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Review and Measurements of Chromecast Audio Digital Output

BDWoody

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CCA's really are amazing. I had a few, and when i saw they were bring discontinued, I bought a dozen more at 2/$30 delivered...

The ability to group them as desired, to use them either with optical or rca out, so I can use those old receivers with amazing amps but no optical in for the garage/basement...plugged one into a pair of audioengine powered speakers for the bar, optical out into the main theater... I've got one now feeding an old Sonamp that goes to the downstairs and pool...etc... Point is, everything becomes a groupable node for $15. I haven't found anything remotely close.

Also, I'm a big Roon believer/user. By no means necessary, but the extra info I get from it about the music/artists makes it worth it for me. I think it makes sense particularly for those with larger personal music collections, rather than streamers.

Cheers
 

tranq

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CCAs aren't perfect, but man do I love my 5. Awesome stuff. Just wish Spotify programmed their integration better to get gapless. It's a drag listening to classical albums.
 

Balle Clorin

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Any chance of testing the Chromecast streaming from Tital , digital and analog output ? TIDAL has hifi test tracks..
 

AudioJunky

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I got an HDMI audio extractor for my Chromecast Ultra so I could cast Deezer (from android app) to my DAC which supports flac and allows you to adjust the casting quality so you know what it should be casting. Spotify for example has no quality settings when casting and sounds terrible compared to Spotify from a computer.

I have a feeling casting from the chrome browser is more optimized for video over audio.
 

Julf

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M00ndancer

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Apparently the Chromecast Ultra is limited to 48khz which is why my 96kHZ files always reported 48kHZ.
Why should you even own 96kHz files? Just a waste of space. The reason for the Chromecast ultra is "only" 48 kHz is that the standard audio formats from video sources are done in 48 kHz.
Not really sure you can hear the difference in the downsampled 48 kHz audio, but you need to test that.
 
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Julf

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Not really sure you can hear the difference in the downsampled 48 kHz audio, but you need to test that.

I would love to see evidence anyone can.
 

AudioJunky

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Why should you even own 96kHz files? Just a waste of space. The reason for the Chromecast ultra is "only" 48 kHz is that the standard audio formats from video sources are done in 48 kHz.
Not really sure you can hear the difference in the downsampled 48 kHz audio, but you need to test that.

It was just a test file. The Chromecast audio supports up to 24-bit/96KHz so there's no reason the ultra which is more powerful shouldn't be able to, it's just a limit set by Google.

Tidal MQA supports 24-bit/96KHz though meaning the Chromecast ultra would be downsampling. DTS-HD could also be downsampled if above 48kHZ.

I should also note that even 44.1kHZ files are converted to 48kHZ which irks my OCD of wanting bit perfect passthrough to my DAC.

If noone could hear the difference, not sure why it would even exist. So I am guessing one can.
 

Julf

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If noone could hear the difference, not sure why it would even exist. So I am guessing one can.

That is a pretty poor base to guess from. They exists for the same reason $15,000 CD players and Range Rovers with diamond-studded wheels exist. I suggest you download and install Audacity, foobar2000 and the ABX plugin for foobar2000 (all free). Use Audacity to convert your favourite "hi-res" albums to 44.1/16, and do a double-blind ABX - it might prove to be an eye opener.
 

AudioJunky

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That is a pretty poor base to guess from. They exists for the same reason $15,000 CD players and Range Rovers with diamond-studded wheels exist. I suggest you download and install Audacity, foobar2000 and the ABX plugin for foobar2000 (all free). Use Audacity to convert your favourite "hi-res" albums to 44.1/16, and do a double-blind ABX - it might prove to be an eye opener.

Pretty sure if anyone claimed they could hear a difference you'd call them a liar anyway. Not going to waste my time.

/Unsubscribed
 

Julf

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Pretty sure if anyone claimed they could hear a difference you'd call them a liar anyway. Not going to waste my time.

/Unsubscribed

"Of course we should be empathetic to people who cling to irrational beliefs. But at the core we find "I'm ignorant, possibly emotionally immature, and intellectually lazy; I'm proud of it, and I'd much rather hang out with other ignorant and intellectually lazy people than to grow." That's hard to respect." - Ron M. Aryel, MD, in Skeptical Inquirer, in response to a piece on "Respectful Skepticism".
 

BDWoody

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Pretty sure if anyone claimed they could hear a difference you'd call them a liar anyway. Not going to waste my time.

/Unsubscribed

That's certainly one approach...

Ever consider you might learn something? Amazing how many reasons people come up with to not confront reality.
 

dkinric

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..."ignorant, possibly emotionally immature, and intellectually lazy; I'm proud of it, and I'd much rather hang out with other ignorant and intellectually lazy people than to grow."

Jeez, that's pretty harsh for someone who wanted to try out some hi-rez music for themselves on their system. I, too, rejected CCA as it cannot go above 48, and I wasn't a fan of the downconversion step either. Since Tidal offers a version of hi-resolution music, I wanted to hear it for myself, on my system, to see if I could hear any difference - not take some random internet stranger's word for it, especially when he throws down insults for those who have the audacity to not necessarily agree, or haven't even had the chance to test it yet.
 

Julf

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BillG

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I, too, rejected CCA as it cannot go above 48

As of several months ago, a firmware update was issued to fix the problem with 24/96 playback. How successful it was? I can't say precisely at the moment as the vast majority of my collection is 16/44/16/48. However, I do seem to recall being able to stream 24/96 content to it awhile back without any hiccups. I could, just as a test of the fix, easily upsample a track later to verify.
 

Julf

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I, too, rejected CCA as it cannot go above 48, and I wasn't a fan of the downconversion step either.

I suggest you download and install Audacity, foobar2000 and the ABX plugin for foobar2000 (all free). Use Audacity to convert your favourite "hi-res" albums to 44.1/16, and do a double-blind ABX - it might prove to be an eye opener. No need to believe random people on the Internet.
 
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