Apple introduced the second generation of AirPlay, AirPlay 2, as part of the Developer Conference last year, yes, last year. Since then, it has taken almost a year to offer compatibility with this technology between your devices. This compatibility came with the release of iOS 11.3 a couple of months ago, and the Macs for just a few days.
As soon as Apple announced this second generation of AirPlay 2, many were the manufacturers who announced that their speakers would also be compatible with this proprietary Apple technology. Sonos was one of them, although at the time it did not specify which would be the models that could be updated. For a few weeks, we already know what the models are and from today, we can update them to take advantage of the benefits of AirPlay 2.
AirPlay 2 allows us to play music or podcasts from speakers throughout the house, and everything stays in perfect sync. If you have more than one AirPlay 2 compatible speaker, you can even play different songs in different rooms from the same device, this being the main novelty that this second generation of AirPlay offers us.
Sonos models that are compatible with AirPlay 2 are:
- Sonos One
- Sonos Play: 5 2st generation
- Sonos Beam
- Sonos Playbase
If we have older models, such as a Sonos Play: 1 we can group it with a Sonos One, which is compatible with AirPlay 2, in order to take advantage of this technology in non-compatible models.
Speakers to be updated to support AirPlay 2
- beo play a6
- Beoplay A9 mk2
- beo play m3
- Beo Sound 1
- Beo Sound 2
- Beo Sound 35
- BeoSound Core
- BeoSound Essence mk2
- BeoVision Eclipse (audio only)
- Denon AVR-X3500H
- Denon AVR-X4500H
- Denon AVR-X6500H
- Libratone Zipp
- Libratone Zipp Mini
- Marantz AV7705
- Marantz NA6006
- Marantz NR1509
- Marantz NR1609
- Marantz SR5013
- Marantz SR6013
- Marantz SR7013
- Naim Mu-so
- Naim Mu-so QB
- Naïm ND 555
- Naim ND5 XS 2
- Naim NDX 2
- Naim Uniti Nova
- Naim Uniti Atom
- Naim Uniti Star
How to upgrade Sonos speaker to AirPlay 2
If we have any of the Sonos models compatible with AirPlay 2 technology, we just have to use the Sonos Controller app to be able to download the latest firmware version of our Sonos and that it is automatically installed in the speaker. Once the installation is finished, we will finally be able to take advantage of the advantages that AirPlay 2 offers us, especially if we have more than one device in our home.