· Something else
· None of the above
· Other
Airport Express Gen2 endpoints recently stopped working.
My issue is identical to the description in ref#JKK493.
Asus router/Cisco switches
The Airport Express units are hardwired
@tLea, we need some additional information about your Roon Server computer as well as your network configuration, and are the Cisco switches managed or unmanaged? Also, what version of Roon Server are you running?
Are you running AE firmware 7.8.1?
This may be of help
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250591018
Also, an update to your router could have disabled multicast and/or IGMP
Thanks for responding.
Roon Server is v2.0 latest build (1442 at the moment)
Running ROCK on NUC 8i7 w/8GB RAM
Switch is unmanaged.
One of the AEs is connected via spare ethernet port on a Asus mesh node, which I suppose you could call a managed switch. But the other is not. Everything worked fine from 2015 until recently.
Yes, 7.8.1 on both AEs
Thanks for the response.
These AEs have been running firmware 7.8.1 for years with no problem until recently.
This isn’t likely to be an IGMP issue. The connections are hardwired, and each AE device has its own IP assigned by DHCP. They work just fine streaming from Apple Music. Connectivity isn’t a problem.
What do you mean by “Gen2”? That does not have a clear meaning among the three AirPort Express models released from 2004-2012.
If you have the second model AirPort Express from 2008, it is far too old to support AirPlay 2 displayed in your Signal path.
AJ
Did the problem start with the recent Roon update that added AirPlay 2?
Because if this is the case….
In this case, enabling the Compatibility Mode in the Roon AirPlay settings might help?
Here is the unit I have, known as AirPort Express 802.11n (2nd Generation). I used “Gen2” as shorthand. Apple model A1392.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/112421
It supports AirPlay 2 with firmware 7.8.1, and plays perfectly with Apple Music and Qobuz Player.
To repeat: These units worked fine with Roon from July, 2015 until just recently.
And a few weeks ago the Roon update with AP2 was released. I don’t know if it’s related, but the coincidence is interesting
I am not sure when the problem started. I don’t use these devices often, but they have worked flawlessly in the past. The last time I can remember was several weeks ago.
I have tried with and without the Compatibility Mode switch. I can stream to them using Apple Music, and according to Apple, this model supports AirPlay 2.
Apparently Roon has struggled with developing AirPlay 2 capability. Maybe it’s not quite there yet. Is there a way I can force Roon to stream the older AirPlay method?
Thanks for your help.
Yes, I think that might be where the incompatibility lies.
I have a Sonicorbiter SE that will run in Shairport mode and can be grouped with the two AEs. I just tried it and it works okay running the older AirPlay.
As an experiment I will see if there is a way to downgrade the AE firmware to force it into older AirPlay mode.
Okay, that is the third, final, and only tabletop model. It does support AirPlay 2.
But since the Roon implementation is just another reverse engineered hack, using AirPlay 2 with an actual Apple product may not be advisable. The original AirPlay hack is a lot more mature and established at this point.
AJ
Thanks for your response, and I’m beginning to think you may be right about where the problem lies.
However, the logic of your statement eludes me. It’s like saying that an American speaking fluent Spanish to a Spaniard is not advisable. Is it better to speak broken Spanglish?
Perhaps the Roon hack of AP2 is still a work in progress. And maybe my use case can help with the debugging.
Okay, here’s an update on this.
I regressed the firmware on one of the AE units back to 7.6.9 (from 2018), which forces the older version of AirPlay. It seems to be working as expected in Roon so far. I’ll have to see what the fallout may be for other functionality.
The lesson learned is that the AirPlay 2 rollout with Roon 2.0.37 from June 27 still needs work.
Thanks to all for your help and advice.
That’s what the compatibility mode switch is for, but if it doesn’t help then I don’t know. We may need Support to look at your logs
It is an Apple issue. Because of arrogance and protectionist business tactics. Apple has no problem licensing AirPlay receiver capabilities to third parties, but Apple does not want non Apple hardware/software possessing AirPlay sender capabilities. That is the reverse engineered hack. And due to its nature, it always is tenuous and vulnerable.
If I were Roon, I would not have gone down the AirPlay path at all. The Apple closed ecosystem is a “bag of hurt” (to paraphrase Steve Jobs) for anything that dares to exist in part or in full outside of that walled garden.
AJ
Okay, thanks. I will wait for Support to weigh in.
I’ve found a workaround, which is to downgrade to six-year old firmware, but what I really want is for it to work as designed. And I expect that Roon wants that too.
I suppose you could take the position that this is end-of-life, legacy hardware, but AirPlay 2 is not outdated so I hope Roon will try to develop a solution and not just brush it off.
And maybe others with the same problem can benefit from this thread.
I think Roon does a pretty good job explaining the reasoning for trying to stay current with AirPlay here.
I know not everyone needs the multi-room capabilities of Roon, but it is one of the features that I use and enjoy the most. At the end of the day, I just want to listen to music with Roon while I work in my garage. Once it finally cools down in there.
Maybe Roon just needs to learn better Spanish. 