[davidu]

So what are people using instead of Sonos AMP for home sound control?

[cloudking]

Chromecasts + HDMI stereos + Speaker Groups: https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/7174267?hl=en

Works from Apple and Google mobile devices with Spotify

[DudeOpotomus]

Apple airplay works flawlessly. Or you can buy an old Amazon fire and connect them to your own hardware.

Both of these solutions allow you to use any speaker/amp setup you choose. And if you truly care about sound quality, this is the only path.

[wilsonnb3]

In my experience AirPlay 2 isn’t flawless, pretty much every time I try to use it there are stutters.

This is using an iPhone 16 Pro to AirPlay to a stereo pair of Sonos Five’s that are connected using Ethernet.

AirPlay isn’t a great choice if you are concerned about audio quality anyways - if you’re using AirPlay 2 you’re using 256kbps AAC, so it should sound the same as Bluetooth (or worse if you are comparing something like LDAC).

See here for more information.

https://darko.audio/2023/10/apple-airplay-isnt-always-lossle...

[ashtonbaker]

What’s a good way to Airplay to your own speakers?

[kristjansson]

Sonos Amp / Port act as airplay receiver to analog out (with amplifier in the case of Amp). They're meant to act as an input for existing ‘dumb’ speakers/amplifiers/home audio systems, and is extraordinarily fit for that purpose.

How do else could one Airplay to a ‘dumb’ stereo without something to act as an airplay receiver?

[cosmic_cheese]

AirPlay is as about as good as it gets I think. It’s been thoroughly reverse engineered so there’s lots of open source tools for it and it’s cheap to add speakers since used AirPort Expresses are still supported AirPlay targets.

[Maxion]

AirPlay and multiroom is still a struggle though

[schnable]

Wiim for one option.