Just got one piece of Chromecast Audio and the mini-to-normal optical cable: $30. Cable is on stock, Chromecast Audio will get delivered during 7-11 of March.
I can’t find it but I have deployed analogous solutions and concur with gvl’s reading of Spotify’s slightly vague explanation.It says they are transcoded, not when, but encrypted before delivered to the platform. Lets see if we can get to the truth of it and not make it an argument
Glad you could track one down!
Wow... That's a lot for the cable.. Funny that a plastic tube is as much as the device itself... But.... Any toslink will do... Some even include a pair of adapters so you aren't limited in using it only with mini-normal...
I think these are $6 on eBay...View attachment 20267
One per customer, but I'll take it.
Out of curiosity, why are people piling up orders on these? I have 2 already in use and 1 ordered as a back-up, but 5? 8? That's a lot of separate speaker set ups/rooms to cast to, and some speakers are already connected to a computer or, say, AVR that you can plug a player directly into. Some AVRs come with Chromecast built-in nowadays, such as Pioneer VSX-832, or with alternative receivers that work with Tidal.
Out of curiosity, why are people piling up orders on these? I have 2 already in use and 1 ordered as a back-up, but 5? 8? That's a lot of separate speaker set ups/rooms to cast to, and some speakers are already connected to a computer or, say, AVR that you can plug a player directly into. Some AVRs come with Chromecast built-in nowadays, such as Pioneer VSX-832, or with alternative receivers that work with Tidal.
Conclusions
There are a few here:
1. The CAST audio functionality of Google Chrome is horrid. There is no excuse for it to be butchering even simple 16-bit signals as it did. While audibly it is not as dire as it looks, I still would avoid it if you can.
I have done some subjective test using the analogue output of the CCA to a Sony MDR-1A, using it as a headphone amp.
Windows 10 v1809. Volume matching as close as I can.
When comparing Google Chrome to cast Google Play Music, Youtube Music and doing the same thing using an Android phone with the correnspondent app there is a difference. (not measured, subjectively tested.) So much that I prefer to listen to music via the phone casting to the CCA.
The reason I tried to test is that I switched a lot between using Chrome as caster and the app in the phone to cast. I noticed that it sounded better with the phone casting thru an app. But I thought it was only placebo and difference in volume. Now I'm not sure, especially after reading Amirm's tests
Is there anyway I can test this cheaply? Null testing? I do own a Zoom H4 recorder.