Free-Standing, Portable Airplay Clients?

[VirtualPanther]

Greetings, Everyone!

I currently use AiplaySpeak on my Pioneer receiver. Works great. No issues at all. However, that's just one receiver. I want to have clients in multiple rooms. I have no need to setup receiver + speakers in multiple rooms. What's the solution? I searched for reasonably prices Aiplay-enabled speakers on Amazon and found nothing that would be well-rated and reliable. Is this technology getting abandoned? Even a year ago, I remember seeing a ton of small shelf speakers designed for Aiplay / Spotify / Online radio, etc.

What do you people use? Other than existing sound systems, what can serve as a moderately-priced portable client, which can be just connected to Cat 5 cable and power and placed on a kitchen cabinet, on shelf in a family room, lobby, etc.?

[cheeryfool]

Greetings, Everyone!

I currently use AiplaySpeak on my Pioneer receiver. Works great. No issues at all. However, that's just one receiver. I want to have clients in multiple rooms. I have no need to setup receiver + speakers in multiple rooms. What's the solution? I searched for reasonably prices Aiplay-enabled speakers on Amazon and found nothing that would be well-rated and reliable. Is this technology getting abandoned? Even a year ago, I remember seeing a ton of small shelf speakers designed for Aiplay / Spotify / Online radio, etc.

What do you people use? Other than existing sound systems, what can serve as a moderately-priced portable client, which can be just connected to Cat 5 cable and power and placed on a kitchen cabinet, on shelf in a family room, lobby, etc.?

Sonos Play 1s, though obviously a different technology and not especially cheap. They do Just Work though.

[VirtualPanther]

Sonos Play 1s, though obviously a different technology and not especially cheap. They do Just Work though.

Sonos doesn't support Airplay, do they?

[Rupp]

See this explanation.
https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/w...rt_for_airplay

[VirtualPanther]

See this explanation.
https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/w...rt_for_airplay

Hmm... Sounds like an old, cumbersome hack, rather than a native feature

Plus you need one Sonos plus and Airport Express in each room you want to use Airplay in. I am not a Mac guy. No point in buying five Airport Express devices, not to mention that many Sonos devices...

[cheeryfool]

Hmm... Sounds like an old, cumbersome hack, rather than a native feature

Plus you need one Sonos plus and Airport Express in each room you want to use Airplay in. I am not a Mac guy. No point in buying five Airport Express devices, not to mention that many Sonos devices...

What do you want to do with Airplay that Sonos doesn't support natively?

[spud]

Greetings, Everyone!

I currently use AiplaySpeak on my Pioneer receiver. Works great. No issues at all. However, that's just one receiver. I want to have clients in multiple rooms. I have no need to setup receiver + speakers in multiple rooms. What's the solution? I searched for reasonably prices Aiplay-enabled speakers on Amazon and found nothing that would be well-rated and reliable. Is this technology getting abandoned? Even a year ago, I remember seeing a ton of small shelf speakers designed for Aiplay / Spotify / Online radio, etc.

What do you people use? Other than existing sound systems, what can serve as a moderately-priced portable client, which can be just connected to Cat 5 cable and power and placed on a kitchen cabinet, on shelf in a family room, lobby, etc.?

PersonallyI use some regular PC speakers plugged into an Airport Express. Instead of Airport Express, a Raspberry Pi could do the trick too.

If you prefer an all in one solution there are the Pioneer A1-A3-A4 speakers. A while ago some HS users reported that they were great, see this thread
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00903HKIS
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00903HKOC
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00903HKXI

and here is some other possible choices (all under $100)
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-AD7000...dp/B005HY4UJ6/
www.amazon.com/iHome-AirPlay-Rechargeable-Wireless-System/dp/B009P2QUFS/
http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Resea.../dp/B007H1ZB5Y

[VirtualPanther]

What do you want to do with Airplay that Sonos doesn't support natively?

Sonos doesn't have native, company-supported, built-in Airplay support. The solution - via Airport Express or their software that must be run on a PC that is always on - is definitely a solution. However, I really have no need for Sons, at least not yet. So I was looking for a freestanding shelf speaker that natively supports Airplay.

[VirtualPanther]

PersonallyI use some regular PC speakers plugged into an Airport Express. Instead of Airport Express, a Raspberry Pi could do the trick too.

If you prefer an all in one solution there are the Pioneer A1-A3-A4 speakers. A while ago some HS users reported that they were great, see this thread
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00903HKIS
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00903HKOC
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00903HKXI

and here is some other possible choices (all under $100)
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-AD7000...dp/B005HY4UJ6/
www.amazon.com/iHome-AirPlay-Rechargeable-Wireless-System/dp/B009P2QUFS/
http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Resea.../dp/B007H1ZB5Y

I saw almost all of these on Amazon. It seems that the Pioneer solutions have long been discontinued by the manufacturer. The other ones are strictly wireless and users seem to think that not being Ethernet-connected via Cat5/Cat6 is the key to their AirPaly instability...

Pioneer models do look attractive. I may have to go that route. But it's the fact that most of these - by Pioneer and by other manufacturers -- have been discontinued, has led me to question the future of the AirPlay protocol...

[cheeryfool]

Sonos doesn't have native, company-supported, built-in Airplay support. The solution - via Airport Express or their software that must be run on a PC that is always on - is definitely a solution. However, I really have no need for Sons, at least not yet. So I was looking for a freestanding shelf speaker that natively supports Airplay.

What I meant was, why AirPlay at all? Wouldn't Sonos (without any type of AirPlay implementation) do what you need it to? Dirk's plugin for Sonos provides full integration to HS3, so you can for example, build out announcements to targeted speakers that pause and resume whatever music source might currently be playing (or just play if the Sonos isn't currently active).

[VirtualPanther]

What I meant was, why AirPlay at all? Wouldn't Sonos (without any type of AirPlay implementation) do what you need it to? Dirk's plugin for Sonos provides full integration to HS3, so you can for example, build out announcements to targeted speakers that pause and resume whatever music source might currently be playing (or just play if the Sonos isn't currently active).

Darn, this makes more sense. Not having Sonos, I had no idea there was a plug-in for it!

[cheeryfool]

http://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=161855

Here's the link if you hadn't already found it.

[spud]

the reasons one may choose Airplay over Sonos are:
- Airplay is way cheaper than Sonos
- Airplay is compatible with a lot of hardware (AppleTV, Airport Express, a lot of receivers, a lot of standalone speakers) and software (iTunes, XBMC/Kodi, shairport, etc...)
- all iOS device can natively stream audio from video or music to any Airplay devices. If for example you are watching a youtube video on your iPad, you can stream the Audio to your Airplay speakers anywhere in the house to keep listening.

[VirtualPanther]

Free-Standing, Portable Airplay Clients?

the reasons one may choose Airplay over Sonos are:
- Airplay is way cheaper than Sonos
- Airplay is compatible with a lot of hardware (AppleTV, Airport Express, a lot of receivers, a lot of standalone speakers) and software (iTunes, XBMC/Kodi, shairport, etc...)
- all iOS device can natively stream audio from video or music to any Airplay devices. If for example you are watching a youtube video on your iPad, you can stream the Audio to your Airplay speakers anywhere in the house to keep listening.

Very true. That is exactly why I was looking for cheap, highly rated shelf speakers with Airplay support. Unfortunately, if you read reviews, it seems that Airplay is the weak point for a lot of them. That was why I started this thread in the first place: finding what was still not discontinued, yet working great for people.

[rayvino]

Last month someone posted about cheap JBL Soundfly airplay speakers on sale http://board.homeseer.com/showthread...=cheap+airplay
I purchased two, I think I paid $40 each, now I see them on amazon for $65 each. Maybe wait for another sale.

They work great with Spud's plugin. I tried Sonos years ago when it first came out and it just didn't work, now I understand it works great but seems to be about twice the price of airplay equipment.

So far in addition to playing Itune/Iradio music, I use the speakers with the plugin to play a siren sound when my DSC alarm is tripped, speak messages when emails are sent from my other home such as low temperature, flood sensors tripped, alarm tripped. I have one plugged into our bedroom so at night it speaks the alerts that I would not get since my text messages go to my phone which is off at night.