Airplay 2 available today...

Disappointing to having to wait for B&O to integrate it until aug/sept. I’m holding back additional speaker purchases for over a year as AP2 feels game-changing to me.

it’d be great to have two BS1 as stereo pair connected wireless to my ATV. let’s see whether this will be feasible before xmas ;)

Besides the B&O app, will there be any advantages of having NL? Can AP2 serve as a more stable NL replacement?

I believe its only the HomePod that will work as a stereo pair.

There is a setup process built in to the Airplay 2 protocol when it sees >1 HomePod - and if paired, they appear as a single pair amongst the speaker choices. It doesnt offer you that choice for non-HomePod airplay speakers.

And i think that's an Apple restriction, not down to the third party speaker manufacturer.

Not sure if Airplay 2 is anything more than very belated catch up - and in the case of its voice integration / control, still hobbled by iOS restrictions (Apple Music, not Spotify / Tidal, etc etc).

 

 

I think you’re hoping a bit too much Sandyb : stereo pairing is a feature of the HomePod, but has not been advertised as an AP2 feature... I really doubt it will be available. Maybe you can do this by wire if the BS2 has an Aux input!

Agreed - maybe i wasn't clear in my response to steve1977.

Yes, stereo pairing is restricted to HomePods - i was trying to damp down his expectation that, for example, 2 BS1s can be used as a pair.

It wont be possible.

If it’s an home pod feature, there is hope that it will also turn into an b&o feature. maybe not with existing BSs, but potentially with the mk2 rumored for fall.

Any thoughts what NL still brings - once AP2 is released - to B&O users beyond using the B&O app. All NL devices will eventually support AP2, so AP2 seems like a superior choice for B&O fans?

Btw, are you on some FW beta or how can you tell that stereo pairing is not supported?

steve1977:

Any thoughts what NL still brings - once AP2 is released - to B&O users beyond using the B&O app. All NL devices will eventually support AP2, so AP2 seems like a superior choice for B&O fans?

How about the guys, who use Android devices with the Bang & Olufsen app to control their B&O NL devices?

AirPlay 2 is completely useless to those.

NL (and B&O) is dedicated to serve more than just the Apple guys.

MM

No, just a bored nerd who spends far too much time on this kind of thing.

It's not a question of it being a "B&O feature" - it's down to the way Airplay 2 works, which is under Apple's control. I think (not certain) but the way stereo pairing with the HomePod works is that the stereo channel separation is done by the 2 HomePods themselves. The HomePod has a pretty powerful processor inside, and the stereo channels separation is offloaded onto the HomePods to do. 

As such, given that is the way i think Airplay 2 works, i don't believe it will come to other Airplay 2 speakers - and as @mbee suggests, stereo pairing is being promoted as a HomePod not Airplay 2 feature.

As for AP vs NL, i think the overlap is pretty limited tbh.

NL can bring many products into the same audio experience, both Beovisions and Beosounds / BeoPlay products. Its pretty easy and generally source agnostic.

AP2 is limited to airplay enabled speakers (so no BV's),  all it brings is multi-room from iOS devices, and some Siri voice control if you use Apple Music / Podcasts. They havent added any Home automation / scene setting, nor speaker grouping, though that may follow to some degree. 

If Apple had opened up Siri to allow voice control of more then just Apple Music / Podcasts to AP2 speakers, i could see how it offers something different to NL. But they haven't, and until they do, it's a belated catch up, and still hobbled by Siri / music service restrictions.

Why wouldnt  B&O lash themselves  to Apple's mast - It's gone pretty well so far!

steve1977:

Btw, are you on some FW beta or how can you tell that stereo pairing is not supported?

I'm not on a beta, I'm just supposing that stereo pairing is not supported on AP2 because it was never advertised as an AP2 feature, it was just an HomePod feature that is now available via a HomePod software update. Look at all Airplay 2 presentation out there : when anyone speaks about stereo pairing, it's only concerning HomePods!

Sandyb:

AP2 is limited to airplay enabled speakers (so no BV's),

Not exactly : Beovision Eclipse is one of the Airplay 2 compatible speakers on B&O's list. In fact the Soundcenters seems to have a full featured BS Core inside it, so all multiroom speakers and Core features should come to the Eclipse...

Of course yes, I did know. Was generalizing, my bad!

mbee:

Look at all Airplay 2 presentation out there : when anyone speaks about stereo pairing, it's only concerning HomePods!

Sonos is talking about it.  Not sure if they will do it out-of-band "alongside" AirPlay or if the feature is built-in to Airplay 2.  They have the capability, certainly:  For example, that's how the Sonos sub works wirelessly: The main speaker, e.g. a PlayBase or (new version) Play:5 gets the feed using the Sonos mesh (or WiFi) over 2.4GHz, and the sub gets its signal via some proprietary protocol over the 5GHz band, from the main speaker.  The same thing *could* be done by telling AirPlay that one Play:5 is taking the stereo signal, but playing only half and sending the other channel via 5GHz to the other speaker directly.  Not sure how they will actually do it, but they are talking about it.

I am currently using airports to feed my Beomaster 3000-2, Beomaster 7000 and Beocenter 2300.

As far as I now understand Airplay 2 - this will not support airports. I testet it with 11.4 and correctly it does now work. But it will however support Apple TV4.

I am therefore thinking of replacing the 3 airports with Apple tv4s and some hdmi audio extractors.

Is there a better way to this?

Do any of you have experience with a good hdmi audio extractor?

Beold:

As far as I now understand Airplay 2 - this will not support airports. I testet it with 11.4 and correctly it does now work. But it will however support Apple TV4.

Could you clarify?  Does "correctly does now work" mean (typo) "does not work correctly", or (vocabulary) "does still work correctly"?  Tnx.

Edit: Apple's support page implies that AirPlay 2 is an add-on to AirPlay, and that everything you can do now to old AirPlay speakers, you will continue to be able to do.  I.e, your updated devices are backward-compatible with AirPlay 1 devices.  Supposedly.  The only difference is that you won't see the option to pair multiple speakers if they're on AirPlay 1.  Supposedly.

     https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208728

Sorry trackbeo. What I should have said is that it is not working. And you are correct. They can still play with airplay 1 functionality, but you can not play more than 1 device at the same time.

I am thinking to upgrade the 3 airports to Apple tv4s + Hdmi to analog converters.

My current Apple tv4 is now updated and seem to work fine with airplay 2. I however only have 1 of these, so I will start with testing it with 1 more.

I am however not sure how the sound quality will be with an Apple tv4 + hdmi to analog converter. I will test and report back.

 

@Beold : a bit more expensive, but allowing to have full B&O NL multiroom (and airplay in September), the BS Core may be a better solution for a B&O setup...

Beold - Do any of you have experience with a good hdmi audio extractor?

Hallo Beold. - Click her.  

Thanks mbee and Peter, 

I will look into the core also.

/Mike

Beold:

I am currently using airports to feed my Beomaster 3000-2, Beomaster 7000 and Beocenter 2300.

Hi Mike,

I understand that you want to stream music from iDevices, eventually in a multiroom configuration, to your classic B&O equipments. If you're listening to the radio via TuneIn, the music via Deezer or Spotify or a Synology NAS, then several Google Chromecast Audio network players (not available in white ;-) may be a way cheaper solution...

Hi CB,

I actually have 2 chromecast audios, but think that the interface is not as good as the airplay functions on the i-devices. The wife and children also got confused about the way you have to find the chromecast functions inside spotyiy in one way and inside tunein anothey way etc. Plus that chromecast audio does not work with youtube.

I like the way thay airplay just plays everything on the i-device in the same way. Simple and intuitive.

I have now purchesed another Apple tv4 and are placing and order for a hdmi converter. https://www.avxperten.dk/hdmi-lyd-extractor/hdmi-lyd-extractor-konig-4k.asp. 

i went through the sane journey as Beold on my journey to get well-working multi-room.

Bought several ML/NL converters to bring my b&o in the mix, but then realized that the b&o app is not working too well and - for example - doesn’t integrate well with apple music or spotify. at least if i’d like to limit my app use to one app.

Then i tried chromecast audio, which is fine, but struggled with the same things as Beold. Too complex and low waf.

I’m now quite happy since airplay 2 is out and look for some form of airport replacement. the atv/splitter way don’t work for me (two large devices, 3 cables). Maybe beosound core could work, but i’m waiting to see whether the AP2 implementation really works and comes in september. also hoping for some rpi based solution or apple bringing an airport replacement. or maybe some other 3rd party. ideally with a line-in as well.

let’s see what the future brings.