Airport Express and Airplay 2

Yes, if your AirPort Express has two Ethernet ports......like the example that you see below:

No, if your AirPort Express has only one Ethernet port, like the example below:

While the Gen2 can be upgraded to 7.8 firmware.. the reality is that firmware is so bad most people discover having airplay working with 7.6.8 or 9 or far superior to airplay2 that does not actually work at all.

Many many posts here about 7.8 firmware. And it is a bomb.. plus Apple seem to have no interest in repairing the firmware.

There are always a number of folks that seem to have problems with any update, no matter whether it is an operating system update or a firmware update.

I have not have had any problems at all on the two AirPorts that I upgraded to 7.8 firmware but your mileage may vary. The bottom line with any kind of update like this is that you will not know how well......or if.....the update will work on your network until you try it out on your network.

If the 7.8 firmware update does not work well on your AirPort Express(es), you can always roll back the firmware to the previous 7.6.9 version. Post back if you are not sure how to do this.

Is Airplay 2 backward compatible with Airplay 1 (sending Airplay 2 to an Airplay 1 firmware device)?

AirPlay 2 is backwards compatible. However, understand that when you stream via AirPlay, the "version" used will depend on the version the device is capable of supporting. Both versions basically work with the same IP protocol suite with the newer version having additional "features" implemented. Note: AirPlay 2 adds the ability to play music across multiple speakers (specifically for iOS devices) and use Siri to control where it’s playing.