finally a competitor for Sonos??????
Discussion
I bought a Chromecast Audio. You can "cast" from many different player apps, so you might feel there's a lack of a consistent interface (compared with the Sonos app) unless you constrain yourself to the Chromecast app, but the capability to use a number of different apps is one of its strengths really.
You need the Chromecast app to set it up. The printed setup instructions weren't 100% clear in this regard so I wonder whether my mother would understand the setup procedure (for example) but I worked it out quickly and, following a firmware/software upgrade, was up and running inside of 5 mins.
I connected it to a Sony iPod Dock we've owned for years - it has an Aux input, and it's situated upstairs. The Sonos kit is all downstairs. Using it with my favourite "Chill." internet radio station, it was just about in sync with the Sonos kit - so much so, you couldn't tell the difference as you went from up to down or vice versa. It wasn't 100% in sync though but I could only tell if I turned up the volume of the distant one to compare it with.
Sound quality is very good - as good a source that the Sony has had.
In fact, I think it's a winner but definitely needs multiple Chromecast integration. One phone can currently only control one Chromecast. Once you can have one pgone casting to numerous Chromecasts it'll fill a hole for a cheap internet enabled source thaf Sonos has left open.
You need the Chromecast app to set it up. The printed setup instructions weren't 100% clear in this regard so I wonder whether my mother would understand the setup procedure (for example) but I worked it out quickly and, following a firmware/software upgrade, was up and running inside of 5 mins.
I connected it to a Sony iPod Dock we've owned for years - it has an Aux input, and it's situated upstairs. The Sonos kit is all downstairs. Using it with my favourite "Chill." internet radio station, it was just about in sync with the Sonos kit - so much so, you couldn't tell the difference as you went from up to down or vice versa. It wasn't 100% in sync though but I could only tell if I turned up the volume of the distant one to compare it with.
Sound quality is very good - as good a source that the Sony has had.
In fact, I think it's a winner but definitely needs multiple Chromecast integration. One phone can currently only control one Chromecast. Once you can have one pgone casting to numerous Chromecasts it'll fill a hole for a cheap internet enabled source thaf Sonos has left open.
Watchman said:
In fact, I think it's a winner but definitely needs multiple Chromecast integration. One phone can currently only control one Chromecast. Once you can have one pgone casting to numerous Chromecasts it'll fill a hole for a cheap internet enabled source thaf Sonos has left open.
I spotted this just before NY, had been keeping an eye out since I heard that multi-room was imminent! Haven't got any yet but this looks like the system I'll be going with.DudleySquires said:
Watchman said:
In fact, I think it's a winner but definitely needs multiple Chromecast integration. One phone can currently only control one Chromecast. Once you can have one phone casting to numerous Chromecasts it'll fill a hole for a cheap internet enabled source thaf Sonos has left open.
I spotted this just before NY, had been keeping an eye out since I heard that multi-room was imminent! Haven't got any yet but this looks like the system I'll be going with.I'm pleased with the Chromecast, and I'll certainly buy a few more if they have built the home-link system up as your link suggests but I'll also expand the Sonos. I can use both independently but I would love to integrate them all (Sonos and Chromecast) if that was possible.
Edited by Watchman on Sunday 3rd January 00:02
jak77 said:
The chromecast audio will plug into the line in of a play 5 or connect in order to make it available in the Sonos system and bring some of the extra functionality. You would only need one to make it available in all zones.
Hey, that's a really smart idea 
. I've just ordered a second Chromecast to play with multi-room so I'll experiment with this idea too.kingston12 said:
I can't wait for these to arrive. I have had 5 year love/hate (mostly hate!) relationship with Sonos and can't wait to replace it. If £100 of Chromecast Audios fail just as badly it is a lot easier to deal with than the £2.5k I have wasted on Sonos!
That's not a fair comparison though as you'll have to have bought a system to plug each Chromecast into.Watchman said:
That's not a fair comparison though as you'll have to have bought a system to plug each Chromecast into.
Agreed, but perhaps not as much as difference as you'd think. Most of my Sonos zones are 'Connects' which plug into existing hifi systems. £279 vs £25 for the Chromecast Audio for those zones.Other zones are stereo Play 5s which cost me about £700 a pair. I'll only need one Chromecast Audio to power each replacement pair so even after buying an amp and speakers I'd still expect to make a good saving. Also, if Chromecast Audio doesn't work out for me, the amps and speakers will be useful where as the Sonos ones aren't really.
I know I come across as very anti-Sonos, but I really wanted it to work. I got in at the beginning and have spent many hours on the phone to the very helpful support team, but now they have admitted that they cannot make them work in urban areas it is time to move on. I don't have too much confidence that Chromecast will be the answer as that is Wifi based as well, but everything else (including 1080p streaming) works very well on my Wifi, so it has got to be worth a try before just giving up and hard-wiring Sonos or another equivalent.
I have more problems with Chromecast on my network than Sonos.
My Sonos issues have gone now - I just reset the hub when I go to bed.
Plus some issues seemed to caused by my phone client - I was using the Android client on a Blackberry and that seemed to add some issues.
I can imagine that if there are loads of competing networks it could become a nightmare.
My Sonos issues have gone now - I just reset the hub when I go to bed.
Plus some issues seemed to caused by my phone client - I was using the Android client on a Blackberry and that seemed to add some issues.
I can imagine that if there are loads of competing networks it could become a nightmare.
It must be very frustrating to be in an area with heavy radio penetration. I prefer hard wiring too but it involves a lot of planning and upheaval while you build. I did it in my last house but having just moved into a nice house, I didn't want to go through all that again.
I get your point about the comparison costs too in your context. You won't lose too much when you come to sell going on EBay prices. I've never been able to pick up any Sonos bargains.
I get your point about the comparison costs too in your context. You won't lose too much when you come to sell going on EBay prices. I've never been able to pick up any Sonos bargains.
Watchman said:
It must be very frustrating to be in an area with heavy radio penetration. I prefer hard wiring too but it involves a lot of planning and upheaval while you build. I did it in my last house but having just moved into a nice house, I didn't want to go through all that again.
I get your point about the comparison costs too in your context. You won't lose too much when you come to sell going on EBay prices. I've never been able to pick up any Sonos bargains.
Indeed. The resale value speaks for itself and shows that Sonos is a good solution for most people. It will be interesting to see how Chromecast Audio takes off as it is the first competitor to offer a cheap entry point with a big name/marketing budget behind it. Denon's HEOS et al seem to be too similar to Sonos so must find it hard to gain custom from the dominant name.I get your point about the comparison costs too in your context. You won't lose too much when you come to sell going on EBay prices. I've never been able to pick up any Sonos bargains.
Edited by kingston12 on Sunday 3rd January 20:17
Watchman said:
It must be very frustrating to be in an area with heavy radio penetration. I prefer hard wiring too but it involves a lot of planning and upheaval while you build. I did it in my last house but having just moved into a nice house, I didn't want to go through all that again.
You need to plug a sonos in, so you could try using homeplugs, in particular ones that allow a pass thru so you can still use the socket for power. RoyalVilla said:
You need to plug a sonos in, so you could try using homeplugs, in particular ones that allow a pass thru so you can still use the socket for power.
I've sort of done this. To avoid having to buy a Boost (formerly known as a Bridge) I thought I'd plug our Play:1 directly into our WiFi router. However, we subsequently decided on a different location for the Play:1 so I plugged the PlayBar into a Poweline connector and the router into another. Now the PlayBar sets up the Sonos Mesh network which is far better than using the WiFi network for Sonos streaming.But it's a good point about possibly using Powerline connectors for ALL Sonos connections. I mentioned above that I was not going to flood wire the new house, so to allow for a TV I have that doesn't have WiFi, I bought a few Powerline connectors which have been a total success.
After I bought my first pair of Powerline connectors, I tried to extend the house WiFi by using the Powerline WiFi extenders but they just confused the Sonos and our WiFi printer, so I removed those (to go on Ebay this weekend). Instead, to give me WiFi in areas of the house that the router can't reach, I now use the Sonos network for browsing the internet on my Android phone. This doesn't work for Windows or IOS devices sadly (although there's a work-around to get Windows working this way, if you want to).
Was it this thread that linked to another forum where they detailed the steps you needed to go through to switch off the Sonos WiFi altogether? If you could implement Sonos with hard cabling and Powerline connectors, you could either retain the Sonos network for Android browsing or turn it off and contribute less towards the overall radio-noise in your area.
Output Flange said:
Is Sonos kit noticeably more reliable when hard-wired? I've been put off by various people's issues with them dropping off the network, but I could easily hard-wire them in my house. I'd rather not throw a load of cash at it without knowing that it's worthwhile, though.
I bought at sub, playbar, play :5 and the thingy to connect my hifi app to it all too, in October.I also bought the Boost which I am sure was £70.00. I set up the Boost first and everything else after that. It's never dropped/crashed once. Am very happy with it.
Output Flange said:
Is Sonos kit noticeably more reliable when hard-wired? I've been put off by various people's issues with them dropping off the network, but I could easily hard-wire them in my house. I'd rather not throw a load of cash at it without knowing that it's worthwhile, though.
That would be difficult to qualify in a set-up where the wireless implementation is 100% reliable, like mine.You'd have to find someone who was experiencing issues like those noted above, and then test with hard-wired connections. Even then, I suspect Powerline connectors will have limitations in some environments, despite them also being 100% reliable in my own. To fully confirm a test where Powerline wasn't 100% reliable, you'd have to try some long Ethernet cables from your Sonos kit back to the router.
Having said that, I think I would probably go to this extreme if I was having problems with the wireless implementation. I wonder if you could borrow some Powerline connectors to test it with? Are the problems immediate or do the drop-outs happen over time?
If you're having to actually *buy* some Powerline connectors to test a hardwired solution, each pair will costs approx the same as a single Chromecast. Makes you think about which way would be the best value for money really (I don't have an answer).
I'm near to J5 of the M5. I'd be happy to bring some kit along to test at someone else's house for an afternoon if you were close-by. I have Sonos, at least 4x Powerline connectors (6x with the WiFi ones I've not yet sold-on), and (when the second one turns up) 2x Chromecast Audio pucks.
I don't currently have an Sonos kit, but because of how my house is wired all the devices would sit in the same cupboard and would be wired directly into a switch - no wireless required.
Some of my friends have Sonos and at various times they've all had issues connecting. I think they're all setup wirelessly, but don't know. I don't really want to buy a bunch of Sonos kit only to find that even hard-wired it still loses connectivity.
Some of my friends have Sonos and at various times they've all had issues connecting. I think they're all setup wirelessly, but don't know. I don't really want to buy a bunch of Sonos kit only to find that even hard-wired it still loses connectivity.
Very impressed with Chromecast Audio with two set up so far.
The set up was a bit flaky with one taking ages to connect and the other needing a hard reset, but after that they have been fine.
I have got them connected at 5ghz which seems to do the trick in terms of drop outs, but only time will tell.
The controller is nowhere near as good as Sonos, but I am sure it will be fine once I am used to it. The one thing I will find more useful is the ability to create preset groups and name them with any combinations of the zones. Not sure if this was in Sonos, but all I ever did was to assemble a group as I needed it.
The set up was a bit flaky with one taking ages to connect and the other needing a hard reset, but after that they have been fine.
I have got them connected at 5ghz which seems to do the trick in terms of drop outs, but only time will tell.
The controller is nowhere near as good as Sonos, but I am sure it will be fine once I am used to it. The one thing I will find more useful is the ability to create preset groups and name them with any combinations of the zones. Not sure if this was in Sonos, but all I ever did was to assemble a group as I needed it.
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