LG's 2021 soundbar lineup features AirPlay 2 support

LG on Tuesday unveiled its 2021 lineup of soundbar devices, three of which come with AirPlay 2 support out of the box.

Announced in a press release, LG's latest soundbar offerings boast high-quality audio reproduction with standard Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support for three-dimensional audio. Dolby Vision is enabled through a 4K pass-through.

Three high-end models, the SP11RA, SP9YA and SP8YA, include AirPlay 2 for streaming directly from an iPhone, iPad or Mac. AirPlay 2 also enables remote control of connected devices, as well as integration with other speakers for whole-home audio.

The three top-end models also support Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, and feature AI room calibration, which measures a room's dimensions for audio optimization.

New for 2021 is AI Sound Pro, a feature that routes audio from LG TVs through the soundbar's superior speakers. The soundbars also offer the same sound modes as the company's latest TVs.

Other niceties include Hi-Res Audio, HDMI eARC support, USB playback and Bluetooth streaming. Meridian Audio tuning and Meridian Horizon up-mixing are also available on certain models.

All five models are slated to start shipping to select markets in Europe and North America this month.

LG is an early adopter of Apple's AirPlay 2 protocol and was among the first to build the technology into its television and audio products.