Review and Measurements of Chromecast Audio Digital Output

[BillG]

"the ability that Roon has to unfold MQA to 96kHz is a mixed blessing or even an inconvenience on the CCA as it introduces a pop/drop now and then."

There's a bug when playing back 24/96; Google is aware of it and have yet to issue a fix. 16/96 is fine, if I recall correctly.

 

[Bamyasi]

It seems that Google has finally nailed this 24/96 streaming bug in the latest CCA firmware version (v1.39) or at least it works much more reliable for me now. Note, they've been performing staged rollout for this firmware for quite a while now and it was slow. It appears that the more you actually have been using your device over the last two months, the more chances it has to receive the updated firmware. Ironically, if you've stopped using your CCA (due to 24/96 bug) completely then it will never be updated and the bug will never be fixed for you. Weird as it is, this is my observation with the 4 CCA devices I've been using in my house. The only one updated initially was the one connected to a pair of Audioengine A2's which I use at the kitchen mostly to listen to Internet radio pretty much every morning, since low bitrates were not affected by the bug. Three other CCA pucks stayed at buggy firmware version forever, even despite repeated forced reboots. It took several tracks played on each of them across few days to eventually get all of them updated.

Hope this helps.

 

[tranq]

I own 4 or is it 5 CCA's. I use 4 at any rate, might be a 5th floating around my house somewhere. Great device. I don't like the analoge output as much as the digital to a DAC, but if I don't have a DAC it works great. Been using it all weekend to stream Spotify to a Dayton audio amp, and some old Bose 101 outdoor speakers. Way way better then any cheap Bluetooth speaker.

Whole home audio and groups is also very very awesome.

 

[milw50717]

It seems that Google has finally nailed this 24/96 streaming bug in the latest CCA firmware version (v1.39) or at least it works much more reliable for me now. Note, they've been performing staged rollout for this firmware for quite a while now and it was slow .

According to this page v1.39151425 of the firmware is in preview and you can possibly get it quicker by joining the Chromecast Preview Program.

 

[Bamyasi]

According to this page v1.39151425 of the firmware is in preview and you can possibly get it quicker by joining the Chromecast Preview Program.

Firmware 1.39.154182 is what I have now installed on all of my 4 CCA's. But I have submitted crash reports upon request of Google CCA developers team for at least two of my CCA devices at some point three or four months ago, so maybe I have been included in the preview testing program? They never got back to me after that, so I doubt it. Most likely, the page you've mentioned has outdated information, just like at least 3/4 of the pages you find on the Google support site.

 

[milw50717]

You could be right as I have 1.39.154182 installed on both of my CCAs

 

[RayDunzl]

v1.39151425 of the firmware

That is the most ridiculous revision number I remember seeing.

Could it really be the 39,151,425th revision past 1.0?

 

[milw50717]

Version numbers are usually split into major and minor numbers, branch numbers, build numbers, airspeed of an unladen swallow, phase of the moon, etc. That number is meaningful in some way, but not to us mere mortals

 

[deafenears]

That is the most ridiculous revision number I remember seeing.

Could it really be the 39,151,425th revision past 1.0?

My CCA is stll on 1.37.146679.

That last number is likely the code commit or build number.

 

[BillG]

According to this page v1.39151425 of the firmware is in preview and you can possibly get it quicker by joining the Chromecast Preview Program.

I'm not part of the preview program and have a higher version...

 

[deafenears]

I'm not part of the preview program and have a higher version...

heh, maybe the whole of NZ is part of the preview program ;-)

 

[BillG]

heh, maybe the whole of NZ is part of the preview program ;-)

Actually the country has a history of being used a test bed for new technology...

 

[CheapskateCCAOwner]

I have a question for someone who is using CCA with D50?

Do you see the bit depth always being displayed as 24-Bit? That's what I am seeing in my case.

Thanks...

I use a CCA with a Topping D50 DAC, and I see the same thing; the bit depth displayed is always 24-bit, even with a 16-bit stream. The sample rate displays correctly, which I assume is the case for you as well.

I haven't really thought about this since I noticed it when I started using the D50 with my CCA over 6 months ago, but now that you mention it, I am curious if this is a bug with the D50. I don't think this is an issue with the CCA, as I think I noticed the same behavior when streaming from my laptop to the D50 via USB as well as streaming from my Android phone via USB and using the HibyMusic app (with the "Exclusive HQ USB audio access" option enabled)

 

[gvl]

I see 24 bits on another DAC, not the D50, so it is a CCA thing. What likely happens the CCA has a non-defeatable 24-bit volume control, that's why you see 24 bits even for 16 bit streams. Should not matter even if you control the volume on the CCA, up to a point anyway, and if you run CCA at 100% volume it should be bit-perfect with 0s padded in the lowest 8 bits per sample.

 

[CheapskateCCAOwner]

I see 24 bits on another DAC, not the D50, so it is a CCA thing. What likely happens the CCA has a non-defeatable 24-bit volume control, that's why you see 24 bits even for 16 bit streams. Should not matter even if you control the volume on the CCA, up to a point anyway, and if you run CCA at 100% volume it should be bit-perfect with 0s padded in the lowest 8 bits per sample.

This seems like a logical explanation. I will try to find a 16-bit streaming source that does not implement volume control (or has defeatable volume) to test on the D50.

Thank you for your explanation!

 

[gvl]

I will try to find a 16-bit streaming source that does not implement volume control (or has defeatable volume) to test on the D50.

This device is called CD Player.

 

[vkvedam]

I see 24 bits on another DAC, not the D50, so it is a CCA thing. What likely happens the CCA has a non-defeatable 24-bit volume control, that's why you see 24 bits even for 16 bit streams. Should not matter even if you control the volume on the CCA, up to a point anyway, and if you run CCA at 100% volume it should be bit-perfect with 0s padded in the lowest 8 bits per sample.

Sounds very logical, thanks for confirming!

 

[KenG]

This device is called CD Player.

what is this CD player you speak of?

 

[gvl]

what is this CD player you speak of?

I'm not exactly sure. From the name I would guess it can be used to play something called CD.

 

[CheapskateCCAOwner]

This device is called CD Player.

Yeah, but I don't have a CD player with digital outputs (and I'm too cheap to get one at this point), so I will see if I can find another (free or at least cheaper) alternative. I do have an old DVD player with Toslink output, but last time I tried it, it didn't work anymore, so we'll see.