Sonos said that it would be supporting AirPlay 2 almost as soon as Apple announced it. In April 2018 it then confirmed the speakers it would be updating. Now that update is available to bring AirPlay 2 to your Sonos speakers.
AirPlay 2 is available on the following Sonos speakers:
- Sonos Beam
- Sonos One
- Sonos Playbase
- Sonos Play:5
The reason that it is only available on these speakers comes down to processing demands. The older speakers don't have the hardware to support AirPlay 2 directly, although you will be able to stream to older Sonos speakers via your enabled speaker - you just need one compatible speaker.
AirPlay 2 will give better native control of speakers directly from your iPhone, as well as allowing groups of speakers from different companies, and voice-control via Siri. For anyone invested in the Apple ecosystem, AirPlay 2 will bring a lot of advantages, making it a lot easier to play any audio from your Apple device on the speaker of your choice.
The software update is now available to bring AirPlay 2 to your speakers, so hit that app and get updating.