Apple Express Discontinued - What direction are you Mac "streamers" going?

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cody69

I knew Apple has stepped away from the router business, but didn't realize the impact of this until last weekend.
I use Airport Express units to stream music from one of the Mac computer (or iPad, iPhone) to different sections of the house.
Unfortunately, last weekend, the Express I use to stream content to the den stopped working. It was a 1st generation unit, probably around 10 years old, heavily used so I wasn't overly alarmed... at first.

First checked the Apple website, but they no longer sell Express units. They do sell ATVs, but I need an optical out and the ATVs no longer have this connection.
A check with the Apple stores in the NY/NJ area and they too, did not have inventory to sell.
I did find units available with 3rd party resellers, and picked up a unit to replace the malfunctioning Express.

Up to this point, the 4 Express units I have have been rock solid. But as replacement units will become harder to locate, and as the software falls out of support, its clear this ride is coming to and end.

So for those of you in a similar position that use Apple Express units for streaming music content, what direction are you heading? What options are available with similar features that can perform this function... Chromecast... others?

What are your experiences with this?

Doublej

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Amazon has Apple AirPort Express Base Station (MC414LL/A) for $94.99 with Apple listed as the seller. You could buy a few and hope they don't kill software support for them for a while.

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-AirPort-Express-Station-MC414LL/dp/B008ALA2RC/



happyrabbit

https://www.arcam.co.uk/products,rSeries,Music-Streamer,rPlay.htm

I been using this as an replacement for the last year.   I stream tidal from my iPad via airplay.  It’s way more expensive too.   I struggled to find a low cost airplay -> spdif solution.

Dwight

WC

Cody,

I have an airport express that I hadn’t gotten around to selling yet. PM me if you are interested. I have gone to Raspberry Pi for streaming endpoints.

Jonathon Janusz

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I just now went to Apple's website, added an express to the bag/shopping cart and was able to get to proceed to checkout without it telling me they were out of stock or discontinued.  Instead of looking for it on the website where apple TVs are, it is the first thing listed if you click on "Mac" across the top, then "Accessories", then scroll down to the categories list and click on "networking".

Unless once you try to complete the order Apple finally throws up a message saying they are no longer available, it looks like as of right now things are good to go and business as usual?

skunark

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I am curious if they will release a speakerless homepod for a stereo, but until then there is always an Apple TV if you don’t mind the price increase.   I thought i read they upgraded it to airplay 2, so a little shocking they would kill off a high margin device like that. 

BTW, for almost the same dollar, a Raspberry Pi with shairpoirt-sync and a dac or spdif hat will work the same and sound a lot better. There are several canned images you can try if you are not a Linux guru, so the hardest becomes burning the SD card and finding the IP address to the little pie.   Hifiberry offers a complete kit, just reburn the image

cody69

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Amazon has Apple AirPort Express Base Station (MC414LL/A) for $94.99 with Apple listed as the seller. You could buy a few and hope they don't kill software support for them for a while.
Exactly, thanks! My concern here is with Apples change in product direction is twofold --
1. as the hardware becomes more difficult to obtain, what options exist to replace the Express units for distribution?
2. as goes the hardware, does the software follow? If we lose AirPlay from Mac/Apple ecosystem, what direction would you be heading?

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I have gone to Raspberry Pi for streaming endpoints.

Hifiberry offers a complete kit, just reburn the image

These are good suggestions. I remember Raspberry Pi threads here on AC but never followed closely. Will go back and research these more carefully.