Bluesound Brings Apple AirPlay 2 into the Fold
(Apple/Bluesound)(December 7, 2018) Bluesound is gaining yet another bump in functionality as AirPlay 2 is set to become available for all Generation 2i streaming music players, opening the door to multi-speaker and multi-room applications. The feature will be added as part of a BluOS update due to launch on December 11.
AirPlay 2 was originally announced during October 2017 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The technology is rather revolutionary for Apple users, allowing them to send content, including messages and videos, to other supported devices using Wi-Fi. Additionally, it allows Apple devices to interact with multiple speakers within a whole-home multiroom ecosystem. A host of AV brands currently support or will support Airplay 2, including Polk, McIntosh, Marantz, Denon, Def Tech, Bose, and Bang & Olufsen. Of course, Bluesound, is part of that list.
Bluesound says that owners of Generation 2i players will be prompted when the latest BluOS update becomes available. Once downloaded, owners will possess the ability to “stream music services, podcasts, audiobooks, movies, games, YouTube audio, TV sound and stored music from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer to any Bluesound Gen 2i player on the same WiFi network.” And because of AirPlay 2’s innate functionality, owners can play the same content stream using multiple Bluesound Gen2i players or send different streams to individual players around a home.
Control-wise, Bluesound says Generation 2i owners with older Bluesound gear can use the BluOS Controller app to group old products with a Generation 2i device, allowing them to also play AirPlay 2 content. As a bonus, owners will also gain the ability to control playback using Siri voice control.
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