Chromecast Built-in Network Players / Preamps / DACs

[real_shark]

Hi all,

I am doing an investigation on Chromecast Built-in Network Players and I am not being very lucky so far.

I want a link between my Tidal app and my power amp, I have considered other options and I am now considering using Chromecast Built-in since it is supported by the Tidal app.

If I could find a simple device that supports Chromecast Built-in and has a digital out... I could use an external DAC of my choice and plug this last one to my power amp... But I cannot find any.

It is not that there are no products with Chromecast Built-in, but I cannot find one that does what I need.

I need just a basic dummy box that gets the digital signal and sends it to an output in the same quality it is received.

Alternatively I could do with a network enabled DAC that does this + the DAC function.

Any ideas?

Any further thoughts on Chromecast Built-in for streaming relatively high quality music (320kbps mp3s for instance)?

I forgot an example:

How about this:

NVIDIA SHIELD TV PRO, best streaming media device today

Buy NVIDIA SHIELD TV PRO with AI-enhanced upscaling feature in the market today

www.nvidia.com

Connected via USB to a pairing DAC, and this one to my power amp.

Would this work? What can we expect in regards to quality?

Thanks,
RS.

 

[real_shark]

This does not seem to be very popular.

Does no one have a setup in which the streaming of the tracks use Chromecast Built-in and an external DAC?

Or does no one have considered it?

Is there a reason not to?

Thanks,
RS.

 

[lovinthehd]

Can't say I've ever wondered about such units until I saw your thread. I do use several Chromecast Audio units on older gear that doesn't have wifi capabilities of their own. I recently got an external dac in my mostly analog setup to see if it made any difference from built in dacs, can't tell any difference either from the CA units or the built in dac of the disc player I was using in that setup. I can simply send a stream from a variety of sources to various renderers on my network too. I like the audio chromecasts particularly as I can sync them all together for using several systems in the house to play same thing simultaneously.....

Might depend more on what gear you have/don't have now....

 

[real_shark]

Can't say I've ever wondered about such units until I saw your thread. I do use several Chromecast Audio units on older gear that doesn't have wifi capabilities of their own. I recently got an external dac in my mostly analog setup to see if it made any difference from built in dacs, can't tell any difference either from the CA units or the built in dac of the disc player I was using in that setup. I can simply send a stream from a variety of sources to various renderers on my network too. I like the audio chromecasts particularly as I can sync them all together for using several systems in the house to play same thing simultaneously.....

Might depend more on what gear you have/don't have now....

Thanks,

I have been researching quite a bit and Chromecast Built-in.

You can simply reuse an old android phone as streamer and then use a dac/preamp of your choice.

It seems like there is no need to pay for a lot of features, marketing and duplicated software that are not needed in my case.

The setup is not marvelous (I still have to figure out completely the standby and wake up) but I can get a Topping D50S for less than half of what I would have to pay for a BlueSound node and the result is almost the same on the streamer side (for my use case) and way better on the DAC/Preams side.

Still doing tests but seems solid.

Any insight? Thanks,
RS.

 

[Trebdp83]

Audioengine B-Fi

Wi-Fi® streamer with Apple AirPlay®

www.crutchfield.com

Audioengine Control - Apps on Google Play

Set up and configure the Audioengine B-Fi Multiroom Music Streamer.

play.google.com

How to install the Google Play Store on an Android phone or tablet that doesn't have it

You need the Google Play Store if you want to install most apps on an Android device. But what if your Android device doesn't have access to Google Play Services by default?

www.pocket-lint.com

 

[real_shark]

Audioengine B-Fi

Wi-Fi® streamer with Apple AirPlay®

www.crutchfield.com

Audioengine Control - Apps on Google Play

Set up and configure the Audioengine B-Fi Multiroom Music Streamer.

play.google.com

How to install the Google Play Store on an Android phone or tablet that doesn't have it

You need the Google Play Store if you want to install most apps on an Android device. But what if your Android device doesn't have access to Google Play Services by default?

www.pocket-lint.com

Thanks but these ones do not seem to cut it... Tidal connect or Chromecast are the options that I can work with right now...

Still thinking about an old Android phone as a streamer (0€) and the Topping D50S as the DAC/preamp and I get a supposedly great quality combo at a reasonable price... + it is versatile enough.

 

[Trebdp83]

Sure, but which shade?

 

[real_shark]

Sure, but which shade?
View attachment 50413

Funny!

The one in my cart is black.

Listen, I have so so so much gear... That I want to enjoy the process of buying every single gadget endlessly or I will end up being kicked out by all the girls I live with.

Now seriously, I have almost discarded the Bluesound Node in favour of a Chromecast streamer and a dac. Lots to learn and little time.

Anyway, learning and having fun. Any help will be great.

For whom it may be interesting I am using an old android phone with a very basic paid app (CastReceiver about 5US$). This phone is connected via USB to the dac/preamp.

Yes, there is no wired internet here.

Yes, there are some glitches (all solved so far).

RS.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks,

I have been researching quite a bit and Chromecast Built-in.

You can simply reuse an old android phone as streamer and then use a dac/preamp of your choice.

It seems like there is no need to pay for a lot of features, marketing and duplicated software that are not needed in my case.

The setup is not marvelous (I still have to figure out completely the standby and wake up) but I can get a Topping D50S for less than half of what I would have to pay for a BlueSound node and the result is almost the same on the streamer side (for my use case) and way better on the DAC/Preams side.

Still doing tests but seems solid.

Any insight? Thanks,
RS.

What gear do you currently have?

I do use my phone/pc/tablet to stream to the chromecast units and/or the various avrs/bluray players around the house over wifi. I do have an old phone I use out in my workshop to stream via wifi as well, just to put it to use, it's just handier if I didn't bring one of the others out to the workshop. I think the Bluesound stuff gets fairly good reports as far as ease of use goes, but seems a bit expensive just to have a box with its feature set near your gear IMO.

 

[real_shark]

What gear do you currently have?

I do use my phone/pc/tablet to stream to the chromecast units and/or the various avrs/bluray players around the house over wifi. I do have an old phone I use out in my workshop to stream via wifi as well, just to put it to use, it's just handier if I didn't bring one of the others out to the workshop. I think the Bluesound stuff gets fairly good reports as far as ease of use goes, but seems a bit expensive just to have a box with its feature set near your gear IMO.

When you have a nice app for managing the music like Tidal or Spotify AND you do not have large local collection the value added of the different software packages (MusicCast, etc.) is very limited.

Think about it, even bulbs come with wifi these days. Google came up with ChromeCast but they are not interested in exploiting that technology for audiophiles or even just regular humans that want to get crafty with their audio gear.

It would be easy to settle with a Google Audio that strips out the DAC and adds a USB connector (or SPDIF). Add PoE and maybe Bluetooth APTX and you still have a 15€ device that allows FLAC streaming to a DAC. Multiroom and so on is already implemented with Chromecast for those who like that.

Coming to your question, I have two setups, the home cinema, which is basically a Yamaha Receiver with plenty of features, including an app to control it and some streaming capabilities from 10 years ago. I have upgraded it with APTX Low Latency using a Taotronics TT-BA09 which also allows me to use bluetooth headphones. This setup is quite good for media, movies, games and so on. I have wired speakers from the receiver to a second room too.

I do not buy the use case of having the music following you through the house... Most of what the multi room offers is not very interesting for me. Having an app and sources that you can play anywhere is.

So, that Media setup with all the surround, subwoofer, etc is very versatile and feature-cost effective but it is not offering a really good musical quality. Now I am adding a new setup in the living room which should be only stereo, only for music, with a focus on musical quality, only digital sources (mainly Tidal) and should not be very present.

For this last setup I have a pair of Wharfedale Evo 4.2 paired with an XTZ EDGE A2-300 and I just bought a Topping D50S that should arrive in a few days. For now I will be using an Android phone as a streamer and the Tidal app (Or any app that can stream to Chromecast), but this may change.

It would be great to have cheap Chromecast Built-in devices that are extremely dumb, just a USB out... But I have not found them.

RS.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well, chromecast is all about wifi, so no need for a usb out, don't use usb out of my computers for anything, altho I do use usb thumb drives in the car and various avrs/bluray players in my systems along with wifi. I do enjoy when working around the house to have the same thing playing on a coupla systems, works for me at least. I don't need 2ch gear to enjoy music, four of my five systems are avr/multich based (with subs). I don't use bluetooth except in the car occasionally (with a Tao unit), mostly its a thumb drive in use there, tho. I do use Spotify, Tidal didn't do it for me (and can't support that mqa nonsense), but I do have a large collection ripped to flac that I use foobar2000 and bubbleupnp to stream to any system I want. All this stuff sure beats hell out of vinyl

 

[martyfreez]

Hi, are you aware that Google Chromecast Audio (CCA) supports optical out (through the line-jack)?.
I am using several CCA-s which are powered with Googles own power-unit with Ethernet. So all of them are on a wired internet connection and connected to my Parasound Multi-zone amplifier (inbuilt speakers throughout my house). For my living room zone - the CCA is connected via optical out to a Topping DAC that is then routed to the input zone on the Parasound. Works like a charm and it is super easy to create both groups and play each zone individually. It is a real shame that Google has discontinued the CCA - I guess they wanted to push their own speakers instead (with cast properties built in).

Here in Norway this is also an option : https://argonaudio.com/collections/music-streamers/products/solo albeit a more expensive one...

 

[lovinthehd]

Hi, are you aware that Google Chromecast Audio (CCA) supports optical out (through the line-jack)?.
I am using several CCA-s which are powered with Googles own power-unit with Ethernet. So all of them are on a wired internet connection and connected to my Parasound Multi-zone amplifier (inbuilt speakers throughout my house). For my living room zone - the CCA is connected via optical out to a Topping DAC that is then routed to the input zone on the Parasound. Works like a charm and it is super easy to create both groups and play each zone individually. It is a real shame that Google has discontinued the CCA - I guess they wanted to push their own speakers instead (with cast properties built in).

Here in Norway this is also an option : https://argonaudio.com/collections/music-streamers/products/solo albeit a more expensive one...

Yes, all of mine I use the optical if the gear has a dac, but too lazy to bother with hardwire for the network, due layout of house mostly....didn't know about a Google power unit, got a link?

 

[martyfreez]

Yes, all of mine I use the optical if the gear has a dac, but too lazy to bother with hardwire for the network, due layout of house mostly....didn't know about a Google power unit, got a link?

It was actually a question to real_chark, but no worries

Link: https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_ethernet_adapter_gen_2?hl=en-US

I have the first generation ethernet adapter, that is discontinued :

Ethernet Adapter for Chromecast 3rd & 1st Gen - Google Store

Ethernet adapter for Chromecast lets you connect your Chromecast 3rd Generation, 1st Generation, and Audio directly to your router to create a fast and reliable connection for your Chromecast.

store.google.com

All of mine are in a dedicated room where I have a full size rack with amplifiers, network switch/gear, router, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield and what not.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

speaking of Nvidia SheildTV - this is one of the rare devices which supports natively Google chromecast.
It doesn't have optical or coax audio out, but you could plug it in your HDMI tv/receiver or HDMI audio extractor.

 

[martyfreez]

speaking of Nvidia SheildTV - this is one of the rare devices which supports natively Google chromecast.
It doesn't have optical or coax audio out, but you could plug it in your HDMI tv/receiver or HDMI audio extractor.

The Nvidia Shield in fact has a USB output - so you can wire this to a USB DAC of your choice. Mine is connected via an HDMI cable directly to my AV receiver, same as the Apple TV.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The Nvidia Shield in fact has a USB output - so you can wire this to a USB DAC of your choice. Mine is connected via an HDMI cable directly to my AV receiver, same as the Apple TV.

Interesting, thanks for sharing

 

[real_shark]

Hi, are you aware that Google Chromecast Audio (CCA) supports optical out (through the line-jack)?.
I am using several CCA-s which are powered with Googles own power-unit with Ethernet. So all of them are on a wired internet connection and connected to my Parasound Multi-zone amplifier (inbuilt speakers throughout my house). For my living room zone - the CCA is connected via optical out to a Topping DAC that is then routed to the input zone on the Parasound. Works like a charm and it is super easy to create both groups and play each zone individually. It is a real shame that Google has discontinued the CCA - I guess they wanted to push their own speakers instead (with cast properties built in).

Here in Norway this is also an option : https://argonaudio.com/collections/music-streamers/products/solo albeit a more expensive one...

I was not aware, but thank you.

FYI I have setup a mobile phone as a chromecast built in streamer. The only problem is that I cannot charge the mobile phone and at the same time wire it to the DAC (The phone will be either master or slave, and would only charge if slave). This works nicely if it was not for this.

I am looking now into Android TV boxes, for instance the Xiaomi Mi Box S. This one has a toslink out and a usb connector. Just investigating whether it would work but the price is fine.

Argon Audio at 250€ pack a lot more than what I need... And the price does not make sense for the Use Case.

The nVidia is essentially a TV Box like the Xiaomi... But the Xiaomi is 1/4 of the price... If it works I whink I will go with the latter.

Thaks again,
RS.