Sonos Can Be Used With Airplay
Although Sonos is a practical whole-house music playback option, it’s a closed system. It works with Sonos-branded wireless speakers and components but isn’t compatible with other multi-room wireless options such as MusicCast, HEOS, Play-Fi, or direct streaming via Bluetooth. Out of the box, Sonos isn’t compatible with Apple AirPlay. However, there is a way that Apple iTunes/Music fans can stream music content and libraries around the house using the Sonos system. This is done via an Apple Airport Express as a bridge between AirPlay and Sonos.
Setting Up Apple AirPort Express to Work With Sonos
In addition to the Airport Express, you need a Sonos Play:5 Wireless Speaker, Sonos CONNECT or CONNECT: AMP. Here are the steps to get Apple Airplay to work with those Sonos products. Once the above steps are completed, you can do the following:
Select line-in from your Music Menu and choose the room where Apple Airport Express is connected to a Sonos device to start playing music.Using your iOS device, go to the Control center, then tap AirPlay and select Apple Airport Express.
What You Can and Can’t Do
Using an Apple Airport Express as a bridge, you can stream music stored or accessed on any iOS-compatible device throughout a Sonos wireless home audio system. The Airport Express only needs to be connected to one compatible Sonos product in the system – The Sonos network takes care of the rest. If you have Sonos products in multiple rooms, you can stream the same music to some, or all of them. You can’t use AirPlay to send different music selections to different rooms but, Apple AirPlay can be used to send one selection to one or more rooms. Another streaming service would need to be accessed to send a different music selection to one, or more remaining rooms. In addition to using AirPlay with Sonos via Airport Express, if you have a Sonos PlayBar included in your Sonos setup, you can also integrate an Apple TV media streamer into the mix. This is not only great for accessing streaming audio and video for your TV and PlayBar, but you can also use the Apple TV device to stream music throughout your Sonos system.
How AirPlay 2 Changes Things Between Apple and Sonos
With the discontinuation of Airport Express (although many are still in use) and the introduction of AirPlay 2, Sonos has adapted by incorporating direct access AirPlay 2 support on the Sonos One (2nd generation), Beam, Playbase, Play:5 (2nd generation) and Sonos Amp products. This means you no longer need to connect an Airport Express to those speaker systems to access an Airplay-based music library. Although other Sonos products require the connection of an Airport Express, if those products are paired with the Sonos One, Beam, Playbase, and Play:5 running AirPlay 2 content, they can receive music content without the need for an Airport Express.
