AirPlay Setup

AirPlay 

Roon has excellent support for most AirPlay devices out there. Sometimes small adjustments may be needed to cope with new devices as they reach the market. If you're having trouble with a particular AirPlay device, take a look at our troubleshooting page here, or visit our Community site and let us know.

Set-Up

Start by opening Roon on your Windows or OSX computer, or Roon Remote on your iOS or Android device. In Settings, click the Audio tab -- in the Networked section, you should be able to see your AirPlay devices. Sometimes Roon has trouble discovering AirPlay devices that are sleeping, so if your device isn't showing up in the list, try waking it up first.

Finally, enable the device (or devices) you want to use, and play some music! Sound Quality over AirPlay only accepts CD-quality (44.1kHz/16bit) audio. Furthermore, some AirPlay devices (notably, AppleTVs) convert the audio to 48kHz/16bit internally--not a very nice thing to do. As a result, you will often see rather complex format conversions in Roon's Signal Path like this one:

AirPlay can be a very convenient and affordable solution; however audio quality is capped at 44.1kHz/16 bit. If this is a concern, a device more capable of Hi-Res playback may be desirable for the primary listening areas in your house.

AirPlay 2

Roon now fully supports Airplay 2 streaming. Set up your Airplay 2 devices as a stereo pair, or in a hybrid array, like pairing them with an Apple TV. You can also group them with other Airplay 2 or Airplay 1 devices.

To create a stereo pair with your Airplay 2 devices, you'll first need to create the pair using the Apple Home app. Once you do this, Roon will treat them as a single stereo device. 

Using AirPlay 2 devices with Roon

If you have a Mac or iOS device it's possible to play to an AirPlay 2 only device by using the system-level AirPlay output functionality. 

Mac:

1. Make sure that the Mac's "System Output" zone is enabled in the Settings > Audio screen in Roon. 

2. Open the System Preferences app on the Mac.

3. Navigate to Sound > Output and select the AirPlay 2 device in the device list. 

3. Start playback to the "System Output" zone in Roon. 

Screenshot of the System Preferences > Sound > Output screen: 

iOS:

1. Make sure that the iOS device's output is enabled in the Settings > Audio screen in Roon. 

2. Open Control Center on your iOS device:

      - On iPhone X or later or iPad with iPadOS or later, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen. 

      - On iPhone 8 or earlier or iOS 11 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen.

3. Touch and hold the group of controls in the upper-right corner, then tap AirPlay .

4. Tap the speaker or TV that you want to play the audio to. 

5. Start playback to the iOS device zone in Roon. 

Animation showing how to open control center and select an AirPlay output:

Airplay Compatibility Mode

If you're using an older Airplay device and are having issues selecting it as an endpoint, try toggling on Compatibility mode. You can access the toggle by accessing the Advanced settings found in Device setup: 

1. Click the Volume icon in the lower right corner 
   
2. Click the cogwheel icon
   
3. Click Device Setup
   
4. Expand Advanced Settings 
   

If you're still having issues, please reach out to Roon Support via our Community here. 

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