3 ms·

Maybe it's just fond memories from a long-ago era, but didn't the original Airport Express have multi-room audio? I remember it working quite well. How is this

Maybe it's just fond memories from a long-ago era, but didn't the original Airport Express have multi-room audio? I remember it working quite well. How is this a feature, 15 years later?

narrowtux 8y ago
That's possible because your computer sends airplay streams to all airport expresses at the same time. However, you can't really do that with a phone, since it eats battery and needs a stable wifi connection. AirPlay 2 solves that by allowing the phone to buffer minutes of audio to one speaker, which then distributes that buffer to the rest of the speakers.
- dbbk 8y ago
  And the other protocols, like Spotify Connect, Chromecast etc, just send the URL of the stream and make the speakers themselves handle it. It's such a better approach that I'm baffled AirPlay 2 still has not adopted it.
  - asadlionpk 8y ago
    Doesn't that mean speakers open a separate request, consuming double the bandwidth. I just remember that chromecast's protocol was actually unusable on a slower connection.
  - millstone 8y ago
    How does this work if the stream isn't a URL? I often use AirPlay with files on my password-protected SMB share.
    - dbbk 8y ago
      It could fallback to the current behaviour just fine.
  - tinus_hn 8y ago
    Of course AirPlay and AirPlay 2 support this, if the application sending audio supports it. The problem is synchronizing the streams, not the bandwidth used by an MP3.
pfranz 8y ago
Original AirPlay (which I'm pretty sure, encompassed a bunch of "versions" over time) had a fixed 2 second lag and was designed around wired ethernet playing long form audio/video. AirPlay 2 seems like a well-needed update even if the user-facing feature list isn't impressive.
ben174 8y ago
Not multi room synced audio.
- trevyn 8y ago
  But there was an app called Airfoil that did this.
  - jfoldager 8y ago
    I remember trying to use that. I got random audible speed ups and slow downs as it tried to get different speakers in sync. It would never truly blend to feel like a single audio stream.

Maybe it's just fond memories from a long-ago era, but didn't the original Airport Express have multi-room audio? I remember it working quite well. How is this a feature, 15 years later?

narrowtux 8y ago

That's possible because your computer sends airplay streams to all airport expresses at the same time. However, you can't really do that with a phone, since it eats battery and needs a stable wifi connection. AirPlay 2 solves that by allowing the phone to buffer minutes of audio to one speaker, which then distributes that buffer to the rest of the speakers.

dbbk 8y ago
And the other protocols, like Spotify Connect, Chromecast etc, just send the URL of the stream and make the speakers themselves handle it. It's such a better approach that I'm baffled AirPlay 2 still has not adopted it.
- asadlionpk 8y ago
  Doesn't that mean speakers open a separate request, consuming double the bandwidth. I just remember that chromecast's protocol was actually unusable on a slower connection.
- millstone 8y ago
  How does this work if the stream isn't a URL? I often use AirPlay with files on my password-protected SMB share.
  - dbbk 8y ago
    It could fallback to the current behaviour just fine.
- tinus_hn 8y ago
  Of course AirPlay and AirPlay 2 support this, if the application sending audio supports it. The problem is synchronizing the streams, not the bandwidth used by an MP3.

pfranz 8y ago

Original AirPlay (which I'm pretty sure, encompassed a bunch of "versions" over time) had a fixed 2 second lag and was designed around wired ethernet playing long form audio/video. AirPlay 2 seems like a well-needed update even if the user-facing feature list isn't impressive.

ben174 8y ago

Not multi room synced audio.

trevyn 8y ago
But there was an app called Airfoil that did this.
- jfoldager 8y ago
  I remember trying to use that. I got random audible speed ups and slow downs as it tried to get different speakers in sync. It would never truly blend to feel like a single audio stream.