Airplay 2 - iOS 11.4

The weirdness could be about how Airplay 2 works with some of Sonos products, but not all. Or it could be because Apple has tried to market their Homepod as a kind of 'Sonos killer' when it was first announced.

I'm not sure about that article. I was under assumption apps that were full airplay2 compatible would be able to hand off the stream to Sonos (like say Spotify Connect and the way most Sonos stuff works - which is what makes it reliable). I think the spokesperson may have been confusing a bit the fact that the HomePod is the only device that can actually initiate a connection (which the phone normally has to do). I think its still a little up in the air. Without the ability to hand off Airplay2 is no better than Airplay1.

You could be right. I don't have an iPhone and no real means to test it out to confirm anything.

Nope, the article is on point on this matter. Airplay is a direct stream protocol. It goes from the sender to the speaker via wifi, only Apple Music on a Homepod is an exception, every other audio goes the direct stream way. That means you're reliant on your wifi performance and it will drain your battery.

Airplay 2 compatible apps will have an improved buffer and time sync, but that's pretty much it. There are still a lot of "major" apps that don't support Airplay 2. That will also be a long way to go so I wouldn't expect too much from Airplay in the first months.

On a sidenote: Airplay 2 requires Apple WAC, I'm pretty sure that's the reason why most of Sonos' devices won't support it, as a hardware chip is needed for that.

On a sidenote: Airplay 2 requires Apple WAC, I'm pretty sure that's the reason why most of Sonos' devices won't support it, as a hardware chip is needed for that.No, a hardware chip is not required for Airplay 2.

Here's something directly from Apple on the subject.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/05/ios-11-4-brings-stereo-pairs-and-multi-room-audio-with-airplay-2/

However, it doesn't say anything about whether it streams through the phone or not. It does clearly state though that Airplay 2 is "the most advanced, easy to use, wireless multi-room audio system"....multiple times. I guess that's all we really need to know.

On a sidenote: Airplay 2 requires Apple WAC, I'm pretty sure that's the reason why most of Sonos' devices won't support it, as a hardware chip is needed for that.No, a hardware chip is not required for Airplay 2.

It is, I recommend you read about Apple's MFI program.

Here's something directly from Apple on the subject.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/05/ios-11-4-brings-stereo-pairs-and-multi-room-audio-with-airplay-2/

However, it doesn't say anything about whether it streams through the phone or not. It does clearly state though that Airplay 2 is "the most advanced, easy to use, wireless multi-room audio system"....multiple times. I guess that's all we really need to know.

I have a Homepod at home (my wife wants Siri...) and I can tell you that it's a direct stream, I just played a video on youtube and put my iphone into flight mode, the stream dropped after 30 seconds.. same behavior with Spotify. Acutally I'm not even sure how it should work otherwise. The Homepod or any other Airplay 2 speaker would need millions of different implementations of App streaming, that's not really something you can achieve.

No it's not. It is for Airplay, not so for 2..

Hopefully there’s no delay with airplay 2 as there is when you audiobrige from Apple TV to a Sonos speaker.

Ok, so old Play 1s and a few others in the range will not get Airplay 2, so what about if Sonos offered some kind of trade-in program for those that wish to upgrade and make use of Airplay 2 ?