How much customer service so you really need for a £15 item though? You can spend that on lunch. :smiley:

Price match with John Lewis for 2 year warranty :-)

If you have Plusnet or BT, and your router has stopped working it might be worth looking at this thread https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chromecast/3PiH_40qLBw

I've just picked up two CC audios from Currys and they both kill my router. :disappointed:

just can't bring myself to buy from Currys...horrendous customer service

Great was hoping these would be reduced again!

just can't bring myself to buy from Currys...horrendous customer service

Nice ordered. heat

Heat added.
Great wee device with a credible DAC

brilliant piece of tech. got a few dotted around the house. trying to resist buying some more. excellent price for a quality product.

I've ditched mine in favour of bluetooth. I don't seem to maintain a steady connection. My WiFi signal is strong. Maybe it's my phone. I've reinstalled the app a couple of time, but it's so sketchy.

So true, but maybe it's principle of supporting such a business

Am I right in thinking this needs a Wi-Fi network to function? I can't connect to it using say Wi-Fi direct and then use cached music or stream over mobile data.
--Edit--
After a bit more Googling, it appears that it's possible if you're willing to use some workarounds. Normal usage is for your phone to be on the same Wi-Fi network as the CCA, and that network needs to allow device to device communication (most hotel networks prevent this, for example).

Does anyone know if this can be paired with a Google Cast speaker in the same group?

Thanks, I want to try this with the localcast app (android and ios) to stream music from my Google Drive.

nice find OP, heat.

Just bought 3 to go along with the one I have already. Multi-room music for less than £100. Who needs Sonos?

great price. Chuffed.

"Google Play Music still works as a media player, with the ability to store up to 50,000 songs."
http://www.greenbot.com/article/2948480/google-apps/five-google-play-music-tips-tricks-and-hidden-features.html

Just bought another 2 to add to my collection. Multi room music at a fraction of the cost of Sonos.
Connect these to an amp (Lepy 2024a+) circa £20 and some ceiling speakers....

Nice find OP - heat added.

I grabbed a few last time they were down to this price. The intention is to replace my Squeezebox based multi-room setup with them.

I haven't got around to doing it yet, primarily because I've been loathed to pay £15 for the ethernet adapter (essentially the same price I paid for the actual chrome casts :/). You may want to consider those if you can get a ethernet cable to it.

Possibly a daft question. Can I use this to cast video from my Pixel XL to my telly?

Thanks, OP! Was looking for a deal on it =)

Current budget speaker recommendations to use these in a multi room system?

Can someone explain why I need one of these when my phone and tablet bluetooth straight to my speakers please?

Respect OP. Two bought. No need for Sonus and the like if you have a DAB radio or similar with an AUX IN input. Bargain.

Don't forget you can price match this with John Lewis. They sell it with 2 years warranty
https://www.johnlewis.com/never-knowingly-undersold?

Awesome spot, many thanks.

Hiya. That's the point I was making. You say you were storing on Drive and using localcast, I thought it would be best to store on Play Music and use the play music app.

Yes, for most people I am sure it would be fine, but 50,000 is not enough for me :neutral_face:
also I have the original chromecast, and use localcast to stream my movies from my "unlimited" Google Drive.

Your idea is sound though and in most use cases would be good enough, thanks!

Excellent stuff thanks, I've wanted a CC Audio for a while now. I use my other CC's quite a lot.

I love mine, great with Spotify Premium through decent speakers.

Cannot believe YouTube still doesn't have CC audio support! Using cast phone audio results in lower quality.

Bluetooth's current use of sbc encoding via the a2dp profile can compress an mp3/acc stream even further (it shouldn't but it can)

Also the range is limited via the bluetooth class (both need to be the same class) so a 10m/100m may apply.

Also with bluetooth you get the notifications sent thru to the speakers

Also you can't use your phone for other this.

None of the above apply to chrome cast audio .. - you can use your device thats chrome casting for other things. - ie multitasking ..

Remember to enable the hi-res setting for use with hifis.

Thanks OP, been waiting for these to drop again.

Have one connected to a decent amp via the digital optical out (for this you need an extra Toslink to mini Toslink cable - about £6 http://amzn.eu/7Gs04q4), now have one to use in the kitchen.

Far superior to Bluetooth, can start it playing and leave it running all day, with my phone free for other things. Great sound quality.

Free delivery too, perfect.

Finally!! I've been waiting months for these to inevitably drop to this price again. Got 4. Thank you OP :smile:

That's a silly comment. I expect good service even at Poundland. And have always received it as well the staff are nice and there is no problem when I have to return something.

2 questions

1) Is the sound quality that comes out, as good as if it was a wired connection say?

2)Can you only play/stream content that is online? (e.g spotify, googleplay) or could i also play local MP3s (off hardrive) from my laptop?

thanks

1) I would say it's as good as a wired connection because the CC Audio is actually playing the music direct from the internet to your speakers. Even if you are streaming local content the sound quality is also good but the quality can vary from app to app.

2) You can play local content, Google Chrome browser allows you to cast your laptops audio. There are also other 3rd party pieces of free software that can do the same thing.

1) THE DAC is pretty damned good for the price and size so unless you are comparing it to a decent CD player or hifi streamer, I would say yes. I have a few of these in a multi-room set-up, two straight into low cost amps and two more through decent external DACs and Hifi amps. All sound excellent and synchronise perfectly out of the box - have no idea how they do it!
2) You can stream any content you like. Online is great because the Chromecast takes over the streaming itself, so your phone just becomes a remote, things like Iplayer Radio are flawlessly integrated. I tend to stream from my local network where I have all my music stored as FLACs on a NAS drive which works well with BubbleUPNP (and again the Chromecast manages this connection, not your phone). It will also stream straight from your phone/tablet if necessary.

Hope that helps.

You might find this frequent asked questions page useful:
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6279416?hl=en-GB

Sorry, how does it work? I buy from John Lewis first or report the item first? or both?

Thing I've always wondered is Optical vs Aux with the CC Audio. Is the on board DAC going to be better than my mid range Sony amps DAC?

I haven't tried optical yet because I don' have the cable.

Any objective difference in quality is likely to be totally overshadowed by your own subjective listening preferences. Try both, optical cables are cheap. I run one through the DAC of a Cambridge Stream Magic into a Cambridge amp and prefer it to going direct to the amp but I tend to be a big fan of the Cambridge "sound".

Thank you, I've been looking for a cheap multi room solution for my ceiling speakers for ages! How do I go about setting it up for multirooom?

Download the Google Home app. Create group(s) of Chromecasts. Done.

I always get redirected to the "Choose your payment method" screen. No matter what I choose (Paypal or Visa). Paypal even tracked the payment but notes it as cancelled...

"Sorry, you have been redirected back to this page

Your payment was unsuccessful. If you have pressed back, please ignore this message. However, if you attempted to make a payment, please choose one of the following options:

Try your payment again - there may have been a technical problem
Try again with another card - there may be a problem with the payment method you chose"

Anyone that can help?

not being funny but is there any point to it if you have a bluetooth audio setup? does it act as a dac etc.?

see my post no. 41 .. Also chromecast can play uncompressed music.. It has a dac built in but also has an optical out so you can use high end audio with it ..

What device/browser are you using ?

I have tried it in Safari and Firefox, same result.

I have Sonos at the moment. I've been tempted by this for multi room solution and save some cash. What sort of speakers do you guys connect them to, as they always need to be on?

topcashback link: https://www.topcashback.co.uk/currys/

Try a new firefox profile

Yes I know people will ask why would you want to do that when you can have google play etc, but can you play iTunes through this? Whatever peoples views, all my music is on iTunes at the moment so this would be very useful

OK, I can't hold off any longer, time to buy!

Given that iTunes is Apple and this is Google, I would be surprised. Your best bet would probably be to use Google Music and import your stuff from iTunes.

on a pc/mac yes you can

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-send-your-computers-audio-to-a-chromecast-1750297581

Do I need one amp and chromecast per speaker?

You can do either. But usually I report it to them first. I got a reply within 2 hours. But if you're afraid stock will be gone. Then buy it first then report. Worst case scenario you can just take it back for a full refund.

Thanks for the advice, bought and heated, thanks to OP and the community for help.

If you're using iTunes you'd be better off using airport express instead of chrome cast audio. If correctly set up it will also allow you to use the airport express as a wifi repeater. That said, google play music might be a better option as it allows you to upload the tracks. Using iTunes/airport express you would need to have a Mac/pc on all the time to act as an iTunes server. Having used various combinations of iTunes, google play music, chrome cast etc I think the best solution is a Spotify subscription. Yes it's £10/month but for the luxury of not having to manage/store a music library (mine was at ~40000 tracks) I think it's worth every penny!

Just got one. Free delivery. Hot:)

work in a car if u have auxiliary?

Yes it can. It can also Sync with the New Google Home assistant speakers

Youd have to have a wifi dongle or enable tethering your data connection from your phone. You can just get a cheaper bluetooth dongle than this and would be less fuss.

Is there a way to cast all phone audio to a CCA? This is how Bluetooth audio works for me and would get around app incompatibility (i.e. Amazon Music)

Yes you can - just use the Google Home app

Well, one CCA per stereo pair. And yes, you'll need an amp (standalone or built-in to the speaker(s)) otherwise you won't hear anything!

Yes there is, in the Google Cast (now called Google Home) app you select cast phone audio, however the quality is not as good as audio coming from an app with the cast button baked in. This is because the latter actually sends the mp3 to the CCA.

Works with sonos app?

Could someone please advise me on a multi room setup. I'm thinking of getting 3 of these 2 downstairs 1 in bedroom. Could anyone recommend any speakers for them? Thanks

Already have 3 of these and yet to put them to use.

What speakers would be ideal for these? I need TV speakers, bathroom speaker and something for kitchen bbq/conservatory.

Best bang per buck.

I've already got 4 of these, great product for a great price. Anyone thinking of buying this - I can't recommend enough

This a bit of a massive value judgement, really. It also depends on the size of your buck and your personal taste.... :sunglasses:

Had the same problem until I set the hub my isp provided to modem mode and hooked it up to an entry level Western Digital dual band router. Works flawlessly now all over the house. ISP's have such awful temperamental wireless hubs

I'm not an audio snob by any means.

Budget is not really an issue. I have 1k to spend but majority of my TV use is a mix of.kodi netflix amazon prime and sky in that order.

I will spend more if quality is perceavable but prefer to spend less.

Rooms aren't big by any means.

So is this like a bluetooth speaker... but without the speaker bit?

Nope . Much much much much (etc.) better than that. It connects directly the 'net to stream music from a variety of sources. It's got an audiophile digital audio converter. It can be used on groups/zones to send music to areas of your home. It uses WiFi so its range is much further than any Bluetooth device.

If you're going to compare it to anything it's a Sonos connect, but at less than 1/17th of the price.

It's £15, so buy one and have a play (they are selling on ebay for more, so you can always get your money back!).

You need to hit some stores and have a listen. One man's perceivable difference is another man's urgghhh !

Your link didn't work. Is this the cable required? Thanks
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Install-Mini-Toslink-Optical-Cable/dp/B003NT6RDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479756001&sr=8-1&keywords=Toslink+to+mini+Toslink+cable

I know I need an amp! :stuck_out_tongue:

Is it one per CCA?

Makes more sense thank you, may get one for sister.

Is this the cable to connect to an AV Amp folks? Cheers
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Install-Mini-Toslink-Optical-Cable/dp/B003NT6RDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479756001&sr=8-1&keywords=Toslink+to+mini+Toslink+cable

You devil, you.

I bought one ages ago. Theyre too restricted. Cant play my own music through it.

Amp and Speakers..
Can anyone recommend ...
1. A decent mains powered single speaker with a USB port and phono on the back to power the Chromecast pls.. After something to go in the kitchen but dont want to keep recharging and dont want wires everywhere (ie want the chromecast secreted at the back) Circa £100
2. A hifi quality amp that again has usb and phono on the back. Circa £200-300

Thanks

Can anyone point me to an optical cable I can use to connect this to a Chord Mojo?

​I've got mine plugged into a House Of Marley Get Together speaker which can be mains and battery powered. Has a USB out so can power the CCA and is about £100 at the moment. Good sound and very nice on the eye too.

Yes you can!

Well, that depends on the number of speaker outputs of the amp. (One of my amps has two pairs of outputs, for example)
CCA --> amp --> speakers....
It's no different to wiring up a CD player or other audio device...

​it's for older systems without Bluetooth

That'll do if you want to run digital.

Not really. It's 10,000x better than Bluetooth. See other posts.

Any old mini toslink cable for a fiver.
Or a Chord one for £300!

​I've got Bluetooth in my car anyway I was just wondering that's all. thanks for the response

ok thanks

Just don't shove it really hard! Some have a overly long pin on the 3.5mm end...

Chord Electronics dont do cables. The Chord Company do though.

All beyond me :sunglasses:

There is a wired version of this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Compatible-Smartphones-Including-Generation/dp/B008YU9G9O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479760733&sr=8-1&keywords=gear4+xorb

For some reason Amazon don't have it at the moment - but it cost about 20 pounds if you can find it without the Bluetooth. Has USB port and decent in smaller sized rooms. I have them in all of my bedrooms and bathrooms. Just keep the Chromecast a little bit away from the speaker if you are powering it from the built-in USB port to avoid interference (use the longer lead that comes with the speaker and not the little yellow Chromecast one)

found a cheaper toslink cable than a previously quoted one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wentronic-51224-GB-Fiber-Optical-Toslink/dp/B000L10ZHQ

with these cheap thin cables, you need to be careful not to bend them too tightly!

indeed, a2dp's standard SBC codec isn't great.

but now many phones have the AptX codec (now owned by Qualcomm) which offers excellent quality
https://www.aptx.com/

there's now AptX-HD
https://www.aptx.com/aptx-hd


you need both your phone and the bluetooth receiver or headphones to support these codecs.

Posted this last time we had a long CCA discussion. Anyone seen this? https://gracedigital.com/shop/castdock-speaker/

Read all the comments and still don't understand what this is. I have Spotify on my phone that I send to a speaker in the house. Works just fine. What would this do for me?

How do you currently "send to a speaker"?

Bluetooth

Cool. Now read all the posts that explain why this is 10,000x better than Bluetooth... :sunglasses:. Start with #40

That is via the Spotify wi-fi app isn't it? So you probably don't need a chromecast. But if you use Bluetooth, then Chromecast will be much better, the reasons have been pointed out above. :smiley:

For anyone with flubit, worth checking.

can i connect tthis to an external dac i have via toslink and stream spotify? music on my phone
do i need premium services for it work?

thanks

But these need a speaker don't they?

​this makes no sense...

Heat added and ordered. Thanks :sunglasses:

Bought - gonna set myself up a multi-room. Thank you.

Toslink yup- just get a mini toslink cable (see above). There is a limitation in the (free) Spotify service where the app itself won't support Chromecast Audio devices natively, and will only support Chromecast Video devices (yeah, weird I know, but it's their way to get you to upgrade - see pic attached).

However, using native Android and the Chromecast App (now called Google Home) you can stream *anything* from your phone to a Chromecast device. Just hit the "Cast Screen" icon in Android's settings. That'll redirect your phone's audio to the Chromecast(s). Fire up Spotify and you're away. However - as this is a redirection, your phone must stay on. With apps that support Chromecast directly, the Chromecast streams directly from the source (the 'net) so you can switch your phone off if you like (saving battery).

A fully supported service is like this (for example):
Spotify Premium --> Internet/Your Router/Your WiFi --> Chromecast --> Amp --> Speakers.
Your phone is only used as a remote control to tell the Chromecast where is source is on the internet.

But by Android "cast screen" audio redirection it's (for example)
Spotify Free --> Internet/Your Router/Your Wifi --> Android Phone --> Android OS/Google Home App --> Your WiFi --> Chomecast --> Amp --> Speakers.

Ah makes sense. What about locally stored music can that be cast or is that like spotify free method where phone needs to be on

Indeed. You won't hear much otherwise.:sunglasses: The CCA is wired up like a CD Player.
CD Player --> amp --> speakers
Chomecast Audio --> amp --> speakers

Similarly, the Chomecast Video needs a TV otherwise you won't see anything :smirk:

There are apps which will stream local music (e.g. localcast), but yes, if it's on your phone, for example, your phone will need to be on!
BUT Google lets you store 50,000 tracks free of charge online, so really, there's no reason why you wouldn't take advantage of that and get the ability to hear your entire music library anywhere in the world, thus:

Google Play Music --> Internet/Your Router/Your WiFi --> Chromecast --> Amp --> Speakers.

brill makes sense...

... and don't forget you can cast from Chrome on your PC....

Got this on a previous deal, love it. Turned my old hifi into a modern useable system again

Heat added. Nice find. Am buying a few, FYI google just announced that you can add up to 50,000 songs for free to the google play music cloud now too !! should go well together. Thanks!

1. Had similar need for my kitchen. I ended up with a Marshall Acton with the cute 'guitar' lead going into chromecast tucked behind. Yes, it takes two power sockets but it looks and sounds great. There's bluetooth built in the speaker too but DLNA/FLAC is definitely less mushy so that's first choice. I got a B unit Acton for just over £100.

In one of the previous threads there was a long discussion about the DAC in these, after all with modern electronics, volume of orders and other price considerations, it probably shouldn't cost much to get a DAC with the capabilities of an amplifier DAC from 10-15 years ago, so in theory it may be pretty good.

So I tested the theory, using a decent 3.5mm to RCA lead, a cheap 3.5mm to RCA lead and an optical TOSlink cable with inline converter (at the time I hadn't found my only compatible cable so bought a £2 converter from ebay). This all plugged into an Sony surround amplifier that's at least 15 years old and may even be over 20 years old.

The difference was night and day, absolutely no comparison between optical and analogue signals, when using the DAC in the amplifier, it sounded so much better it was incredible, way bigger difference than I'd expect and for other devices in the house I may have to buy converters so I can use RCA digital inputs with the optical output on the Chromecast.

I use my Chromecasts with a 2 Plex servers, and control them via 2 old HP Touchpads with Android installed. I found you needed at least one Android/ios device to get them set up, though I suppose the Windows apps may be better now.

mike

Anyone managed to get these to talk to Alexa yet?

some people have been trying, using Rasp Pis and PCs. But you might as well buy a Google Home device :sunglasses:

​where from?

Trumpville :smirk:

You have more money than sense if your spending 25quid on lunch, where you buying your sandwiches the Savoy!

What? You mean you're still buying lunch from Greggs when this beauty is available?
http://www.timeout.com/london/blog/you-can-now-get-a-posh-steak-slice-for-20-from-hawksmoor-111516
Yup - £5 more than a Chromecast Audio!

Steak = Overated!

Does anyone know if this can cast video to TV via hdmi as well as audi to speakers via aux?..

​how would that work? it has 3.5mm aux connector

£15 you mean? For two people, £2/3 drink, £3/4 sandwich, £1/2 cake/fruit. Or, if your main meal of the day is lunch, for one person: pizza, drink and dessert/coffee. Is that really extravagant?

No, thats why there are two Chromecasts. An audio one (like this) and a audiovisual tv one.

DPD Delivery set for today on Audio and Video Chromecasts from Curry's... WOW they are right on the ball I think...

"We're sorry we can't deliver your parcel today as we haven't received it from CurryPCW yet"

Does anyone know if you can play a track on to two chrome cast audio devices simultaneously?

So where's the audio visual offer at??

Amen to that. Don't support a company that treats it's customers with such contempt.

Yep (https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6279416?hl=en-GB)

Which apps?

If you have Plusnet or BT, and your router has stopped working it might be worth looking at this thread https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chromecast/3PiH_40qLBw

I've just picked up two CC audios from Currys and they both kill my router. :disappointed:

Hmmm, bought one but I thought it had an optical digital output and it doesnt!

Until these things can run on 3.5mm power alone I don't see the point. They pushed it for speakers with no wireless, but those speakers also have no usb ports, so I then have to plug this thing in as well.... like forget it.

Optical and 3.5mm come out of the same port

Yeah, just noticed - thanks.

Is there any way of streaming music stored on my PC to my Chromecast Audio?

I beg to differ on DPD being on the ball, I bought the Currys Surface + XBox offer, they failed to deliver the first day, the website showed someone else's front door as where they'd tried.

On the following day, I noticed their website map where you can track the delivery, had my house in the wrong place, so I phoned them up, no we've got the right address they said, meanwhile I walked to the place shown on the map, it had the same front door as the miss-delivery photograph, so then I knew what had happened the attempt had been to this address, but DPD help desk still claimed the driver was going to my house.

During the phone conversation the driver was contacted by the helpdesk, instantly the time of arrival increased by 15 minutes, though it still showed the wrong place on the map, and the driver duly turned up at my house.

The worrying aspect of this is that somehow (driver error, or whoever configures the van at the start of day) had mistyped my address into the GPS, but there was no evidence on the computer systems, so if someone had accepted my parcel, the system would claim it had been delivered to my address, regardless of the truth. I'm not sure how I'd get my goods in this instance, because Curry's would simply use the DPD details to prove it had been delivered.

mike

I use Plex Server on a massive (30TB) Dell server, I access the Chromecast either via the Plex app on an Android tablet, or via Plex running in a Chrome browser on a Windows PC/tablet. Plex client can also see the local disk so presumably could play local music as well, without the need for Plex Server.

That's just one of the many ways to do it.

mike

Do you have to be a paid subscriber for that? Everywhere I've looked suggests you do. Would love it to be free of course.

Yes although it sounds mad this has just happened to me. I called BT who told me there was a fault on the line - but I wasn't convinced - I thought the router had died. But eventually found it was actually caused by a chromecast audio, it had been working fine for 6 months and must have just got an OTA update today. How this has slipped through google QA i have no idea. Please be aware of this, so you don't waste an entire evening trying to figure it out - like I just have. :disappointed:

Totally free.

Yep same sh** happened to me today and was a nightmare to locate that it was the chrome audiocast's fault !
Even reboots/crash's my HomeHub5 when I try to connect my AUdiocast to an access point on my network, HAS to be something google have done as the exact setup has been working fine for weeks.

Thank you for this! I lost most of yesterday trying to diagnose why my BT Home Hub 5 that was rebooting all the time.

Nope, for free.

Can't stress enough, if you have a BT HomeHub or PlusNet and DO NOT BUY THIS RIGHT NOW. It not only not works, it kills your router, forces a factory reset and bootloops until you switch the Chromecasts off. Hopefully a fix wont take long.

​
​erm... lol you guys are HILARIOUS. All UK shops offer a 2 year warranty. JL just marketing gimmick. :man::wink:

​no it doesn't, absolute garlic bread of a lie :man:

Actually it does, just google and you'll see it's a serious issue that is effecting hundreds if not thousands of chrome-cast owners.
As I've already stated my audio cast caused my BT Homehub5 to continually crash/reboot which results in the router performing a self hard reset (ALL custom settings wiped :-( )

​only if you have old equipment. it only affects people signed to preview programme that got early chromecast models

​oh boy, it does cause chaos. We just spent the past 24 hours without internet and a BT engineer ready to come out. The latest OTA affects the sagecom chipsets on Plusnet and BT HomeHub routers and causes an infinite bootloop until the Chromecast Audio is turned off. Google pushed out this update to general release despite knowing beforehand it seems. It's essentially a £15 brick for BT/Plusnet customers once the update window arrives. Probably mostly to do with the awful routers these ISPs slap together.

Please do your research before you spread absolute garlic bread misinformation.

Can anyone recommend a decent amp/speaker combo for this? Roughly £200-300 all in would be good, my aim was to beat higher end SONOS speakers for a bit cheaper.

Except for the fact that Google released that preview yesterday. There is a new preview though which fixes the issue.

​nah mate is was before September. don't be whoose and buy it

That's all down to personal taste. Pop into your local hi-fi store with a listening room and have a listen.:sunglasses:

I just want to play the mp3 tracks from my s7

What would you prefer? Stereo, 2.1 or 5.1 setup?
I usually check on gumtree for decent amps. Got a yamaha 677 for £100 & the q acoustic q7000 speakers @ half price for £400 at richer sounds when q7000i came out. Very impressed with the sound.
You can get decent q acoustics 5.1 speakers such as the 1010 on gumtree around £150. What general area are you in?

Heres a good amp
https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-stereo-audio/yamaha-rxv677-av-receiver-amp/1201180019

download bubbleupnp, it's free

Oh...

Currently mid argument with BT as my router stopped working this week and they want to send an engineer out. I have an audio in the same room

Just to add what has already been said, do your research h before saying something is a lie. We were without broadband for 24 hours before I figured out that turning all of my CCAs off made it work again.

I too have now managed to update the firmware on each CCA to the latest preview version through my phone hotspot (turning off my BT Home Hub 5) and everything seems to be working fine again. Hopefully this kind of issue won't happen again as CCA is a great little device.

Yes, turn those CCAs off and everything will be fine. Here are the fix instructions from the Google thread:

Probably either stereo or 2.1. I'll try gumtree, maybe ebay too as I'm not in the most populated of areas. Cheers.

​What's your set up then, if you don't mind me asking?

Yea good luck anyone without a hotspot available!

I've disconnected mine and fixed the issue for now :smiley:

Thanks so much! No internet since Tuesday, Plusnet support have been useless.

Chromecast for Video makes sense, but bluetooth audio adaptors are even cheaper, better supported by devices and apps and don't need wifi. Unless you want to bridge a distance not covered by bluetooth I can't see any reason for choosing this over bluetooth?

Advantages are:

- Independence: You're listening to music and your phone rings. With Bluetooth, the music stops playing, with Chromecast, its independent of your phone and so the music carries on. Imagine putting some music on for a party and it cuts out when you get phone calls or its interrupted by email alerts.

- Distance: Put the music on, put the phone back in your pocket, walk to the kitchen, make a cup of tea. Basically, you're not tethered to the speaker.

- Groups: I have 2 groups of Chromecasts in my house. One for the surround sound system in my living room and a separate speaker in another room, another covering those two speakers and the speaker in my bedroom. If these is an audible delay between the speakers, you can adjust that with the app.

- Changing devices: With Bluetooth I've often found the process of someone else taking the wheel a bit clunky. Some devices may only allow one Bluetooth connection at a time, others may allow multiple connections but struggle to figure out which device takes precedence. With Chromecast, it is clear. The latest device to cast music to a Chromecast takes over.

The experience I've had over the past 2-3 days with by BT Home Hub has been frustrating to say the least but Chromecast Audio is far superior to Bluetooth for the ways I like to listen to music so I will stick with it.

Without repeating myself, upload your MP3s free of charge to Google Play Music. Then you can listen to anywhere on the planet, as well as stream *directly* to the CCA even when your phone's off.

Here we go again :stuck_out_tongue:

The CCA sounds 10,000x better with 192KHz / 24bit DAC with digital output, and WiFI offers a far higher bandwidth over a long distance.
The CCA doesn't need your phone/tablet/PC to be on (with associated battery drain) as it can stream directly from the internet source.
The CCA supports zoning and multiple CCAs in groups so you play music in mutliple rooms
... etc..

"better supported by devices"? You can command your CCA from most phones, tablets, PCs... Once you have told it what to play your "device" doesn't get involved any more - the CCA connects directly to the source. (unless the source happens to be your "device", obs!)

... and "even cheaper"? This thing's only £15!

True. I tried a bluetooth adapter on a bose dock and the sound volume is so low and quality is pants.

Just a warning on these - if you want to stream Spotify to it, you need Premium. Yet you don't for the standard Chromecast. Go figure...

Just missing HDMI port to get my AV receiver to the next level. I am guessing I can connect it via analogue cinch cable though.

Yes, it also outputs optical.

Ok, but then I have to also get a fibre cable. I think I will go for Chromecast and plug it in via HDMI and should have most of the functionality anyway + videos.

I can confirm that the new firmware has solved the issue for me.
The easiest way to do this is to setup a WiFi hotspot on your mobile phone and grab the new firmware update via that, saves all the hassle of obtaining & messing about with different routers.

Wow that's a shame, cheers for the heads up!

Yeah, I asked for one for Christmas last year, figuring that, since you can use standard Spotify on the normal Chromecast, it'd be the same for this. Plugged it in. Nope :disappointed:

Bit of a strange one. Although Spotify are doing 3 months for £0.99 right now...

Probably a stupid question but can I take one of these to USA without compatibility issues?


Thanks.

You can, you just need access to a wifi network. Some hotel ones may not work though.

I think the point is to not give custom to shops that treat customers poorly.

Oh look, that item that's half price 6 months out of 12 is on offer...again! Better make it 2000 degrees...again!

dumb question. Will this work for my PC? I dont have any speakers for my PC so will this work? if yes then dont I need 2 speakers? sorry im dumb when it comes to tech like these. also it say it only play music? so it does not play youtube, VLC, and movies etc tec? really appreciate the help

Wouldn't step foot in there if they were giving away the Chrome cast.

They treat customers with distain / second class as do PC World - dreadful excuse for a company Dixons group.

The pleasant Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse must surely only have merged with Dixons due to seeing Singlepoints vulnerabilities.
I'd hassard a guess and say he would much rather of merged with a decent company than the Dixons Group PLC but he saw the writing on the wall before it happened with Singlepoint, fair play to him.
I bet Dixons couldn't believe their luck.

Awesome piece of technology. Head added

Agreed.

I'm struggling with motivation here, I have one already and it's pretty good. Been vaguely thinking about getting another one or two. At the moment I use a Logitech Bluetooth box which is quite handy as it has two outputs 1 to my subwoofer one to the auxiliary input of my pure radio.

I went to my local Currys this morning and they must have a full pallet of these!

Am I the only one who's never had any issue with currys?

I bought it once I saw this page.
I must say what a waste!
For PC and Mac, you have to install the Chrome, and you can only stream the sound in the browser.
For iPad and iPhone, you could use only few sound only app. For example, BBC radio works, but BBC iPlayer doesn't.

Yes, the Chromecast Audio only streams sound. The clue is in the name.

Perhaps it's due to the video adverts in the non-premium plan. Are the adverts shown on your TV if you use a regular Chromecast with non-premium Spotify?

No, it is not streams sound-only, but supports sound-only app.
For example, Speakers could play sound only, but it doesn't mean the speaks only work with sound-only app.
It should work for every app including video which could play sound!

Try reading sentences to the end.

Try making your point fully.

I see what you mean now but it's just not how the device works. When you select something to cast it sends the link for that thing to the chromecast which then opens and plays the thing directly from the Internet. If you gave the chromecast audio a video link it'd have to decode the full video and then output just the audio portion. This would require the chromecast audio to have significantly more processing power, making it almost a regular chromecast. This would make it more expensive. Or, you'd need the BBC iplayer service to provide audio only versions of things, and somehow work out which version you want.

Perhaps they could make that more obvious but if you are going to impulse buy then it's the risk you take.

It can also cast music you have stored on your phone though

You can stream audio from videos or music that is stored and played locally on your phone also!!
At least I can, streaming to my chromecast audio from PowerAmp or MX player using videos and music stored on my phone works perfectly fine.

Not sure tbh. However, you can use non-premium Spotify with your phone in your pocket, and the advert just plays sound-only, so I'm not sure if that's a good reason...

That is a slightly different case. There your phone is the source the chromecast is streaming from. When you are the source, you can provide just the audio portion of a video file if you want to. And the chromecast audio is happy to stream.

Either way, it is what it is. I wish the whole thing wasn't so closed by Google.

I use BT but use the old openreach modem and a time capsule plugged in! Just reserved my CCA and don't want all this nonsense.

I have a question on these, as I'm not familiar with their full capabilities.

I use our iPad / iPhone to 'stream' our music from our iTunes library on my Mac Mini using ITunes Home Sharing, and it works great.

Will I be able to use a Chromecast Audio to play whatever music I select on my iPhone (not locally stored but streamed as above) on a suitable speaker, if plugged into the Chromecast?

​nope, not through itunes. itunes doesn't have casting availability. only certain apps do, ie. deezer, Google play, media monkey

Back up to £30 now. Grabbed two when they were down, superb pieces of kit, sound excellent when used in the HDR or optical mode and fed into a decent system. Easily better than my HTPC outputting though my old Linn Numerik, which is a surprise. £15!

It you have a BT HomeHub 5 (possibly other versions) just make sure you disable its 'smart setup' (in advanced settings) otherwise the CCA can cause the router to reset constantly.

Ordered two last night at £15 each, Currys website confirmed the reservation but couldnt provide me a reservation number but still saying to attend the store within 24hrs to collect.

Went down today, email in hand only to be advised they had no record of my reservation at their end at they now wanted £30 each for them or I couldn't have them.

Have sent their customer support an email and awaiting a reply so at the moment it's hot for the Chromecast Audio but cold for Currys, their website and customer service.

Will update if this changes.