Yes there is, its a 'standard' looking 3.5mm jack which has the optical connection at the bottom. Quite common on laptops. Apparently the Chromecast has such a socket.

Thanks perfect for my Zeppelin

Cheers!! Needed another one of these for my daughter's birthday. They're great value at £30 never mind £25.

excellent when they work, I find Google Play a bit more temperamental than Spotify Connect but it's workable.

Thanks- £20 with voucher for me

I just got it for £20. CAST code gives £5 off marked price of £25. Woo Hoo!

Thanks! Bargain at £20 with the CAST5 code. Free next day delivery, too.

Yes it's actually even better value than the deal suggests. £20 when using the CAST5 code plus free delivery too!

Does anyone know if these have any advantage over similar bluetooth devices with aptx protocol?

I understand that wifi can shift more data more quickly than bluetooth, but not what affect this might have on the output.

Ta.

Oh, they dropped the price to £25! When I posted it was £30 - price updated :smiley:

So....this works with Spotify, right?

Brilliant cheers OP :smiley:

Great thanks, just ordered. :smiley:

It has optical output as well? That's a bonus.

Your have to buy a 3.5mm to optical adapter... Chromecast audio cable page

There isn't such a thing as a 3.5mm to optical adapter is there? A DAC will have an optical (digital) input - that's what it does, Digital to Analogue Converter.

From that page, it's the toslink cable that will be required. One end into the Chromecast, one end into the DAC.

Edit: Ah...is mini toslink 3.5mm? I was thinking you meant 3.5mm analogue. Didn't even know there was a mini toslink connection!

Many thanks. So, will that be the equivalent of the optical output from my CD player? So it will bypass any DAC that is built into the Chromecast, and use my separate one?

Yes there is, its a 'standard' looking 3.5mm jack which has the optical connection at the bottom. Quite common on laptops. Apparently the Chromecast has such a socket.

super hot deal!!! just what I've been waiting for. I can hear ebay sellers screaming on the distance :smiley:

You need a MINI-Toslink cable. It it optical but the end that goes into the ChromeCast is shaped like a 3.5mm plug. They are quite common. Make sure you get a Mini-Toslink to Toslink cable. Such as this one:

Fisual 0.5 m Mini to Standard Toslink Optical Cable

Cheers, I'll get one of those ordered too.

Found this on eBay if anyone is interested, £2.27 delivered: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-5m-Toslink-Male-Optical-3-5mm-Male-Mini-Jack-Digital-Audio-Cable-Lead-SPDIF-/121756057762?hash=item1c593a00a2:g:uiQAAOSwgNRV8XNN

You need to be a Spotify Premium user if you want to cast to a Chromecast Audio. Link

Bit stingy of them, given that you can cast to a normal Chromecast for free.

Ordered thanks

Great price, thanks OP :smile: this'll be my second and I'm tempted to get a third at this price :sunglasses:

This looks decent, when it gets multi room it'll be very useful. There's another open source multiroom setup which was mentioned on another thread which is a lot cheaper than Sonos, but I've forgotten the name of it.

Very hot. I've had mine a month now and it's breathed life into my old Bose SoundDock. Great bit of kit..

Does that work with car audio?

Thanks ordered one of those, looking forward to seeing how this works. :smiley:

Why is this any better than a bluetooth reciever for a £10.

bargain - been thinking about gettin one for a while but thought £30 was to much. great stuff thanks

Didn't know I needed one of these, Ordered one. Heat added

Bit of a technical question, does anyone know if I set up a mobile wifi hotspot with my phone can I then connect to this and stream to it?

Hey guys, can you side load Plex on these? Also, is there any support for Deezer?

Via the same mobile yes!

For multiroom setup try Soundseeder. All you need is an Android phone/tablet, PC or Raspberry Pi attached to the end speaker and one Android device to act as the master control. Connects to local media server or Google Music.

Good deal, was waiting for the price to drop!

Don't see why that shouldn't work? I asked initially because I thought it wouldn't work, but then I remembered the thing I was trying to do was totally different!

Why would you want to that though? I can't think of any scenarios where you would have a speaker system in a place without access to wifi?

Ty OP, ordered though I couldn't apply the voucher code for click and collect :disappointed:

I've no idea if it should or shouldn't, hence why I asked :stuck_out_tongue:
To use in a car where I have a usb charger + 3.5mm input but no bluetooth...
Might be a bit redundant in that I could buy a bluetooth head unit for around the same price but was thinking for when I go on a road trip etc.

Gone already? Tried to apply it to a postal delivery and I'm getting "Sorry! That promotional code is not valid." :disappointed:

Maybe it wasn't meant to be on the same time as the £5 regular price drop!

Voucher not working anymore?

Expired

Could you not just plug the 3.5mm directly into your phone, or do you want wireless?

A wireless bluetooth receiver might be better. I think there are definitely better (and probably cheaper) ways of getting wireless streaming in your car! I just plug my 3.5mm jack directly into my phone so can't help, but hopefully someone can. A quick look on Amazon though, suggests maybe something like this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aukey-Bluetooth-Hands-free-Adjustment-BR-C3/dp/B00RJUMVKG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447422882&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=bluetooth+car+receiver&psc=1

CAST5 code doesn't seem to work for me

That's pretty much exactly what I'm looking to do but have bought cheaper similar items and have been disappointed with the shameful quality of the streaming. The chromecast seems to be a nice quality so would be worth it if it all worked well! ^^

Damn someone needs to expire this - missed it :disappointed:

code no longer working

Was about a get a bluetooth receiver for £15, but for £5 more this is a no brainer. Cheers OP

You know what...I've just thought, I don't think it'll work for you at all.

The Chromecast needs to be connected to the internet. You're not sending the audio from your phone, rather controlling the Chromecast from it. If the Chromecast isn't connected to the internet, nothing will happen.

Pretty sure a good bluetooth receiver is what you after - just don't get a cheap one!

Jeez I must have fluked getting one. There is about a minute difference between my order and the code no longer working! Thanks OP

Bought one when launched and it is excellent.
Too good a deal not to buy another, which I will use in another room. Will be great when the multi-room is released (should be soon).

expired - code no longer working

Has this expired? Says the code isn't valid.

expired but ordered anyway. still £5 cheaper than google store

Don't forget to claim your offers from within the Chromecast app -
Buy Chromecast Audio and enjoy unlimited music from Google Music Play free for 90 days. Offer ends January 31, 2016.

i used to stream content in hotels using my chromecast via hotspotting my phone as you cant use chromecast on hotel wifi. might work in a car?

Has there been any news on when they might update the firmware to do multi-room audio?

Bit stingy not to pay for Premium :stuck_out_tongue:

Spotify is the only thing I subscribe to, I couldn't be without it. Definitely worth the money.

Ordered for click and collect at £25, then ordered one for delivery using code at £20.

Will they let me use the code in store?

likewise. its been a revelation. Normally im a cheapass when it comes to subscribing but spotify is something always worth paying for.

Handy to know thanks. I've wondered if you could do that. Does that allow you to play local content?

im not too sure as i then streamed from my tablet to the chromecast with all devices connected to the phone. I cant see why it wouldnt work from the same device.

I couldn't believe this doesn't stream music from local content on your phone. Lots of people have misunderstood what this does which is why it's reduced.

I think it does stream local content, but I only have an original chromecast so don't know about the audio.
Your text here

I think you can use an app like Allcast to play local music to Chromecast

From the Chromecast audio support page:

"Does Chromecast support local content playback?

Chromecast Audio supports several ways of playing local content stored on your phone or tablet, through different methods:

You can use Android Audio Casting to play any locally stored music on your Android phone/tablet to your speaker.
You can can upload your local music to Google Play Music.
You can Cast music files from your Chrome browser to your speaker, by casting the tab’s audio.
You can use one of many Google Cast-enabled apps that allow you to cast your local music files from your Android phone/tablet, iPhone, iPad or Chrome browser to your speaker. Please visit Chromecast Audio apps to find the app that fits your needs.
​Recommended apps include Videostream, Plex, AllCast, LocalCast, BubbleUPnP, Cinch
"

Chromecast audio is basically a cloud capture device. All the content it plays needs to be in the cloud either streamed from things like Spotify or from files uploaded to Google Play cloud storage. All the phone is a glorified remote telling it to change song or track but it gets all it's data directly from the internet via wifi. This is why if you turn your phone off the music still plays.

I was hoping for something which worked just like Bluetooth sending the MP3 stored on my phone to my speakers but that's not the case. Google shouldn't really use the 'cast' name because it's misleading, your not 'casting' anything from your phone's storage.

I've heard this doesn't work as it stutters and lags because it has to create a fake server, send the song to the router than back to the chromecast via WiFi. It's certainly not a native solution provided by the device and more of a work around fix. Some 3rd party apps also offer this and the reviews of the playback performance have been poor.

I found that FAQ reply from hilarious, 3 of the 4 recommended methods actually ask you to use the cloud and the first one doesn't really work well. Crazy whoever wrote it!

Does it support local playback? Yes, upload your music to Google Play..... seriously I couldn't stop laughing!

Why this device can't receive music over WiFi from your phone DIRECTLY is beyond me, basically like Bluetooth but better quality.

If you use an app such as bubbleUPnP you can send ("cast") locally stored music tracks to the Chromecast over your home network. I don't have a chromecast but use BubbleUPnP regularly to play music through my hi-fi or send photos to my smart TV. It works well.

​This! I use bubbleupnp to stream all my MP3s flacs etc to my Chromecast audio and it works brilliantly.

Yes there are 3rd party solutions but it annoys me there is no out of box direct functionality and I'm forced to use additional things. Plus whatever you use it still spoofs the Chromecast into thinking the audio is coming from the internet and if you have poor wifi it will cause issues.

Sony's LDAC is brilliant and I hoped Chromecast Audio was a similar thing which it's isn't. Unfortunately it's proprietary, you need a Sony phone and they don't make any dongles so you need Sony speakers.

I guess Chromecast Audio is more of a device for people who stream all their music from the net and in that respect it's brilliant.

Yes you can cast from Deezer.

​definitely not! Streaming over WiFi is far superior to Bluetooth even with aptx as you can stream without any compression. This has replaced my (non Sony) uplay puck aptx Bluetooth dongle and it sounds much better.

​Have you actually got one? :confused: I can cast local content fine, I don't need to upload it to Google play.

Err so yeah, that's how a wifi network works buddy.

Sorry I meant LDAC not APTX, silly me! Sony has come up with a new casting technology which can send lossless HD audio.


But I bet you have to use 3rd party app to make it work right?

No I don't own one, was put off the minute I found out that was designed for web streamed or cloud content. I was after something which is essentially a wireless AUX cable but better than Bluetooth.

Also every review I have read and video I have seen about the Chromecast Audio I has not mentioned or shown the casting of locally stored content which really worried me. It's not explicitly stated as a function anywhere.

I bought mine to use it for that purpose, and I can confirm it performs it perfectly albeit with an app that if not created by Google.

This is far superior to a Bluetooth receiver as it has it's own built in DAC that can deal with 192hz 24bit lossless audio.

So has this offer expired now then?

looks it

Thanks guys. I can wait.