No sound on Apple AirPort Express 2nd gen despite Roon connection (ref#SL3A82)

[6447]

What’s happening?

· Other

How can we help?

· None of the above

Other options

· Other

Describe the issue

Hello
No matter how hard I tried, I still haven't managed to stream music to both of my Apple AirPort Express 2nd generation devices. Roon connects and says that sound is coming through, but there is no sound.

Describe your network setup

keenetic ultra kn-1811

[connor]

Hi @6447,

The specific symptom you’ve reported resembles a known issue with AirPlay 2 compatibility in Roon with systems involving combined Airplay1/2 endpoints like the Express. Are these two Express endpoints paired in a grouped Airplay Zone, or paired within the Apple Home app?

Ensure Airplay compatiblity mode is toggled in in Device Setup in Roon for the Airplay Zone.

Please try adding the endpoint to the Apple Home app on an iOS/MacOS device - this might restore the proper Airplay2 decoding on the receiver end.

The team has a ticket in the pipeline to address underlying issues with Airplay2 compatibility. Please see here for updates:

Sonos Era 100 not playing sound via Roon Airplay [Ticket In]

Has there been any progress in fixing the bug for streaming airplay2 to the Sonos Era 100s? It has been broken for 9 months… I know about setting up zones and using them as an endpoint as a workaround but I want the airplay feature fixed. -Aaron

[6447]

And again, by some miracle (through manipulation with Apple Home), I managed to set up one of the Airport Express 2 routers, but not the second one. Both routers are not connected to any of the groups, they are standalone devices, if that matters.

At the same time, Room Arc works perfectly, distributing the signal to both devices via Airplay, but Roon mac os does not.

[Aaron_Burns]

Thank you for the suggestion. I added the era100s to the apple home. It did not fix the issue. Here are some screen shots from my setup. The speakers are grouped as a stereo pair in the sonos menu (see attachment). I am able to cast roon to the sonos era 100s (main bedroom 192.168.1.184) and that works as a stereo pair. But it does not work when the same pair in the apple home. Thank you for your attention to this matter and let me know if there is anything else I can provide to help the community and support engineers.

[vadim]

Hello @6447,

Thank you for the follow-up — I want to make sure we stay focused on your issue specifically, since the thread drifted a bit into another user’s Sonos/AirPlay 2 situation.

Just to clarify:
You mentioned two Airport Express (2nd gen) units, and the behavior is:

• Roon shows playback as active
• But one Airport outputs sound
• And the second Airport shows playback but remains silent
• ARC can stream to both via AirPlay
• Roon on macOS cannot

Is that correct?

To help move this forward, could you please confirm the following:

1. Are both Airport Express devices added individually to the Apple Home app?

Not grouped, not paired — just present as standalone AirPlay endpoints.

2. In Roon → Settings → Audio

Do both Airports appear as AirPlay zones, not something else (RAAT, System Output, etc.)?

3. For the silent Airport:

Did you toggle AirPlay Compatibility Mode in Device Setup?

4. Timeline

When was the last attempt where one Airport played sound and the other stayed silent?
Please provide the exact timestamp (date + time), so we can check the discovery logs.

Quick note

Your Airport Express 2nd gen units support AirPlay 2, and Roon relies on AirPlay 1 fallback.
This fallback is known to behave inconsistently across mixed AirPlay1/2 setups.

Our R&D team already has a ticket for AirPlay 2/fallback stability, and your case will help us add more data.