Stream to Sonos’s AirPlay Hardware With Airfoil for Mac 5.8
Posted By Paul Kafasis on July 21st, 2018
We’ve got big news for Airfoil today: Sonos compatibility! With the new Airfoil for Mac 5.8, you can stream any audio from your Mac to all of Sonos’s AirPlay-compatible devices. That means Airfoil can now help you play audio to even more devices. Whatever mix of AirPlay, Bluetooth, and Chromecast devices you have, Airfoil can help you stream audio in sync to all of them at once.
Currently, Sonos’s AirPlay-compatible hardware lineup consists of the Sonos One, Beam, Playbase, and second-generation Play:5. If you’ve already got one of these AirPlay-compatible Sonos device, make sure its firmware is up to date, then update to Airfoil for Mac 5.8 to start streaming any audio from your Mac all around your house.
Of note for users with older Sonos hardware, you need just one AirPlay-compatible Sonos device to enjoy audio on your entire system.
From Sonos’s announcement:
Even though AirPlay 2 is only supported on Sonos One, Beam, Playbase, and Play:5, with any one of these speakers you can listen via AirPlay on your entire home sound system. That means that even non-AirPlay compatible speakers like Playbar or Play:1 can reap the sonic benefits of our AirPlay 2 integration, provided they’re grouped with one of our newer, AirPlay-friendly devices in the Sonos app.
That means that if you have an older Sonos system, you can just add a single new device to get AirPlay compatibility going throughout your home. The Sonos One is a very worthy HomePod competitor, and its $199 price tag is just slightly more than half the cost of Apple’s smart speaker.
More Compatible Devices Coming Soon
Sonos’s recent update made them the first third-party vendor to ship AirPlay 2 compatible speakers, but they won’t be the last. There are many more AirPlay 2 devices coming from Denon, Libratone, Marantz, and more. Much of this hardware is already available for purchase, and firmware updates to enable AirPlay on these devices are due at various points later this year.
More compatible outputs coming soon!
Like the Sonos hardware, we expect these devices will be compatible with Airfoil, once their firmware is updated. We’re excited for Airfoil to power audio streaming to even more great hardware!
Get Airfoil for Mac 5.8 Now
For over a decade, Airfoil has helped stream audio from your Mac to outputs all around your house. With today’s update, it supports more outputs than ever before. If you’re new to Airfoil, learn more on its product page. You can download the free trial, then purchase right through our store.
Owners of Airfoil for Mac 5 can update to version 5.8 free of charge, by selecting “Check for Update” from the Airfoil menu. If you’re an owner of Airfoil 4 or lower, you’re still eligible to upgrade to version 5 at a great discount.
Stay Tuned, Airfoil for Windows Users
Fear not, Windows users. We’re hard at work on an update which will add Sonos compatibility to Airfoil for Windows as well. Stay tuned for more news in the near future!
Update (September 13th, 2018): With version 5.6, you can now stream to Sonos devices with Airfoil for Windows as well! Be sure to update to the latest version.