Don’t expect old Sonos speakers to get AirPlay 2 support

If you don’t own a Sonos Beam, Playbase, One, or second-gen Play:5, don’t expect to get support for AirPlay 2. In an interview with Engadget, Sonos Chief Product Office Nick Millington talked about what plans it had for the older speakers that doesn’t get support for AirPlay. Millington said the company would rather concentrate on ensuring the longevity of these old speakers instead of just bringing new technology into them for the sake of it. One way to do that is bringing an update that will let the Play:1 speaker work in multiple rooms. Millington said, “We decided that AirPlay 2 was a bit too much of a commitment of the remaining resources and RAM and processor inside that product.”

AirPlay 2 now available, ask Siri to play music on your Sonos smart speakers

Sonos has taken pains to ensure that it's smart speaker line up can work with various partners. The Sonos One and Sonos Beam already work with Amazon Alexa out of the box.

Now that Apple's AirPlay 2 standard has been made available, users of iPhones and iPads can also use their Sonos speakers.

I've tested AirPlay 2 on some Sonos speakers by setting up the Sonos app on my iPhone. Suddenly I see some of my recent Sonos speakers appearing as AirPlay 2 compatible. This allows me to quickly route audio from my iPad or iPhone to any of these nearby smart speakers.

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