AirPlay and AV Receivers
The announcement of AirPlay gave me hope. But 7 months later the current landscape is still rather grim. The only AV receivers that support AirPlay are well into the upper-mid and high end of the market. There is the Marantz SR7005 (£1,100+), the Pioneer VSX-1021 (£699) as well as models from Philips and Denon. While fine devices I am not sure I can justify that kind of outlay for the one additional feature my Onkyo TXSR308 currently lacks.
However, I think I have just come across an excellent compromise. For years I have raved about the AirPort Express and how it could turn any set of speakers “wireless”. Back at uni when my audio needs were slightly more primitive I was more than happy with the APX hooked up to my Harman Kardon Soundsticks, and sending audio to it via AirTunes or the AirFoil plugin from the folks at Rogue Amoeba.
My APX had been gathering dust since I bought my Onkyo but after another search for AirPlay enabled receivers I realised a lower budget solution was sitting right in front of me all this time. A simple 3.5mm <> RCA (or Optical) cable could connect the Express to any of the receivers audio inputs. I am now able to pipe *any* audio from any application on any of my devices to the receiver.
It is still a bit of a hack in that it requires an intermediary device to get the audio from the device to the speakers, but other than that it is a seamless experience. And it is much more ideal than using the Apple TV or Xbox 360 as the middle man. Neither of which have the greatest UI for navigating large music libraries, and require a change in video input.
since 1983.
