8 ms·

>Coming this year in a free software update, users will be able to play music throughout the house with multi-room audio. Interesting that a key feature that t

>Coming this year in a free software update, users will be able to play music throughout the house with multi-room audio. Interesting that a key feature that the competition already has won’t be shipping at launch. I wonder if this is related to the Homepod’s previous delays.

jbigelow76 9y ago
It's a delay with AirPlay 2, which isn't HomePod specific, and not the hardware from my understanding.
knolan 9y ago
You can already AirPlay to multiple devices (including homebrew kodi boxes) from iTunes in MacOS. AirPlay 2 just brings this to iOS.
- lobster_johnson 9y ago
  The changes in AirPlay 2 will be a little more than that. To make it work more like Sonos, it requires that the receiving device buffer a lot more of the audio to make it resilient from wi-fi instability, and it probably requires some changes to that devices are synced up at all times. And I sure hope they're doing something with latency. As I understand it, Sonos can do some of these things because their audio is transmitted over a proprietary wireless connection, so it's not competing with Internet traffic. I use AirPlay today over ordinary home wi-fi, and it's awfully unreliable — stutters all the time, sometimes doesn't play, long pause before audio will start, etc. — and larger buffers would certainly help here.
  - knolan 9y ago
    My AirPlay experience is a lot better. From my Mac I can play music simultaneously in my living room and kitchen very reliably. From my phone I can play to either speaker, however the kitchen unit (Airstream S200) stutters when I move the phone into a known poor signal area at the back of the kitchen. There’s about a 2-3 second buffer with current AirPlay. It warns you of this when use use the a GarageBand app. Try enabling IGMP snooping on your router and see if that helps.
    - lobster_johnson 9y ago
      Thanks for the IGMP tip! Turns out Mikrotik's RouterOS got this feature a month ago, and I've turned it on now. So far so good.
      - knolan 9y ago
        Good luck!

jbigelow76 9y ago

It's a delay with AirPlay 2, which isn't HomePod specific, and not the hardware from my understanding.

knolan 9y ago

You can already AirPlay to multiple devices (including homebrew kodi boxes) from iTunes in MacOS. AirPlay 2 just brings this to iOS.

lobster_johnson 9y ago
The changes in AirPlay 2 will be a little more than that. To make it work more like Sonos, it requires that the receiving device buffer a lot more of the audio to make it resilient from wi-fi instability, and it probably requires some changes to that devices are synced up at all times. And I sure hope they're doing something with latency. As I understand it, Sonos can do some of these things because their audio is transmitted over a proprietary wireless connection, so it's not competing with Internet traffic. I use AirPlay today over ordinary home wi-fi, and it's awfully unreliable — stutters all the time, sometimes doesn't play, long pause before audio will start, etc. — and larger buffers would certainly help here.
- knolan 9y ago
  My AirPlay experience is a lot better. From my Mac I can play music simultaneously in my living room and kitchen very reliably. From my phone I can play to either speaker, however the kitchen unit (Airstream S200) stutters when I move the phone into a known poor signal area at the back of the kitchen. There’s about a 2-3 second buffer with current AirPlay. It warns you of this when use use the a GarageBand app. Try enabling IGMP snooping on your router and see if that helps.
  - lobster_johnson 9y ago
    Thanks for the IGMP tip! Turns out Mikrotik's RouterOS got this feature a month ago, and I've turned it on now. So far so good.
    - knolan 9y ago
      Good luck!