Chromecast audio - can anyone comment on sound quality?
Dec 1, 2015 at 2:29 PM Post #91 of 560
Would this offer better sound quality than a bluetooth DAC like my Arcam MiniBlink (with aptX) which I do find great ?
 
Dec 1, 2015 at 11:52 PM Post #92 of 560
  Would this offer better sound quality than a bluetooth DAC like my Arcam MiniBlink (with aptX) which I do find great ?

Wi-Fi will always trump Bluetooth, it is simply a better technology with more bandwidth.
My Sonos 5 (though comparatively expensive) will always outplay pretty much any Bluetooth speaker.
This will be more evident when streaming FLACs, wav files, or pretty much anything high-resolution over standard MP3 and radio streaming.
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 4:52 AM Post #93 of 560
New Offer - $6 added to your Google Play account for each Chromecast Audio (and Nexus and Chromecast) you have.

Google has added a new offer that gives you $6 in play store credit to use on Android apps, music etc for each chromecast.  The offer says it is limited to $12 max, but I have 2 Chromecast audios and 1 Nexus player hooked up, and it worked for all three of them for $18 credit.  Purchased over a month ago, so they do not have to be new.

For windows desktop: you need to go to this url using the Chrome Browser (with Chromecast plugin installed): https://cast.google.com/chromecast/offers/ 

You should see the $6 credit offer, when you click it asks you to pick your chromecast device and then gives you credit.  If you have more than one device, go through the process for each device, picking a different one each time. 


I have not tried with an an android device, but it should work through the Chromecast app there (I think there is a special offers tab).


What cheeses me off is that they will only let you exploit these free offers once (unless you use a different gmail account) which is a little unfair because I am still purchasing the new hardware just like the next person. Currently working through a 3 month free trial of deezer because I purchased the Chromecast Audio - not bad but I am not overly keen on the user interface.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 4:49 PM Post #94 of 560
hi
fyi on google forum some people mentioned the new firmware is coming! News, 2 days ago.
It seems it brings bitperfect, out the resampling to 48kHz.
On chromecast web page Google states that when a new firmware is released it takes 1 to 2 weeks to be implemented to all devices. My cca is still waiting for it.
Hope we will notice the difference. ...
Rgds
 
Dec 9, 2015 at 9:19 PM Post #95 of 560
One of my CCAs got the update,  Firmware starts with 1.17 vs older 1.16.    There was a confirmation on the Google forum that Test files in various formats 16b44 /48 /96 & 24b24 /48/96 play at source rate via optical.
 
Update: Yea!  My CCA with 1.17a firmware plays at the correct un-resampled bitrates through optical.  Only 1 of my 3 CCAs has been updated so far.
 
No support for synchronized play of multiple chromecasts yet

 
Dec 10, 2015 at 9:41 AM Post #96 of 560
  One of my CCAs got the update,  Firmware starts with 1.17 vs older 1.16.    There was a confirmation on the Google forum that Test files in various formats 16b44 /48 /96 & 24b24 /48/96 play at source rate via optical.
 
Update: Yea!  My CCA with 1.17a firmware plays at the correct un-resampled bitrates through optical.  Only 1 of my 3 CCAs has been updated so far.
 
No support for synchronized play of multiple chromecasts yet


 
Hi!
 
Could you check if you are able to play spotify to the cca through spotify connect from a pc with the new fw?
 
It's so dumb that it requires a mobile device in the middle to do that right now.
 
Dec 10, 2015 at 11:08 AM Post #97 of 560
I tried, no change.  Cannot cast to the CCA within the Windows Spotify app.
 
 
 
However, on a Windows PC I can cast Spotify to a Chomecast audio using the  Spotify Web Player  (play.spotify.com) in Chrome browser, and just casting the tab.
 
Not as nice as the native app perhaps, but it seems to work fine. 
 
 
Quote:
   
Could you check if you are able to play spotify to the cca through spotify connect from a pc with the new fw?
 

 
Dec 10, 2015 at 2:39 PM Post #99 of 560
  How is the sound quality when casting the web-player?

 

It sounds OK, I have not done critical listening on the Web Player.

Theoretically it is 160KBS Ogg Vorbis compression - I imagine that is better than bluetooth.   

 

The Spotify Specifications:

Spotify uses 3 quality ratings for streaming, all in the Ogg Vorbis format.

  1. ~96 kbps
    1. Normal quality on mobile.
  2. ~160 kbps
    1. Desktop and web player standard quality.
    2. High quality on mobile.
  3. ~320 kbps (only available to Premium subscribers)
    1. Desktop high quality.
    2. Extreme quality on mobile.

 
Dec 10, 2015 at 9:52 PM Post #100 of 560
I just picked one up and I'm on a free premium subscription for a while. Hooked it up (3.5 to RCA) to my old Marantz 2325 going out to a pair of JBL L20T3', simple setup but I really like what I'm hearing. The update today was welcomed. 
 
Dec 12, 2015 at 8:45 AM Post #101 of 560
I'm loving my CCA. Has anybody experienced the multi room audio yet which I understand was released a couple of days ago? For as long as I can remember I've pined after a Sonos bridge type system to link my hifis, but it looks like a second / third CCA is the way to go. Any experiences?
**Apologies if anyone has already commented on this, didn't have time to read all the posts - bad form I know**
 
Dec 13, 2015 at 1:29 AM Post #102 of 560
Question about it: does it only work with online services? I do 99% of my listening through my own music (either Mediamonkey for MP3s or Foobar for FLAC).
Can it simply stream whatever sound my computer is playing? Or can I setup MM/Foobar to stream through wifi to a chromecast?
 
Dec 13, 2015 at 3:10 AM Post #103 of 560
You can stream local content using apps like local cast from mobile devices. You can cast local music from your pc using plex media server, or even type //C:/yourmusic.mp3 and then use the cast button in chrome browser to cast. This last option is cool, but probably more suited to videos with the full Chromecast. But have no experience of the programs you mention. There are im sure, many more ways.
 
Dec 13, 2015 at 3:11 AM Post #104 of 560
  Question about it: does it only work with online services? I do 99% of my listening through my own music (either Mediamonkey for MP3s or Foobar for FLAC).
Can it simply stream whatever sound my computer is playing? Or can I setup MM/Foobar to stream through wifi to a chromecast?


I use the BubbleUPnp app,and it lets me stream over wifi in flac, my music stored on my main computer including my foobar playlists
 
Dec 13, 2015 at 3:22 AM Post #105 of 560
 
I use the BubbleUPnp app,and it lets me stream over wifi in flac, my music stored on my main computer including my foobar playlists

Yup, Android  BubbleUPnp streams local servers like Foobar, Plex, NAS DNLA, etc, as well as some cloud sources like Tidal, Google drive, dropbox.  I have not tried MediaMonkey, but because it is DNLA compatible, it would probably work fine with that too.
 
CCA comes with 3 months (i think its still 3) of GooglePlay Music, so you could upload your library, or a chunk of it, there too and play it from Chromecast directly on GooglePlay. 
 
 
BTW, since the firmware upgrade to 1.17a, referencing the title of this thread, CCA through a DAC now sounds to me the same as direct from USB.   I do not listen to H-Res better than CD files much, but my library of hi-bit MP3 and some CD quality FLAC all sound perfect to me. 
 

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