Integrating 2020/21 Mac Mini into Windows 10 Airplay array.

[DMW]

First post: After leaning away from my MAC (clone) desktop & into Windows for work reasons, I am now retired & ready to lean back into MAC OS. Throughout those decades I continued to use iTunes & (later) Airplay to (1) manage my music & podcasts & (2) send audio to multiple rooms in our house. At present, I most often use the 3rd party program “TuneBlade” which allows pretty much any audio output from a windows desktop to access my Airplay array. I employ a mix of older Airplay compatible speakers & 3rd generation Apple TVs to power the output end. Over the years I’ve developed a range of tweaks to keep everything working & while I do need to reboot/reconfigure every now & then, it has been mostly satisfactory.

As we now use iPhones, iPads & even Apple Watches, & with enhanced integration of the iOS with MAC OS, we are strongly considering adding the upcoming Mac Mini (M1x?) to the mix. Though we would continue to infrequently use some Windows 10 systems, the Mac Mini would (hopefully) serve as the primary Airplay audio source for the whole house system.

Before I commit, I would prefer a better idea of how Airplay on MAC OS would integrate into our Airplay array. Specifically:

• Would all of our older Airplay devises be recognized?
• Does MAC OS allow audio output to multiple speakers even though they are not Airplay 2 compatible?
• For example, using a Dell XPS desktop & the TuneBlade utility, we now use Spotify for most all of our music listening. The TB interface allows one to select & adjust the volume of each of our Airplay nodes. How would MAC OS compare?

I am hoping someone with a much more current but historical understanding of Airplay function & capabilities can help me understand how MAC OS would fit with our current audio. Thanks for even considering our issue.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

The current iteration of AirPlay is AirPlay 2, which has integration with Apple's HomeKit. You can AirPlay to multiple devices from within the Music application on a Mac, but I am not sure how well it works with third-party hardware/software. I can play/stream to multiple devices simultaneously in my home - from M1 Mac mini to M1 Mac mini audio, tv 4K, etc. But, I don't have any other Bluetooth speakers, third-party audio systems, etc. I personally haven't used AirPlay that much, so my experience is pretty limited.

AirPlay system requirements

There is an application for Macs called AirFoil that looks to be similar to TuneBlade. It may help with the mix that you have in your AirPlay array.

I hope that helps a bit,

C

 

[DMW]

Very much appreciate your informative reply. Because the propriety Airplay firmware is (obviously) rooted in hardware, we looked but could not find much information on multi-node audio systems that mixed legacy & current versions of Airplay(2). I had read about Airfoil, & do believe it might be comparable to TuneBlade...

A bit counter intuitive to worry that a Mac-native Airplay system would be less functional than the ported windows version, but we're so accustomed to our current configuration that any divergence presents as a risk. We will most likely be picking up an M1 Mac mini once the X generation is available & hope for the best. In any case (actually this one, thank you very much for considering our issue.