Apple’s AirPlay has been around for a good long while now, and while it is the preferred choice of music aficionados, on account of its ability to stream music in very high quality, there is still room for improvement with Apple’s software.
This is where Apple’s AirPlay 2 standard comes in. Designed to improve on the existing technology by adding in some key new features, AirPlay 2 is but weeks away from a release inside iOS 11. And if you’re a fan of the existing standard, there is definitely cause for excitement.
But first, a bit of history.
AirPlay: What It Is And What It Does
Apple’s AirPlay was built on the company’s 2004 AirTunes software. The basic idea was simple: let Apple users stream music from iTunes to an AirPort Express.
That was A LONG time ago, though, and things have progressed quite a bit since the software’s humble (and super fiddly) beginnings. Nowadays, AirPlay is featured on ALL iPhone and iPad (as well as Mac) devices and, once connected to your network, is super easy to use.
It works on ALL Apple devices too, so if you’re an Apple household, you can pretty much fling media around everywhere until your heart’s content.
You can use it to send video and music from one Apple device to another. It’s basically Chromecast, but just for Apple products. And while it is kind of restricted, the technology inside it and the performance you get from AirPlay is very impressive with respect to overall quality and sound fidelity, thanks to its lossless compression.
Apple AirPlay 2 – What’s New?
The big thing about Apple’s AirPlay 2 is “multi-room” support, which basically means you will be able to stream music wirelessly to multiple speakers on the same network in your home.
If you’ve used SONOS, this is essentially what Apple is attempting to create. Via an App on your iPhone, for instance, you will be able to set up speakers around your home, by room, and then, if you so fancy, play different music in each of them.
But where it gets REALLY interesting is that you can “pair” different speakers from different manufacturers, providing they support AirPlay 2, which is a pretty darn cool.
I like this because it means you don’t need to invest thousands in speakers all over your home; rather, you can have a decent set in your most used rooms and then, in the less frequented ones, have cheaper speakers.
You cannot do this with SONOS, as all of its speakers are expensive. The ability to group AirPlay 2-compatible speakers is, therefore, a very attractive proposition for those looking at a cheaper and/or different approach to filling their home with SONOS speakers.
Apple AirPlay 2 – What HiFi Brands Will Support It?
The full extent of support isn’t known just yet, but Apple dropped the following names during its WWDC keynote:
- NAIM
- Bose
- Bang & Olufsen
- Devialet
- Dynaudio
- Bowers & Wilkins
- Bluesound
- Libratone
- Denon
- And, of course, the Apple-owned Beats
Apple’s incoming HomePod will also feature full support for AirPlay 2, obviously.
What Apple Products Support Apple AirPlay 2?
Simple – any products that can run iOS 11, and these are listed below:
iPhone
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 6S
- iPhone 6S Plus
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone SE
- iPhone 5S
iPad
- 12.9in iPad Pro (first generation)
- 12.9in iPad Pro (second generation)
- 9.7in iPad Pro
- 10.5in iPad Pro
- iPad (fifth generation)
- iPad Air 2
- iPad Air
- iPad mini 4
- iPad mini 3
- iPad mini 2
iPod touch
- iPod touch (6th generation)
Apple AirPlay 2 Release Date
Apple AirPlay 2 will launch inside Apple’s iOS 11 update, which is expected to land during the later part of 2017, alongside Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 7s releases.
by rgoodwin via Featured Articles
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