DTS Play-Fi Announces AirPlay 2 Support, Starting With McIntosh, Arcam Gear

DTS Play-Fi announced AirPlay 2 support Thursday, with availability on the McIntosh RS200 wireless speaker and Arcam rPlay music streamer. More products will be announced later this year, it said. DTS Play-Fi products supporting AirPlay 2 are Works with Alexa-compatible, allowing household users to choose between Siri or Alexa voice assistants, said the company. The launch Play-Fi brands for AirPlay 2 support emphasized choice as a primary benefit of the feature addition. “AirPlay 2 brings multi-room music playback to the Apple ecosystem,” said Nicholas Clarke, senior director-global engineering, luxury audio, at Harman, saying Arcam rPlay customers get more ways to access their product with Hi-Res streaming audio support. Adding AirPlay 2 expands multi-room streaming possibilities, said DTS. Music playback on AirPlay 2 products can be started via spoken commands to Siri or to a HomePod; users can group AirPlay 2 speakers via voice commands through HomePod, or transfer music playback from a HomePod to other AirPlay 2 products in the home, it said. AirPlay 2 also provides transmission reliability in cases where Wi-Fi connections are temporarily unavailable or unstable, it said. The Play-Fi ecosystem includes more than 200 products, said DTS, from brands including Aerix, Anthem, Arcam, Audiolab, Definitive Technology, Dish TV, Elite, Integra, Fusion Research, Klipsch, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Mission, Onkyo, Paradigm, Phorus, Pioneer, Polk Audio, Quad, Rotel, Sonus Faber, Soundcast, SVS Sound, Wharfedale and Wren Sound.