The 3,5mm headphone jack is a mini toslink digital output as well. That way you can bypass the internal dac and use an external dac for better sound quality
Wow that’s amazing! I didn’t know about that, thanks for commenting about it so others can know for their setups. I’m sure an external DAC would help the sound quality even more, allowing for a true audiophile setup. Very kühl possibilities with this weird little Apple router 😎
Just like on my MBP. Been connecting my Mac to an old DAC in that fashion. Well, I used to do that until I upgraded DACs. Not it's USB. Thanks for letting us know
Just searched the cupboard and dusted off my apple airport express and set it up in less than twenty mins, playing perfectly, cheers for the excellent tip !!
Airport Express' headphone jack supports mini-toslink. So if your mixer supports toslink, you can use that for best quality audio from the Airport Express. The Airport Express can output 16bit 44.1k ALAC, which is CD quality.
Exactly! My receiver is a bit older so unfortunately it does not have toslink, but thank you for commenting so others who might have a compatible receiver can see this info! Thanks for watching 🙏
I still use the Apple AirPort Extreme with an external HD attached to it where all my Macs automatically time machine backup to. I also have one of those smaller Airport express in my office connected to my older hifi system that I airplay to all the time. BONUS: you can also hook your printer to the airport express and print from anywhere! In 2022 this setup works like a dream still because my internet speed is still not >500 mbps so I do not need a faster wifi router/setup. I wish apple didn't discontinue their airport line and I think part of their "return to pro users" announcement is that they would bring airport back?
Hey Dylan you can also use these Airport Express to create a Multiroom music system! I have several vintage hifi systems around the house. If you connect each one up with an airport express you can play music right through the house. Great for a party where you can have music in the kitchen dining room and lounge. The 3.5 minijack analogue output is also a digital output if you use a mini Toslink cable. You can select individual rooms or several rooms at the same time for that multiroom music experience. Amazing value
I’ve had an airport express for almost 10 years and I still love it. I’m an audiophile, but streaming to the airport express sounds good to me from my iPad or iPhone and the fact it supports AirPlay 2 is a win win for me. I’ve a HomePod mini in my living room with my hifi so Siri can be used to play the songs on the system the airport is hooked too 👍🏻
That’s what we love to hear!! This is very close to the setup I’m science-ing right now. I have another AirPort Express being delivered today, and I picked up a HomePod mini last week. I think just one more HomePod mini in my apartment and I’m covered- just ask Siri to play music from anywhere in the apartment, tell it where to play to, and adjust it all on the fly from the airplay menu on any iOS device. Alexa certainly can’t do that- take that Amazon!!
Can you elaborate? If the Airport Express is connected to your home app is it as simple as saying “Hey Siri, play music on _____” and the music will play on the Hi-Fi set up as appose to the HomePod?
i too didnt get it. if you say hey siri, what i understand is that it will play on the homepod mini.. how is it gonna play on the hi fi..please elaborate
@@shakti.rathore sure, I’ve made another video covering this topic so please check out my channel to see! In short, the commands can be sort of specific at first- for example, “Hey Siri, play music on Yamaha Speakers” will play music on just the Yamaha Speakers. Until you specific a different speaker option, any further commands to that HomePod will play from the Yamaha Speakers. If you specify, “Hey Siri, play music everywhere”, the HomePod will play music on all of your Apple Home speaker devices. If you ask it another music command past that, it will keep playing “everywhere” until you specify a different speaker or group. It’s pretty sweet!
I've had the Airport express for many years and it worked great as a network extender until about 2 years ago. I tried dozens of times to get it working again, but the network (likely my new xfinity router) didn't recognize it - so I abandoned it. I just tried again using your 'join an existing network' set up and it works! I can't believe I didn't try this previously, but it had always worked as an extender previously...Thank you!
You’re very welcome! I’m glad I could be of help and that you’ve saved yet another AirPort Express from the landfill- thanks for watching and commenting!
Right after I watched your video, I went to the used electronics shop and bought an Airport Express for £28. The cheapest Airplay 2 adapter on Amazon is Wiim mini, which costs £89. So I saved £61. I installed the Airport Express, and it works pretty well. Thanks for this great advice.
I've had multiple airport express devices used in this way for 10+ years to give multi-room audio from a single source. I've never actually used them as routers. It's interesting to see how this is seen now as something new in 2022.
Glad to hear you’ve gotten some good use out of them! I’m not sure that it’s a particularly new thing in 2022, but since the 2018 update I’ve seen more and more people using the AirPort Express for this purpose, for sure. What’s more interesting is that Apple still hasn’t given us a modern option: the only reason this workaround is necessary today is essentially because the HomePod mini doesn’t come with a headphone jack 🥲
I agree, I use an earlier version of Airplay adapter and the "earphone jack" was only an audio out but also an optical Toslink mini connector. Have you ever looked inside of the jack opening? If you see a red light in the opening, the device can supply you with digital audio for your receiver if it is setup for optical input. Let me know what you find.
Hi Dylan, this is one of the most useful tips ever. It saves me hundreds of euros for buying a DAC. Luckily had already an Airport Express at home. Had to reset the Airport and connect it using the LAN cable in order to connect with the Wifi. Works perfectly. THANK YOU!
I just noticed that if you first try to set it up wirelessly, you can’t do it in the airport utility app, but it shows a setup prompt in the WiFi settings of your iPad. HOWEVER, the setup in the WiFi settings of the iPad doesn’t have an option to just "join a network" which is what we want. So I recommend to connect the airport to your router via Ethernet cable (like in the video) and then it should show up in the airport utility app and then you can select "join existing network " and set it up to only be an AirPlay adapter.
Yep, I still use 2 of these. It's almost criminal that Apple didn't update this - they are so useful. The quality of the internal DAC is still excellent relative to modern devices (see Ken Rockwell review) and if set up correctly they are rock solid. Thanks for your video - it really needs more people to ask Apple to do this again. All we have from them is the HomePod Mini and the Airport Express will link to far bigger and better speakers. If some think that $38 or even $100 is too much it's worth bearing in mind that the best device out there (Bluesound Node) is $500.
I couldn’t agree more! A new first-party option from Apple would be very exciting! I would love to see a new HomePod “mini-er” a la Alexa Echo Dot/ Google Home mini with a headphone jack and a DAC as good as the AirPort Express 😇 a guy can dream, but in the meantime I made this video since unfortunately this first-party product doesn’t exist 😅 thanks for watching! 😁
@Keltic D isn’t it amazing?? I’m really surprised Apple updated the A1392’s firmware to have this feature post-mortem 🤘 In regards to Walter’s comment, I believe he was referring to wondering why Apple didn’t “update” this product-line with a new hardware device. It would be very nice if Apple offered some kind of brand new first-party streaming puck at an affordable price, but for now the A1392 AirPort Express is what we’ve got ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The bluesound isn’t the best I’d say. If money isn’t a question then I’d argue the Naim ND555 + 2X 555PS. But that’s absolute best but has its £30k price tag.
@@monsieurleferrovipathe9800 I’m not sure that it’d compete directly with the HomePod, the main differences being the AirPort Express doesn’t have a built-in speaker or built-in digital assistant and the HomePod has no ability to take audio out. So if Apple made a device like the Belkin Soundform connect they could probably sell quite a few, just “not enough” for a company like Apple and that’s probably why they won’t do it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I suggest, if possible, to use a LAN cable from your router to bring WAN and LAN to the AirPort Express. Using the mesh functions will slow down the wifi of your router. You better use the AE as a dedicated Wifi access point for Guests Wifi, and use the USB port connected to your printer 🖨 even if it has wifi connected to your private wifi, I explain: Your guests arrive, they connect to the segregated guest wifi of the AE ( you private network is not compromised, no private wifi password sharing) as a bonus they too have access to AirPlay and can instantly play music wirelessly from the guest wifi, and if need to print a photo or document, they can use AE’s AirPrint to do so via the USB cable connected to the printer 🖨 ( again no private wifi security breach ) The AirPrint bonus works easily with computers. With smartphones or tablets, results may vary, sometimes needing a printer manufacturer dedicated app like HP smart, etc… Best option if you have an AirPrint embedded printer with both wifi and Ethernet you can use both connections, wifi for guest prints and Ethernet for private network prints, or vice-versa. Last point, the AE‘s USB embedded AirPrint server is accessible both by the private network and the guest network, in case of an old USB only printer, it will be accessible to all while keeping networks segregated. If Ethernet cables are an issue, powerline network adapters can do the job cleanly, transporting data thru power outlets (must be directly connected to wall socket) Sorry for the long comment 🙏🏼😉
Hey, I’m having the exact issue you mention that once I use airplay over the network, it immediately reduces my wifi bandwidth. Are you suggesting then, to create a separate guest network using the AE? Are there any security vulnerabilities with such an old router?
@@NareKICK Not really, just make sure to have the latest firmware update done on the AE using the Apple airport managing app ( Mac OS or iOS or iPadOS ) use the WPA2 AES protocol ( not tkip! ) then generate a long random very complex wifi password. To ease the guest wifi network access, you can generate a QRcode with an iPhone shortcut script that you can easily found via Google. When your guests wish to connect, they just need to scan the QRcode you have printed or as an image on your phone. If the guest is in you contact list, you can share the password automatically via the prompt you will get asking for the wifi password when they try to connect. This function requires airdrop activated and/or Bluetooth shared connection ON, i don’t remember exactly, sorry it is late here, if you Google it you will find it. Best regards
I picked up a Wiim Mini recently as I wanted the optical out - I didn't realize the Airport Express had the toslink as well. Wiim is a good option - better than Belkin by all accounts.
I never purchased the Belkin but the trick up the WiiM Mini’s sleeve is that once you start a playlist on whichever of the streaming services it supports - it becomes the source. It’s not just a Bluetooth relay.
AirTunes was the predecessor to AirPlay and could handle audio only. That's why the AirPort Express from 2004 had the combined 3.5mm and mini Toslink audio out port.
Wireless multi room audio is so kühl!! I remember touring an apartment that was redone in the mid-80’s and the realtor was so proud of the stereo speakers that were wired-up throughout the house… I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this is basically worthless these days 😅
Very cool! I wanted to accomplish the same goal. I bought a used apple 4K and bought an hdmi extractor to run a optical cable to my system. You were much more cost effective. Well done!
Hey, that’s another way to do it! I’m curious, did you hook the AppleTV to a TV/monitor for “first setup” and then stash the box “headless” with the stereo once you replaced the HDMI cable with the extractor? Are there other benefits like, using the Apple TV remote to control volume of the stereo? There is always that Belkin AirPlay device thing too, so if you ever want to use the ATV for something else in your house you’ve got some options for the stereo- I like your creativity!
Thank you SO MUCH for this video! I had my AirPort stored in the basement for some years, thought I probably can use it at some point again and here were go, works like a charm. I love it when some old tech, you totally forgot about, gets repurposed. THANKS!
Thank you for watching Tino!! I’m glad you’re enjoying your AirPort Express again! Since making this video I now have 3 AirPort Express A1392 and a HomePod mini to control them via Siri, and I’m loving every minute of it. Cheers!
Not sure how this video found its way to my “Home” feed, but I’m really happy about that. Before I bought HomePods, I got a Rogue Amoeba product that streamed to multiple speakers. With Airplay 2 later, I got a pair of HomePods…really great for my small place. Been looking for a solution to stream the music from my HomePods (usually Siri-activated via Apple Music playlists), but there was no separate streaming adapter with Airplay 2 support for third-party devices. Thanks to this video, I bought an Airplay Express locally (I had one long ago for that Airplay support, but I don’t recall how I no longer have it). I hope that once I get it installed and get the speaker working, I can tell Siri to “play everywhere” so that the same music can stream throughout (I do have a pair of HomePod minis, each in separate rooms). Crossing fingers that this will work!
Thanks for the kind words! And I’m glad that the RUclips algorithm gods are doing their part hahaha 🤣 if you’re looking to ask Siri to “play everywhere” then there’s actually a little bit of a trick to this so please check out my follow-up video on the topic here ruclips.net/video/oQIfqPJcXhY/видео.html I ask Siri to “play everywhere” all the time now and I love it. It’s basically my primary method of listening to music at this point. Hope this helps and if you have any more questions please let me know!
Just watched your video and I am impressed. I enjoyed the video. I wasn’t sitting there talking shit inside my head about you. Also it was informative. I learned something. I too have the same Apple router just not the same problem. I have a pioneer sc-61 elite av receiver so I don’t have the problem you do as my system connects to iPhone seamlessly over Wi-Fi however it’s lacking in the area of wireless connectivity because you need a separate adapter that I do not have and is a bit more than I want to spend. So I am stuck with a Ethernet connecting to the back of my receiver in order to see my receiver on my network. That is where the Apple airport comes in. I too was experiencing difficulty hooking it up to my current xfinity modem. Going to try it now. Wish me luck.
Overall, the longest time device of Apple I can keep using for 8 years is Apple Express. It is good for regular users. I love the Airport Time Capsule as well but Apple stopped supporting that.
I have a pair of Edifier R1900 TIII plugged in one of these routers, they're simply and awesome. My Apple TV is always conected to the Airplay, so even when I mirror any video from my Macbook or iPhone to the Apple TV the sound is transfered to the Edifier trhough Airplay.
Awesome setup!! The Edifier’s are sweet. I’m curious, is the AirPlay connection persistent when you restart your Apple TV? Or do you mean that you immediately AirPlay it anytime you are using the ATV when you turn it on anyway so you’re just good to go each time?
@@dylanmacintosh Agree that Edifiers are the shizz. And, great question from Dylan; had you set them as the "main" or "default" AppleTV speakers, within that unit's settings?
I've got three running in my house for different zones along with a couple receivers that have Airplay 2 built in. It's been working great for a while now.
Hello Dylan. I’ve installed ten AirPort Express to my receiver. It keeps disconnecting when wireless. Seems I’m missing some setup. Not happening when AirPort Express is conecte with Ethernet cable. Help.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve been able to get an Airport as you suggested (cost me only €20) and set it up accordingly. Although I already have two streaming setups in other rooms, I wanted one for my work too. I did notice a small thud sound when starting to play or when I skip forward to a next one. Not sure where that comes from. Also I am having some issue when I try to control the volume on my iPhone. It seems that as a work around I can pause the music and set a different level. I am curious to try the digital output of the headphone, but haven’t figured out what cable I need for that.
Nice find for €20!! Interesting about your volume issue, I’ve not experienced that before, but for your digital output question you’d be looking for a mini toslink to optical cable such as this one amzn.to/3Jj42yQ The mini toslink end fits in the regular 3.5mm audio jack and the other end goes to the optical input of your receiver. Hope this helps!
I’ve been using 2 1st Gen Airport express to connect to my two lower quality hi-fis since they were current kit. They have the headphone jack too. Sound quality isn’t amazing compared to my streamer on my principle, all Linn, hi-fi, but it’s good enough for streaming from Apple Music as background in my kitchen or office.
You’ve made an useful suggestion for re-use of these AirPod devices. There’s one aspect I don’t understand, which is the headphone jack cabling to the amplifier inputs. Most older amps expect RAC jacks or bare wire connections, but differ in the sensitivity to allow various devices to connect. How does one connect the AirPod and to which amp input?
Sure, the AirPort Express A1392 has its own built-in DAC (digital audio converter), so it can output an analog audio source via its headphone jack. All you need is a headphone cable that has RCA red and white plugs on the other end. You can find this cable on Amazon for pretty cheap and I have included a link in the description to one that I’ve used. Then you can simply plug the red and white plugs into the RCA inputs on the receiver. As far as the sensitivity of the signal, I’m not sure how you mean- once the signal has been converted to analog, it’s ready to go. Thankfully, most of the work is done automatically and there’s not much to worry about- it’s simpler than you think 👍
@@dylanmacintosh I think they are remembering the "phono" input on some amps. There are even a couple current ones that still have it, but the important point is that it is designed to expect way lower volume levels since the "phonograph" (record player) connected to it was normally un-amplified and feeding the signal directly from the needle. An MP3 player connected to a phono input might blow it. The answer to their question is probably "you connect the Airport Express to any non-phono input"
@@JB-fh1bb Ahh I see what you mean! I seem to remember having the opposite problem where if you plug a phono source into a line level input it will have little to no volume, but I hadn’t considered the opposite problem of too much signal to the phono input- so yes, I’d connect the AE to a line level input on your receiver. There is usually more line level inputs that are arbitrarily named (CD, Tape, Aux), and just the one Phono. So any one the line levels like CD, Tape or Aux will be fair game. Hope this clarifies things!
Go even older Gen model. For in the car. AirPlay setup. And fyi this feature was built into iTunes for whole home audio wayyyy before HomeKit or before It was called AirPlay. Long time user. LOVE THESE DEVICES!
As well as doing this I’ve just repurposed my Apple TV 3rd gen. I needed to use a DAC to turn convert the optical out to RCA but other than that it works the same. It’s great to put old tech that was gathering dust to use again.
Thanks for letting me know that I am not crazy for struggling to find a reasonably priced device for connecting iPhones to vintage stereo systems via AirPlay. I tried the Wiim Pro, but it experiences very annoying and frequent dropouts which require intervention to correct. I will try the soluton you describe.
I’ve been looking at multi-room audio solutions that don’t rely on Alexa and wouldn’t require new speakers or expensive gadgets for a while, after I finished this video I ordered 3 of these hehe
Excellent video and idea. I had one of those Airport Express A1392's from years ago laying around. Did a hard reset, re-configured it to join my Unifi WiFi via the Airport Utility, plugged it into my HTD whole house audio system, and BAM airplay 2 in the whole house and back yard! Thanks for the video and effort.
I just got the Airport Express 2. Gen but can't install it through my Mac or iPhone. I can see the device itself but it always gives back an error when setting it up. I resetted the device multiple times. Any ideas? Do I need an older mac version to make the setup process work?
Thanks Dylan I finally grabbed one after watching your video a few months back. it works. I got a brand new unit in its cellophane. The setup didnt work out through 2 macs so I tried through my Iphone 7 (Wifi settings, it sees the Airport once its plugged electrically) and it worked til the end then on the macs I could see the thing was on and could update it to the last version. Right now I tested it to a vintage ampli through a quite long analog cable. Sound goes from OK to good but i gotta fetch a shorter and quality optical cable with the proper jack on one side and optical on the other and hook it up on a more recent amp to see if sound can be better. Thanks again for such a valuable info.
I've got 3 of these boxes that I bought a decade ago to do wifi in the home. I've since moved on to Unifi and continued using the airport express units as Airplay devices. Problem over the last year or so is that Apple Music might on ios, ipadOS or MacOS will work one day and not work for a long while after that. Can't connect to airplay device, make sure it's on your network after the spinning fan thinks about it. Hard reseting fixes it for another day and then it'll be gone the next. I've also tried hardwiring the airport express with the same result.
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
Awesome! I will probably try this. I have never used one, so I might be back here later with questions. I’ve been really frustrated lately with my echo dots dropping audio or never starting to play on the group at all. I just want to play whatever I have on my phone throughout my house.
Thanks for watching! If you have any other Apple products I highly recommended using the AirPort Express as music streaming boxes. Also check out my follow up video on how to add a HomePod mini to the setup for full voice control if you’re interested in that!
I'm using my old Express to stream OTA channels from an HD Homerun tuner. The tuner is ethernet only and in a different room to get optimal TV channels. Works great.
Unfortunately, the firmware that added AirPlay 2 on this device (firmware 7.8) introduces distortion which is well-documented on audio forums. The previous AirPlay 1 firmware (7.6.9) is clean. But Apple has made it easy to downgrade to 7.6.9. So, unfortunately this update isn’t the gem we thought it was.
It’s great that downgrading is easy on these units, I’ve also heard some folks prefer the previous generation AirPort Express that only supported AirPlay1 for the lossless signal. It’s great to have options! Thanks for watching, and commenting!
Great video. I followed your instructions and hooked an older B&W Zepplin speaker. I almost went the $99 Bellinis route but opted for the Apple router which works seamlessly.
Very nice! That’s quite the setup you have- only the best audio quality we can muster is to be used on the Marantz! I can only guess how amazing it must sound 😎
I’m wondering whether Apple releases security fixes to 10 years old devices. Probably not. So bear in mind that you put in your network potential hole. If possible, when having cable connection, at least disable Wi-Fi completely
I appreciate your security concern, and I don’t mean to dismiss it- but turning off Wi-Fi completely on the unit would also disable the AirPlay function. You might still be able to play music from the network, just not wireless from your phone, so I encourage you to mess around and try out different things if this is important to you. Another note- although the AirPort Express has been very secure in the past I definitely hear you that as time goes on without security updates devices like this become an ever-increasing security problem- and not a unique problem to Apple or it’s AirPort Express either: everyone should be aware of what they have on their network and it’s security status!
@@unicodefox I’ll test this out and let you know! I’m expecting that the typical wireless control features (like Control Other Speakers & TVs) will work since the data is pulled down from Apple’s servers, but for anything that is airplayed from “iPhone -> Yamaha Speakers” I’m expecting it won’t work but I’ll double check when I get the chance 👍
What port on the APE do you connect it to? I tried with ethernet cable on one of the ports (I cannot remember which one) and it killed the internet connection totally. All routes an APs just blinking orange until I unplugged the APE.
Great call in my opinion! Somebody recommended me a Sonos Port a while back and I saw the price and said no way… there’s gotta be something cheaper 🤑😅 I’m sure the Sonos Port is fantastic but if all you were looking for is an AirPlay 2 receiver that $450 price tag is just overkill. Very happy to hear that you’ve recouped some cost and are moving forward with the AirPort Express method!
Yeah... have had AirPlay for many, many, many years by using an AirPort Express plugged into my B&O Speakers. I just hope AirPorts are one product Apple resurrects because I have NO plans to by a HomePod to replace my B&O setup...
May i ask if you connected the 3.5mm audio jack of the airport express directly to the B&O speaker (cinch connector in believe) or to the B&O amplifier (Din 5 or 7 pin Aux in i believe? Thanks.
I’m glad you enjoyed! The Apple TV lineup never had a headphone jack unfortunately, but you can take advantage of the Optical audio out by using an Optical to RCA adapter like in this write up tidbits.com/2021/02/07/add-airplay-to-your-classic-stereo-with-an-old-apple-tv/ Let me know if you have any more questions!
Is your question referring to what is physically plugged into the headphone jack of the AirPort Express? It’s a 3.5mm to RCA cable; I have included a link to the cable I used in the video description. Simply plug the 3.5mm end into the headphone jack of the AirPort Express, and the RCA ends of the cable into the inputs on the back of your stereo receiver. Hope this helps and please let me know if you have any further questions! Thanks for watching 🙏
A Raspberry Pi 4 with a HiFiBerry DAC+ HAT will also work great if you cant get your hands on an AirPort Express(they cost 195usd USED where I live). It's a bit harder to configure, but it's not that hard if you follow a tutorial.
Thanks!! Great question, I had a similar issue where the AirPort Express wouldn’t show up in the AirPort Utility until I physically connected it to my router with an Ethernet cable. Once it picked up a local IP address I was able to access it through the AirPort Utility. Is this something you could try or perhaps you already have? I’ll do my best to help you out if I can!
@@dylanmacintosh thanks for the reply. I attempted the direct connection via LAN. Didn’t work. But I ended up factory resetting the AirPort Express. Then restarting my router. THEN connecting my express to my router direct. I was able to start the re-connection process and connect to my existing network. My express is now connected and playing music through my house. You changed the game! Thank you so much for posting!
Nice work!!! Now that’s some proper troubleshooting steps! Thank you for replying your steps to the comment so hopefully others can see if they have the same question. Enjoy your multi-room AirPlay setup!!
Back in the day when the first express and subsequently second express came out. Apple made them with the 3.5mm optical/analog jack for the very reason we’re using them now but back then you were able to stream audio from ur iTunes app on ur pc/mac to ur hifi setup. That way you didn’t need to run a long cable to your hifi to listen to ur iTunes music. It was pretty forward thinking. Too bad they got out of the router game. Only downside to using the express for airplay 2 is that the audio isn’t synchronized if you’re using other AirPlay 2 devices like Apple TV’s or the HomePod…
Thanks for shining a light on this! It certainly was forward thinking to use a router as a wireless HIFI receiver and I’m glad Apple made this possible! It is a shame they got out of the router game, I’d be very curious if they ever made another one. As far as AirPlay 2 not synchronizing I’m not quite sure how you mean, I am able to sync up my AirPort Express A1392s with any combination of my other AirPlay 2 devices such as HomePod minis and Apple TV’s, I wonder if I am not understanding what you’re referring to or you are referring to something else? I’ve also made another video on controlling AirPort Express with Siri via HomePod mini, maybe that is what you are looking for or maybe not but either way please leave a comment if you check it out! Cheers!
@@dylanmacintosh What I meant about the music not being synchronized is that if you have something playing on the A1392 and then you have something on a different device like an Apple TV and then another thing on HomePod, the music won't be in sync. Sometimes the A1392 will have a 1 second delay in the song resulting in an echo like effect if you're walking from room to room. It's not as big a deal if you happen to have a unit out in the backyard and one inside. I suspect this is more of an issue with the AirPlay 2 protocol vs the devices. I've played songs through multiple Apple TVs with them not being in sync as well. I think though, if you're using purely A1392s as your AirPlay 2 devices, shouldn't be much a problem. I haven't tested this theory out yet because I only have two of them. I would have liked it if I could use my 3 AppleTVs and my airplay2 enabled receiver to do whole home audio though.
Ah I see, I’ll have to do some further testing to see if I can replicate what you’re seeing/hearing. So far in my setup I have a HomePod mini, an Apple TV 4K attached to a Sony soundbar, and 3 AirPort Express A1392s- when I use AirPlay 2 for multi-room audio across all of them at once I can only notice the smallest amount of delay between devices that are the closest together, but I’ll keep trying and see what happens. My first question for your setup is are you AirPlaying to these devices from your iPhone or other device like an iPad? Or are you streaming the music through HomeKit? The difference being when you open the AirPlay quick menu on your phone and select “Control Other Devices” it will show iPhone -> to your other AirPlay 2 devices if it’s actually AirPlaying from your iPhone.
@@dylanmacintosh I usually just use the quick option under the whichever app I'm playing. I haven't tried other options. I actually didn't know there were others. I just remember my friend saying his AppleTV was out of sync with his HomePod as well. I only have Apple TVs and the A1392s. I do have a receiver that's AirPlay 2 compatible. I might do some testing after work tomorrow morning and see if anything is different now that everything is hardwired as opposed to using wifi. Prior to this everything was running on wifi.
It is a cheap and easy fix, but I still prefer to use a RaspberryPi for this. Of course for best audio quality, you need an external DAC for that, but it is not necessary. The main pro's of using a RaspberryPi is that the latest version is rather fast and has a lot of headroom for it to run other services like a PiHole, VPN or a print/scan server. It can also be useful for home automation tasks and it does not consume a lot of power.
I completely agree! I have an RPi kicking around here somewhere, I might just have to set it up for this and give it a try! What I like about the AirPort Express is that it’s a first party option, and easily setup by people who are familiar with the Apple side of things. If you have the know how, there are so many more great ways to get wireless audio of even higher quality without resorting to an AirPort Express- at the end of the day it’s great to have options!
I still use an Apple Airport Express because of the headphone jack and it works well with AirPlay. It’s connected to my old mixer that sends music to an amplifier. I heard that Apple is working on some new routers. I don’t know why they stopped selling routers. They forced me to buy their competitors products and now they may have lost my business.
I hear ya, I wish they would update this product line!! I’m really not sure why they ever stopped, but a new Apple router or dedicated first party AirPlay receiver would be more than welcome 🙌
isn't using a bluetooth audio receiver adapter to turn speakers into bluetooth speakers a much cheaper way to get the same functionality? or are there any added benefits with the AirPort Extreme ?
Sure, if all you need is Bluetooth you can use almost any adapter. However this video is about AirPlay 2, which contains the added benefits of multi-room audio as well as integrated Apple device controls. If you don’t have Apple devices there is no need to go this route. If you have Android devices I would suggest Amazon’s Alexa Echo Dot, or Goolge’s Home mini as these already have audio jacks on the back and will allow for voice control directly while their output is connected to an external speaker. Hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh ohh yes multi room audio is an added benefit for this. I also have speakers and an echo dot but I just found it way more convenient to use the bluetooth dongle since I can connect my Mac or iPhone from anywhere and it was cheaper than airport express. but multi room setups would greatly benefit from APE also thanks for the quick reply and keep up your good content💪
Thank you and great question! The main advantage is that you can continue using your existing receiver, whether it be vintage or modern, your favorite or just whatever you have- with the side advantage of it being an inexpensive add-on, typically less than $50 US but depends on what’s available in your area or eBay shipping. Other AirPlay devices might cost $100 in the case of the Belkin Soundform Connect, or much more in the case of the Sonos Port at ~$450 US. However if you are in the market for a HIFI receiver that supports AirPlay 2, absolutely go for it, there are several on the market that seem very nice 👌 In regards to a Bluetooth receiver vs AirPlay, AirPlay simply provides more convenience to Apple users than a regular Bluetooth connection. You can even get fancy with it and setup multi-room audio if you have multiple AirPlay 2 enabled receivers. You can also control them via Siri if you add those receivers into your Apple Home app. But if Bluetooth is all you need, there are plenty of cheap adapters out there that can do the job for even less $$ and greater simplicity than what’s shown here, without the need for a high end HIFI Bluetooth receiver. At the end of the day, it’s a great thing that we have so many options at so many different price brackets!
@@dylanmacintosh It was this model Apple Mac Mini A1347 Desktop i5-2415M 2.3GHz from 2011. You install Monterrey using Open Core legacy and in Monterry use the Airplay sharing and you could send audio or video from other MAC
I'm surprised that nobody in the comments mentioned the DIYs to add airplay like a raspberry pi. I know they are very expensive at the moment but if you already have one or just buy something similar, it's very easy to just flash an SD card with a special OS that can add Bluetooth, airplay and even Spotify Connect (only works with a Spotify premium account unfortunately), DLNA or all protocol you want, and some OSs have also multiroom options. Furthermore you can easily add a DAC directly to the raspberry pi as you have some that just plugs into the pins (it's called a "hat"). However your solution is cheaper but I thought it's good to mention it if people want to do the same as you and can't put their hands on an old apple router 😉
Yes! I’ve seen a few comments mentioning Raspberry Pi. I do have one kicking around here somewhere that I might just use for a purpose like this! It is a little bit more “hacker” in style tho and for this video I was excited to find a first-party option that you can setup with only Apple apps. Some people are afraid of raspberry pi and I have no idea why… But at the end of the day I’m just glad to have different options across different price ranges! It’s an exciting time for audio streaming for sure 🤘
@@dylanmacintosh that's great 😃! I forgot to say that your video is very cool because I didn't know we could do that AND it's better to recycle than using a brand new raspberry pi that costs more 😁
@@alexbjs7010 haha thanks so much!! Yes any reduction of e-waste is a nice positive to have 🤓♻️ unfortunately the limited supply of aging AirPort Expresses will someday run out so it’s important the community know about Raspberry Pi’s as well! Maybe it’s time for another video 🤔🤫
Good thinking here... I have a question... Can audio (through Airplay 2) output from the USB (and straight into my DAC) or is audio only available through the 3.5mm jack (with internal DAC)?
Great question! Unfortunately the A1392 doesn’t support audio over USB, making it only available through the 3.5mm jack- which as you stated has an internal DAC, and I might add a decent one at that (for a 2012 router!)
The same 3.5 mm jack is also a mini toslink optical output. You can use it for your external DAC. But this optical output is limited to Compact Disc quality audio (44.1 KHz, 16 bits).
Sure! Firstly, it’s an Apple specific protocol that “combines Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections” so to speak, so if you don’t have any Apple devices it’s meaningless. Secondly, if you have Apple devices, AirPlay 2 provides such conveniences as multi-room synchronized audio, the ability to adjust volumes across multiple receivers, and certain “ecosystem” perks, like the AirPlay quick menu, or setting a HomePod stereo pair as the default audio output of your Apple TV just to name a couple. But again these features are very much Apple-entrenched, so if all you need is Bluetooth there is no need to dive into the AirPlay waters. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions!
@@dylanmacintosh Forgive me if this is way off-base, or just sheer incorrect, but, in my experience, a Bluetooth-enabled source device can only play to one (1) Bluetooth-capable receiver / target speaker at one time, whereas my home setup allows me to connect to multiple AirPlay speaker sets at one time.
I have a question for you. I am looking for a similar solution to this problem: I want to get into vinyl and I have an "apple household." We have all apple devices and 5 Sonos (The ones from Ikea) speakers and one apple home pod mini. We have them all connected to our router and it works great. But if I buy a vinyl turntable is there a solution for connecting the turntable to our airplay system. It there someway to route the turntable via USB C through my computer etc? I think this is an impossible thing to do and I googled it. After I watched this video I thought I would just go ahead and ask you.
Great question! I will start by saying nothing is impossible, but this one is rather difficult 😅 The short version of why this is difficult is because this vinyl-to-AirPlay use case is counter to the AirPlay system’s intended use, making it like swimming upstream. The long version of why this type of vinyl-to-AirPlay setup is difficult is when you try to add vinyl to AirPlay we have to go from an Analog signal to a Digital signal first before the music can be AirPlayed. So, you will need a vinyl turntable, a digital audio converter like an amp, dac, or audio interface, and some method of connecting that audio interface as an input to an Apple device, then some software on that device capable of monitoring the incoming audio signal, and then AirPlaying it to your other devices. The trouble with this method is that while this audio device is in use, you will be AirPlaying *from* it, no to it, meaning you must make your adjustments on the device itself, losing a lot of the benefits of control from the AirPlay menu that you are used to on your current AirPlay sources. And now, my personal opinion: You may yet someday end up with a system that works for you, but at the end of the day I will say you’d likely be happier if you skipped that headache and went with a separate analog HiFi system for your vinyl pursuits. You will have true analog audio quality to enjoy your vinyls with instead of it being converted back into a digital signal that is likely less than the Apple Music (or comparable streaming service) quality. Once you have your vinyl HiFi setup, you can add an AirPort Express or similar streamer device to one of the other inputs on the receiver and continue enjoying your HiFi speakers whether you choose to listen to your vinyl collection or the convenience of AirPlay streaming… most of the time your ears won’t know the difference, and you won’t have to get up to flip the record 😇 I sincerely hope this helps you on your way!
Hi Dylan, I thought of using the a1392 apple router hooked up to my Marshall woburn bluetooth speaker (via 3.5 headphone jack) since airplay 2 is better sound quality transfer than bluetooth! According to your video this would be just a simple connect - set up & play! Am I right?
Sure! Once the AirPort Express A1392 is setup as an AirPlay 2 receiver, it doesn’t matter what the audio out of the unit is plugged into- you can plug it into any speaker and let it rip! Let me know if you have any more questions 😎
The AirPort Express A1392 smokes the Wiim Pro Plus whose treble and bass are boosted and have hollowed out mids and vocals as a result. It’s shocking how ppl are willing to put up with sound like this. The Apple AirPort Express puts out a very balanced sound with great fidelity. The only con is that the signal to noise ratio is not as good as Wiim Pro Plus but that is a con I will happily live with.
That’s interesting, I haven’t tested the WiiM Pro so I’m not sure what it sounds like. But, that’s another reason why I trust Apple with my audio. They’re a trusted company especially when it comes to audio quality.
Added 3 AirPort Express units to music stream to old systems per video. Does not immediately show up as an airplay options vs Apple tv’s on iPhone. Read that if you airplane mode iPhone and then switch back to Wi-Fi that seems to help. Any suggestions? Works good once connected but seems to be a little hit and miss.
Great question! Since making this video I have also added 3 AE’s and every so often they do go offline- to remedy this I simply hard reset whichever AE is having the issue at the moment by unplugging it’s power cable, waiting a minute or two, and plugging it back in. If you happen to be running an Apple Home, I have posted a sequel to this video describing the benefits of adding your AirPort Express devices into your Apple Home app as Speaker devices- thanks for watching!
what about sound quality using jack 3,5mm analogue? do you like? i have a YAmaha S301 amplifier and i´d like to play music from my AppleTV (pluged on my tv) to Yamaha. I guess yamaha cant play with toslink (digital) it play only PCM.
Great question! I've not had any issues with audio quality using the 3.5mm cable, I'm quite happy with my setup the way it is. My NAD receiver doesn't support toslink either, and I don't see myself upgrading to a new receiver just to achieve that last 0.1% of audio quality, personally. The way I see it, if you start hunting for diminishing returns they are all around- in the acoustic treatment of your room, to the placement and height of the speakers, etc. So I just tell myself to be happy with what I have before I go crazy- hope this helps!
I’ve heard that you can use the 3rd gen ATV for this, but the trick is anytime it displays any kind of message that you need to dismiss or anything, you won’t be able to see what’s going on unless you hook it up to a TV. So that’s why I recommend going with the AirPort Express over the ATV, but if you already have an ATV lying around then by all means give it a try.
I used it for many years and loved it. But when I switched my router to FRITZ!Box the AE wasn’t able to join the network without crashing it. Any experience with this?
Great Question, and it depends on how your network is set up. If your AE is connected via Ethernet cable with the option set to “extend a network” this will create a feedback loop that will crash your network. If your AE is wired in make sure it’s set to “create a wireless network” even though it doesn’t sound like the right option. Hope this helps!
Just had this need and works like a charm at a house with one router...... however when I moved the system (7 zones) to a new house with numerous AP's, I'm only able to see the zones when I set them up and connected to that AP...... once I walk away, I start losing the ability to see/control the AirPort Express....... Any ideas?
Interesting, I think in that case it comes down to the networking setup. If the AirPort Express is setup to “Add to an Existing Network”, and the network is a mesh system, you should be able to see it across all APs. If this is a more enterprise style network, you might have some finer controls over IP addressing and VLANs between different APs, so that’s where I would look rather than at the AirPort Express itself, which once “Added to an Existing Network”, should function just like any other homekit type IoT device. So if I’m understanding your question correctly, I would take a look at the network configuration, if that’s something you have access to.
@@dylanmacintosh thank you very much, totally agree with you, just had me scratching my head. Your response was perfectly timed as we have the AV installers out today and this will help me appropriately address the symptom. Their system….. not our beloved airport expresses lol…….. LOVE that we didn’t have to buy some expensive high end controller system to simply accomplish this sound system that anyone w iPhone on our network can use without a tutorial!! Gonna try to link Apple TV or Samsung tv to the ceiling speakers via AirPort Express today…. Any thoughts?
You were right, they had installed a new router and forgot to put the original one in bridge mode so the competing/conflicting signals were confusing everything on the network. All good now!! Have all AAE in DHCP and Link-Local only settings. Thanks for your help
@@dmandpe you're very welcome! Doing IT for a living gave me a hunch haha. Glad I could steer you and the AV installers in the right direction. As far as linking an Apple TV to the AirPort Expresses, you can certainly do so from the Apple TV Control Center menu, however the setting won't "stick" after a power cycle. You can make the setting "stick" with a pair of HomePods, but it doesn't work with other AirPlay devices. It's just a weird choice by Apple, but I guess some people use 2 homepods instead of a soundbar, so they let you keep the homepods as the ATV output, but not other things. Any way, it can work here and there, but it's not ideal for a permanent use-case. Also to note, if your TV has speakers, or a soundbar already, and you sync to other AirPlay sources, there can be a bit of a delay because the HDMI connection is just always going to be faster than the AirPlay 2 protocol. All the AirPlay audio will be synced with each other, but the HDMI audio to the soundbar for instance will sound just a tiny bit sooner. I hope this helps!
Hey Dylan! Great video, thank you very much for sharing it! Is it possible to connect multiple of these together for a multi zone/room audio? Thank you very much in advance.
Yes, that is exactly how I have my flat setup- it’s great! The only trick is you have to add the AirPort Express as a HomeKit device, which I also made a follow up video about here: ruclips.net/video/oQIfqPJcXhY/видео.htmlsi=C3N8Zg_kWCebBGwr This reminds me, I should make a follow up video showing my current AirPlay 2 setup. It’s mostly the same, but a new video might just help clear up some questions like this one all at once, so thank you for reminding me- I’ll add it to the list of videos!
Hey Dylan! Thank you so much for your reply. I greatly appreciate your help and clarification. I would absolutely love to see your full setup. Would definitely help with some ideas. Thank you very much again! Best regards
I’m having issues. Just tried this last night. Plugged in aux cable to airport to headphone jack in avr. Airplay is connected but no sound. Should it be a aux to rca cable instead?
Great question! Usually headphone jacks are audio-out only, unless labeled as aux-in, so connecting one headphone jack to another would typically result in no sound unless otherwise labeled. Without knowing the exact model number of your receiver it’s hard to say exactly, but I think your next question is on the right track- I would normally recommend using a 3.5 mm to RCA cable to connect your AirPort Express audio output to a receiver’s audio input. I hope this helps!
I know right?? 🥲 I’m not sure Apple needs to make another home router (not that these were bad), but as far as the audio streaming aspect I was really surprised that Apple had no current first-party product with a headphone jack like the Echo Dot or Google Home Mini… maybe the next iteration of the HomePod mini will see the ports come back, like the new MacBook Pros!🤞A guy can dream anyway… 🤓
I own an iBT device!!!! It can i Bluetooth anything via aptx. I know this is just a little to simple too less apple ... but it works. 🙂 I think I payed roughly 4€ or so. I know it is wayyyy too less. But it has a battery and can connect to 2 3,5mm audio jacks and BT (i Bluetooth as I like to call it). done.
This is true, the AirPort Express is very much “siloed” in the Apple camp. There is a product I’ve heard about in my comments called the WiiM Mini which not only supports Apple Music but also Spotify and Tidal- it is available on Amazon right now for $79, I might have to try it out in another video. Here is a link if you’re curious to check it out: amzn.to/3SkTCTv
@@dylanmacintosh Ye I've seen it, I'm planning on ordering one at some point. just feels like a lot a money when you have an Airport Express which is otherwise fine :')
@@entvea my thoughts exactly 🤣 I’ve yet to find a cheaper easier option, hence the title of the video. I wish other commenters could understand that it’s just one of many options like you 😅😅😅
I can’t remember the exact error unfortunately, but yes, it would fail if I tried to connect the A1392 to my network over Wi-Fi, every time. I had to find a Ethernet cable and directly plug the A1392 into the back of my router for it to pick up a local IP address on my network. After that I could unplug the Ethernet cable and it will automatically switch it to Wi-Fi from there, but for some reason I had to plug it in first before it could connect to my network.
That’s strange, I wonder what could be causing that. The first thing I would check is that all your devices are as updated as they can be, and then make sure your AirPort routers are on static IP addresses. If you have an Apple TV or HomePod, I might recommend adding the AirPort Expresses to HomeKit as described in my video here to see if the Homekit protocol can help handle the AirPlay connection rather than just your phone. Hope this helps! ruclips.net/video/oQIfqPJcXhY/видео.html&feature=shares
Great question! Unfortunately you can not set the AirPort Express as a “default audio output” on Apple TV at this time, you can only set it as a “temporary audio output”, meaning you’d have to select the option in the settings menu each time you wake the Apple TV (kind of a hassle). Apple TV only supports the HomePod lineup specifically as AirPlay 2 default audio outputs. I think the idea there is if you had a receiver you would just route the Apple TV through the receiver and the receiver would likely be connected to the TV anyhow, but of course that is not the case for everyone- hopefully Apple changes this with an update in the future but knowing Apple I wouldn’t hold your breath 🤓 thanks for commenting, please let me know if you have any other questions!
They way I have mine connected here is with RCA inputs, since my receiver is vintage and doesn’t have an optical input. My NAD 7130 receiver is from 1985, when optical inputs were still young and not as widely available as today. Using the RCA cables means I’m using the AirPort Express A1392’s built-in DAC, which is pretty decent actually, and my audio sounds great 😊
It’s cheap and easy and it’s also sht. Airplay 2 is too much for the processor on the Express. I bought 3 of them and there are all sorts of annoying issues: - >3s (sometimes even >10) Delay between choosing it and getting audio out - It might not connect at all at first and might need to switch back and forth between the device and the speaker before it starts working - Multi-room output multiplies the chance of problems. Choosing both might mean deselecting and reselecting multiple times. As well, I’ve had multiple cases where one gets out of sync and I need to stop the music/video entirely Note: this is with the express hardwired via ethernet and plugged in to an upgraded optical DAC. As an Apple household: when it works it sounds awesome and that’s thankfully my main concern, but there’s a price to pay for sure.
I hear ya, I’ve experienced a few snags myself but not quite as bad like you’re experiencing. At least it’s cheap 😅 I’m wondering if the WiiM device might solve some of these snags at $99 US… maybe someday Apple will finally give us an updated model, or dedicated first-party AirPlay streamer altogether. Not holding my breath but a guy can dream!
@@dylanmacintosh I'm right there with you sir! It's continually challenging to me that high-quality wireless audio is a solved problem, and there are amazing-sounding speakers all over the place, AND our amplifier tech brings beautiful quality at low prices but there's no open standard that puts all that power in our hands. We could stream 24bit FLAC to all rooms with perfect sync if Apple/Google/Spotify/Bose/etc let us.
Exactly!! And thank you for pointing out that this is not a uniquely Apple problem- I realize that my video is focusing-in on an Apple product so that’s where minds will go, but I’ve seen a few other comments that play the Apple blame game and really it’s most of the big names (not giving Apple a pass here, just saying it’s a wider issue). On the other hand it’s taken us this long already to get things like Apple lossless, so the rest understandable won’t come overnight even if it is overdue as it is 😅
@@dylanmacintosh Yep. I've been chasing this dream for many years, and sometimes I think I'll just do an analog setup (like FM or 900MHz). The digital dream is far too compelling though so I experiment and wait for the One True Method that will bring forth the dream. I feel like those "the prophecy is foretold" characters
There are no stupid questions! Second party would relate to an entity that is partly owned or perhaps contracted by the first party. So in Apple’s case, a second party would be if a company that they partly owned created a product. If we were talking about headphones/speakers and continue using Apple as an example the AirPods would be first party, a second party option could be the Beats line of headphones because Apple owns them, and then third would be anyone else, like Sony or Bose, etc. Hope this helps!
Thank you! That’s a tough one- and it depends on what circumstance you’re asking for. For instance, Apple TV only supports HomePods (including HomePod minis) as default audio speakers (the most commonly asked for use-case). However, if you’re asking for a permanent AirPlay setup, I’m happy to report that AirPlay configurations are continuous until overwritten. For instance if I ask my HomePod mini “Hey siri, play music everywhere” and then days later ask it “hey siri, shuffle classic rock” it will continue playing on the previous group which included my AirPort Express A1392’s. Of course if you change the AirPlay group in between these requests it will play to the most recent one. I hope this helps!
2 года назад
@@dylanmacintosh This is really helpful. Thanks for the knowledge!
Thanks for your question! I’m glad there are more AirPlay 2 devices to choose from at all different budgets than ever before. I have not used the WiiM Mini AirPlay Streamer personally, but if it works as advertised then I’d say it really just depends on your budget and use case. One of these WiiM devices costs $99 US, where I’ve got 3 A1392 AirPort Expresses for less (2 of them were ~$34 on eBay, 1 was ~$25 on Craigslist, so about $93 total) so if you need multiple WiiM devices it will add up much faster at $99 a pop. However, the WiiM device says it supports Siri, so you wouldn’t need to buy a HomePod mini to have open air voice control over it, so that may be a huge plus over buying a $99 HomePod mini if you want that feature for your use case with an AirPort Express style setup. So for 1 speaker that needs open air Siri control I might recommend just getting the WiiM first, but for users who don’t care about open air voice control, need 2 or more speakers connected, or maybe already own a HomePod mini, I would feel comfortable recommending the AirPort Express route. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any more questions!
I always thought Mac mini is the cheapest option. Btw, are you connecting this thing to your pre-amp? I'm still thinking about making the DAC(like chord hugo2) a part of the setup. The WIFI module is even more expensive than a Macbook pro.
It’s all about what deals you can find! For some, you may be able to find a Mac mini that is cheaper than the AirPort Express, or vice versa. The AirPort Express A1392 actually has a pretty decent DAC inside, so I have it going straight into my receiver and it sounds great. Hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh Thanks!After checking the spec, I find that the 3.5mm jack supports digital optical output as well. And luckily I find a new/sealed one on local flea market for $60. I will try to connect to my DAC first. LOL. 😂
@@dylanmacintosh well. I just found something better, maybe you would like to know, or already know. The wiim mini and ieast olio. Some startup companies seem to work on these streamer products. I've ordered one of them considering they can output high resolution optical sound and support more music service.
@@frontarts yes! Some other commenters have suggest the WiiM device. So far it seems to offer more of an Echo Dot-like experience for Apple Music, which is very kühl. It sounds like a great device though I’ve not tried it myself. Please let us know what you think if you end up getting one!
Can someone recommend a y cable- rca to 3.5mm. I have my klipsch subwoofer speaker integrated through the airport express. I bought a cheap cable from target and I can't tell if the annoying pops. metallic noises are a wifi problem or a cable problem. I already had homepods connected to my network, but I wanted to add a subwoofer. .
Great question! It pretty much is standard for Amazon and Google to have audio outputs on their smart speakers, but for some reason Apple decided to remove all ports from its HomePod offerings, so that’s why Apple peeps have to resort to this AirPort Express method. If they would just put a headphone jack on the HomePod mini we wouldn’t have to do any of this! 🙄🤣
No, the AirPort Express doesn’t support this feature because it’s connecting over just a headphone jack essentially, but Apple TV with CEC does support this feature over HDMI. So for that feature it may be best to go with an Apple TV running “headless” tucked in with the stereo, and hooked up via HDMI to a receiver with CEC functionality. Does that make sense? Please let me know if you have any more questions!
Glad you liked it! If you have any questions about it let me know, and if you’re looking to add voice control to your setup with Siri check out the next video I made in the description!
Correct! This A1392 model was the only one to receive AirPlay 2 however, the others were AirPlay 1. So if you’re looking to make use of AirPlay 2 features like multi-room audio, this model is the way to go. Thanks for watching!
@@dylanmacintosh true that. I had the first Airport Express in 2005 and I used it to stream music from iTunes on my iBook G4. It wasn't a great router on it's own but I used it for audio streaming for a while until I couldn't. I just bought a A1392 off eBay for 36 bucks and I'll use it like I use my belkin soundform connect.
Hi! Currently I’m having this setup: main router - 5ghz only output, and range extender - 5ghz input and 2ghz only output (for smart home devices only +iPhone). I consider buying AirPort Time Capsule as the main router, and AirPort Extreme as the extender. The question is if I will be able to use this exact input/output with AirPort setup? Many thanks!
Great question! It sounds like you’re looking for network advice, whereas this video covers the AirPort Express used as a music streaming device. Are you looking to use the AirPort Express to stream music, or to extend your network?
@@dylanmacintosh well by the end of video you encouraged people to ask you about products of Apple ecosystem - I just thought you might have more experience with AirPort network. I am definitely looking to extend my network. The setup I described seems reasonable to me, I just would like to know for sure if that’s achievable before I spend some money on these lol 😂. Thanks!
No worries, I’m still happy to help whether it’s a network or music streaming question, just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page! So yes, the short answer is the AirPort Time Capsule is meant to be a base station and the AirPort Express can certainly extend the network, so you are correct. My only suggestion would be that this system is already a decade old, so if you plan to keep your infrastructure for some time yet as most people do, I might recommend a modern mesh system like Google’s offering or perhaps NetGear’s Orbi, something like that. It will have more modern features, not to mention more security updates in its future, as well as better coverage. But if you’re looking to go the Apple time capsule + AirPort Express, that will definitely work as well. Hope this helps!
Wouldn't an apple TV 3rd generation also work? These can be had cheaper still (20-25€ used) and have digital audio out (what I want) and the added hdmi 1080p output. There is one caveat for AirPlay (2) in general: Afaik it does still not support high res lossless and will force-convert everything down to 16bit/44khz.
Yes! The Apple TV method is also a great option, and the price often depends on what’s available in your local market. For me, I was looking to pick up an ATV on my local classifieds, but I found a couple AirPort Expresses for sale instead. Garage sales are also great opportunities to find old devices like this! The AirPort Express A1392’s 3.5mm audio jack is also optical audio out. And to your point about lossless, this is true- and a major pain point with a lot audiophiles. Even if you have lossless audio on your Apple Music, it will AirPlay to just CD quality on your AirPlay 2 receivers. There are a few caveats to even this too, and it gets a bit heady- if lossless audio is a mandatory requirement for anyone reading this comment, I would recommend looking for a different solution- and it probably won’t be AirPlay and probably won’t be $20-30 😅 but, it’s worth mentioning that if you are AirPlaying and ALAC from your own library, NOT Apple Music, it will be lossless. Also, (slim chance) but apple might update AirPlay 2 in the future (or even AirPlay 3) to be lossless while airplaying. Other more obvious adjustments to this setup that supply lossless are playing off the Apple TV directly, or playing through the home app directly. So, all that to say, no this isn’t an ideal setup by any means- I wish apple would update their product line to give us a more modern device, and more modern protocols to support things like lossless the whole way down the signal chain, but for now this is what we got ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks for the quick and detailed reply, most of what you mentioned I had read on the apple discussions pages googling the issue re:hi-res. I'm a special case tho anyway I don't even own an iphone, I simply want my hackintosh to air-play to my good Hi-Fi 'audiophile' fullrange speaker-setup, replacing the -also far from ideal- 5 meter cable across my living room. I already own a time capsule and the German market is currently saturated with 3rd gen ATVs likely due to 4k becoming the norm. So I'll hunt down the cheapest ATV3 I can find and compare how it sounds. Thank you for the video and giving me that idea, cheers!
@@alnicospeaker no problem! Always happy to help when I can. If you don’t care about multi-room audio and all you want is to lossless AirPlay to one system might I suggest trying AirPlay 1 instead of AirPlay 2? I’ve read probably quite a few of the same forum posts you have and it’s an interesting phenomenon but AirPlay 1 only supported ALAC by default where AirPlay 2 switched to AAC- however this means a “lossless” bit perfect setup might be even easier for you than you might think- you could look for an older AirPort Express A1264 or even an A1392 like in my video, but downgrade the firmware to before it had AirPlay 2- i believe that would be ver 7.6 or so. Just a couple ideas! I haven’t tested the data rates for myself so I can’t be 100% certain but a few very interested individuals have done the research and posted to forums. Hope I could help some more!
hey, I already got one I could pick up riding my bike for just 12€ :) A1427. It already streams. And I'll be trying out all kinds of things like 'jailbreak' it. There is one setting tho re:bit-depth in the AT3 menu I can chose either auto or 16bit 'for compatability', this suggests it could go to 24bit, but from what I read so far the answer to that is no?!
@@dylanmacintosh Hi, Dylan: that was the exact question that surfaced after watching both of your video. (1) How can I tell whether my A1392 has Airplay 1 or 2; (2) if it's still on AirPlay 1, how would I upgrade; and, alternatively, (3) if it's on AirPlay 2, and I wanna downgrade, how is that done?
If I’m understanding your question, there is no Apple Router required in this setup, besides the AirPort Express itself- which is not being used as a router in this context. The router I am connecting it to is the Verizon G3100, not an apple one. Does this information help?
I did this with a hidden 2.1 samsung soundbar in my kitchen, with the 3.5 toslink jack connected to the optical input of the soundbar, added bonus, as soon you send the soundstream to the AirPort Express 2, the optical data stream wakes up automatically the soundbar and music starts. Little bummer, the samsung soundbar need 8 seconds to wake up and wirelessly wake the subwoofer 🔊 before you hear music. Bonus: after 30 minutes without optical data, the 2.1 surround system go back to sleep. So no need to get out of the bed or bath to play music from your iPhone 🤣
Beautiful setup!! I love the auto-wake/sleep function, even if it lags a little I’ll still take it 😁 for me I have to make sure my vintage amps are turned on/off manually for now, I’ve been contemplating putting them on a HomeKit enabled power plug, but I’m not sure what (if any) stress that might put on these vintage electronics… maybe I’ll just have to give it a shot 😅 but the auto-sleep/wake with audio detection through the soundbar is next level!!
@@dylanmacintosh My pleasure 😀 I replicated this Setup even with the first generation AirPort Express as it has too the toslink minijack, i don’t know if it will work with AirPlay 2 but I suppose basic AirPlay functions should be available.
@@johnmanderson2060 If you are referring to the AirPort Express A1264, then yes I believe you are correct in that it supports AirPlay 1, but not AirPlay 2. The big differentiator for me is that AirPlay 2 supports multi-room audio, but if you’re only in need of 1 device at a time then yes, AirPlay 1 is still a great option!
The 3,5mm headphone jack is a mini toslink digital output as well. That way you can bypass the internal dac and use an external dac for better sound quality
Wow that’s amazing! I didn’t know about that, thanks for commenting about it so others can know for their setups. I’m sure an external DAC would help the sound quality even more, allowing for a true audiophile setup. Very kühl possibilities with this weird little Apple router 😎
Just like on my MBP. Been connecting my Mac to an old DAC in that fashion.
Well, I used to do that until I upgraded DACs. Not it's USB.
Thanks for letting us know
@@jayem1826 awesome! I use a USB soundcard on my Mac as well 😎
Try the TOS Link into a 5.1 Surround system and see what happens. Is that Quadraphonic?
@@EssGeeSee Only stereo, but with 24bit/48kHz better than a CD
Just searched the cupboard and dusted off my apple airport express and set it up in less than twenty mins, playing perfectly, cheers for the excellent tip !!
This is exactly the type of story that I love to hear! Enjoy!!
Airport Express' headphone jack supports mini-toslink. So if your mixer supports toslink, you can use that for best quality audio from the Airport Express. The Airport Express can output 16bit 44.1k ALAC, which is CD quality.
Exactly! My receiver is a bit older so unfortunately it does not have toslink, but thank you for commenting so others who might have a compatible receiver can see this info! Thanks for watching 🙏
I still use the Apple AirPort Extreme with an external HD attached to it where all my Macs automatically time machine backup to. I also have one of those smaller Airport express in my office connected to my older hifi system that I airplay to all the time. BONUS: you can also hook your printer to the airport express and print from anywhere! In 2022 this setup works like a dream still because my internet speed is still not >500 mbps so I do not need a faster wifi router/setup. I wish apple didn't discontinue their airport line and I think part of their "return to pro users" announcement is that they would bring airport back?
Hey Dylan you can also use these Airport Express to create a Multiroom music system! I have several vintage hifi systems around the house. If you connect each one up with an airport express you can play music right through the house. Great for a party where you can have music in the kitchen dining room and lounge. The 3.5 minijack analogue output is also a digital output if you use a mini Toslink cable. You can select individual rooms or several rooms at the same time for that multiroom music experience. Amazing value
How do you handle the audio delay?
I’ve had an airport express for almost 10 years and I still love it. I’m an audiophile, but streaming to the airport express sounds good to me from my iPad or iPhone and the fact it supports AirPlay 2 is a win win for me. I’ve a HomePod mini in my living room with my hifi so Siri can be used to play the songs on the system the airport is hooked too 👍🏻
That’s what we love to hear!! This is very close to the setup I’m science-ing right now. I have another AirPort Express being delivered today, and I picked up a HomePod mini last week. I think just one more HomePod mini in my apartment and I’m covered- just ask Siri to play music from anywhere in the apartment, tell it where to play to, and adjust it all on the fly from the airplay menu on any iOS device. Alexa certainly can’t do that- take that Amazon!!
Can you elaborate? If the Airport Express is connected to your home app is it as simple as saying “Hey Siri, play music on _____” and the music will play on the Hi-Fi set up as appose to the HomePod?
i too didnt get it. if you say hey siri, what i understand is that it will play on the homepod mini.. how is it gonna play on the hi fi..please elaborate
@@The_TylerDavis this is correct, and I’ve covered this topic in another video- please check out my channel and see!
@@shakti.rathore sure, I’ve made another video covering this topic so please check out my channel to see! In short, the commands can be sort of specific at first- for example, “Hey Siri, play music on Yamaha Speakers” will play music on just the Yamaha Speakers. Until you specific a different speaker option, any further commands to that HomePod will play from the Yamaha Speakers. If you specify, “Hey Siri, play music everywhere”, the HomePod will play music on all of your Apple Home speaker devices. If you ask it another music command past that, it will keep playing “everywhere” until you specify a different speaker or group. It’s pretty sweet!
I've had the Airport express for many years and it worked great as a network extender until about 2 years ago. I tried dozens of times to get it working again, but the network (likely my new xfinity router) didn't recognize it - so I abandoned it. I just tried again using your 'join an existing network' set up and it works! I can't believe I didn't try this previously, but it had always worked as an extender previously...Thank you!
You’re very welcome! I’m glad I could be of help and that you’ve saved yet another AirPort Express from the landfill- thanks for watching and commenting!
Right after I watched your video, I went to the used electronics shop and bought an Airport Express for £28. The cheapest Airplay 2 adapter on Amazon is Wiim mini, which costs £89. So I saved £61. I installed the Airport Express, and it works pretty well. Thanks for this great advice.
That’s awesome! Glad this video helped you out. Why spend more when there’s a first party solution for less? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
How did you install the Airport Express 2. Gen? I can't get it to work on my Mac which is running Sonoma or the latest iPhone.
@@atilla1950I installed Airport Utility on my iPhone and completed the setup. I’m not sure how it’s done on a Mac unfortunately.
I've had multiple airport express devices used in this way for 10+ years to give multi-room audio from a single source. I've never actually used them as routers. It's interesting to see how this is seen now as something new in 2022.
Glad to hear you’ve gotten some good use out of them! I’m not sure that it’s a particularly new thing in 2022, but since the 2018 update I’ve seen more and more people using the AirPort Express for this purpose, for sure. What’s more interesting is that Apple still hasn’t given us a modern option: the only reason this workaround is necessary today is essentially because the HomePod mini doesn’t come with a headphone jack 🥲
I agree, I use an earlier version of Airplay adapter and the "earphone jack" was only an audio out but also an optical Toslink mini connector.
Have you ever looked inside of the jack opening? If you see a red light in the opening, the device can supply you with digital audio for your receiver if it is setup for optical input. Let me know what you find.
the earlier version also has airplay 2 or its just airplay 1?
Hi Dylan, this is one of the most useful tips ever. It saves me hundreds of euros for buying a DAC. Luckily had already an Airport Express at home. Had to reset the Airport and connect it using the LAN cable in order to connect with the Wifi. Works perfectly. THANK YOU!
Glad this video helped you! Your story and those like it are exactly what I love to hear. Happy airplaying!!
I just noticed that if you first try to set it up wirelessly, you can’t do it in the airport utility app, but it shows a setup prompt in the WiFi settings of your iPad. HOWEVER, the setup in the WiFi settings of the iPad doesn’t have an option to just "join a network" which is what we want.
So I recommend to connect the airport to your router via Ethernet cable (like in the video) and then it should show up in the airport utility app and then you can select "join existing network " and set it up to only be an AirPlay adapter.
Yep, I still use 2 of these. It's almost criminal that Apple didn't update this - they are so useful. The quality of the internal DAC is still excellent relative to modern devices (see Ken Rockwell review) and if set up correctly they are rock solid. Thanks for your video - it really needs more people to ask Apple to do this again. All we have from them is the HomePod Mini and the Airport Express will link to far bigger and better speakers. If some think that $38 or even $100 is too much it's worth bearing in mind that the best device out there (Bluesound Node) is $500.
I couldn’t agree more! A new first-party option from Apple would be very exciting! I would love to see a new HomePod “mini-er” a la Alexa Echo Dot/ Google Home mini with a headphone jack and a DAC as good as the AirPort Express 😇 a guy can dream, but in the meantime I made this video since unfortunately this first-party product doesn’t exist 😅 thanks for watching! 😁
@Keltic D isn’t it amazing?? I’m really surprised Apple updated the A1392’s firmware to have this feature post-mortem 🤘
In regards to Walter’s comment, I believe he was referring to wondering why Apple didn’t “update” this product-line with a new hardware device. It would be very nice if Apple offered some kind of brand new first-party streaming puck at an affordable price, but for now the A1392 AirPort Express is what we’ve got ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Apple doesn’t do an AirPort Express 3 because they have already create the HomePod and the AirPort is like deleting the HomePod.
The bluesound isn’t the best I’d say. If money isn’t a question then I’d argue the Naim ND555 + 2X 555PS. But that’s absolute best but has its £30k price tag.
@@monsieurleferrovipathe9800 I’m not sure that it’d compete directly with the HomePod, the main differences being the AirPort Express doesn’t have a built-in speaker or built-in digital assistant and the HomePod has no ability to take audio out. So if Apple made a device like the Belkin Soundform connect they could probably sell quite a few, just “not enough” for a company like Apple and that’s probably why they won’t do it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I suggest, if possible, to use a LAN cable from your router to bring WAN and LAN to the AirPort Express. Using the mesh functions will slow down the wifi of your router. You better use the AE as a dedicated Wifi access point for Guests Wifi, and use the USB port connected to your printer 🖨 even if it has wifi connected to your private wifi, I explain: Your guests arrive, they connect to the segregated guest wifi of the AE ( you private network is not compromised, no private wifi password sharing) as a bonus they too have access to AirPlay and can instantly play music wirelessly from the guest wifi, and if need to print a photo or document, they can use AE’s AirPrint to do so via the USB cable connected to the printer 🖨 ( again no private wifi security breach )
The AirPrint bonus works easily with computers. With smartphones or tablets, results may vary, sometimes needing a printer manufacturer dedicated app like HP smart, etc… Best option if you have an AirPrint embedded printer with both wifi and Ethernet you can use both connections, wifi for guest prints and Ethernet for private network prints, or vice-versa. Last point, the AE‘s USB embedded AirPrint server is accessible both by the private network and the guest network, in case of an old USB only printer, it will be accessible to all while keeping networks segregated. If Ethernet cables are an issue, powerline network adapters can do the job cleanly, transporting data thru power outlets (must be directly connected to wall socket) Sorry for the long comment 🙏🏼😉
Hey, I’m having the exact issue you mention that once I use airplay over the network, it immediately reduces my wifi bandwidth. Are you suggesting then, to create a separate guest network using the AE? Are there any security vulnerabilities with such an old router?
@@NareKICK Not really, just make sure to have the latest firmware update done on the AE using the Apple airport managing app ( Mac OS or iOS or iPadOS ) use the WPA2 AES protocol ( not tkip! ) then generate a long random very complex wifi password. To ease the guest wifi network access, you can generate a QRcode with an iPhone shortcut script that you can easily found via Google. When your guests wish to connect, they just need to scan the QRcode you have printed or as an image on your phone. If the guest is in you contact list, you can share the password automatically via the prompt you will get asking for the wifi password when they try to connect. This function requires airdrop activated and/or Bluetooth shared connection ON, i don’t remember exactly, sorry it is late here, if you Google it you will find it. Best regards
I picked up a Wiim Mini recently as I wanted the optical out - I didn't realize the Airport Express had the toslink as well. Wiim is a good option - better than Belkin by all accounts.
Although this is an old comment, can you tell me why the wiim is better than Belkin?
I never purchased the Belkin but the trick up the WiiM Mini’s sleeve is that once you start a playlist on whichever of the streaming services it supports - it becomes the source. It’s not just a Bluetooth relay.
AirTunes was the predecessor to AirPlay and could handle audio only. That's why the AirPort Express from 2004 had the combined 3.5mm and mini Toslink audio out port.
Loved my old AirPort Express routers back in the late 2000s for AirPlay 1. Was the first among my friends that that wireless multiroom.
Wireless multi room audio is so kühl!! I remember touring an apartment that was redone in the mid-80’s and the realtor was so proud of the stereo speakers that were wired-up throughout the house… I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this is basically worthless these days 😅
Very cool! I wanted to accomplish the same goal. I bought a used apple 4K and bought an hdmi extractor to run a optical cable to my system. You were much more cost effective. Well done!
Hey, that’s another way to do it! I’m curious, did you hook the AppleTV to a TV/monitor for “first setup” and then stash the box “headless” with the stereo once you replaced the HDMI cable with the extractor? Are there other benefits like, using the Apple TV remote to control volume of the stereo? There is always that Belkin AirPlay device thing too, so if you ever want to use the ATV for something else in your house you’ve got some options for the stereo- I like your creativity!
Yeah I was thinking that same thing!
Thank you SO MUCH for this video! I had my AirPort stored in the basement for some years, thought I probably can use it at some point again and here were go, works like a charm. I love it when some old tech, you totally forgot about, gets repurposed. THANKS!
Thank you for watching Tino!! I’m glad you’re enjoying your AirPort Express again! Since making this video I now have 3 AirPort Express A1392 and a HomePod mini to control them via Siri, and I’m loving every minute of it. Cheers!
Not sure how this video found its way to my “Home” feed, but I’m really happy about that. Before I bought HomePods, I got a Rogue Amoeba product that streamed to multiple speakers. With Airplay 2 later, I got a pair of HomePods…really great for my small place. Been looking for a solution to stream the music from my HomePods (usually Siri-activated via Apple Music playlists), but there was no separate streaming adapter with Airplay 2 support for third-party devices. Thanks to this video, I bought an Airplay Express locally (I had one long ago for that Airplay support, but I don’t recall how I no longer have it). I hope that once I get it installed and get the speaker working, I can tell Siri to “play everywhere” so that the same music can stream throughout (I do have a pair of HomePod minis, each in separate rooms). Crossing fingers that this will work!
Thanks for the kind words! And I’m glad that the RUclips algorithm gods are doing their part hahaha 🤣 if you’re looking to ask Siri to “play everywhere” then there’s actually a little bit of a trick to this so please check out my follow-up video on the topic here ruclips.net/video/oQIfqPJcXhY/видео.html
I ask Siri to “play everywhere” all the time now and I love it. It’s basically my primary method of listening to music at this point. Hope this helps and if you have any more questions please let me know!
Nice solution. Definitely worth the $38. The only concern I would have is that it is Internet connected device and no longer gets security updates.
I suppose you could turn off its wifi and run over Ethernet only, for reduced risk.
Just watched your video and I am impressed. I enjoyed the video. I wasn’t sitting there talking shit inside my head about you. Also it was informative. I learned something. I too have the same Apple router just not the same problem. I have a pioneer sc-61 elite av receiver so I don’t have the problem you do as my system connects to iPhone seamlessly over Wi-Fi however it’s lacking in the area of wireless connectivity because you need a separate adapter that I do not have and is a bit more than I want to spend. So I am stuck with a Ethernet connecting to the back of my receiver in order to see my receiver on my network. That is where the Apple airport comes in. I too was experiencing difficulty hooking it up to my current xfinity modem. Going to try it now. Wish me luck.
Overall, the longest time device of Apple I can keep using for 8 years is Apple Express. It is good for regular users. I love the Airport Time Capsule as well but Apple stopped supporting that.
I have a pair of Edifier R1900 TIII plugged in one of these routers, they're simply and awesome. My Apple TV is always conected to the Airplay, so even when I mirror any video from my Macbook or iPhone to the Apple TV the sound is transfered to the Edifier trhough Airplay.
Awesome setup!! The Edifier’s are sweet. I’m curious, is the AirPlay connection persistent when you restart your Apple TV? Or do you mean that you immediately AirPlay it anytime you are using the ATV when you turn it on anyway so you’re just good to go each time?
@@dylanmacintosh Agree that Edifiers are the shizz. And, great question from Dylan; had you set them as the "main" or "default" AppleTV speakers, within that unit's settings?
I've got three running in my house for different zones along with a couple receivers that have Airplay 2 built in. It's been working great for a while now.
Hello Dylan. I’ve installed ten AirPort Express to my receiver. It keeps disconnecting when wireless. Seems I’m missing some setup. Not happening when AirPort Express is conecte with Ethernet cable. Help.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve been able to get an Airport as you suggested (cost me only €20) and set it up accordingly. Although I already have two streaming setups in other rooms, I wanted one for my work too. I did notice a small thud sound when starting to play or when I skip forward to a next one. Not sure where that comes from.
Also I am having some issue when I try to control the volume on my iPhone. It seems that as a work around I can pause the music and set a different level.
I am curious to try the digital output of the headphone, but haven’t figured out what cable I need for that.
Nice find for €20!! Interesting about your volume issue, I’ve not experienced that before, but for your digital output question you’d be looking for a mini toslink to optical cable such as this one amzn.to/3Jj42yQ
The mini toslink end fits in the regular 3.5mm audio jack and the other end goes to the optical input of your receiver. Hope this helps!
I’ve been using 2 1st Gen Airport express to connect to my two lower quality hi-fis since they were current kit. They have the headphone jack too. Sound quality isn’t amazing compared to my streamer on my principle, all Linn, hi-fi, but it’s good enough for streaming from Apple Music as background in my kitchen or office.
I hear ya, kitchen or office music streaming is a great use-case for these gadgets!
You’ve made an useful suggestion for re-use of these AirPod devices. There’s one aspect I don’t understand, which is the headphone jack cabling to the amplifier inputs. Most older amps expect RAC jacks or bare wire connections, but differ in the sensitivity to allow various devices to connect. How does one connect the AirPod and to which amp input?
Sure, the AirPort Express A1392 has its own built-in DAC (digital audio converter), so it can output an analog audio source via its headphone jack. All you need is a headphone cable that has RCA red and white plugs on the other end. You can find this cable on Amazon for pretty cheap and I have included a link in the description to one that I’ve used. Then you can simply plug the red and white plugs into the RCA inputs on the receiver. As far as the sensitivity of the signal, I’m not sure how you mean- once the signal has been converted to analog, it’s ready to go. Thankfully, most of the work is done automatically and there’s not much to worry about- it’s simpler than you think 👍
@@dylanmacintosh I think they are remembering the "phono" input on some amps. There are even a couple current ones that still have it, but the important point is that it is designed to expect way lower volume levels since the "phonograph" (record player) connected to it was normally un-amplified and feeding the signal directly from the needle. An MP3 player connected to a phono input might blow it.
The answer to their question is probably "you connect the Airport Express to any non-phono input"
@@JB-fh1bb Ahh I see what you mean! I seem to remember having the opposite problem where if you plug a phono source into a line level input it will have little to no volume, but I hadn’t considered the opposite problem of too much signal to the phono input- so yes, I’d connect the AE to a line level input on your receiver. There is usually more line level inputs that are arbitrarily named (CD, Tape, Aux), and just the one Phono. So any one the line levels like CD, Tape or Aux will be fair game. Hope this clarifies things!
Go even older Gen model. For in the car. AirPlay setup. And fyi this feature was built into iTunes for whole home audio wayyyy before HomeKit or before It was called AirPlay. Long time user. LOVE THESE DEVICES!
As well as doing this I’ve just repurposed my Apple TV 3rd gen. I needed to use a DAC to turn convert the optical out to RCA but other than that it works the same. It’s great to put old tech that was gathering dust to use again.
Nice!! Always feels great to reuse instead of throwing them in the bin! ♻️ 🫶
Thanks for letting me know that I am not crazy for struggling to find a reasonably priced device for connecting iPhones to vintage stereo systems via AirPlay. I tried the Wiim Pro, but it experiences very annoying and frequent dropouts which require intervention to correct. I will try the soluton you describe.
Thanks for watching and commenting and I hope the AirPort Express method works better for you!
I’ve been looking at multi-room audio solutions that don’t rely on Alexa and wouldn’t require new speakers or expensive gadgets for a while, after I finished this video I ordered 3 of these hehe
Nice!! Yup, I have 3 as well now… it’s just too easy!
Excellent video and idea. I had one of those Airport Express A1392's from years ago laying around. Did a hard reset, re-configured it to join my Unifi WiFi via the Airport Utility, plugged it into my HTD whole house audio system, and BAM airplay 2 in the whole house and back yard! Thanks for the video and effort.
There you go! Thats quite a setup. I’m glad it’s all come together easily for you!
I just got the Airport Express 2. Gen but can't install it through my Mac or iPhone. I can see the device itself but it always gives back an error when setting it up. I resetted the device multiple times. Any ideas? Do I need an older mac version to make the setup process work?
Thanks Dylan I finally grabbed one after watching your video a few months back. it works. I got a brand new unit in its cellophane. The setup didnt work out through 2 macs so I tried through my Iphone 7 (Wifi settings, it sees the Airport once its plugged electrically) and it worked til the end then on the macs I could see the thing was on and could update it to the last version. Right now I tested it to a vintage ampli through a quite long analog cable. Sound goes from OK to good but i gotta fetch a shorter and quality optical cable with the proper jack on one side and optical on the other and hook it up on a more recent amp to see if sound can be better.
Thanks again for such a valuable info.
Glad my video could help you out!! Thanks for watching 🙏
I've got 3 of these boxes that I bought a decade ago to do wifi in the home. I've since moved on to Unifi and continued using the airport express units as Airplay devices.
Problem over the last year or so is that Apple Music might on ios, ipadOS or MacOS will work one day and not work for a long while after that. Can't connect to airplay device, make sure it's on your network after the spinning fan thinks about it.
Hard reseting fixes it for another day and then it'll be gone the next.
I've also tried hardwiring the airport express with the same result.
Yup! I keep meaning to see if I can downgrade mine to the firmware that only does AirPlay 1 since that was rock-solid. That might help you as well
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
@@JB-fh1bb Solution I've come up with involves restarting the the ipad when it has trouble connecting to an airplay. Apple Music on a mac though, I haven't figured out any workaround yet.
Awesome! I will probably try this. I have never used one, so I might be back here later with questions. I’ve been really frustrated lately with my echo dots dropping audio or never starting to play on the group at all. I just want to play whatever I have on my phone throughout my house.
Thanks for watching! If you have any other Apple products I highly recommended using the AirPort Express as music streaming boxes. Also check out my follow up video on how to add a HomePod mini to the setup for full voice control if you’re interested in that!
Oh man! Fabulous tip. I do have an old express that had stopped working. Plugged the Ethernet and done! Thank you!🙏
It’s that easy! I’m glad I could be of assistance. Enjoy!
I'm using my old Express to stream OTA channels from an HD Homerun tuner. The tuner is ethernet only and in a different room to get optimal TV channels. Works great.
Awesome!! Sounds like a sweet setup!
Unfortunately, the firmware that added AirPlay 2 on this device (firmware 7.8) introduces distortion which is well-documented on audio forums. The previous AirPlay 1 firmware (7.6.9) is clean. But Apple has made it easy to downgrade to 7.6.9. So, unfortunately this update isn’t the gem we thought it was.
It’s great that downgrading is easy on these units, I’ve also heard some folks prefer the previous generation AirPort Express that only supported AirPlay1 for the lossless signal. It’s great to have options! Thanks for watching, and commenting!
Great video.
I followed your instructions and hooked an older B&W Zepplin speaker.
I almost went the $99 Bellinis route but opted for the Apple router which works seamlessly.
Awesome!! Happy I could help steer you towards a more affordable first party option. Thanks for watching!!
I have my Marantz SR receiver connected via Ethernet to my AirPort Express, I read you get true Lossless sound quality with this type of connection.
Very nice! That’s quite the setup you have- only the best audio quality we can muster is to be used on the Marantz! I can only guess how amazing it must sound 😎
I’m wondering whether Apple releases security fixes to 10 years old devices. Probably not. So bear in mind that you put in your network potential hole. If possible, when having cable connection, at least disable Wi-Fi completely
I appreciate your security concern, and I don’t mean to dismiss it- but turning off Wi-Fi completely on the unit would also disable the AirPlay function. You might still be able to play music from the network, just not wireless from your phone, so I encourage you to mess around and try out different things if this is important to you. Another note- although the AirPort Express has been very secure in the past I definitely hear you that as time goes on without security updates devices like this become an ever-increasing security problem- and not a unique problem to Apple or it’s AirPort Express either: everyone should be aware of what they have on their network and it’s security status!
@@dylanmacintosh As long as you connect the AirPort to ethernet it should allow you to stream wirelessly from your phone.
@@unicodefox I’ll test this out and let you know! I’m expecting that the typical wireless control features (like Control Other Speakers & TVs) will work since the data is pulled down from Apple’s servers, but for anything that is airplayed from “iPhone -> Yamaha Speakers” I’m expecting it won’t work but I’ll double check when I get the chance 👍
What port on the APE do you connect it to? I tried with ethernet cable on one of the ports (I cannot remember which one) and it killed the internet connection totally. All routes an APs just blinking orange until I unplugged the APE.
I was using a sonos port prior, thank you for the video! I have since sold it and will use this in the future
Great call in my opinion! Somebody recommended me a Sonos Port a while back and I saw the price and said no way… there’s gotta be something cheaper 🤑😅 I’m sure the Sonos Port is fantastic but if all you were looking for is an AirPlay 2 receiver that $450 price tag is just overkill. Very happy to hear that you’ve recouped some cost and are moving forward with the AirPort Express method!
Moode Audio, which is streaming software package for a Raspberry Pi, supports AirPlay as well
Awesome idea! I have one of those lying around here somewhere, perhaps I’ll put it to use as another streamer 👍
Brilliant. I had one lying around as it happens. It’s working. Thanks. Very useful video.
Yeah... have had AirPlay for many, many, many years by using an AirPort Express plugged into my B&O Speakers. I just hope AirPorts are one product Apple resurrects because I have NO plans to by a HomePod to replace my B&O setup...
May i ask if you connected the 3.5mm audio jack of the airport express directly to the B&O speaker (cinch connector in believe) or to the B&O amplifier (Din 5 or 7 pin Aux in i believe? Thanks.
I have exactly the same thing and it is perfect for my Sony speaker!!! This thing is old but awesome !
Nice!! I love Sony’s stuff- great choice!
YOu didn't mention that you have to plug your speaker system into the 3.5mm plug....that's kind of an important bit to mention.
Good idea, Thanks. I wonder if any old AppleTv units have mini plug out, because the new ones only have HDMI or Optical.
I’m glad you enjoyed! The Apple TV lineup never had a headphone jack unfortunately, but you can take advantage of the Optical audio out by using an Optical to RCA adapter like in this write up tidbits.com/2021/02/07/add-airplay-to-your-classic-stereo-with-an-old-apple-tv/
Let me know if you have any more questions!
Did I miss something? No mention of what was plugged into the headphone Jack ?!?
Is your question referring to what is physically plugged into the headphone jack of the AirPort Express? It’s a 3.5mm to RCA cable; I have included a link to the cable I used in the video description. Simply plug the 3.5mm end into the headphone jack of the AirPort Express, and the RCA ends of the cable into the inputs on the back of your stereo receiver. Hope this helps and please let me know if you have any further questions! Thanks for watching 🙏
@@dylanmacintosh yeh thanks. I guess I was expecting to see you show that part in the video but I get it now. Thanks
A Raspberry Pi 4 with a HiFiBerry DAC+ HAT will also work great if you cant get your hands on an AirPort Express(they cost 195usd USED where I live). It's a bit harder to configure, but it's not that hard if you follow a tutorial.
Great idea! I have a raspberry pi hanging around here somewhere that I might just have to put to use for this purpose!
Thanks fella , just set mine up as yours , works great . Thanks .
These are £22 @ CEX if you're in the UK , the older ones are a fiver .
Bargain !
Woah, that’s a great deal!! Thanks for watching and commenting 🙏
Love this idea! How did you update the firmware? I cannot get my express to show up on my airport utility.
Thanks!! Great question, I had a similar issue where the AirPort Express wouldn’t show up in the AirPort Utility until I physically connected it to my router with an Ethernet cable. Once it picked up a local IP address I was able to access it through the AirPort Utility. Is this something you could try or perhaps you already have? I’ll do my best to help you out if I can!
@@dylanmacintosh thanks for the reply. I attempted the direct connection via LAN. Didn’t work. But I ended up factory resetting the AirPort Express. Then restarting my router. THEN connecting my express to my router direct. I was able to start the re-connection process and connect to my existing network. My express is now connected and playing music through my house. You changed the game! Thank you so much for posting!
Nice work!!! Now that’s some proper troubleshooting steps! Thank you for replying your steps to the comment so hopefully others can see if they have the same question. Enjoy your multi-room AirPlay setup!!
Back in the day when the first express and subsequently second express came out. Apple made them with the 3.5mm optical/analog jack for the very reason we’re using them now but back then you were able to stream audio from ur iTunes app on ur pc/mac to ur hifi setup. That way you didn’t need to run a long cable to your hifi to listen to ur iTunes music. It was pretty forward thinking. Too bad they got out of the router game. Only downside to using the express for airplay 2 is that the audio isn’t synchronized if you’re using other AirPlay 2 devices like Apple TV’s or the HomePod…
Thanks for shining a light on this! It certainly was forward thinking to use a router as a wireless HIFI receiver and I’m glad Apple made this possible! It is a shame they got out of the router game, I’d be very curious if they ever made another one. As far as AirPlay 2 not synchronizing I’m not quite sure how you mean, I am able to sync up my AirPort Express A1392s with any combination of my other AirPlay 2 devices such as HomePod minis and Apple TV’s, I wonder if I am not understanding what you’re referring to or you are referring to something else? I’ve also made another video on controlling AirPort Express with Siri via HomePod mini, maybe that is what you are looking for or maybe not but either way please leave a comment if you check it out! Cheers!
@@dylanmacintosh What I meant about the music not being synchronized is that if you have something playing on the A1392 and then you have something on a different device like an Apple TV and then another thing on HomePod, the music won't be in sync. Sometimes the A1392 will have a 1 second delay in the song resulting in an echo like effect if you're walking from room to room. It's not as big a deal if you happen to have a unit out in the backyard and one inside. I suspect this is more of an issue with the AirPlay 2 protocol vs the devices. I've played songs through multiple Apple TVs with them not being in sync as well. I think though, if you're using purely A1392s as your AirPlay 2 devices, shouldn't be much a problem. I haven't tested this theory out yet because I only have two of them. I would have liked it if I could use my 3 AppleTVs and my airplay2 enabled receiver to do whole home audio though.
Ah I see, I’ll have to do some further testing to see if I can replicate what you’re seeing/hearing. So far in my setup I have a HomePod mini, an Apple TV 4K attached to a Sony soundbar, and 3 AirPort Express A1392s- when I use AirPlay 2 for multi-room audio across all of them at once I can only notice the smallest amount of delay between devices that are the closest together, but I’ll keep trying and see what happens. My first question for your setup is are you AirPlaying to these devices from your iPhone or other device like an iPad? Or are you streaming the music through HomeKit? The difference being when you open the AirPlay quick menu on your phone and select “Control Other Devices” it will show iPhone -> to your other AirPlay 2 devices if it’s actually AirPlaying from your iPhone.
@@dylanmacintosh I usually just use the quick option under the whichever app I'm playing. I haven't tried other options. I actually didn't know there were others. I just remember my friend saying his AppleTV was out of sync with his HomePod as well. I only have Apple TVs and the A1392s. I do have a receiver that's AirPlay 2 compatible. I might do some testing after work tomorrow morning and see if anything is different now that everything is hardwired as opposed to using wifi. Prior to this everything was running on wifi.
@@dylanmacintosh And yeah...I'm airplaying from my phone pretty much all the time. I haven't tried it from my macbook but that thing is ancient lol...
It is a cheap and easy fix, but I still prefer to use a RaspberryPi for this. Of course for best audio quality, you need an external DAC for that, but it is not necessary. The main pro's of using a RaspberryPi is that the latest version is rather fast and has a lot of headroom for it to run other services like a PiHole, VPN or a print/scan server. It can also be useful for home automation tasks and it does not consume a lot of power.
I completely agree! I have an RPi kicking around here somewhere, I might just have to set it up for this and give it a try! What I like about the AirPort Express is that it’s a first party option, and easily setup by people who are familiar with the Apple side of things. If you have the know how, there are so many more great ways to get wireless audio of even higher quality without resorting to an AirPort Express- at the end of the day it’s great to have options!
Ok, so can i use this to stream my iTunes from PC to a receiver on my porch with airport express connected?
I still use an Apple Airport Express because of the headphone jack and it works well with AirPlay. It’s connected to my old mixer that sends music to an amplifier. I heard that Apple is working on some new routers. I don’t know why they stopped selling routers. They forced me to buy their competitors products and now they may have lost my business.
I hear ya, I wish they would update this product line!! I’m really not sure why they ever stopped, but a new Apple router or dedicated first party AirPlay receiver would be more than welcome 🙌
isn't using a bluetooth audio receiver adapter to turn speakers into bluetooth speakers a much cheaper way to get the same functionality?
or are there any added benefits with the AirPort Extreme ?
Sure, if all you need is Bluetooth you can use almost any adapter. However this video is about AirPlay 2, which contains the added benefits of multi-room audio as well as integrated Apple device controls. If you don’t have Apple devices there is no need to go this route. If you have Android devices I would suggest Amazon’s Alexa Echo Dot, or Goolge’s Home mini as these already have audio jacks on the back and will allow for voice control directly while their output is connected to an external speaker. Hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh ohh yes multi room audio is an added benefit for this.
I also have speakers and an echo dot but I just found it way more convenient to use the bluetooth dongle since I can connect my Mac or iPhone from anywhere and it was cheaper than airport express. but multi room setups would greatly benefit from APE
also thanks for the quick reply and keep up your good content💪
What is the main advantage to this over just using a HIFI bluetooth reciever? Great vid and thanks in advance!
Thank you and great question! The main advantage is that you can continue using your existing receiver, whether it be vintage or modern, your favorite or just whatever you have- with the side advantage of it being an inexpensive add-on, typically less than $50 US but depends on what’s available in your area or eBay shipping. Other AirPlay devices might cost $100 in the case of the Belkin Soundform Connect, or much more in the case of the Sonos Port at ~$450 US. However if you are in the market for a HIFI receiver that supports AirPlay 2, absolutely go for it, there are several on the market that seem very nice 👌
In regards to a Bluetooth receiver vs AirPlay, AirPlay simply provides more convenience to Apple users than a regular Bluetooth connection. You can even get fancy with it and setup multi-room audio if you have multiple AirPlay 2 enabled receivers. You can also control them via Siri if you add those receivers into your Apple Home app. But if Bluetooth is all you need, there are plenty of cheap adapters out there that can do the job for even less $$ and greater simplicity than what’s shown here, without the need for a high end HIFI Bluetooth receiver. At the end of the day, it’s a great thing that we have so many options at so many different price brackets!
@@dylanmacintosh Ahh okay! I understand, thanks for the explanation. Might have to look into picking one up for myself.
@@connorquinn3109 of course always happy to help! Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Exactly the info I was looking for. Can't believe it was this simple all along. Thanks for your help.
Happy I could be of help to you!!
I use the same concept with an ol MAC Mini from 2012 and use with Monterry like an Apple TV
Nice! Great idea 💡 which year is your mac mini may I ask? I see some used ones go for very cheap on my local classifieds from time to time.
@@dylanmacintosh It was this model Apple Mac Mini A1347 Desktop i5-2415M 2.3GHz from 2011. You install Monterrey using Open Core legacy and in Monterry use the Airplay sharing and you could send audio or video from other MAC
@@joseacarrasm nice! I swear I’ve had one of those models tucked away in storage forever maybe it’s time I put it to use!
I'm surprised that nobody in the comments mentioned the DIYs to add airplay like a raspberry pi. I know they are very expensive at the moment but if you already have one or just buy something similar, it's very easy to just flash an SD card with a special OS that can add Bluetooth, airplay and even Spotify Connect (only works with a Spotify premium account unfortunately), DLNA or all protocol you want, and some OSs have also multiroom options. Furthermore you can easily add a DAC directly to the raspberry pi as you have some that just plugs into the pins (it's called a "hat"). However your solution is cheaper but I thought it's good to mention it if people want to do the same as you and can't put their hands on an old apple router 😉
Yes! I’ve seen a few comments mentioning Raspberry Pi. I do have one kicking around here somewhere that I might just use for a purpose like this! It is a little bit more “hacker” in style tho and for this video I was excited to find a first-party option that you can setup with only Apple apps. Some people are afraid of raspberry pi and I have no idea why… But at the end of the day I’m just glad to have different options across different price ranges! It’s an exciting time for audio streaming for sure 🤘
@@dylanmacintosh that's great 😃! I forgot to say that your video is very cool because I didn't know we could do that AND it's better to recycle than using a brand new raspberry pi that costs more 😁
@@alexbjs7010 haha thanks so much!! Yes any reduction of e-waste is a nice positive to have 🤓♻️ unfortunately the limited supply of aging AirPort Expresses will someday run out so it’s important the community know about Raspberry Pi’s as well! Maybe it’s time for another video 🤔🤫
Good thinking here... I have a question... Can audio (through Airplay 2) output from the USB (and straight into my DAC) or is audio only available through the 3.5mm jack (with internal DAC)?
Great question! Unfortunately the A1392 doesn’t support audio over USB, making it only available through the 3.5mm jack- which as you stated has an internal DAC, and I might add a decent one at that (for a 2012 router!)
The same 3.5 mm jack is also a mini toslink optical output. You can use it for your external DAC. But this optical output is limited to Compact Disc quality audio (44.1 KHz, 16 bits).
Can anybody explain to me why AirPlay is better than just normal bluetooth?
Sure! Firstly, it’s an Apple specific protocol that “combines Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections” so to speak, so if you don’t have any Apple devices it’s meaningless. Secondly, if you have Apple devices, AirPlay 2 provides such conveniences as multi-room synchronized audio, the ability to adjust volumes across multiple receivers, and certain “ecosystem” perks, like the AirPlay quick menu, or setting a HomePod stereo pair as the default audio output of your Apple TV just to name a couple. But again these features are very much Apple-entrenched, so if all you need is Bluetooth there is no need to dive into the AirPlay waters. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions!
@@dylanmacintosh Forgive me if this is way off-base, or just sheer incorrect, but, in my experience, a Bluetooth-enabled source device can only play to one (1) Bluetooth-capable receiver / target speaker at one time, whereas my home setup allows me to connect to multiple AirPlay speaker sets at one time.
I have a question for you. I am looking for a similar solution to this problem: I want to get into vinyl and I have an "apple household." We have all apple devices and 5 Sonos (The ones from Ikea) speakers and one apple home pod mini. We have them all connected to our router and it works great. But if I buy a vinyl turntable is there a solution for connecting the turntable to our airplay system. It there someway to route the turntable via USB C through my computer etc? I think this is an impossible thing to do and I googled it. After I watched this video I thought I would just go ahead and ask you.
Great question! I will start by saying nothing is impossible, but this one is rather difficult 😅 The short version of why this is difficult is because this vinyl-to-AirPlay use case is counter to the AirPlay system’s intended use, making it like swimming upstream. The long version of why this type of vinyl-to-AirPlay setup is difficult is when you try to add vinyl to AirPlay we have to go from an Analog signal to a Digital signal first before the music can be AirPlayed. So, you will need a vinyl turntable, a digital audio converter like an amp, dac, or audio interface, and some method of connecting that audio interface as an input to an Apple device, then some software on that device capable of monitoring the incoming audio signal, and then AirPlaying it to your other devices. The trouble with this method is that while this audio device is in use, you will be AirPlaying *from* it, no to it, meaning you must make your adjustments on the device itself, losing a lot of the benefits of control from the AirPlay menu that you are used to on your current AirPlay sources. And now, my personal opinion: You may yet someday end up with a system that works for you, but at the end of the day I will say you’d likely be happier if you skipped that headache and went with a separate analog HiFi system for your vinyl pursuits. You will have true analog audio quality to enjoy your vinyls with instead of it being converted back into a digital signal that is likely less than the Apple Music (or comparable streaming service) quality. Once you have your vinyl HiFi setup, you can add an AirPort Express or similar streamer device to one of the other inputs on the receiver and continue enjoying your HiFi speakers whether you choose to listen to your vinyl collection or the convenience of AirPlay streaming… most of the time your ears won’t know the difference, and you won’t have to get up to flip the record 😇 I sincerely hope this helps you on your way!
Hi Dylan, I thought of using the a1392 apple router hooked up to my Marshall woburn bluetooth speaker (via 3.5 headphone jack) since airplay 2 is better sound quality transfer than bluetooth! According to your video this would be just a simple connect - set up & play! Am I right?
Sure! Once the AirPort Express A1392 is setup as an AirPlay 2 receiver, it doesn’t matter what the audio out of the unit is plugged into- you can plug it into any speaker and let it rip! Let me know if you have any more questions 😎
The AirPort Express A1392 smokes the Wiim Pro Plus whose treble and bass are boosted and have hollowed out mids and vocals as a result. It’s shocking how ppl are willing to put up with sound like this. The Apple AirPort Express puts out a very balanced sound with great fidelity. The only con is that the signal to noise ratio is not as good as Wiim Pro Plus but that is a con I will happily live with.
That’s interesting, I haven’t tested the WiiM Pro so I’m not sure what it sounds like. But, that’s another reason why I trust Apple with my audio. They’re a trusted company especially when it comes to audio quality.
You could also use a Google Chromecast with a HDMI --> Mini Jack converter
Correct! There are a lot of great ways to get audio to your vintage stereo that are cheap and easy. This method centers on Apple’s AirPlay.
I just use online storage and Storage linked into AV over wifi then I can stream any flac or file from phone, iPad, no lag
Added 3 AirPort Express units to music stream to old systems per video. Does not immediately show up as an airplay options vs Apple tv’s on iPhone. Read that if you airplane mode iPhone and then switch back to Wi-Fi that seems to help. Any suggestions? Works good once connected but seems to be a little hit and miss.
Great question! Since making this video I have also added 3 AE’s and every so often they do go offline- to remedy this I simply hard reset whichever AE is having the issue at the moment by unplugging it’s power cable, waiting a minute or two, and plugging it back in. If you happen to be running an Apple Home, I have posted a sequel to this video describing the benefits of adding your AirPort Express devices into your Apple Home app as Speaker devices- thanks for watching!
what about sound quality using jack 3,5mm analogue? do you like? i have a YAmaha S301 amplifier and i´d like to play music from my AppleTV (pluged on my tv) to Yamaha. I guess yamaha cant play with toslink (digital) it play only PCM.
Great question! I've not had any issues with audio quality using the 3.5mm cable, I'm quite happy with my setup the way it is. My NAD receiver doesn't support toslink either, and I don't see myself upgrading to a new receiver just to achieve that last 0.1% of audio quality, personally. The way I see it, if you start hunting for diminishing returns they are all around- in the acoustic treatment of your room, to the placement and height of the speakers, etc. So I just tell myself to be happy with what I have before I go crazy- hope this helps!
Can you do the same using an old Apple TV instead?
I’ve heard that you can use the 3rd gen ATV for this, but the trick is anytime it displays any kind of message that you need to dismiss or anything, you won’t be able to see what’s going on unless you hook it up to a TV. So that’s why I recommend going with the AirPort Express over the ATV, but if you already have an ATV lying around then by all means give it a try.
I used it for many years and loved it. But when I switched my router to FRITZ!Box the AE wasn’t able to join the network without crashing it. Any experience with this?
Great Question, and it depends on how your network is set up. If your AE is connected via Ethernet cable with the option set to “extend a network” this will create a feedback loop that will crash your network. If your AE is wired in make sure it’s set to “create a wireless network” even though it doesn’t sound like the right option. Hope this helps!
Niiiiice dude! I question from Argentina only works with the A1392? A1264? A1355 maybe??
This a lot
Great question!! The only model number that has this feature is A1392.
Just had this need and works like a charm at a house with one router...... however when I moved the system (7 zones) to a new house with numerous AP's, I'm only able to see the zones when I set them up and connected to that AP...... once I walk away, I start losing the ability to see/control the AirPort Express....... Any ideas?
Interesting, I think in that case it comes down to the networking setup. If the AirPort Express is setup to “Add to an Existing Network”, and the network is a mesh system, you should be able to see it across all APs. If this is a more enterprise style network, you might have some finer controls over IP addressing and VLANs between different APs, so that’s where I would look rather than at the AirPort Express itself, which once “Added to an Existing Network”, should function just like any other homekit type IoT device. So if I’m understanding your question correctly, I would take a look at the network configuration, if that’s something you have access to.
@@dylanmacintosh thank you very much, totally agree with you, just had me scratching my head. Your response was perfectly timed as we have the AV installers out today and this will help me appropriately address the symptom. Their system….. not our beloved airport expresses lol…….. LOVE that we didn’t have to buy some expensive high end controller system to simply accomplish this sound system that anyone w iPhone on our network can use without a tutorial!! Gonna try to link Apple TV or Samsung tv to the ceiling speakers via AirPort Express today…. Any thoughts?
You were right, they had installed a new router and forgot to put the original one in bridge mode so the competing/conflicting signals were confusing everything on the network. All good now!! Have all AAE in DHCP and Link-Local only settings. Thanks for your help
@@dmandpe you're very welcome! Doing IT for a living gave me a hunch haha. Glad I could steer you and the AV installers in the right direction. As far as linking an Apple TV to the AirPort Expresses, you can certainly do so from the Apple TV Control Center menu, however the setting won't "stick" after a power cycle. You can make the setting "stick" with a pair of HomePods, but it doesn't work with other AirPlay devices. It's just a weird choice by Apple, but I guess some people use 2 homepods instead of a soundbar, so they let you keep the homepods as the ATV output, but not other things. Any way, it can work here and there, but it's not ideal for a permanent use-case. Also to note, if your TV has speakers, or a soundbar already, and you sync to other AirPlay sources, there can be a bit of a delay because the HDMI connection is just always going to be faster than the AirPlay 2 protocol. All the AirPlay audio will be synced with each other, but the HDMI audio to the soundbar for instance will sound just a tiny bit sooner. I hope this helps!
Hey Dylan! Great video, thank you very much for sharing it! Is it possible to connect multiple of these together for a multi zone/room audio?
Thank you very much in advance.
Yes, that is exactly how I have my flat setup- it’s great! The only trick is you have to add the AirPort Express as a HomeKit device, which I also made a follow up video about here: ruclips.net/video/oQIfqPJcXhY/видео.htmlsi=C3N8Zg_kWCebBGwr
This reminds me, I should make a follow up video showing my current AirPlay 2 setup. It’s mostly the same, but a new video might just help clear up some questions like this one all at once, so thank you for reminding me- I’ll add it to the list of videos!
Hey Dylan! Thank you so much for your reply. I greatly appreciate your help and clarification. I would absolutely love to see your full setup. Would definitely help with some ideas. Thank you very much again! Best regards
You’re very welcome! I just have to tidy up the flat real nice before I film such a video 🤣 but I will get on it!
I feel you 😂 looking forward to your vids! Amazing work 💪🏼
Thank you, I appreciate your kind words very much 🙏
I’m having issues. Just tried this last night. Plugged in aux cable to airport to headphone jack in avr. Airplay is connected but no sound. Should it be a aux to rca cable instead?
Great question! Usually headphone jacks are audio-out only, unless labeled as aux-in, so connecting one headphone jack to another would typically result in no sound unless otherwise labeled. Without knowing the exact model number of your receiver it’s hard to say exactly, but I think your next question is on the right track- I would normally recommend using a 3.5 mm to RCA cable to connect your AirPort Express audio output to a receiver’s audio input. I hope this helps!
What a shame Apple discontinued these.
I know right?? 🥲 I’m not sure Apple needs to make another home router (not that these were bad), but as far as the audio streaming aspect I was really surprised that Apple had no current first-party product with a headphone jack like the Echo Dot or Google Home Mini… maybe the next iteration of the HomePod mini will see the ports come back, like the new MacBook Pros!🤞A guy can dream anyway… 🤓
I own an iBT device!!!!
It can i Bluetooth anything via aptx. I know this is just a little to simple too less apple ... but it works. 🙂
I think I payed roughly 4€ or so. I know it is wayyyy too less. But it has a battery and can connect to 2 3,5mm audio jacks and BT (i Bluetooth as I like to call it).
done.
That’s a great setup!! If all you need is Bluetooth then I’d much rather use that method than go through all this headache 😅
The thing I hate about mine is neither Spotify or Tidal on Windows Desktop supports Airplay. The DAC inside it is btw pretty decent.
This is true, the AirPort Express is very much “siloed” in the Apple camp. There is a product I’ve heard about in my comments called the WiiM Mini which not only supports Apple Music but also Spotify and Tidal- it is available on Amazon right now for $79, I might have to try it out in another video. Here is a link if you’re curious to check it out: amzn.to/3SkTCTv
@@dylanmacintosh Ye I've seen it, I'm planning on ordering one at some point. just feels like a lot a money when you have an Airport Express which is otherwise fine :')
@@entvea my thoughts exactly 🤣 I’ve yet to find a cheaper easier option, hence the title of the video. I wish other commenters could understand that it’s just one of many options like you 😅😅😅
When you said you had the issues connecting it to the netowork did it just keeping spinning and saying "looking for ______ wifi " ?
I can’t remember the exact error unfortunately, but yes, it would fail if I tried to connect the A1392 to my network over Wi-Fi, every time. I had to find a Ethernet cable and directly plug the A1392 into the back of my router for it to pick up a local IP address on my network. After that I could unplug the Ethernet cable and it will automatically switch it to Wi-Fi from there, but for some reason I had to plug it in first before it could connect to my network.
I have this setup but it has a about 4 second delay everytime I change a song or skip track on youtube.
That’s strange, I wonder what could be causing that. The first thing I would check is that all your devices are as updated as they can be, and then make sure your AirPort routers are on static IP addresses. If you have an Apple TV or HomePod, I might recommend adding the AirPort Expresses to HomeKit as described in my video here to see if the Homekit protocol can help handle the AirPlay connection rather than just your phone. Hope this helps!
ruclips.net/video/oQIfqPJcXhY/видео.html&feature=shares
Can we use this router to play centre channel audio from Apple 4k Tv. I already have two homepods which I use for stereo play..
Great question! Unfortunately you can not set the AirPort Express as a “default audio output” on Apple TV at this time, you can only set it as a “temporary audio output”, meaning you’d have to select the option in the settings menu each time you wake the Apple TV (kind of a hassle). Apple TV only supports the HomePod lineup specifically as AirPlay 2 default audio outputs. I think the idea there is if you had a receiver you would just route the Apple TV through the receiver and the receiver would likely be connected to the TV anyhow, but of course that is not the case for everyone- hopefully Apple changes this with an update in the future but knowing Apple I wouldn’t hold your breath 🤓 thanks for commenting, please let me know if you have any other questions!
NAD! Best way to connect apple devices cheap and mindlessly easy.
I got this NAD receiver on Craigslist for $50 bucks a few years ago 😁 it’s been amazing!
Did you connect to the amplifier DAC using the optical or directly to input using RCA connection?
They way I have mine connected here is with RCA inputs, since my receiver is vintage and doesn’t have an optical input. My NAD 7130 receiver is from 1985, when optical inputs were still young and not as widely available as today. Using the RCA cables means I’m using the AirPort Express A1392’s built-in DAC, which is pretty decent actually, and my audio sounds great 😊
It’s cheap and easy and it’s also sht. Airplay 2 is too much for the processor on the Express. I bought 3 of them and there are all sorts of annoying issues:
- >3s (sometimes even >10) Delay between choosing it and getting audio out
- It might not connect at all at first and might need to switch back and forth between the device and the speaker before it starts working
- Multi-room output multiplies the chance of problems. Choosing both might mean deselecting and reselecting multiple times. As well, I’ve had multiple cases where one gets out of sync and I need to stop the music/video entirely
Note: this is with the express hardwired via ethernet and plugged in to an upgraded optical DAC.
As an Apple household: when it works it sounds awesome and that’s thankfully my main concern, but there’s a price to pay for sure.
I hear ya, I’ve experienced a few snags myself but not quite as bad like you’re experiencing. At least it’s cheap 😅 I’m wondering if the WiiM device might solve some of these snags at $99 US… maybe someday Apple will finally give us an updated model, or dedicated first-party AirPlay streamer altogether. Not holding my breath but a guy can dream!
@@dylanmacintosh I'm right there with you sir!
It's continually challenging to me that high-quality wireless audio is a solved problem, and there are amazing-sounding speakers all over the place, AND our amplifier tech brings beautiful quality at low prices but there's no open standard that puts all that power in our hands.
We could stream 24bit FLAC to all rooms with perfect sync if Apple/Google/Spotify/Bose/etc let us.
Exactly!! And thank you for pointing out that this is not a uniquely Apple problem- I realize that my video is focusing-in on an Apple product so that’s where minds will go, but I’ve seen a few other comments that play the Apple blame game and really it’s most of the big names (not giving Apple a pass here, just saying it’s a wider issue). On the other hand it’s taken us this long already to get things like Apple lossless, so the rest understandable won’t come overnight even if it is overdue as it is 😅
@@dylanmacintosh Yep. I've been chasing this dream for many years, and sometimes I think I'll just do an analog setup (like FM or 900MHz). The digital dream is far too compelling though so I experiment and wait for the One True Method that will bring forth the dream. I feel like those "the prophecy is foretold" characters
Looping back on this: FM is out. It chops off way too much of the sound, especially in the low end. Immediately noticeable.
1:40 stupid question but when Apple ist 1st party; Belkin is 3rd party what would be 2nd party?
There are no stupid questions! Second party would relate to an entity that is partly owned or perhaps contracted by the first party. So in Apple’s case, a second party would be if a company that they partly owned created a product. If we were talking about headphones/speakers and continue using Apple as an example the AirPods would be first party, a second party option could be the Beats line of headphones because Apple owns them, and then third would be anyone else, like Sony or Bose, etc. Hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh thank you very much for the fast answer.
Hi great video, you think it will stay as your default speaker? I want this for a permanent setup.
Thank you! That’s a tough one- and it depends on what circumstance you’re asking for. For instance, Apple TV only supports HomePods (including HomePod minis) as default audio speakers (the most commonly asked for use-case). However, if you’re asking for a permanent AirPlay setup, I’m happy to report that AirPlay configurations are continuous until overwritten. For instance if I ask my HomePod mini “Hey siri, play music everywhere” and then days later ask it “hey siri, shuffle classic rock” it will continue playing on the previous group which included my AirPort Express A1392’s. Of course if you change the AirPlay group in between these requests it will play to the most recent one. I hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh This is really helpful. Thanks for the knowledge!
Would you recommend the apple AirPort Express over the WiiM Mini AirPlay Streamer?
Thanks for your question! I’m glad there are more AirPlay 2 devices to choose from at all different budgets than ever before. I have not used the WiiM Mini AirPlay Streamer personally, but if it works as advertised then I’d say it really just depends on your budget and use case. One of these WiiM devices costs $99 US, where I’ve got 3 A1392 AirPort Expresses for less (2 of them were ~$34 on eBay, 1 was ~$25 on Craigslist, so about $93 total) so if you need multiple WiiM devices it will add up much faster at $99 a pop. However, the WiiM device says it supports Siri, so you wouldn’t need to buy a HomePod mini to have open air voice control over it, so that may be a huge plus over buying a $99 HomePod mini if you want that feature for your use case with an AirPort Express style setup. So for 1 speaker that needs open air Siri control I might recommend just getting the WiiM first, but for users who don’t care about open air voice control, need 2 or more speakers connected, or maybe already own a HomePod mini, I would feel comfortable recommending the AirPort Express route. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any more questions!
I always thought Mac mini is the cheapest option. Btw, are you connecting this thing to your pre-amp? I'm still thinking about making the DAC(like chord hugo2) a part of the setup. The WIFI module is even more expensive than a Macbook pro.
It’s all about what deals you can find! For some, you may be able to find a Mac mini that is cheaper than the AirPort Express, or vice versa. The AirPort Express A1392 actually has a pretty decent DAC inside, so I have it going straight into my receiver and it sounds great. Hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh Thanks!After checking the spec, I find that the 3.5mm jack supports digital optical output as well. And luckily I find a new/sealed one on local flea market for $60. I will try to connect to my DAC first. LOL. 😂
@@frontarts brand new in box for $60 ain’t bad!!
@@dylanmacintosh well. I just found something better, maybe you would like to know, or already know. The wiim mini and ieast olio. Some startup companies seem to work on these streamer products. I've ordered one of them considering they can output high resolution optical sound and support more music service.
@@frontarts yes! Some other commenters have suggest the WiiM device. So far it seems to offer more of an Echo Dot-like experience for Apple Music, which is very kühl. It sounds like a great device though I’ve not tried it myself. Please let us know what you think if you end up getting one!
Can someone recommend a y cable- rca to 3.5mm. I have my klipsch subwoofer speaker integrated through the airport express. I bought a cheap cable from target and I can't tell if the annoying pops. metallic noises are a wifi problem or a cable problem. I already had homepods connected to my network, but I wanted to add a subwoofer. .
Sure! This is the RCA to 3.5mm cable I have linked in the description: amzn.to/3gPjxEI
The real question, why is this not more standard? A output on a smart speaker
Great question! It pretty much is standard for Amazon and Google to have audio outputs on their smart speakers, but for some reason Apple decided to remove all ports from its HomePod offerings, so that’s why Apple peeps have to resort to this AirPort Express method. If they would just put a headphone jack on the HomePod mini we wouldn’t have to do any of this! 🙄🤣
if the hifi amplifer in standby mode, will it be turned on by you airplay something into it?
No, the AirPort Express doesn’t support this feature because it’s connecting over just a headphone jack essentially, but Apple TV with CEC does support this feature over HDMI. So for that feature it may be best to go with an Apple TV running “headless” tucked in with the stereo, and hooked up via HDMI to a receiver with CEC functionality. Does that make sense? Please let me know if you have any more questions!
Cool! I’m gonna try it. Thanks for the video.
Glad you liked it! If you have any questions about it let me know, and if you’re looking to add voice control to your setup with Siri check out the next video I made in the description!
the first airport express had one years before 2012, not too weird
Correct! This A1392 model was the only one to receive AirPlay 2 however, the others were AirPlay 1. So if you’re looking to make use of AirPlay 2 features like multi-room audio, this model is the way to go. Thanks for watching!
@@dylanmacintosh true that. I had the first Airport Express in 2005 and I used it to stream music from iTunes on my iBook G4. It wasn't a great router on it's own but I used it for audio streaming for a while until I couldn't. I just bought a A1392 off eBay for 36 bucks and I'll use it like I use my belkin soundform connect.
Hi! Currently I’m having this setup: main router - 5ghz only output, and range extender - 5ghz input and 2ghz only output (for smart home devices only +iPhone). I consider buying AirPort Time Capsule as the main router, and AirPort Extreme as the extender. The question is if I will be able to use this exact input/output with AirPort setup? Many thanks!
Great question! It sounds like you’re looking for network advice, whereas this video covers the AirPort Express used as a music streaming device. Are you looking to use the AirPort Express to stream music, or to extend your network?
@@dylanmacintosh well by the end of video you encouraged people to ask you about products of Apple ecosystem - I just thought you might have more experience with AirPort network. I am definitely looking to extend my network. The setup I described seems reasonable to me, I just would like to know for sure if that’s achievable before I spend some money on these lol 😂. Thanks!
No worries, I’m still happy to help whether it’s a network or music streaming question, just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page! So yes, the short answer is the AirPort Time Capsule is meant to be a base station and the AirPort Express can certainly extend the network, so you are correct. My only suggestion would be that this system is already a decade old, so if you plan to keep your infrastructure for some time yet as most people do, I might recommend a modern mesh system like Google’s offering or perhaps NetGear’s Orbi, something like that. It will have more modern features, not to mention more security updates in its future, as well as better coverage. But if you’re looking to go the Apple time capsule + AirPort Express, that will definitely work as well. Hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh makes sense! i'll probably go with something newer. thanks for the engagement ✌🏼
Happy to assist!
Wouldn't an apple TV 3rd generation also work? These can be had cheaper still (20-25€ used) and have digital audio out (what I want) and the added hdmi 1080p output. There is one caveat for AirPlay (2) in general: Afaik it does still not support high res lossless and will force-convert everything down to 16bit/44khz.
Yes! The Apple TV method is also a great option, and the price often depends on what’s available in your local market. For me, I was looking to pick up an ATV on my local classifieds, but I found a couple AirPort Expresses for sale instead. Garage sales are also great opportunities to find old devices like this! The AirPort Express A1392’s 3.5mm audio jack is also optical audio out. And to your point about lossless, this is true- and a major pain point with a lot audiophiles. Even if you have lossless audio on your Apple Music, it will AirPlay to just CD quality on your AirPlay 2 receivers. There are a few caveats to even this too, and it gets a bit heady- if lossless audio is a mandatory requirement for anyone reading this comment, I would recommend looking for a different solution- and it probably won’t be AirPlay and probably won’t be $20-30 😅 but, it’s worth mentioning that if you are AirPlaying and ALAC from your own library, NOT Apple Music, it will be lossless. Also, (slim chance) but apple might update AirPlay 2 in the future (or even AirPlay 3) to be lossless while airplaying. Other more obvious adjustments to this setup that supply lossless are playing off the Apple TV directly, or playing through the home app directly. So, all that to say, no this isn’t an ideal setup by any means- I wish apple would update their product line to give us a more modern device, and more modern protocols to support things like lossless the whole way down the signal chain, but for now this is what we got ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks for the quick and detailed reply, most of what you mentioned I had read on the apple discussions pages googling the issue re:hi-res. I'm a special case tho anyway I don't even own an iphone, I simply want my hackintosh to air-play to my good Hi-Fi 'audiophile' fullrange speaker-setup, replacing the -also far from ideal- 5 meter cable across my living room. I already own a time capsule and the German market is currently saturated with 3rd gen ATVs likely due to 4k becoming the norm. So I'll hunt down the cheapest ATV3 I can find and compare how it sounds. Thank you for the video and giving me that idea, cheers!
@@alnicospeaker no problem! Always happy to help when I can. If you don’t care about multi-room audio and all you want is to lossless AirPlay to one system might I suggest trying AirPlay 1 instead of AirPlay 2? I’ve read probably quite a few of the same forum posts you have and it’s an interesting phenomenon but AirPlay 1 only supported ALAC by default where AirPlay 2 switched to AAC- however this means a “lossless” bit perfect setup might be even easier for you than you might think- you could look for an older AirPort Express A1264 or even an A1392 like in my video, but downgrade the firmware to before it had AirPlay 2- i believe that would be ver 7.6 or so. Just a couple ideas! I haven’t tested the data rates for myself so I can’t be 100% certain but a few very interested individuals have done the research and posted to forums. Hope I could help some more!
hey, I already got one I could pick up riding my bike for just 12€ :) A1427. It already streams. And I'll be trying out all kinds of things like 'jailbreak' it. There is one setting tho re:bit-depth in the AT3 menu I can chose either auto or 16bit 'for compatability', this suggests it could go to 24bit, but from what I read so far the answer to that is no?!
@@dylanmacintosh Hi, Dylan: that was the exact question that surfaced after watching both of your video. (1) How can I tell whether my A1392 has Airplay 1 or 2; (2) if it's still on AirPlay 1, how would I upgrade; and, alternatively, (3) if it's on AirPlay 2, and I wanna downgrade, how is that done?
you can access whit the airport express to another wifi signal from a router no apple branded?? can you confirm that, thanks
If I’m understanding your question, there is no Apple Router required in this setup, besides the AirPort Express itself- which is not being used as a router in this context. The router I am connecting it to is the Verizon G3100, not an apple one. Does this information help?
@@dylanmacintosh perfect thanks so I need an airport express right now as an airplay 2 device, thanks for your help
Happy I could be of assistance! Make sure that you are looking for the A1392 model of the AirPort Express specifically.
I did this with a hidden 2.1 samsung soundbar in my kitchen, with the 3.5 toslink jack connected to the optical input of the soundbar, added bonus, as soon you send the soundstream to the AirPort Express 2, the optical data stream wakes up automatically the soundbar and music starts. Little bummer, the samsung soundbar need 8 seconds to wake up and wirelessly wake the subwoofer 🔊 before you hear music. Bonus: after 30 minutes without optical data, the 2.1 surround system go back to sleep. So no need to get out of the bed or bath to play music from your iPhone 🤣
Beautiful setup!! I love the auto-wake/sleep function, even if it lags a little I’ll still take it 😁 for me I have to make sure my vintage amps are turned on/off manually for now, I’ve been contemplating putting them on a HomeKit enabled power plug, but I’m not sure what (if any) stress that might put on these vintage electronics… maybe I’ll just have to give it a shot 😅 but the auto-sleep/wake with audio detection through the soundbar is next level!!
@@dylanmacintosh My pleasure 😀 I replicated this Setup even with the first generation AirPort Express as it has too the toslink minijack, i don’t know if it will work with AirPlay 2 but I suppose basic AirPlay functions should be available.
@@johnmanderson2060 If you are referring to the AirPort Express A1264, then yes I believe you are correct in that it supports AirPlay 1, but not AirPlay 2. The big differentiator for me is that AirPlay 2 supports multi-room audio, but if you’re only in need of 1 device at a time then yes, AirPlay 1 is still a great option!