 Section to HomeKit Site, Outlines Upcoming AirPlay 2 Speakers

Tuesday May 29, 2018 11:33 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today updated its HomeKit site, which is where the company lists all of the available accessories and smart home products that offer HomeKit support, with a new AirPlay 2 section.

This section of the site lists all of the upcoming speakers and receivers that will be updated with AirPlay 2 support now that the AirPlay 2 protocol is available.


AirPlay 2 devices include the HomePod, of course, which is the first and only AirPlay 2 device available following today's iOS 11.4 update, along with speakers from companies that include Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Libratone, Marantz, Naim, and Sonos.

Sonos, perhaps the most popular and well-known company introducing AirPlay 2 support, plans to add it to the Sonos One, the Play:5, and the Playbase. AirPlay 2 will work with other Sonos speakers, but one of these three Sonos devices will be required.

Today's list is limited to manufacturers who have already pledged support for AirPlay 2, but it is likely to grow as additional companies announce AirPlay 2 functionality. A full list of speakers gaining AirPlay 2 support is below:
  • Apple HomePod
  • Beoplay A6
  • Beoplay A9 mk2
  • Beoplay M3
  • BeoSound 1
  • BeoSound 2
  • BeoSound 35
  • BeoSound Core
  • BeoSound Essence mk2
  • BeoVision Eclipse (audio only)
  • Denon AVR-X3500H
  • Denon AVR-X4500H
  • Denon AVR-X6500H
  • Libratone Zipp
  • Libratone Zipp Mini
  • Marantz AV7705
  • Marantz NA6006
  • Marantz NR1509
  • Marantz NR1609
  • Marantz SR5013
  • Marantz SR6013
  • Marantz SR7013
  • Naim Mu-so
  • Naim Mu-so QB
  • Naim ND 555
  • Naim ND5 XS 2
  • Naim NDX 2
  • Naim Uniti Nova
  • Naim Uniti Atom
  • Naim Uniti Star
  • Sonos One
  • Sonos Play:5
  • Sonos Playbase
None of these speakers are available with AirPlay 2 at the current time, but many of them will gain support for the feature following firmware updates that will likely start trickling out now that iOS 11.4 has launched.

Related Roundups: iOS 11, HomePod
Tag: AirPlay 2
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Buy Now)
[ 92 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

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Avatar
oneMadRssn
3 weeks ago
Two things:

First, it's a shame AirPlay2 support isn't coming to the AirPort Express 3rd gen. I know a bunch of people used it as an AirPlay receiver for amplified stereo speakers. As it is original Apple hardware, they really should just update the software to add support.

Second, I hope receiver companies like Denon update their firmware to add support for AirPlay2.
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
critter13
3 weeks ago
if they arent going to update the Airport Express firmware to support Airplay2 then can they atleast update the iTunes Remote app to support things like Apple Music Radio so i can just keep using iTunes to serve up audio to different speakers.
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
busyscott
3 weeks ago
I wonder how many people that are commenting how excited they are realize they could have been using almost all the same features from iTunes on a mac for the last...what, 5 years now?
[doublepost=1527619096][/doublepost]

Oh hai Apple, cool list of stand-alone speakers. How do I add AirPlay 2 support to an *existing* amp/speaker setup? K thnx

Hook it up to an Apple TV 4k.
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
star_nerdy
3 weeks ago
Call me when I can open my door and have my own entrance music.

I have a motion sensor. I have music. I have a speaker. This shouldn’t be difficult.

Yeah, I know I can create my own device to do that using Raspberry Pi. But I want an Apple device that supports that out of the box.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
Macwick
3 weeks ago


Hook it up to an Apple TV 4k.


Why not just buy a Mac Pro and hook it up to your amp?
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
Relentless Power
3 weeks ago
HomePod is soaring with updates today. Honestly, this is what we should have expected somewhat earlier, but Its refreshing to see all new additions.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
ignatius345
3 weeks ago
I hope this turns out to be true:

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/04/04/airport-express-will-apparently-gain-airplay-2-speaker-support/
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
Menel
3 weeks ago

I hope this turns out to be true:

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/04/04/airport-express-will-apparently-gain-airplay-2-speaker-support/

Any signs of this vanished weeks and weeks ago.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Macwick
3 weeks ago
Oh hai Apple, cool list of stand-alone speakers. How do I add AirPlay 2 support to an *existing* amp/speaker setup? K thnx
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Menel
3 weeks ago

Assuming Apple uses their favorite AAC encoding at 256kbps (used for Apple Music, AirPods, etc.), that is about 2MB/minute. Seems 4-8MB would be plenty for the caching minutes.

Airplay has always been lossless, no decoding done on the AirportExpress endpoints. Decoded before transmission.
Rating: 3 Votes

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