Since the launch of Apple Music i have been hankering after a Sonos Play 1 so i can listen to music via the miracle of airplay in the lounge without having it through some laptop speakers or even worse the TV !
169 pounds for a single speaker though is a bit much really so i had a look around to see what i could find !
First up i find a pair of these upstairs that have not been used in a long time ! Lovely quality speakers and actually still after many years rather lovely looking !
Next up i find a Raspberry Pi that is not really doing much
What more do we need ? Well nothing as it happens because of something called Shairplay !
Install & configure Shairplay on the Raspberry Pi, connect the Pi to the speakers and voila you have an extra Airplay speaker.
I have had Shairplay up and running on a pi now for 4 days, and it’s rock steady as of course is the Pi itself, despite doing a few other jobs, like this blog for instance ! Audio quality is excellent, and if it’s not to your liking you can always throw on a USB DAC instead of the headphone output of the Pi but i really don’t think it’s needed.
So the final score is basically Sonos 0 Shairplay 1 !
As far as compatibility goes i have sent Airplay from IOS 8.4, IOS 9 Beta 2, IOS 8.3 and OSX El Capitan Beta 2 without any issues at all.