Can you use AirPlay 2 with the Mac mini?

On iOS, AirPlay 2 is baked in at the system level, meaning that you can utilize it from any app that supports AirPlay audio so long as you have an AirPlay 2-compatible speaker like the Sonos One. On the Mac, this isn't the case. In order to take advantage of AirPlay 2, you'll need to have iTunes 12.8 or later installed on your Mac.

Using the AirPlay menu just to the left side of the Now Playing display in iTunes, you can click the checkboxes next to the AirPlay 2 speakers to which you'd like to send audio.

You can also use this interface to choose which device iTunes is controlling. So rather than sending music from your Mac to your speaker, iTunes instead acts as a control interface for your speaker, telling it what to play, but with your speaker actually fetching that music itself. iTunes will behave this way until you tell it to switch back to your computer.

If you're on the lookout for a great AirPlay 2 speaker to use with your new Mac mini, the Sonos One is a great option. It's got excellent sound for its price and, if this is a plus for you, comes with Alexa built in.

On Sonos speakers, Alexa doesn't yet support playback of Apple Music, but the digital assistant has gained support for Apple Music on Amazon's own Echo products, so it could only be a matter of time before your Sonos supports Apple Music playback via Alexa, too.