> because the problem with sonos is that they're actually really really good. dollar for dollar

They were really expensive, but people confused quality (why else would it cost so much) with convenience and were happy not knowing about anything else.

It's a good strategy, works well for other companies. But when you remove the convenience part of it everything else falls apart too.

I would not say you didnt get anything back. You got setup where at minimum the speakers will work for decades.

People who pay for WiiM ultra most likely dont care about Airplay anyway because Airplay 2 devices send lossy AAC 256kbps audio. You dont get streamer for 329usd to send reencoded music there. You get it so it streams from the original sources directly.

the reason airplay matters so much is that even if you want great audio quality and care about the bitrate of your music, other people in your house don't and just want to make music come out of the speakers. no airplay resigns the device to "nobody else can use it" status.