Under The Microscope

Airfoil Works Great With Third-Party AirPlay Devices

Back in September, Apple announced AirPlay, the updated and renamed version of their streaming audio technology previously called AirTunes. As part of that update, Apple announced that third-party hardware developers would soon be releasing hardware which could receive audio from iTunes, just as the AirPort Express and Apple TV have long done. Naturally, we wanted to be sure that Airfoil worked fully with these new audio devices as well, to enable users to send any audio out. It’s taken quite awhile for the devices to come out, but we finally acquired one, the JBL On Air Wireless.

Once we had the device, we tested it out with the currently-shipping version of Airfoil. It worked great, right out of the box (one caveat: the device’s icon incorrectly shows as an old-style Apple TV, an issue we’ll fix in our next update). Just open up Airfoil, and you’ll see your third-party device waiting to receive audio. Here it all is in action:

Airfoil sending to the On Air

Airfoil sending audio to the JBL On Air

The On Air, receiving audio

The JBL On Air, receiving audio from Pulsar

As you can see, audio is coming in from Pulsar to Airfoil, where it’s then transmitted out to the On Air. Even better, the On Air’s LCD display is displaying artwork and now playing info from Pulsar, provided by Airfoil!

In addition to the On Air, we’ve also heard from users who are using the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air with much success. So if you’re considering any third-party AirPlay device and you’re curious if it’ll work with Airfoil, wonder no longer! Download Airfoil now, and enjoy!

If you’ve got other questions about AirPlay and Airfoil, be sure to see this Q&A post.

5 Responses to “Airfoil Works Great With Third-Party AirPlay Devices”

  1. olivier says:

    That’s great.

    On a related topic, do you plan to update Airfoil speaker and make it recognizable as a true AirPlay audio destination (by iTunes and iOS) ? It seems that the missing key has been found.


  2. Daniel says:

    Yes, as olivier mentioned, can we have some comment on shairport?


  3. Paul Kafasis says:

    Olivier and Daniel: For now, the “comment” will be stuffy and dull: We’re still evaluating the feasibility of making Airfoil Speakers appear as an available output for iTunes and iOS, as well as the legal ramifications of doing so. We’ve been testing internally, and having it working alright, but going beyond that is another matter. Stay tuned here though, for more details.


  4. olivier says:

    Thank you. I hope you’ll make it available to us soon !


  5. iPad user says:

    Perhaps a simple entry box to allow users to enter their own key into Airfoil Speakers? Whilst I know which key I would enter, by default it could be a random or zeroed key.


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