Airplay 2 - iOS 11.4

Has anyone been able to setup Sonos with airplay 2 yet. I have updated to iOS 11.4 and tvOS 11.4 and airplay 2 works on those but can’t seem to connect it to the Sonos.

no Sonos has not released an update with airplay 2 compatibility yet.
only sonos knows when that will happen but they will post on this site when they do tell us
i am looking forward to airplay 2 on sonos one aswell

So what kind of hardware limitation is preventing airplay 2 on the older play 1s?

I'm really disappointed in this news that its only newer models getting it, if its a hardware problem fair enough but if thats just an excuse to not support older devices well then bye bye Sonos.

Please give me hard evidence on specific internal specs of the older play 1 and what airplay 2 requires.

Thank you

So what kind of hardware limitation is preventing airplay 2 on the older play 1s?

I'm really disappointed in this news that its only newer models getting it, if its a hardware problem fair enough but if thats just an excuse to not support older devices well then bye bye Sonos.

Please give me hard evidence on specific internal specs of the older play 1 and what airplay 2 requires.

Thank youledzep1,

Here is a quote from Sonos... “The original Play:1, for example, has about 1/16th the processing power of its modern equivalent, the Sonos One.”

You can read it for yourself here:

https://blog.sonos.com/en-gb/airplay2-coming

So what kind of hardware limitation is preventing airplay 2 on the older play 1s?

I'm really disappointed in this news that its only newer models getting it, if its a hardware problem fair enough but if thats just an excuse to not support older devices well then bye bye Sonos.

Please give me hard evidence on specific internal specs of the older play 1 and what airplay 2 requires.

Thank youledzep1,

Here is a quote from Sonos... “The original Play:1, for example, has about 1/16th the processing power of its modern equivalent, the Sonos One.”

You can read it for yourself here:

https://blog.sonos.com/en-gb/airplay2-coming

Thanks, I have already read that but I want to see the actual specs and requirements for airplay 2, I never buy into this stuff about hardware limitations, I always think its just another, we cant be bothered to support older devices and put time into an update just buy our newer products.

Thanks, I have already read that but I want to see the actual specs and requirements for airplay 2, I never buy into this stuff about hardware limitations, I always think its just another, we cant be bothered to support older devices and put time into an update just buy our newer products.

I'm sorry I don’t have the technical specs or hardware requirements, but I do know that the Sonos One Speaker is far cheaper than the Apple HomePod and that companies like Sonos need to sell their goods to stay in business to support their customers.

Either way, whether you believe Sonos or not, the only way to get access to AirPlay-2 on Sonos will be to own one of their newer products... at least their prices for the Sonos One are very reasonable, by comparison.

I guess we should not expect to get all of today’s current technology on devices we bought some years ago, but Sonos have done a good job at that with their speakers so far, adding voice control, via the (small) purchase of an echo device and now by adding AirPlay 'everywhere' in a Sonos Household by owning just one of their standalone Sonos One Speakers that can be grouped with all Sonos Rooms. I certainly see that as being 'pretty fair' to their customers.

Thanks, I have already read that but I want to see the actual specs and requirements for airplay 2, I never buy into this stuff about hardware limitations, I always think its just another, we cant be bothered to support older devices and put time into an update just buy our newer products.

I'm sorry I don’t have the technical specs or hardware requirements, but I do know that the Sonos One Speaker is far cheaper than the Apple HomePod and that companies like Sonos need to sell their goods to stay in business to support their customers.

Either way, whether you believe Sonos or not, the only way to get access to AirPlay-2 on Sonos will be to own one of their newer products... at least their prices for the Sonos One are very reasonable, by comparison.

I guess we should not expect to get all of today’s current technology on devices we bought some years ago, but Sonos have done a good job at that with their speakers so far, adding voice control, via the (small) purchase of an echo device and now by adding AirPlay 'everywhere' in a Sonos Household by owning just one of their standalone Sonos One Speakers that can be grouped with all Sonos Rooms. I certainly see that as being 'pretty fair' to their customers.

I get what you say, its just it doesn't seem like that long ago I purchased my play 1s and it seems like Airplay 2 has been in the pipeline for ages so older hardware should of at least been prepared for the future features.

By the way the price difference between the HomePod and Sonos Play 1 (presume sound is similar in Sonos One) is worth the extra cost, the HomePod is a very good sounding speaker, defiantly on another level compared to my play 1s, thats not to say the Play 1s are not great sounding speakers as well, just the higher cost for the HomePod does show a difference.

I'm certainly hoping that Sonos adding AirPlay 2 support means that my Sonos One will appear to my iPhone to be just another wireless speaker, and so any app that allows you to output to AirPlay 2 will let you send its audio to the Sonos One. For example, the BBC iPlayer Radio app, or the Audible app.
Paul1999,

From things I have read so far... it appears that your new Sonos One Speaker will become an AirPlay compatible device and from the Airplay icon in the iOS compatible apps, you will be able to send the audio to the speaker... so that’s BBC IPlayer, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, Podcasts etc. etc. to name but a few of the hundreds of apps available in the Apple Store and elsewhere.


Thanks for the detailed reply! I had not read the Sonos blog post about AirPlay 2, so that was useful. Fingers crossed the update comes out soon.

Thanks, I have already read that but I want to see the actual specs and requirements for airplay 2, I never buy into this stuff about hardware limitations, I always think its just another, we cant be bothered to support older devices and put time into an update just buy our newer products.

That's certainly been done before by some manufacturers, but if you look at Sonos history of adding new features to their older models, it seems unlikely they would switch gears and suddenly try to push for new sales in this manner. For a recently example, don't look any further then introducing Alexa voice control to all existing speakers, not just the new Sonos One.

Even besides that, it doesn't really make business sense for Sonos to do that. There are customers like you will consider switching systems rather then buying more Sonos products. Especially since Sonos currently doesn't have a replacement model to upgrade to for the playbar and play:3. Even these replacements do come out soon, the price tags probably aren't going to move a lot of people to upgrade just for the sake of airplay 2. Those that would probably isn't any different then those that don't currently have a playbar, but might buy one if it included airplay 2. I just don't think there is much of an advantage here,

From what I've seen, Sonos strategy has never been to try and get existing customers to upgrade their old Sonos stuff. They seem to recognize that it's an investment to customers and do what they can to keep that investment going. Instead, they want you buy Sonos for new zones in your home, and for the new customers who liked what they heard from existing Sonos customers.

"AirPlay 2 works in a similar way. The computing platforms and software architecture in some of the older Sonos players like Play:3 and Play:1 simply don’t have the horsepower to support AirPlay 2. The original Play:1, for example, has about 1/16th the processing power of its modern equivalent, the Sonos One. But by taking advantage of newer Sonos hardware, we’re able to make AirPlay 2 content available throughout the house on speakers old and new."

I don't understand this sentence... Not enough power but "we’re able to make AirPlay 2 content available throughout the house on speakers old and new." .. :? So Will it work with sonosplay:1 or not ? It seems that "Older Sonos speakers will not support AirPlay 2 on their own due to processor limitations, but they can be paired with the Playbase, the Play:5, or the Sonos One to enable AirPlay 2 functionality. A Sonos Play:1 grouped with a Sonos One, for example, will support AirPlay 2." (source from this article : https://www.macrumors.com/2018/04/25/sonos-airplay-2-compatibility/ )

I've been working on retro engineering of the first version of airplay, the CPU consumption is insignificant, I don't think that the sync functionality implemented in airplay 2 require so much CPU use. I think that the CPU PowerQUICC MPC8314VRADDA contained in the play:1 could be able to manage airplay 2 but it has a cost to implement it on this old hardware that sonos don't want to invest... and it allow to sell more new devices 😉