finally a competitor for Sonos??????

[homerdog]

kingston12 said:

What I have found out is that Spotify will not cast to groups of Chromecast Audios, so the problem that I was having appears to be with Spotify rather than my router.

I was casting to a group on Spotify yesterday, but it's not working today!

[kingston12]

homerdog said:

I was casting to a group on Spotify yesterday, but it's not working today!

Mine worked fine to start with as well, and has suddenly started again this morning. I have now set up Plex on my Mac and that doesn't see groups at all - Spotify offers them as an option but couldn't connect to them until this morning.

It is the one key thing that I need to resolve to make these a really good replacement for Sonos.

For those with decent 2.4ghz coverage, I'd say Sonos will always offer a little bit more - the controller is better and I can't see any way of sending multiple different Spotify streams to different Chromecast Audio devices, where as Sonos has that covered.

The Chromecast Audio has not been quite 100% stable for me so far as I have had a few stutters playing Spotify although none yet with my own music through Plex. That is a completely different level to Sonos where I will be listening to it when it stops and the controller tells me 'Your Sonos system was not found'. I actually got that message again yesterday when I tried to use it to compare the sound quality between the two systems - needless to say it is now completely switched off!

[Watchman]

kingston12 said:

That is a completely different level to Sonos where I will be listening to it when it stops and the controller tells me 'Your Sonos system was not found'. I actually got that message again yesterday when I tried to use it to compare the sound quality between the two systems - needless to say it is now completely switched off!

I had that Sonos issue when I had some Poweline WiFi extenders. I guess the Sonos being attached to the router didn't like it if my controller was connected to the LAN via a different point.

Strangely, it only happened to my Windows laptop controller. The iPhone, iPad and Android phone all worked fine.

My WiFi printer also didn't like the WiFi extenders. I ditched them and everything worked again. I was going to move the router to a more central point in the house for better coverage but the Sonos network extends the WiFi for me, although as I'm the only Android user in the house (everyone else on iStuff), I will have to move the router eventually.

[kingston12]

Just a quick update for anyone having problems with groups on the Chromecast Audio as I was - I have made some progress.

Using the Spotify app on my iPhone or iPad, I noticed that groups were available to select, but just hung on 'connecting' for ages. Shortly afterwards I was able to randomly connect to groups but not to single zones.

I am still having the same problem, but it appears that closing and re-opening the Spotify app allows it to connect to the first single zone or group every time. It sometimes hangs again when you try to change zones, but closing/re-opening again sorts it out.

This isn't totally ideal, but I am happy to have something that works, even if I need a workaround.

[HairyMaclary]

Another thumbs up for chromecast audio. Should have got one when I noticed them at £25 before Christmas. Cant see why you would buy a sonos if you had existing kit to use it with. Especially if you can utiise the optical out.

Setup to stream spotify premium within 5 mins. No drop outs and no smashing my phone battery as per using bluetooth to do the same thing. Only concern is how hot it runs. Its hot to touch so wont be stashed down the back of the hifi its connected to.

I had been using a raspberry pi and volumio to do this but volumio doesnt work with spotify connect and I was getting frustrated using the (very good) web browser interface.

The cast from screen function is great for casting local filea and youtube.

[rednotdead]

Anyone noticed lots of buffering since the recent firmware update? My CA is on a 5GHz network and it's unlistenable at the moment regardless of streaming service.

[kingston12]

rednotdead said:

Anyone noticed lots of buffering since the recent firmware update? My CA is on a 5GHz network and it's unlistenable at the moment regardless of streaming service.

What does it sound like when it is buffering? I had a strange issue last night where the audio went 'choppy' on one track. It didn't drop out, music was constantly coming out of the speakers, but it sounded like it was missing a second, then playing a second, it was garbled.

The strange thing is it was fine on all other tracks - this was playing ALAC files from Plex server on a Mac.

[AC43]

HairyMaclary said:

Another thumbs up for chromecast audio. Especially if you can utiise the optical out.

Dumb question; I read that I need a "Toslink to Mini Toslink" cable to connect optically.

I assume that "Toslink" is the regular optical connection into the back of my amp.

So the "mini-Toslink" end is the connection into my CA?

And if so where does it go?

(all the other times I've used optical connectors it's been obvious......)

EDIT; found the documentation; answered my own question; off to Amazon

Edited by AC43 on Thursday 14th January 18:11

[paulrockliffe]

It goes in the 3.5mm jack. If you unplug whatever you've got plugged in there you'll see that it's lit up all red and the IR is hidden at the bottom.

[rednotdead]

kingston12 said:

rednotdead said:

Anyone noticed lots of buffering since the recent firmware update? My CA is on a 5GHz network and it's unlistenable at the moment regardless of streaming service.

What does it sound like when it is buffering? I had a strange issue last night where the audio went 'choppy' on one track. It didn't drop out, music was constantly coming out of the speakers, but it sounded like it was missing a second, then playing a second, it was garbled.

The strange thing is it was fine on all other tracks - this was playing ALAC files from Plex server on a Mac.

Choppy audio. I don't stream with it from a NAS (got a naimuniti for that), it's only used to stream spotify, deezer et al. Regardless of streaming service the audio is choppy. It's not my network as the naim is fine as is my WDTV.

[kingston12]

rednotdead said:

Choppy audio. I don't stream with it from a NAS (got a naimuniti for that), it's only used to stream spotify, deezer et al. Regardless of streaming service the audio is choppy. It's not my network as the naim is fine as is my WDTV.

Are you still getting it now? Mine has been rock solid apart from the one incident I mentioned. Are you running 2.4ghz or 5ghz?

[AC43]

paulrockliffe said:

It goes in the 3.5mm jack. If you unplug whatever you've got plugged in there you'll see that it's lit up all red and the IR is hidden at the bottom.

Thanks.

FWIW at the moment I'm just using an old headphone jack to 2 x RCA cable.

Optical cable arriving tomorrow.

Second CA going in over the weekend - in the master bedroom.

Which frees up my HK Bluetooth dongle which can go in the main living room.

So I'll have one Chromecast Audio in the main living area, a Chromecast in the snug/den/office a second CA in our master bedroom and a Bluetooth dongle in the front room. Streaming music throughout the house for the princely sum of £140.

Glad I kept my all my various separates & mini systems.

[rednotdead]

kingston12 said:

rednotdead said:

Choppy audio. I don't stream with it from a NAS (got a naimuniti for that), it's only used to stream spotify, deezer et al. Regardless of streaming service the audio is choppy. It's not my network as the naim is fine as is my WDTV.

Are you still getting it now? Mine has been rock solid apart from the one incident I mentioned. Are you running 2.4ghz or 5ghz?

Narrowed it down. The CA is on a 5ghz wlan. I get the stuttering/buffering when using google cast from chrome on my desktop which is on the lan not the wlan. Use my lappy on the same wlan and zero buffering/stuttering.

Must be something to do with the apple airport, will have to dig a bit deeper.

[AC43]

Update; my first Chromebase Audio is now connected to my main amp by optical cable and the sound quality is now exceptional. Very happy with that. To the point that my CD player is finally superfluous.

I then set the second one up in the loft where it's running through a cheap Onkyo mini system - but it spurred me to bin the rubbish old bookshelves at the same time and dig out spare Tannoy satellites and an old MS sub. Another neat solution.

Now I know what I'm doing, setting up the second one was like falling off a log. And casting from Spotify, the BBC iPlayer app or TuneIn to either one very easy.

[benz0]

Bought two chromecast audio's yesterday. They're excellent and put my sonos play 1 up for sale today.

Just could never bring myself to buy a sonos connect; always thought it was way overpriced.

[Digger]

Does the Chromecast 2nd edition do everything audio-wise that the Chromecast Audio can do? I'm aware the Audio has a DAC which the standard version does not.

[kingston12]

benz0 said:

Bought two chromecast audio's yesterday. They're excellent and put my sonos play 1 up for sale today.

Just could never bring myself to buy a sonos connect; always thought it was way overpriced.

I agree. I don't think that the Play units are that badly priced as you get a good quality speaker and the tech built in. The Connect at £279 offers nothing that the Chromecast Audio for £30 doesn't.

My only problem with the value of the Play units is that I like Stereo music so I have to buy twice for each zone. It would be nice if they could offer a 'slave' speaker to use in stereo mode so you only have to buy one of the speakers that includes the wireless tech. This is in line with what most of the active speaker manufacturers do.

[kingston12]

Digger said:

Does the Chromecast 2nd edition do everything audio-wise that the Chromecast Audio can do? I'm aware the Audio has a DAC which the standard version does not.

You can stream music to the Chromecast 2 in exactly the same way as to the Chromecast Audio. The main differences I can see are:

1. The DAC as you say.
2. You can only use an HDMI connection rather than the combined 3.5mm analogue/optical.
3. You can't group them for multiroom like you can with the Chromecast Audio.
4. There is no Full Dynamic Range mode.

I have not compared them side by side, but I'd expect the Audio one to sound better when played through the same system, but I am sure the 2 would be fine for casual listening.

[phil_cardiff]

Now that I've finally uploaded all my music to my google play library I'm really seeing the benefits of the Chromecast Audio.

Also discovered I can cast youtube audio so no real need to get my spotify app working on my 'phone (I can't anyway until O2 release a software update).

I'm now thinking of getting another Chromecast but need to buy a 'one box' stereo for the kitchen-diner. Time for a new thread I think...

[Watchman]

I'm struggling a little bit with a way to play tunes from my NAS to the Chromecast Audio.

I come from the old days of IT where we used file managers as a single view of all connected storage devices. As a result, I downloaded and installed ES file manager on my android phone which allows me to connect with my NAS, view pictures and films, and play music on my phone.

There's a Chromecast plug-in which I have but it doesn't appear to be compatible with the Chromecast Audio "puck" (as opposed to the HDMI version). This is very irritable, so now I'm looking for a way to play music from my NAS on the CA pucks (I now have 3 - couldn't help myself when I noticed one in PC World over the weekend).

Anyway, I think the problem *may* be that ES file manager only allows you to cast certain files and not others which I think sounds ridiculous. Well, that's what some of the comments on the Google Play Store seem to suggest anyway, but I'm sure the majority of my stored files are MP3 and any product that can't deal with the industry standard is stupid, stupid, stupid so it can't be that.


Any suggestions? I would have preferred to use the Google Play Music app that came with my phone but that won't allow me to connect to the NAS - or at least I don't think it does. It seems limited to connecting with the Google cloud storage or local (i.e. on the phone) storage.