I actually saw your video a few days ago, and got a used Airport Express locally. I didn’t anticipate that I’d run into the problem of the Home app not finding the device, or not showing up after “more options.” I followed the directions, restarted the device, and the all worked! I did get a warning error message in the middle of the IPv setup, but I clicked ignore to make that go away. Really, really helpful, and I got to play around last night with my otherwise still boombox back in service. Thank you!
Thank you very much, your video helped me, it's like having a homepod on my traditional device (without Siri) but the mini is enough to control it... greetings from Peru 🇵🇪🙌🏼
Greetings from the USA! I’d love to visit Peru someday. I’m glad I could help you unlock your HomePod’s higher potential of pairing with your existing stereo!
Thank you for saying so! I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I often struggle while video editing between telling the whole story for context, and condensing to get straight to the point- it’s a process, so thank you for your kind words. More to come!
Thanks, Dylan, this is my missing link. I have had an Airport Express connected to my analog stereo for years now and then added Homepod minis in the kitchen, bathroom, and elsewhere. All works great but missed being able to command the AE via Siri. You solved it!. Also, the AE works brilliantly with Apple Music lossless formats.
Glad to be of service, Simon! 😁 I was fine to use the AirPlay menu as well until one of my commenters on my previous video asked if Siri control is possible via HomePod and I figured there must be a way… so I picked up a HomePod mini from the Apple store and got cracking. Another commenter on this very video helped us discover that you can also control the volume of your AirPort Expresses individually via Siri if you specifically ask to “Change *Yamaha Speakers* volume to XX%.” So there are still more secrets to be unlocked here- stay tuned!
My man, thank you for these videos! I already have Sonos throughout my house and tried using a line-out Bluetooth adapter but that totally sucked. This is the solution! This will allow me to stream from my Apple devices to my Sonos system. A1392 on the way!👍
This audio is in AirPlay Codec audio. Bluetooth codec’s have never come close to the quality of sound output that AirPlay codecs have since the start. AirPlay for the win every time vs Bluetooth audio output quality’s.
@@bradleyclark5936 Is soo good to hear this. I´m gona setup airport with yamaha amplifier. I have a appletv on my TV (hdmi) and a wanna play (audio) on yamaha amplifier and keep watching youtube videos. Quality audio its primary point for me.
@@invisired The same thing happened to me, I wanted to listen to Apple Music without turning on the Apple TV without HDMI, the Airport Express was the solution… enjoy it
Thank you for your helpful video. Amazing you figured this out! Thanks to you my homepod can now play music through my big system, BUT when I tell Siri to change song it starts a new second stream locally on the homepod, so two songs are playing at the same time one on my big system and another on the homepod... it's always something with Apple doing things only 80%.
Thanks Sonja and I agree with you 100%!! It’s troublesome but if you’re giving a Siri command you have to address the “everywhere” group every time you change something for it to take effect everywhere. So if you’re playing something everywhere and then ask to play something else without saying “everywhere” it will override to just the HomePod mini. But if you’re playing everywhere and then ask Siri to play something else “everywhere” it will override and play everywhere. So, it seems semantics and hopefully someday the digital assistant will be able to tell what we want but until then it’s a bit tedious. You can also change the volume everywhere by a percentage if you ask “hey siri, change the volume to 50% everywhere”, which is how I get about my day to day. After that I just use the AirPlay quick menu on my Apple devices to “Control Other Devices” and adjust what’s playing through my Music app on that device so it doesn’t get messed up everywhere else in the middle of something. Hope this helps!!
I’m still surprised that Apple included Mini Toslink, and on a ROUTER no less 😂 it was certainly an odd device for its day but I’m glad its found a new use as an AirPlay 2 streamer!🤘
Yup 👍🏻 and if your speakers allow it, toslink data will wake-up the speakers. Samsung 2.1 sound bars have it by default (for when your tv is switched on, the sound bar follows) it will switch off automatically after 30 minutes if no incoming toslink data.
I have one Homepod Mini in the kitchen and three AirPort Expresses in different rooms connected to speakers/sound systems. It works great and is fun to stream music all around the house. My next project will be tow get two Minis and connect them to our AppleTV. I plan to ask connect a subwoofer to an Express to five the TV more base.
That's a dope setup!! I have 2 HomePod minis as well now, and looking to add another this summer. I'm also planning an upcoming video on a home theater upgrade so stay tuned!! Thanks for watching!
Thanks Dylan, this worked for me. I was able to tell siri to play music thru my vintage stereo, but siri cant adjust the volume by voice. I have walk over to the receiver and manually adjust the volume. No idea why, but sill nice to have. Edit: I can also use the older Airport Express A1264 to play thru my vintage stereo but cant get it into Homekit so no siri voice control. It supports Airplay 1 only not Airplay 2, no idea if thats why. But at least I can still play by using the pull down menu from my iphone. Amazing that you can link new tech with 1970's tech. Thanks for your idea, I'm loving it
Glad this helped! And I’m hoping I can help some more- I just tested this out on my setup and found a few key phrases to work, the most natural-sounding for me being: “Hey Siri, change Yamaha Speakers’ volume to XX%”. The reply from Siri says, “Okay, I changed it”. I also briefly tested changing separate sound source volumes and it seems like that works too. I asked, “Hey Siri, change Zenith Speakers’ volume to 10%” and the outdoor speakers went quiet while the Yamaha Speakers stayed the same volume, and vice versa for the opposite test. And no walking over to turn knobs! Hope this helps! Edit: I see that you have the A1264 model, I have only A1392 models so that could definitely be the difference as to why it doesn’t respond to voice control for volume changes. In the end I’m glad you’re enjoying your AirPlay setup!
@@dylanmacintosh Dylan you are a genius. I just tried your script and it works to have Siri adjust the volume and it worked perfectly. I have to specify which speakers to adjust the volume on. I was just saying “Siri turn the volume down”. That works if she is playing directly thru the HomePod but not when she is playing thru external speakers like my home stereo, so I said “hey Siri set the volume to 20% on the home stereo” and she did it. As for the older airport express, I believe the model A1264 can’t be linked to homekit, but my above problem was with the model A1392. Now if only you could come to my house and fix the rest of my tech…
@@patrickincalgaryv1502 just happy to help 😅 I’m picking up another A1392 today, so I’ll have a total of 3 HIFI setups with AirPlay 2 in my flat. I plan on perhaps picking up another HomePod mini as well, and making another follow-up video to show the possibilities of what I consider a “full” AirPlay 2 setup including catchphrases like this one we found together to get the fullest functionality out of Siri voice control over this setup. It’s exciting stuff!
Hi friend, I have a question, do you know how to use the Airport Express WiFi with the regular router from the Internet operator (which is not from Apple)… I tried to wire it but it still doesn't extend the WiFi network, only the Ethernet port works.
Have you thought about using the Sonos amp, which has Airplay 2 built in? It should allow the same, but at a cheaper price than most receivers with built-in airplay. Thoughts?
I’ve not heard of it, thank you for bringing it to my attention! It seems to be a perfect fit for the job albeit expensive. The option I considered more closely was the Belkin Soundform Connect as it provides more of an “Alexa Echo Input” form factor (albeit without the voice control) for the Apple AirPlay side of things. It’s fantastic that we are starting to see many options across all price brackets!
Thanks for the great video. Would this be possible to configure with the 2008 model A1264? I’m able to configure all settings as you’ve shown, just that it doesn’t show up in my home app as an accessory. The Express works fine as an AirPlay device. I’m using the express in a ‘join existing network’ mode. Not creating a network or extending it. Any tips?
Thanks for watching! Unfortunately this feature is specific to the A1392 model because AirPlay 2 is required- AirPlay 2 became available for the A1392 model in the 7.8 firmware update. AirPlay 1 devices do not have the ability to integrate with HomeKit whereas AirPlay 2 devices do. The good news is A1392 models which have AirPlay 2 capability can be found on eBay typically for less than $50 US (I got mine for around $35 each), and your AirPlay 1 model is still useful- it can stream a higher bitrate than the AirPlay 2 models if you are looking for high resolution audio while sacrificing the multi-room audio experience of AirPlay 2.
@@dylanmacintosh Yes, thank you. I figured it out eventually. And also got myself an unused Gen 2 Express! Followed through with your instructions and I finally have my Hi-Fi show up as a speaker in the home app. Thank you again for this lovely tutorial.
Got HomePods recently for £30 each and the AirPort Express for £5 each (I fount 2 for sale cheap!) and I can’t wait get this set up with my Apple TV 4K 3rd gen. I’m getting a sub to make the HomePods more powerful!
Thanks. So happy I found your vid. Note that I found other content that says that only the AE gen 1 takes in lossless audio quality from iOS devices (not Mac). Just in case that matters to you.
Yes this is true, it comes down to the way that AirPlay 1 works vs AirPlay 2. Essentially it boils down to a trade off where AirPlay 1 was lossless, but Apple wanted multi-room audio for AirPlay 2, so they had to “make room” in the signal bandwidth. But at the end of the day if you NEED lossless multi-room audio there are other options out there, albeit perhaps more expensive. I’m just glad we have so many different options these days!
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.
Great question! Unfortunately the ATV 3rd Gen is only AirPlay 1, whereas the A1392 is AirPlay 2- which enabled such features as multi-room audio shown in this video. If you have any more questions please let me know!
Is it possible to use an AirPort Express hooked up to some simple amp (not an old receiver, but one of those new small amps that you find on Amazon for example). I’m looking to create a home system that is HomePod Mini controlled, from scratch.
Sure! The AirPort Express can connect to anything you want really, provided you have the proper cables and the amplifier has the proper inputs. So, check what audio inputs it has and then find a 3.5mm to “whatever that input is” cable or adapter and you should be set to go.
Did the changes (there is a warning box in AirPort Utility at one point but, just ignore it) and I cannot get it to work! Home just says it can’t add it. I did a hard reset. Not soft and not factory. Then loaded settings back in. Once done, it added it OK and it is back to HomeKit. However, Siri still cannot find it! Normally I use the Express in Airplay v1 mode (downgrade firmware) to ensure it is always going to play 16/44 from Apple Music account (under certain circumstances, Airplay is AAC256 in Airplay 2 mode). I thought that might be it. So I did the firmware update to Airplay 2. But that made no difference at all. The device does show up in Home but with the No Response message and, no Siri function. So I did the hard reset and went back to Airplay 1 as my preferred quality since, no matter what I do, it cannot be seen by Siri for voice, and just shows up in Home with the basic controls when something is played on it. Also, HomePod minis cannot play to Airport 1 devices, unlike iOS and macOS. But their would be no audio quality gain since the Airport Expresses are only ever 16/44 max. Which, honestly, is excellent except for misguided pedantic audiophile nerds with money to burn. Note too that I also had wifi to turned off since the Expresses were only being Airplay receivers via ethernet (better signal quality). So during all of this, I had wi-fi on and, it made no difference. So it too is back to off and, the Express uses less electricity and is no longer a router or extender (never was either). Finally, the Belkin Soundform Connect is excellent. Most of the negative comments in any reviews did the install wrong. But it can be found on sale for as low as $65. Which, to me, is about what it should be NOT on sale. I got one. Liked it. But I only needed the 3 Expresses so sent it back. But, I would get one now instead of a used Express v2. Smaller, rock solid wifi (it is only wifi). The DAC in it is fine but, I'd pair it up with an SMSL SU-1 for high end sound on the cheap.
What is the difference between asking Siri to play music ON a HomePod vs playing TO a HomePod? You reference this difference around 5:25, but I’m not sure I understand.
Great question! The distinction is that if you ask Siri on your iPhone to play TO something, it will stream the music from your iPhone to those sources directly- meaning that it’s private to your iPhone, and won’t show up or be adjustable on other devices like if you have your home open to guests, or even if you try to adjust the stream on another of your idevices. Hopefully apple changes this in the future, but for now my solution to this is to ask Siri on the HomePod to play to my AirPlay 2 devices so that the stream goes through HomeKit instead of the iPhone- this means the stream is adjustable on other devices- for instance by selecting the “control other devices” section of the AirPlay menu in Apple Music on my iPad, I can control the stream that I started from the other room on my HomePod mini for instance. Also when streaming this way through HomeKit you can ask Siri on the HomePod to do more things for you, like adjust the volumes on your different AirPlay devices and such, add and drop speaker destinations, etc. it’s definitely the better way to stream if you have HomePods and/or AirPlay2 speakers in your setup, but if you just have an iPhone and a HomePod it really doesn’t matter I suppose. It’s definitely a weird distinction right now, and I hope Apple can find a more intuitive method to implement in the future. Let me know if you need any further clarification!
Great info! I followed your video to a tee and I can stream music via airplay, but I can't see it in Home when I try to add accessory. Am I missing something?
Great question, just to confirm you have the A1392 model, correct? Past that, I would just double check in your AirPort Utility that the firmware is 7.8 or 7.8.1, that the IP is static, and that the IPv6 is set to Link local only- once those 3 things are done you should be able to add accessory, then tap “more options” and have it show up… if you’re still having trouble, please DM me some screenshots on Twitter and I’ll do my best to help out!
@dylanmacintosh very clear and concise info! I didn't realize I will run into this Siri problem with my soon-to-be configuration. I plan to add a subwoofer to my existing HomePod stereo pair. Hopefully I can get the bass to play in sync with the HomePods, with either airplaying from iPhone or from AppleTV. Wish me luck.
Awesome! Looking at the functionality of the HomePod (basically a HomeKit Bridge) an Apple TV (if you have one) should also work very well! You just wont get the voice control features in the room (you can obviously use an iPhone or Apple Watch for this, however) My question is how reliable are the automations? Say every morning you want the Yamaha speakers to start at 8:00am with your favorite playlist, Do they work consistently? I'm mainly asking about the reliability of the AirPlay connection as in my experience even branded AirPlay 2 products (like Sonos for example) have issues with automation-based actions over airplay.
When you use automation you are basically not using AirPlay. If you want to use AirPlay you push this from an iPhone or iPad. When using HomeKit the Airport is looking for a router to retrieve your music and act as a gateway to the internet because the Airport itself is not a mediaplayer. That said I have automations not based on time but an action when I stop my alarm on my iPhone. So let’s say my alarm starts at 6AM and I stop it. From that point lights in my house turn on and my receiver switches on and my favorite radio station. I configured this in Shortcuts (automations for this device). That way when it’s weekend it doesn’t have a switch everything on at 6AM
Do you have a HomePod (mini) or Apple TV? If not this will not work. You need one of these as gateway. The Airport cannot do this without this gateway. The only possibility then is to use AirPlay from your iPhone or iPad directly to the AirPort.
@@d.j.vandermeer3832 Yeah I have both an Apple TV and HomePod mini, but can’t get automations that use Airplay 2 to work even remotely reliably. I have Sonos Play Ones with AirPlay
You certainly can connect the AirPort Express to an existing network! That’s exactly how I have mine setup. I have another video on how to do it- it’s in the description of this video, and you can also find it on my channel here: ua-cam.com/video/vJdCzs9a8VI/v-deo.html
Yea, just connect the Airport express to your current network. It will now be a mesh point. Then you can airplay to the airport express. Also the 3.5mm jack on the back is also mini toslink ( optical ) sounds better.
Hey mate, I have a question in re: AirPort Express, I have a turntable and other things plugged into my amplifier, I have an audio out RCA plugs on the back of the amp, can I plug this audio out RCA outputs into AirPort Express via the 3.5 jack and stream my audio on my Home pods via AirPort Express AirPlay?
Great question! The short is no… the long answer as to why is unfortunately the AirPort Express 3.5mm jack is for audio out only, the same way an MP3 player only has audio out of its 3.5mm jack. Playing audio “into” it wouldn’t do anything unfortunately… similarly, the receiver can only input audio through its RCA jacks- it “receives” audio, hence the name receiver, so it can not output audio through those same jacks, unless your specific receiver model has dedicated “output” jacks, as some do. There may still be a way to achieve what you are setting out to do, but it would likely require extra hardware to convert the analog signal of the turntable to a digital signal capable of streaming over AirPlay 2, and then possibly some dedicated software to stream your own signal rather than one available in an application that would normally be where you AirPlay your audio. I hope this helps!
@@inikphoto Sure thing, it looks like the most "ready-made" solution I can quickly find is AirChord www.airchordapp.com/ Essentially, if you can find the appropriate hardware for your setup to connect an iPhone or iPad with, you can then stream the audio into that iOS device and use the AirChord software to AirPlay to your devices. Hope this helps!
Not a problem! After looking at the AirChord website, I realized my turntable actually has a USB Type-B port on it, so I might actually give this a shot with my iPad mini just to see what’s possible. Thanks for giving me ideas 💡 🤣
The WiiM Mini looks like a great device- I think it’s a great option, especially if you have a mix of Android and Apple devices in your household, or a mix of smart assistants! I hope to get one to test out eventually
You forgot one thing with AirPort Express. It supports AirPlay 2 which is based on Apple Lossless rather than something like Bluetooth which is highly compressed. Also it supports digital toslink connection.
Great question! The A1392 AirPort Express behind my stereo is always turned on and connected, so it will always show up in my AirPlay menu and is always accessible- however I do not leave the hi-fi stereo itself powered on 24/7 as it is a vintage electronic- so I just walk over and press the power button whenever I want the audio to actually start coming out of those speakers. If you are looking for a device that you can leave on 24/7, I would look into a modern amplifier that is built for this purpose of staying on for long periods of time, such as those that go in server racks for restaurants etc, rather than a vintage receiver like mine. Hope this helps!!
I’m happy to say no, not really 😁 I’ve seen it lag a little bit when connecting to the iPhone, but that’s not unique to the AirPort Express- it happens with my Apple TV as well. It plays pretty much instantly if you ask Siri to play to the AirPort Express speakers via a HomePod mini though, I think that’s due to it routing immediately through HomeKit, when you have it setup the way I do in this video. Hope this helps!
No worries! All problems are solvable. Set your DNS to be the same as your router’s local IP address, for me that was 192.168.1.1. Once that is set, it should show up in HomeKit 👍 Please let me know if you have any other errors
Privacy and Security MATTTTER! Get away from amazon data guzzler and it’s naughty data sucker cousin google. Mark my words. As time passes. Data grows. And people will start to actually care and notice the amounts of data being gathered constantly.
I actually saw your video a few days ago, and got a used Airport Express locally. I didn’t anticipate that I’d run into the problem of the Home app not finding the device, or not showing up after “more options.” I followed the directions, restarted the device, and the all worked! I did get a warning error message in the middle of the IPv setup, but I clicked ignore to make that go away. Really, really helpful, and I got to play around last night with my otherwise still boombox back in service. Thank you!
Thank you very much, your video helped me, it's like having a homepod on my traditional device (without Siri) but the mini is enough to control it... greetings from Peru 🇵🇪🙌🏼
Greetings from the USA! I’d love to visit Peru someday. I’m glad I could help you unlock your HomePod’s higher potential of pairing with your existing stereo!
Clear, concise presentation. Keep doing what you’re doing, my friend.
Thank you for saying so! I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I often struggle while video editing between telling the whole story for context, and condensing to get straight to the point- it’s a process, so thank you for your kind words. More to come!
Thanks, Dylan, this is my missing link. I have had an Airport Express connected to my analog stereo for years now and then added Homepod minis in the kitchen, bathroom, and elsewhere. All works great but missed being able to command the AE via Siri. You solved it!. Also, the AE works brilliantly with Apple Music lossless formats.
Glad to be of service, Simon! 😁 I was fine to use the AirPlay menu as well until one of my commenters on my previous video asked if Siri control is possible via HomePod and I figured there must be a way… so I picked up a HomePod mini from the Apple store and got cracking. Another commenter on this very video helped us discover that you can also control the volume of your AirPort Expresses individually via Siri if you specifically ask to “Change *Yamaha Speakers* volume to XX%.” So there are still more secrets to be unlocked here- stay tuned!
Love it!!! I'm getting a set of hifi speakers soon, I'll have to incorporate this setup!
I found your video last week .I wind up buying one of the devices on eBay I received it yesterday and it works great thanks so much for your help
My man, thank you for these videos! I already have Sonos throughout my house and tried using a line-out Bluetooth adapter but that totally sucked. This is the solution! This will allow me to stream from my Apple devices to my Sonos system. A1392 on the way!👍
Glad to hear this helped you out!
This audio is in AirPlay Codec audio. Bluetooth codec’s have never come close to the quality of sound output that AirPlay codecs have since the start. AirPlay for the win every time vs Bluetooth audio output quality’s.
@@bradleyclark5936 Is soo good to hear this. I´m gona setup airport with yamaha amplifier. I have a appletv on my TV (hdmi) and a wanna play (audio) on yamaha amplifier and keep watching youtube videos. Quality audio its primary point for me.
@@invisired The same thing happened to me, I wanted to listen to Apple Music without turning on the Apple TV without HDMI, the Airport Express was the solution… enjoy it
Thank you for your helpful video. Amazing you figured this out! Thanks to you my homepod can now play music through my big system, BUT when I tell Siri to change song it starts a new second stream locally on the homepod, so two songs are playing at the same time one on my big system and another on the homepod... it's always something with Apple doing things only 80%.
Thanks Sonja and I agree with you 100%!! It’s troublesome but if you’re giving a Siri command you have to address the “everywhere” group every time you change something for it to take effect everywhere. So if you’re playing something everywhere and then ask to play something else without saying “everywhere” it will override to just the HomePod mini. But if you’re playing everywhere and then ask Siri to play something else “everywhere” it will override and play everywhere. So, it seems semantics and hopefully someday the digital assistant will be able to tell what we want but until then it’s a bit tedious. You can also change the volume everywhere by a percentage if you ask “hey siri, change the volume to 50% everywhere”, which is how I get about my day to day. After that I just use the AirPlay quick menu on my Apple devices to “Control Other Devices” and adjust what’s playing through my Music app on that device so it doesn’t get messed up everywhere else in the middle of something. Hope this helps!!
@@dylanmacintosh It makes so happy to be able to stream from the homepod to my system. What an insane upgrade and for free!
The 3.5mm Jack is also Mini Toslink (Optical cable)
I’m still surprised that Apple included Mini Toslink, and on a ROUTER no less 😂 it was certainly an odd device for its day but I’m glad its found a new use as an AirPlay 2 streamer!🤘
Yup 👍🏻 and if your speakers allow it, toslink data will wake-up the speakers. Samsung 2.1 sound bars have it by default (for when your tv is switched on, the sound bar follows) it will switch off automatically after 30 minutes if no incoming toslink data.
I have one Homepod Mini in the kitchen and three AirPort Expresses in different rooms connected to speakers/sound systems. It works great and is fun to stream music all around the house.
My next project will be tow get two Minis and connect them to our AppleTV. I plan to ask connect a subwoofer to an Express to five the TV more base.
That's a dope setup!! I have 2 HomePod minis as well now, and looking to add another this summer. I'm also planning an upcoming video on a home theater upgrade so stay tuned!! Thanks for watching!
Thanks Dylan, this worked for me. I was able to tell siri to play music thru my vintage stereo, but siri cant adjust the volume by voice. I have walk over to the receiver and manually adjust the volume. No idea why, but sill nice to have.
Edit: I can also use the older Airport Express A1264 to play thru my vintage stereo but cant get it into Homekit so no siri voice control. It supports Airplay 1 only not Airplay 2, no idea if thats why. But at least I can still play by using the pull down menu from my iphone. Amazing that you can link new tech with 1970's tech. Thanks for your idea, I'm loving it
Glad this helped! And I’m hoping I can help some more- I just tested this out on my setup and found a few key phrases to work, the most natural-sounding for me being: “Hey Siri, change Yamaha Speakers’ volume to XX%”. The reply from Siri says, “Okay, I changed it”. I also briefly tested changing separate sound source volumes and it seems like that works too. I asked, “Hey Siri, change Zenith Speakers’ volume to 10%” and the outdoor speakers went quiet while the Yamaha Speakers stayed the same volume, and vice versa for the opposite test. And no walking over to turn knobs! Hope this helps!
Edit: I see that you have the A1264 model, I have only A1392 models so that could definitely be the difference as to why it doesn’t respond to voice control for volume changes. In the end I’m glad you’re enjoying your AirPlay setup!
@@dylanmacintosh Dylan you are a genius. I just tried your script and it works to have Siri adjust the volume and it worked perfectly. I have to specify which speakers to adjust the volume on. I was just saying “Siri turn the volume down”. That works if she is playing directly thru the HomePod but not when she is playing thru external speakers like my home stereo, so I said “hey Siri set the volume to 20% on the home stereo” and she did it. As for the older airport express, I believe the model A1264 can’t be linked to homekit, but my above problem was with the model A1392. Now if only you could come to my house and fix the rest of my tech…
@@patrickincalgaryv1502 just happy to help 😅 I’m picking up another A1392 today, so I’ll have a total of 3 HIFI setups with AirPlay 2 in my flat. I plan on perhaps picking up another HomePod mini as well, and making another follow-up video to show the possibilities of what I consider a “full” AirPlay 2 setup including catchphrases like this one we found together to get the fullest functionality out of Siri voice control over this setup. It’s exciting stuff!
Hey Dylan, thanks for taking the time to share this. I found it very helpful and got it all up and running. Great help:-). Steve
You’re very welcome! Glad I could help 😁
Hi friend, I have a question, do you know how to use the Airport Express WiFi with the regular router from the Internet operator (which is not from Apple)… I tried to wire it but it still doesn't extend the WiFi network, only the Ethernet port works.
Great in depth with contextual background in your videos thanks for your hard work!
Have you thought about using the Sonos amp, which has Airplay 2 built in? It should allow the same, but at a cheaper price than most receivers with built-in airplay. Thoughts?
I’ve not heard of it, thank you for bringing it to my attention! It seems to be a perfect fit for the job albeit expensive. The option I considered more closely was the Belkin Soundform Connect as it provides more of an “Alexa Echo Input” form factor (albeit without the voice control) for the Apple AirPlay side of things. It’s fantastic that we are starting to see many options across all price brackets!
Thanks for the great video. Would this be possible to configure with the 2008 model A1264? I’m able to configure all settings as you’ve shown, just that it doesn’t show up in my home app as an accessory. The Express works fine as an AirPlay device. I’m using the express in a ‘join existing network’ mode. Not creating a network or extending it. Any tips?
Thanks for watching! Unfortunately this feature is specific to the A1392 model because AirPlay 2 is required- AirPlay 2 became available for the A1392 model in the 7.8 firmware update. AirPlay 1 devices do not have the ability to integrate with HomeKit whereas AirPlay 2 devices do. The good news is A1392 models which have AirPlay 2 capability can be found on eBay typically for less than $50 US (I got mine for around $35 each), and your AirPlay 1 model is still useful- it can stream a higher bitrate than the AirPlay 2 models if you are looking for high resolution audio while sacrificing the multi-room audio experience of AirPlay 2.
@@dylanmacintosh Yes, thank you. I figured it out eventually. And also got myself an unused Gen 2 Express! Followed through with your instructions and I finally have my Hi-Fi show up as a speaker in the home app. Thank you again for this lovely tutorial.
Of course I’m very happy to hear that! If you have any more questions I’m always happy to help. Thanks for watching!
Awesome!!! I was looking to solve this issue for years. Thanks a lot
Glad I could help!! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the network settings! Very cool 😎 I will definitely buy a home pod mini for my setup and use your instructions. Thanks Mate ! 🤜🏼🤛🏼
Doesn’t the The bridge mode fix this problem for adding on on HomeKit?
Also you should turn the WiFi radio off
Got HomePods recently for £30 each and the AirPort Express for £5 each (I fount 2 for sale cheap!) and I can’t wait get this set up with my Apple TV 4K 3rd gen. I’m getting a sub to make the HomePods more powerful!
Wow that’s going to be quite the setup! Enjoy!!
This is golden, thanks !
Happy I could help!! Thanks for watching and commenting 🙏
Thanks. So happy I found your vid. Note that I found other content that says that only the AE gen 1 takes in lossless audio quality from iOS devices (not Mac). Just in case that matters to you.
Yes this is true, it comes down to the way that AirPlay 1 works vs AirPlay 2. Essentially it boils down to a trade off where AirPlay 1 was lossless, but Apple wanted multi-room audio for AirPlay 2, so they had to “make room” in the signal bandwidth. But at the end of the day if you NEED lossless multi-room audio there are other options out there, albeit perhaps more expensive. I’m just glad we have so many different options these days!
Great instructions, but unfortunately it still doesn't show up in the Add Accessory for me 😞
Interesting, I’d be happy to try and help you if you’d like- if you find me on Twitter or Instagram it might be easier to DM me there 👍
@@dylanmacintosh oh wow that’s really kind thanks! I will drop you a line on Twitter 😊👍
Have you been able to fix that? Doesn't show up for me too
@@vadim00061 I still have to catch up with Dylan about it… will let you know
If it doesn’t show up, try playing music to it and then add it to the home app while music is playing.
Puedes usarlo para trasmitir el audio de una tocadiscos a un sistema Sonos por wifi
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.
Sure! This is the cable I have linked in the description: amzn.to/3gPjxEI
Hi Dylan! Can we use the vintage Apple TV 3rd Gen to be part of the Apple Home, too, like the the vintage AirPort Express you did here?
Great question! Unfortunately the ATV 3rd Gen is only AirPlay 1, whereas the A1392 is AirPlay 2- which enabled such features as multi-room audio shown in this video. If you have any more questions please let me know!
Is it possible to use an AirPort Express hooked up to some simple amp (not an old receiver, but one of those new small amps that you find on Amazon for example). I’m looking to create a home system that is HomePod Mini controlled, from scratch.
Sure! The AirPort Express can connect to anything you want really, provided you have the proper cables and the amplifier has the proper inputs. So, check what audio inputs it has and then find a 3.5mm to “whatever that input is” cable or adapter and you should be set to go.
Did the changes (there is a warning box in AirPort Utility at one point but, just ignore it) and I cannot get it to work! Home just says it can’t add it.
I did a hard reset. Not soft and not factory. Then loaded settings back in. Once done, it added it OK and it is back to HomeKit. However, Siri still cannot find it!
Normally I use the Express in Airplay v1 mode (downgrade firmware) to ensure it is always going to play 16/44 from Apple Music account (under certain circumstances, Airplay is AAC256 in Airplay 2 mode). I thought that might be it. So I did the firmware update to Airplay 2. But that made no difference at all. The device does show up in Home but with the No Response message and, no Siri function.
So I did the hard reset and went back to Airplay 1 as my preferred quality since, no matter what I do, it cannot be seen by Siri for voice, and just shows up in Home with the basic controls when something is played on it.
Also, HomePod minis cannot play to Airport 1 devices, unlike iOS and macOS. But their would be no audio quality gain since the Airport Expresses are only ever 16/44 max. Which, honestly, is excellent except for misguided pedantic audiophile nerds with money to burn.
Note too that I also had wifi to turned off since the Expresses were only being Airplay receivers via ethernet (better signal quality). So during all of this, I had wi-fi on and, it made no difference. So it too is back to off and, the Express uses less electricity and is no longer a router or extender (never was either).
Finally, the Belkin Soundform Connect is excellent. Most of the negative comments in any reviews did the install wrong. But it can be found on sale for as low as $65. Which, to me, is about what it should be NOT on sale. I got one. Liked it. But I only needed the 3 Expresses so sent it back. But, I would get one now instead of a used Express v2. Smaller, rock solid wifi (it is only wifi). The DAC in it is fine but, I'd pair it up with an SMSL SU-1 for high end sound on the cheap.
What is the difference between asking Siri to play music ON a HomePod vs playing TO a HomePod? You reference this difference around 5:25, but I’m not sure I understand.
Great question! The distinction is that if you ask Siri on your iPhone to play TO something, it will stream the music from your iPhone to those sources directly- meaning that it’s private to your iPhone, and won’t show up or be adjustable on other devices like if you have your home open to guests, or even if you try to adjust the stream on another of your idevices. Hopefully apple changes this in the future, but for now my solution to this is to ask Siri on the HomePod to play to my AirPlay 2 devices so that the stream goes through HomeKit instead of the iPhone- this means the stream is adjustable on other devices- for instance by selecting the “control other devices” section of the AirPlay menu in Apple Music on my iPad, I can control the stream that I started from the other room on my HomePod mini for instance. Also when streaming this way through HomeKit you can ask Siri on the HomePod to do more things for you, like adjust the volumes on your different AirPlay devices and such, add and drop speaker destinations, etc. it’s definitely the better way to stream if you have HomePods and/or AirPlay2 speakers in your setup, but if you just have an iPhone and a HomePod it really doesn’t matter I suppose. It’s definitely a weird distinction right now, and I hope Apple can find a more intuitive method to implement in the future. Let me know if you need any further clarification!
@@dylanmacintosh Awesome, thanks!
Great info! I followed your video to a tee and I can stream music via airplay, but I can't see it in Home when I try to add accessory. Am I missing something?
Great question, just to confirm you have the A1392 model, correct? Past that, I would just double check in your AirPort Utility that the firmware is 7.8 or 7.8.1, that the IP is static, and that the IPv6 is set to Link local only- once those 3 things are done you should be able to add accessory, then tap “more options” and have it show up… if you’re still having trouble, please DM me some screenshots on Twitter and I’ll do my best to help out!
This is really cool! Where did you get the board behind you?
It’s the IKEA Skådis! I’m thinking about getting another to stack controllers and keyboards on, but I’d have to drive to IKEA again 😋
Thanks for the video.
@dylanmacintosh very clear and concise info! I didn't realize I will run into this Siri problem with my soon-to-be configuration. I plan to add a subwoofer to my existing HomePod stereo pair. Hopefully I can get the bass to play in sync with the HomePods, with either airplaying from iPhone or from AppleTV. Wish me luck.
Good luck to you in your AirPlay endeavors!! And of course thanks for watching 🙏
Good luck to you in your AirPlay endeavors!! And of course thanks for watching 🙏
Thanks Dylan! Very useful video! BTW, what case you are wearing on your Iphone? It looks dope!
Thanks for the kind words! The phone case is the Nomad Sport case in Lunar Grey 😎
Thanks a lot!
Happy to help! Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for watching and commenting 😁
Awesome! Looking at the functionality of the HomePod (basically a HomeKit Bridge) an Apple TV (if you have one) should also work very well! You just wont get the voice control features in the room (you can obviously use an iPhone or Apple Watch for this, however)
My question is how reliable are the automations? Say every morning you want the Yamaha speakers to start at 8:00am with your favorite playlist, Do they work consistently? I'm mainly asking about the reliability of the AirPlay connection as in my experience even branded AirPlay 2 products (like Sonos for example) have issues with automation-based actions over airplay.
This is a great question!! I have never used audio automations before so I will have to test this and get back to you!
When you use automation you are basically not using AirPlay. If you want to use AirPlay you push this from an iPhone or iPad. When using HomeKit the Airport is looking for a router to retrieve your music and act as a gateway to the internet because the Airport itself is not a mediaplayer. That said I have automations not based on time but an action when I stop my alarm on my iPhone. So let’s say my alarm starts at 6AM and I stop it. From that point lights in my house turn on and my receiver switches on and my favorite radio station.
I configured this in Shortcuts (automations for this device). That way when it’s weekend it doesn’t have a switch everything on at 6AM
@@d.j.vandermeer3832 That makes sense, so its just HomeKit bugging out and not performing the automation for AirPlay to perform it’s task.
Do you have a HomePod (mini) or Apple TV? If not this will not work. You need one of these as gateway. The Airport cannot do this without this gateway. The only possibility then is to use AirPlay from your iPhone or iPad directly to the AirPort.
@@d.j.vandermeer3832 Yeah I have both an Apple TV and HomePod mini, but can’t get automations that use Airplay 2 to work even remotely reliably. I have Sonos Play Ones with AirPlay
I have an airport express but I don’t use airports to connect to the net. Can I connect the airport to my network then use them for my hifi?
You certainly can connect the AirPort Express to an existing network! That’s exactly how I have mine setup. I have another video on how to do it- it’s in the description of this video, and you can also find it on my channel here: ua-cam.com/video/vJdCzs9a8VI/v-deo.html
Yea, just connect the Airport express to your current network. It will now be a mesh point. Then you can airplay to the airport express. Also the 3.5mm jack on the back is also mini toslink ( optical ) sounds better.
@@dylanmacintosh thank you for the reply.
Hey mate, I have a question in re: AirPort Express, I have a turntable and other things plugged into my amplifier, I have an audio out RCA plugs on the back of the amp, can I plug this audio out RCA outputs into AirPort Express via the 3.5 jack and stream my audio on my Home pods via AirPort Express AirPlay?
Great question! The short is no… the long answer as to why is unfortunately the AirPort Express 3.5mm jack is for audio out only, the same way an MP3 player only has audio out of its 3.5mm jack. Playing audio “into” it wouldn’t do anything unfortunately… similarly, the receiver can only input audio through its RCA jacks- it “receives” audio, hence the name receiver, so it can not output audio through those same jacks, unless your specific receiver model has dedicated “output” jacks, as some do. There may still be a way to achieve what you are setting out to do, but it would likely require extra hardware to convert the analog signal of the turntable to a digital signal capable of streaming over AirPlay 2, and then possibly some dedicated software to stream your own signal rather than one available in an application that would normally be where you AirPlay your audio. I hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh thank you for the reply and your comment! I’ll have to do some digging as to how to get this sorted! Much appreciated! Cheers
@@inikphoto Sure thing, it looks like the most "ready-made" solution I can quickly find is AirChord www.airchordapp.com/
Essentially, if you can find the appropriate hardware for your setup to connect an iPhone or iPad with, you can then stream the audio into that iOS device and use the AirChord software to AirPlay to your devices. Hope this helps!
@@dylanmacintosh appreciate it!
Not a problem! After looking at the AirChord website, I realized my turntable actually has a USB Type-B port on it, so I might actually give this a shot with my iPad mini just to see what’s possible. Thanks for giving me ideas 💡 🤣
In 2023 it seems like the Wiim Mini will do all of this and more for $99. Also you can add a traditional to remote to the Wiim mini if you want to.
The WiiM Mini looks like a great device- I think it’s a great option, especially if you have a mix of Android and Apple devices in your household, or a mix of smart assistants! I hope to get one to test out eventually
You forgot one thing with AirPort Express. It supports AirPlay 2 which is based on Apple Lossless rather than something like Bluetooth which is highly compressed. Also it supports digital toslink connection.
Very good points! Thanks for watching 🙏
In stead of a home pod , I just use a i just use an old iPad for voice control.
That’s awesome!
Does the Hi-Fi stereo system need to be turned on the whole time to acces it via airplay?
Great question! The A1392 AirPort Express behind my stereo is always turned on and connected, so it will always show up in my AirPlay menu and is always accessible- however I do not leave the hi-fi stereo itself powered on 24/7 as it is a vintage electronic- so I just walk over and press the power button whenever I want the audio to actually start coming out of those speakers. If you are looking for a device that you can leave on 24/7, I would look into a modern amplifier that is built for this purpose of staying on for long periods of time, such as those that go in server racks for restaurants etc, rather than a vintage receiver like mine. Hope this helps!!
@@dylanmacintosh Ok, thanks
@@dylanmacintosh It's a minor problem, I think it can be solved with smart buttons and if they are added to HomeKit it would be excellent.
Have you ever had issue with Lag using the airport express?
I’m happy to say no, not really 😁 I’ve seen it lag a little bit when connecting to the iPhone, but that’s not unique to the AirPort Express- it happens with my Apple TV as well. It plays pretty much instantly if you ask Siri to play to the AirPort Express speakers via a HomePod mini though, I think that’s due to it routing immediately through HomeKit, when you have it setup the way I do in this video. Hope this helps!
I got a missing dns error on my airport utility. And still not showing up in HomeKit 😭
No worries! All problems are solvable. Set your DNS to be the same as your router’s local IP address, for me that was 192.168.1.1. Once that is set, it should show up in HomeKit 👍 Please let me know if you have any other errors
@@dylanmacintosh trying that now.
@@dylanmacintosh I got the dns set. Did a power cycle. Made sure dns is still on there. The dns is on there now but still no HomeKit 😭
@@FernandezGrill No worries, there are still more things to check. Is your IP Address set to Static? Is your firmware set to version 7.8.1?
@@dylanmacintosh yes and yes
Theres a 4th reason for Airport Express …. you can play i.e. AIFF-Files / SPDIF which have a significant better quality.
Privacy and Security MATTTTER! Get away from amazon data guzzler and it’s naughty data sucker cousin google. Mark my words. As time passes. Data grows. And people will start to actually care and notice the amounts of data being gathered constantly.
Thanks a lot !