Tag: Google Chromecast Audio

Vizio to equip their latest soundbars with Google Cast Audio

Article

Google Cast will come stock on Vizio’s new soundbars | Android Authority

Vizio takes on Sonos with Google Cast-friendly soundbars | Engadget

From the horse’s mouth

Vizio

Product Page

Blog Post

Press Release

My Comments

Increasingly Google is encouraging companies involved in consumer audio-video to integrate Google Chromecast audio or video functionality in to their devices. This avoids the need to purchase and install a Chromecast dongle to benefit from audio and video streaming from online services.

Sonifi brought this concept in to the hotel scene so you can lie on your hotel-room bed and watch Netflix managed by your Android phone while Vizio, Sony and Philips are implementing it in to their TVs. Google even implements this concept in to their Google Fiber TV set-top boxes so that you don’t need a Chromecast dongle for this functionality. But Vizio has taken things further with Google Cast for Audio by offering this functionality in their latest range of sound bars.

Typically, you may think that a company may offer this function just to one soundbar or speaker base in their lineup but Vizio has offered it across the board for their up-and-coming SmartCast soundbars. These will work as Google Cast Audio devices where they can play online audio sources like Pandora or Spotify rather than being a “soundbar + Chromecast” device that adds Chromecast to your TV.

One article sees these soundbars as an answer to the Sonos multi-room sound system and nothing is further from the truth thanks to Google’s latest Chromecast software. Here, you could gang these speakers together in a “party mode” or have them playing different programs in a similar way to what you can do with Sonos. Let’s not forget that you can have something like Spotify or Pandora playing and the music isn’t interrupted if a call comes in or one of your phone’s apps throws a notification signal. It also means that the ringtone or the notification sounds don’t blast through your Google Cast setup’s speakers.

As for the price, the cheapest unit, which is a 38” 3.0 setup costs US$180 while the most expensive models being the 45” 5.1 setup that comes with surround speakers and a slim subwoofer runs for US$500.

Who knows who will launch the first stereo or home-theatre receiver or stereo system that has integral Google Cast functionality or if an existing multiroom audio platform will end up with Google Cast integrated in to it.

Google Chromecast Audio–the heart of a wireless multiroom audio setup

Article

Chromecast Audio Gets Hi-Res Audio, Synced Songs | Tom’s Guide

Chromecast Audio Is Now The Super Cheap Way To Wirelessly Fill Multiple Rooms With Music | Gizmodo

From the horse’s mouth

Google

Blog Post

My Comments

Those of us who own or are considering a Google Chromecast Audio device should apply the latest firmware update to this device. It will add two key functions to this device that will improve sound quality and useability.

If you connect a Google Chromecast Audio to one of the latest top-notch hi-fi amplifiers, you can let this amp rock when you feed the Chromecast “master-grade” (96kHz / 24-bit) FLAC files. You may be able to pick these files up from any “download-to-own” online-music store that courts audiophiles and offers the “master-grade” content.

As well, having multiple Chromecast Audio devices with this latest firmware can allow you to create a multiroom audio setup. Here, you use your Chrome extension program or Chromecast mobile app to create an ad-hoc synchronous playback setup involving one or more of these devices.

The low cost, typically of US$35, may make the Chromecast Audio appeal as a cheap option to connect a pair of active speakers, that 1980s-era “ghetto blaster” or a stereo system to your home network. It could even be seen as a “stocking-stuffer” gift that could earn its keep beyond the Christmas shopping season.