[Question] PTP stream support and Airplay 2 advantages

[hoiz]

I tried to connect with forced Airplay 2 (raop_disable = true) with the dev version of shairport-sync (with Airplay 2 support). Shairport-sync then reports that no NTP streams are supported, and support is currently not planned (mikebrady/shairport-sync#1407).

I have the following questions about this:

1. Are there plans to support PTP streams as well?
2. Do I have any advantages with Airplay 2 transmission? Or is it no problem to continue transmitting via Airplay 1.
3. Do I have any advantages if I am connected to all devices via Airplay 2?

Thank you!

[ejurgensen]

Are there plans to support PTP streams as well?

I think PTP should be supported, since it's the most common timing method for Airplay 2. But it is tricky, and was also difficult for shairport to implement, requiring a standalone daemon just for that. So I don't know when I will get around to it.

Do I have any advantages with Airplay 2 transmission? Or is it no problem to continue transmitting via Airplay 1.

Only thing I can think of is that OwnTone's Airplay 2 uses lossless compression, whereas Airplay 1 is uncompressed. So there is a bandwidth advantage, if your wifi is constrained.

Do I have any advantages if I am connected to all devices via Airplay 2?

Other than bandwidth, then no, not currently. OwnTone also still defaults to AirPlay 1 if the speaker supports it. It will be a different story if/when OwnTone gains the ability to use advanced Airplay 2 features, such as group playback.

[hoiz]

Thank you for the quick and detailed reply! I love your project and really use it every day!