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I can’t find an unambiguous answer to this question anywhere: Does the original (gen1?) Play:5 support AirPlay 2?
No.
That’s unambiguous.



Darn.
The original Play:5 isn't able to act as a target or receiver for Airplay 2, but if you have a Play:5 gen2, Sonos One, Playbase, or Beam (just announced), they can all receive that signal and can be grouped with older players to share the audio.
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).
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).



Thanks for giving me another way to wrap my head around this. I'm not opposed to keeping a computer running to achieve Airplay 2 support, but I think AirSonos stopped support on this and they are nowhere near ready for Airplay 2. https://github.com/stephen/airsonos/issues/395 -- I looked at AirSonos years ago, decided against it, and forgot about it until you just suggested it. The install process seems over my head anyway, requiring "node.js" and all sorts of things I don't feel like having to troubleshoot every time there's a problem.
I can't see Sonos spending the money to develop a device soley for airplay2 support. There can't be that many customers that would be that interested in it. If this hub had additional features, maybe.
There are other server software's - think most current is

https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect



I haven't kept up with them all
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