Does the original (gen1?) Play:5 support AirPlay 2?

No.

That’s unambiguous.

Darn.

I wish Sonos would release a hub that plugs into your router that would add Airplay 2 support to the entire gen 1 system and all groups.

For the cost of that, you might as well have a sonos one in another room.

For the cost of that, you might as well have a sonos one in another room.

I disagree. Let's say a hub costs $200 (same as Sonos One) and it provided Airplay 2 support to all Sonos speakers (20 around the house, various rooms and groups), then that would be more effective than getting a single Sonos One for the Kitchen, for example, and then being required to group that Kitchen Sonos One to my Office group, Living Room group, etc to achieve Airplay 2 support for those other rooms with gen 1 units. That just isn't practical for multiple people living in a house who want to use Airplay 2 on a well-establish gen 1 setup with a lot of speakers and groups. As it is now, someone like me will have to buy several Sonos One units to bring Airplay 2 support to all my various room groups. So that's why a hub that made all gen 1 Sonos products compatible with Airplay 2 would be fantastic.

If just getting a single gen 2 Sonos product added Airplay 2 support to all gen 1 groups and speakers, that would be a different story. But as it stands now, Sonos indicates that only the gen 1 speakers grouped with that gen 2 Sonos product will get Airplay 2 support.

For the cost of that, you might as well have a sonos one in another room.

If a single gen 2 speaker added to a setup of nearly 20 gen 1 speakers brought Airplay 2 support to every group, I would agree. However, Sonos indicates that you will need a gen 2 product for every single group to bring Airplay 2 support to that group of gen 1 speakers.

So buying a single theoretical $200 hub that brought Airplay 2 support to all gen 1 speakers would be more cost effective than buying a gen 2 product for every single group of gen 1 speakers existing in my house.

In reality, that hub would need to be able to process 31 streams of Airplay at once (for a max 32 unit system consisting of 31 non-Airplay capable units + hub, all playing a different Airplay stream). A unit with that type of processing power is not going to cost $200. The Play:1 can't even process one stream and it is only profitable at just under $200.

In reality, that hub would need to be able to process 31 streams of Airplay at once (for a max 32 unit system consisting of 31 non-Airplay capable units + hub, all playing a different Airplay stream). A unit with that type of processing power is not going to cost $200. The Play:1 can't even process one stream and it is only profitable at just under $200.

Fair point. Wonder what Sonos could sell a hub for. I have quite a few groups, so there's a point where getting a single $500 hub would be more cost effective than buying 4-6 gen 2 speakers (having to get 1 for every group). Admittedly, you would then only have a hub and Airplay 2 to show for your money instead of actually getting another speaker along with Airplay 2 support for anything grouped to that speaker. But for some people, getting a single product like a hub that adds support to all gen 1 products is going to be better and easier to integrate than buying many new gen 2 products.

A Sonos One is your best alternative as "a hub". To group others with for airplay.

Or - if you want to make a fairly free hub of your own just have a computer in your house run the likes of AirSonos etc. to make all your speakers show in airplay (been available for a good long time).