Chromecast Audio: Best $70 I've spent on Audio Equipment?

[Rmusic10891]

I've been away for a while so I figure I'll mark my return with a review of a product I've grown quite fond of: Chromecast Audio.

 

Background

Over the last year I've really wanted a whole home audio solution to fill my 1100sqft apartment with music without having to blast music at unreasonable volumes. With the expense of solutions like Sonos, or the annoyance of building my own system I was pretty excited when it was announced that Group Playback functionality would be added to Chromecast Audio. At $35 a piece a couple of these wouldn't break the bank, and if they didn't work out like I wanted being out $70 isn't the end of the world.

 

Setup

Setting up a Chromecast Audio is pretty much idiot proof, I won't bore anyone with the details. Just install the app and mash next. You can have a single chromecast up in running in less than 5 minutes no problem. Setting up a group, to have audio streamed to multiple chromecasts simultaneously is all easily achieved using the app as well. About 10 minutes of setup time and I'm ready to test out my whole home audio solution.

 

Function

Playing music from a single chromecast works exactly like you would hope. For me that involves pushing play in Spotify and then selecting the chromecast (or chromecast group) that I want to play to. Music starts playing from the chromecast almost immediately and will continue to do so until you stop it or the playlist runs out. All the streaming is handled by the chromecast, the device you initiate playback from is essentially just a remote. Playback to a group of chromecasts is equally easy after it's been setup in the chromecast app. Just pick the group and away you go. Since the device runs through the WiFi rather than bluetooth, anyone on my network can easily stream audio to my various speakers.  Great for parties. In conjunction with my Harmony Ultimate One I can pretty much initiate the entire process of streaming music from my phone from anywhere in my apartment.

 

Now, on to the first issue. Streaming music to multiple speakers for me resulted in a sync issue. I have my chromecasts plugged into different DACs/Amplifiers (a Teac AI-301DA and a Yamaha RX-V279 respectively) and am using digital output of the chromecasts to allow my amp and receiver to do the decoding. The chromecast playing through my Yamaha receiver was noticeably delayed compared to the Teac. Luckily Google accounted for that and in the device settings you can adjust group playback delay settings. Making adjustments is easy, yet equally infuriating. I used a click track to get things to line up. A few minutes of tinkering and I'm mostly happy with the sync at this point. 

 

Audio Quality

Like I stated above I'm letting my receiver and integrated amplifier do the processing via the digital output on the chromecast. I don't really notice any real difference in quality from playback from my PC or phone.

 

Conclusion

I'm really quite pleased that with a pretty inexpensive $70 investment (not including the optical cables I needed) I was able to have a whole home audio solution. Quality and easy of use is pretty astonishing for such a cheap device. That said, I imagine trying to mesh more than 2 of these together could be a bit of a hassle if the audio doesn't sync right out of the gate. If you're thinking about investing in a Sonos system or something similar you should take a good look at Chromecast first.

[elfensky]

On 4/6/2016 at 10:11 PM, Rmusic10891 said:

snip

Everything WiFi-streaming only ever mentions music use, using specific apps that support it, like Spotify (or Airplay in case of iTunes).

 

Does/would the chromecast work if I just wanted it as the audio output for my laptop?

 

The same may my bluetooth receiver appears in the sounds list, and I could select it as a default output device?

 

[Rmusic10891]

18 hours ago, ElfenSky said:

-snip-

 

 

I don't think you could do that, at least not natively. Chromecast does have a way to output audio from a chromecast tab, but I think that's about it outside of the supported audio apps.

[dalekphalm]

Interesting review - the main thing I don't like about this setup is that you're streaming off of your phone. Ideally, one of the Chromecast dongles itself would play and stream the music to the other device.

 

It's one of the reasons why I've always preferred a dedicated set-top media box (Eg: WD Live TV, Roku, Apple TV, etc) over a Chromecast for other things.

 

But still, for those who don't care that they have to stream from their phone, this seems like a cheap and relatively easy solution.

[Rmusic10891]

14 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Interesting review - the main thing I don't like about this setup is that you're streaming off of your phone. Ideally, one of the Chromecast dongles itself would play and stream the music to the other device.

 

It's one of the reasons why I've always preferred a dedicated set-top media box (Eg: WD Live TV, Roku, Apple TV, etc) over a Chromecast for other things.

 

But still, for those who don't care that they have to stream from their phone, this seems like a cheap and relatively easy solution.

The Chromecast is doing the streaming...the phone is nothing more than an interface. Once you push play you're free to do whatever you want with the device that initiated the playback.

 

From the Chromecast FAQ:

 

"With Chromecast Audio the music is stream from the cloud to your speakers through Wi-Fi, providing many benefits compared to Bluetooth:

• Your phone is not tied to what is playing on the speaker. You are free to continue using it to play a game, take a call, and even move around the house without interrupting what’s playing on the speakers.
• Cast to Chromecast Audio won’t strain the battery on your phone, tablet, or laptop.
• You can leave the room and still control playback from anywhere in the house - no need to limit yourself to the Bluetooth range.
• Using Wi-Fi enables higher audio quality playback."

[Dackzy]

14 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Interesting review - the main thing I don't like about this setup is that you're streaming off of your phone. Ideally, one of the Chromecast dongles itself would play and stream the music to the other device.

 

It's one of the reasons why I've always preferred a dedicated set-top media box (Eg: WD Live TV, Roku, Apple TV, etc) over a Chromecast for other things.

 

But still, for those who don't care that they have to stream from their phone, this seems like a cheap and relatively easy solution.

I think you need to read up a bit. You can still play high quality files and the phones is only a interface and has nothing to do with the audio quality.

[dalekphalm]

14 hours ago, Rmusic10891 said:

The Chromecast is doing the streaming...the phone is nothing more than an interface. Once you push play you're free to do whatever you want with the device that initiated the playback.

 

From the Chromecast FAQ:

 

"With Chromecast Audio the music is stream from the cloud to your speakers through Wi-Fi, providing many benefits compared to Bluetooth:

• Your phone is not tied to what is playing on the speaker. You are free to continue using it to play a game, take a call, and even move around the house without interrupting what’s playing on the speakers.
• Cast to Chromecast Audio won’t strain the battery on your phone, tablet, or laptop.
• You can leave the room and still control playback from anywhere in the house - no need to limit yourself to the Bluetooth range.
• Using Wi-Fi enables higher audio quality playback."

This is good to know. Although I still prefer other devices for TV playback, this still sounds like a good feature.