How many Airport Express units can be used simultaneously? I have an audio application that is wireless and could potentially have 12-20 separate areas. The most I have actually ever tried is 4 and it worked fine. Any limitations that anyone has read about, or has anyone tried this?
Yes, yes of course. But can I stream to 20 Airport Express devices at once? Will iTunes even do that? That is the question.
You can have as many as you want within reason if you plan to connect each AirPort Express back to a "main" router using a wired Ethernet connection.
If you are thinking about wireless only....you need to remember that each AirPort Express must connect back to the "main" Apple router, so each Express needs to be approximately the same distance from the "main" Apple router.
In other words, an AirPort Express that is set up to "extend" cannot "extend" to another AirPort Express that is set up to "extend".
The practical limit here is probably 5-6 AirPorts....since there is a bandwidth loss with each AirPort when you extend using wireless only.
I guess we need to find out what the "within reason" really is. In this scenario, we would have a wireless mesh wifi network that each Airport Express would connect back to the main computer/router, we would not be using the Airport Express to extend the wifi. The infrastructure would be separate.
Well, a standard "main" router that will supply DHCP and NAT services for the entire network will be able to allow up to a total of about 250 devices to connect. That would include the AirPorts, and any devices that are connected to the AirPorts and any other devices that you have on the network.
Each AirPort Express (new version) will handle up to 50 wireless clients. It would be much better to limit that to 20-25 to keep the speed up. So, you'll have to do some math to try to figure out how many total devices will connect to the network when everything is working.
You could connect 20 AirPort Express devices to the main router....but you would only be able to connect about 10-15 devices to each Express.
Or, connect 10 Express devices to the main router and you can connect about 20-25 devices to each Express.
If you plan to connect to the Internet, keep in mind that all devices will share the bandwidth. If you have a 100 Mbps Internet connection, and 100 clients connected to the network, then each client will get about 1 Mbps. Pretty slow.
I'm not sure what your audio application is here....the network examples I am providing assume that you will be connecting wireless and wired Ethernet clients to the network.
If you could detail your proposed system, other users could offer their comments. We're still pretty much guessing at hypotheticals at this point.
Actually, I think it will be much simpler than what you described. There will be no clients connecting to the Airport Express units. They will simply connect to the wifi infrastructure and audio will be streamed to them. The infrastructure's sole purpose is only for audio, so no outside connections will be allowed on it. Also, there will be no internet connection for the Airports. Pretty much a dedicated audio network.
Unless you can think of a cheaper way. 😉
I've priced some IP intercom systems. Apple is WAY cheaper. And has the advantage of an error-corrected/time-coded audio, meaning all the airports will be synchronized and play the music together. The other IP systems don't do that for five times the price.
They will simply connect to the wifi infrastructure and audio will be streamed to them.
You have a router somewhere that will be supplying internal IP addresses to the Express devices that are connecting via WiFi to the network.
You could connect as many Express devices as the router DHCP IP range allows.
So, if you had a standard router that will supply up to 250+ IP addresses, and the wireless network is used to only allow Express devices to connect, you could connect 250 AirPort Express devices.
I've seen a setup with 12 Expresses that worked fine.
I think 100 would work if your wireless has the bandwidth to support it.
You can wait to see if other users answer.....but it is rare that we hear about anyone trying to use more than 3-4. Maybe Apple support could get you in touch with an engineer who might know the exact answer.
Good luck.
Might be a good idea to understand the store's return policy in advance before you buy. I think this one of those situations where you will not know if it will work until you try.
This is probably too late for you, but I thought I would post the answer here for others to see.
You can find the answer in the knowledge base article here:
AirPort Express frequently asked questions (FAQ) - Apple Support
Can iTunes send a single AirPlay stream to multiple AirPort Express stations?
Yes. You can send an AirPlay stream to multiple remote AirPort Express units . The maximum number of remote AirPort Express units is up to six. The actual number that will work in your environment will depend on conditions such as building composition and radio interference, distance to the remote AirPort Express units, and available network capacity relative to your other usage.
The maximum number of remote AirPort Express units is up to six.
Interesting, since I've seen networks with up to 12 AirPorts work just fine.
That's the official word from Apple as of Nov. 24, 2014.
Doesnt mean it can't use more, but it isn't supported and should not be expected.
The maximum I have seen working in this fashion has been 16 base stations. One of the issues, that become exaggerated, is when there is a delay between songs. The Express has no way to deal with this properly. What I have experienced is that you may get a temporary music drop-off while the base station resynchronizes with the audio source. With multiple room streaming this may not present a problem as the listener should not be affected.
How many Airport Express...
