macOS lets only the Music and TV apps send to several AirPlay speakers. The sound menu, Control Center and every other app get one speaker at a time, and no setting changes that.
So if you have been opening Spotify’s settings looking for the tick box, or restarting a HomePod that behaves perfectly well, you can stop. Nothing on your machine is broken.
Where does the one-speaker rule actually live?
Your Mac has one setting for where its sound goes, and three doors into it: the sound icon in the menu bar, the Sound section of Control Center, and System Settings, then Sound, then Output. They all write the same value. That value names one speaker.
Almost every app you use never talks to a speaker itself. Spotify, Chrome, Safari, Zoom, a game, VLC: each one hands its audio to macOS, and macOS passes it to whichever single output is selected. Pick the kitchen HomePod and the whole machine moves to the kitchen. Pick the bedroom one and the whole machine moves again. There is no state in between, which is why the picker behaves like a radio button instead of a checklist.
That is the rule, and it sits underneath the apps rather than inside them. No preference in Spotify can reach it, because Spotify never sees your speakers in the first place. It sees one output called whatever you last picked.
How do the Music and TV apps get around it?
Those two apps are the exception because they do not use the system output at all. They speak AirPlay themselves, so they can hold several speakers at once and feed them all.
The clicks:
1. Open Music and play something. The picker fills in once there is a track to send.
2. Click the AirPlay icon in the playback controls at the top of the window, next to the volume slider. Every AirPlay speaker on your Wi-Fi network drops down.
3. Tick as many as you want. Kitchen, bedroom, the Apple TV in the living room. They start together.
4. Pull each speaker’s own slider. One appears under every ticked speaker.
The TV app works the same way from its own playback controls. Apple’s support note on AirPlay walks through the Music path, and adds the sentence that explains this whole article: “You can’t use AirPlay to stream audio to multiple speakers from Control Center on a Mac.”
The tick boxes belong to those two apps. They are not a macOS feature you can borrow.
Why can my iPhone pick several speakers but my Mac can’t?
The pickers look alike and are not the same thing. On an iPhone or an iPad, the AirPlay control in Control Center can hold several speakers together. On a Mac, the control in the same place is the system output setting, and it holds one.
Apple states the Mac limit in that support note and does not publish a reason for it. Anyone who tells you it is a hardware limitation, or a Wi-Fi radio problem, or something you can undo in Terminal, is guessing. It is how macOS routes system sound today, and the only lever Apple gives you is the picker inside Music and TV.
Does AirPlay 2 change any of this?
It does not, and this is the thing worth knowing before you spend money on speakers.
AirPlay 2 is the piece that makes one source drive several speakers and keep them on the same clock. The Music app’s multi-speaker picker rests on it. But whether your Mac’s output setting can hold two speakers has nothing to do with which version of AirPlay those speakers speak. A house full of new AirPlay 2 speakers hits the same wall as a house with one old AirPort Express in it: Control Center still takes one.
So a second HomePod does not unlock anything at the system level. It gives you a second room that Music can reach and Spotify cannot. Worth knowing before a sale tempts you into a third one for the same reason.
What about a Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup?
This is the built-in tool people find next, and it is worth ten minutes because it costs nothing. Audio MIDI Setup, in the Utilities folder inside Applications, builds one output out of several real ones. Click the plus button at the bottom of the sidebar, choose Create Multi-Output Device, and tick the Use box beside each speaker. Apple’s guide to playing audio through multiple devices at once has the steps.
It is built for wired and USB gear, and Apple’s guide does not mention AirPlay anywhere. In practice an AirPlay speaker sometimes appears in that list after your Mac has connected to it once, and sometimes greys out or drops off as soon as the combined device is selected. Which of those you get depends on your macOS version and the speaker. Why AirPlay is greyed out in Audio MIDI Setup covers what to try when it is.
Even on a good day it comes with three things to know. The volume keys on your keyboard stop responding while the combined device is selected. There is no volume control per speaker. And nothing holds the rooms in time with each other, so two speakers you can hear from one spot sound like an echo.
What sends every app to every speaker?
That is the gap a mixer fills. Audiout sits between your apps and your speakers instead of asking macOS to point at a different place. It takes each app’s audio and sends it to as many speakers as you tick: AirPlay 2, AirPlay 1 and Bluetooth, side by side on one list, each with its own fader. AirPlay 2 speakers stay in time with each other on AirPlay’s own clock, which is the same mechanism Music uses. Bluetooth speakers need their head start measured, which the app has a wizard for.
Because it routes per app, the kitchen can have Spotify while a call stays on your Mac’s own speakers. One Main Audio fader caps the whole house and your volume keys drive it, so the keys keep meaning something. It is €24.99 once, and there is a free 14-day trial of Audiout for Mac that asks for no card and no email. macOS 14.4 or later, Apple Silicon.
If everything you play comes out of Apple Music, tick three speakers in the Music app tonight and you are done for free. If the thing you actually want in the kitchen is Spotify, a browser tab or a call, that is the point where the built-in route stops and you need something under the apps rather than inside one of them.
Common questions
Can I select two AirPlay speakers in Control Center on a Mac?
No. Control Center's Sound section sets where your Mac sends its audio, and that is one place at a time, so ticking a second speaker moves the sound rather than adding a room. Apple's support note on AirPlay says plainly that you cannot stream audio to multiple speakers from Control Center on a Mac. The picker that holds several speakers lives inside the Music app and the TV app.
Does AirPlay 2 fix the one-speaker limit on a Mac?
No. AirPlay 2 is what lets one source drive several speakers together and keep them on the same clock, and the Music app uses exactly that. The limit is in how macOS hands system sound to an output, which is one output whatever version of AirPlay the speaker speaks. Newer speakers do not change what Control Center will let you tick.
Why can my iPhone pick several speakers but my Mac can't?
Because the two AirPlay pickers are not the same feature. On an iPhone or iPad the picker can hold several speakers at once. On a Mac the same-looking control in Control Center is the system output setting, which holds one. Apple documents the Mac limit without giving a reason for it, so the honest answer is that it is how macOS is built today.