Using Airplay as a viable output for all MacBook sound

  • 12 October 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 560 views

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This isn't an advanced setup as such but felt it fitted best here.

I have a Play:1 setup in my living room which will become a Playbar + Play:1 setup once my movers ship my stuff. I also have a Play:5 coming. I'm committed to the Sonos system!

I've just setup a new office and was originally thinking of putting the Play:5 in here. However, after setting up a Henge Dock for my MacBook Pro I realised I would need a speaker for it, but that the Play:5 is too big to place anywhere on the desk.

A Play:3 would fit perfectly, but has no Line-In. I tried AirSonos as a hack and whilst it works in test, the lag makes it unrealistic for everyday use.

I'm tempted to go with an Airport Express + Connect:Amp as in the future I would like to introduce a record player too, but I don't want to go down this path and then find that I have the same lagging issue.

Is Airplay a viable option for pushing all MacBook sound?

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4 replies

It might be, when Sonos releases compatibility with Airplay 2, which they haven't, yet. There is no support for Airplay at all, so you'd need to do the hacking connecting of an Airplay device to a CONNECT or PLAY:5 just like you were going to do with your computer.

But there's no current timeline on this. I don't believe I've seen anything from Apple on when Airplay 2 will be released, and of course Sonos is not ready to say when they'll be done with their side. I suspect they're rather reliant on Apple to provide them data, as well.
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You can try this https://sourceforge.net/projects/aircast-airupnp/ to use Sonos as is they were AirPlay devices
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Thanks. I'm not looking for how to AirPlay, as I have some options for that. I'm asking if the lag via AirPlay is such that it would make things like watching YouTube videos, movies, etc., untenable.

This is the case with third party setups like AirSonos and the like, but I'm curious if anyone has an officially sanctioned AirPlay setup (as per Sonos' instructions).
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Sorry, I misunderstood. If you watch on your Macbook and use an AirPort express, then its (the AirPort) output will be in sync with video, that's what the AirPlay protocol does in term of sync (it controls the precise timing of audio and "delays" the video accordingly). But a delay will be added by the Sonos on its analogue input and I think it's 70 ms, others shall confirm. So this will be what you will experience,less than 100ms gap video/audio.

AirSonos or my bridge work very differently and we cannot control the delay introduced by Sonos as we send audio using UPnP.

I'm personally using sometimes my Sonos connected through PLAY:5 analogue input with another multiroom system and if I set that other system with such delay for the player connected to the PLAY:5, it works fine.