HomePod alternatives with airPlay 2
AMAZINGLY, AIRPLAY HAS been with us in one form or another for some 15 years. As AirTunes, its first incarnation, it was primarily there to send music from iTunes to an Airport Express; when the transition to AirPlay came in 2010, its support extended to third–party apps and devices.
It’s clearly a very capable streaming protocol, and one which has grown beyond audio to support video streaming, screen mirroring and more.
Harnessing Wi–Fi rather than Bluetooth increases both the potential range and the streaming resolution, while also making setup a breeze. AirPlay 2, which came to us with the release of HomePod last year, truly cemented that reputation.
AirPlay 2 adds a host of extra controls, putting devices into Apple’s Home app and allowing Siri to boss them around. It improves buffering, ensuring glitch–free streaming. And, crucially, it boosts the interoperability of speakers, adding multi–room support
and, at least in the case of HomePod, stereo pairing. Our testing showed that you can’t pair up different speakers of different brands, but all five of the devices were happy to play multi–room audio as part of one seamless network, and they’ll work with a HomePod, too.
A device doesn’t need to be built for AirPlay 2 to support it. Indeed, the Yamaha MusicCast 20 has only just received the firmware update that added support in; there will likely be far greater support for AirPlay 2 cropping up in speakers in future months. So if you’re looking to fill your home with sound, AirPlay 2 is the choice to make.