I am a very happy owner of a Lina dac X, but I am very upset that it doesn’t do AirPlay right out of the box. It is supposed to be reusing Lina electronics and sw. Why is it so difficult to implement AirPlay on it? I was told it was in your backlog…. Do you have any dates for when you will release it?
Hi DanB and welcome to the forum which I should first clarify is mainly a dialogue between dCS users rather than directly with dCS itself ( though staff members do look in from time to time). This means that being an outsider I am unable to answer your question specifically but will make couple of general points which may help explain the situation.
See the HFN review linked:
https://www.hifinews.com/content/dcs-lina-dac-x-streamer
You will see that it implies that a software rather than chip implementation of AirPlay is a new feature. AirPlay is an Apple not dCS product and I expect requires certification by Apple.In general, dCS will not give advance advice of upgrades or their release dates especially where third parties may be involved as timing may then be out of dCS’ hands. I have checked however and to date no software beyond the original version is available.
software upgrades may also not be limited to a single aspect either and various features to be included may not all be ready by the same date.
I have sympathy with your wish and frustration but I hope that little more patience will solve the issue eventually.
I hope that you are enjoying your Lina DAC X otherwise.
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According to Andrew Everard;
Apple AirPlay capability is also now handled in software, rather than via a separate chip.
(I think he’s smoking something funky 
)
IINM, Airplay on dCS has always been via firmware (on the Streaming Board), there’s no such thing as an Apple Airplay “chip”.
If I were to venture a guess, I’d say the Lina X likely uses a newer (different) Streaming board than the Lina (and V/R/B/NwB), and that newer board doesn’t yet have Airplay support on it’s firmware.
James mentioned Airplay support in the future with a firmware update;
The DAC X does not currently have AirPlay support, though we intend to add this in future via a firmware update.
ps: Can’t find detailed pix of the inside of the Lina X, could it be that it shares the same 1955 Streaming board as the Varese UI unit? 
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Pete, thanks for your answer. Airplay being a software implementation drove me to think it’s even easier to implement than if it were hw based… Obtaining Apple’s cert might definitely be a tough and lengthy journey. But they have it on many other products, prior to the Lina X … I wouldn’t think this is the bottleneck, but maybe you are right. I’ll remain patient and expect for an update soon. PS: I also admit that, at this price point, you would expect it in v0, not in a later release… Anyways the whole marketing approach of the LinaX launch remains a mystery to me (vs the Lina, it’s price point etc … )
Yeah I was confused with the concept of an “airplay chip” too 
Hello Dan, and welcome to the community,
some time ago I posted some information and photos of the Lina DAC X:
Hope it helps 