Airplay 2 Support

Someone might not need another speaker. ;)

Exactly. I would settle for a hockey puck size device I can plug in or put in a closet. A bridge for Airplay 2 compatibility..

Someone might not need another speaker. ;)

Exactly. I would settle for a hockey puck size device I can plug in or put in a closet. A bridge for Airplay 2 compatibility..
It has been mentioned amongst my own friends, since reading the recent Sonos 'AirPlay-2' announcement, that Sonos could perhaps build a kind of AirPlay-2 'control centre' hub into their next generation Boost ?... but to me, that really just seems so unlikely at the moment, as Sonos are always going to want their customers to buy their next generation speakers. They are a speaker hardware (sales) company first and foremost.

I think the processors in the older Sonos units (Play-1/Play-3 etc.) are not powerful enough to deal with the upcoming AirPlay-2 (stereo and 5.1 audio) requirements ... so a more powerful 'gateway' or 'handler' is clearly going to be needed to deal with the streaming process.

I can see why Sonos would install such a 'gateway/handler' in all their latest products (Sonos One etc.) and next generation devices, rather than it being a small 'add-on' device with some extra processing ability.

I'm just grateful that the solution Sonos is suggesting in their announcement, appears to be a reasonable compromise, as it still keeps my older speakers, (Play-1, Play-3 etc.) on the development path with a way of playing AirPlay-2 sources through all of them.

All Sonos devices cope perfectly well streaming from all manner of devices in mono and stereo and up to 32 devices too. Including streaming of higher bitrate flac files etc. and from all manner of devices including streaming from mobile devices.
Sonos have now said that they still sell old, outdated hardware that can't cope with the requirements of Airplay 2.
Does anybody have any actual information on what these requirements are that are so above the requirements they currently satisfy in allowing all of the above multi room functionality? Is there cpu intensive encryption and decryption going on? What is the reason?

All Sonos devices cope perfectly well streaming from all manner of devices in mono and stereo and up to 32 devices too. Including streaming of higher bitrate flac files etc. and from all manner of devices including streaming from mobile devices.
Sonos have now said that they still sell old, outdated hardware that can't cope with the requirements of Airplay 2.
Does anybody have any actual information on what these requirements are that are so above the requirements they currently satisfy in allowing all of the above multi room functionality? Is there cpu intensive encryption and decryption going on? What is the reason?

I'm certainly no hardware expert but I'm thinking it's the case that the latest Apple hardware is built around 64 bit processing. Sonos devices need to be able to cope with that faster movement of data, perhaps?

I'm certainly no hardware expert but I'm thinking it's the case that the latest Apple hardware is built around 64 bit processing. Sonos devices need to be able to cope with that faster movement of data, perhaps?
Correct. With the release of iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 apps (and therefore Airplay2-enabled devices from third-party suppliers as well) MUST support 64-bit technology.

https://developer.apple.com/news/

Smilja,

Thanks for that link, that's helpful and perhaps shows the reason why we are seeing some recent Sonos updates that have changes mostly behind the scenes, rather than any new user interface changes.

It seems to make sense that these updates are paving the way for Google Home, improved voice control, SMB upgrade and AirPlay-2 support

It appears there is a quite a lot slotted into the Sonos development pipeline, that's reading between the lines of their recent announcements and documentation.

And we know that Play:1, PlayBar etc. don't support 64bit? 64bit processing is nothing new.

SoAnd we know that Play:1, PlayBar etc. don't support 64bit? 64bit processing is nothing new.
So that’s why 'grouping' will be necessary with the Sonos latest products (Sonos One, Playbase etc.) for the integration of AirPlay-2. It looks like it’s all beginning to make some sense, eh?

No my 64bit comment is a question. Do we 'know' those devices aren't 64bit?
The newer device thing I see as just a way of getting the audio into the system - and the grouping distributes it to non-Airplay 2 devices using existing Sonos architecture.

No my 64bit comment is a question. Do we 'know' those devices aren't 64bit?
The newer device thing I see as just a way of getting the audio into the system - and the grouping distributes it to non-Airplay 2 devices using existing Sonos architecture.
I think the relevant processing power required is clearly described in the Sonos announcement and it 'somewhat' ties in with the link provided by smilja. I’m afraid I don’t see the actual point you are trying to make sjw?