Only thing is that Chromecast Audios are no longer sold, so it would have to be a second hand one. No idea why they stopped selling them.
The Wiim mini streamer below has taken over from the chromecast audio device.
ikea symnfonisk's are on offer at the moment.
currently £84 for essentially a sonos one in a neater package. I've got 3 of them around the house and might buy a couple more at that price.
The Wiim mini streamer below has taken over from the chromecast audio device.
At one hundred quid?
It certainly hasn't "taken over" from chromecast audio at that price!
Amazon make a range of Echos with better speakers. Will probably be heavily discounted for "Black Friday" week.
However for us the best option by far was an Echo Link with the output connected to my HiFi. You can connect a normal Echo to a HiFi with a 3.5mm jack but that means the HiFi has to be on if you want to ask the Echo for other stuff because it turns off the internal speaker. A Link is a separate device just for music.
Sounds to me that what you really need, is a small streamer that will connect to your existing amp and speakers. You’ll need something with analogue output
See above - that's what the Link is. You can use a cheap Echo Dot to control it.
somafunk
The Wiim mini streamer below has taken over from the chromecast audio device.
It's not a Google device though. And it's a lot more expensive than the Chromecast Audio used to be - I think I paid £20 for mine.
It also doesn't support Google Assistant (or whatever it's called) - only Siri or Alexa.
When they announced they were stopping selling them, I bought 4. I am using two and two are still unopened in the boxes. I keep thinking I should chuck them on ebay, but you can guarantee that a few days after selling them I'll find I really need one.
FWIW, just got my Marantz amp, Mission speakers plugged back in, and the sound 'enjoyability' is brilliant Vs the albeit, good little Nest speakers.
But voice control is a requirement for Mrs A ... so thinking Santa could try and find a bargain Audio Pro C10 II, and the amp/speakers go to my workplace!
I've got two Sonos One,s mounted high and then a sub in a big kitchen diner. Sounds great although I did have to dial back the sub from it's autotuned setting as other parts of the house were vibrating :->
Dad has got Sonos 5s and I don't rate the sound by comparison. Could be his room acoustics I guess.
Do any of the Amazon Echo devices have an optical out? I'm thinking not
Currently sat in my office listening to a Tidal Master of Electric Ladyland via PC to my T20's, but I can't make the best of my connections, albeit, it sounds great - soundstage and detail are very good
The T20's have aptx BT, but no aptxHD/Adaptive, so whilst BT streaming sounds good - it's not making the most of it
Current connection is using the PC DAC and out to the T20's via 3.5mm to RCA. The T20's have optical in, but the PC doesn't have optical out. I'd rather make use of the Audio Pro onboard DAC
If I could find an Echo with Optical, I'd switch to Amazon Music HD, which is cheaper (already have Prime)
What other options are there?
If I could find an Echo with Optical,
Echo studio does iirc, but they're not cheap
Echo studio does iirc, but they’re not cheap
Just looked and seems like it's just a mini toslink line in
@aus You could jut use a Bluetooth receiver with the hifi amp and still use voice activation on the Nest.
A quick read up on the Nest suggests it remembers the last connected Bluetooth device so once set up it should work smoothly.
Something like the below is around £25 from Amazon so worth a play before you give up on sound quality.
CountZero
Full Member
Why voice control when it’s being used purely to control music playback? My experience of seeing friends attempting to get Alexa to actually respond, let alone play what they’re asking for has me trying to stifle my laughter, when in the same time I could have found the artist or album and had it playing just using my phone, where all my music is, or my iPad which shares the same library.
And don’t forget, all those connected assistants are listening to whatever you’re saying and feeding that info back to Google and/or Amazon.
You don’t think smart phones are also listening and feeding info back?
@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR You could use the Wiim streamer as linked above, as it has native support for Amazon HD and sounds very nice indeed through its optical output.
It will also connect to a home music server and many other things and is all controlled through a phone.
Great bit of kit and much better than anything an Echo device of any sort can produce.
@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR You could use the Wiim streamer as linked above, as it has native support for Amazon HD and sounds very nice indeed through its optical output.
It will also connect to a home music server and many other things and is all controlled through a phone.
Great bit of kit and much better than anything an Echo device of any sort can produce.
I glanced at that elsewhere and it seemed to be a fruit based device - does it do what's required away from ios? How does it receive the HD stream? It also states in some blurb that it supports Tidal connect and Tidal Master, then states (no MQA)??? I'm confuzzled
*edit - just lookng at the link above and it seems it works with Android
The Wiim connects to the Amazon servers directly and streams over your wi-fi, no other devices needed - other than to actually control it.
For more info, they have their own forum and it seems quite busy. I got myself on the developer team which gave me Amazon HD before it was released. Just how much difference there is in such streams is another question but, it can do it.
Or if you wish to keep using the pc, you could get a USB to optical converter and use the Amazon music app in Windows.
That opens up a world of EQ possibilities if you want to get into room correction etc, but isn't something I've done myself.
Or if you wish to keep using the pc, you could get a USB to optical converter and use the Amazon music app in Windows.
That opens up a world of EQ possibilities if you want to get into room correction etc, but isn’t something I’ve done myself.
Well, there you go - I didn't even know USB to optical was a thing. May as well just keep using the PC.
But then I've read that only certain DAC's will unfold MQA anyway
Got a pair of Sonos 5's in the living room and then a mixture of 1's and 3's in the rest of the house. The 5's sound great - to me.
Well, there you go – I didn’t even know USB to optical was a thing. May as well just keep using the PC.
But then I’ve read that only certain DAC’s will unfold MQA anyway
If you want to get really enthused, Amazon are doing a Topping D10s DAC / converter for a good price at the mo.
I use one to go from USB to optical, as could you, but it is also a great DAC so you could also use RCA out into the speakers if the DAC on the D10s gives more than the one in the speakers.
Do any of the Amazon Echo devices have an optical out? I’m thinking not
Echo Link does.
Great little device. It has its own volume knob, so I've got mine connected directly to my power amp to remove an extra processing stage, although it needed some signal attenuators to reduce the volume range. Sounds extremely clear, much more so than the CD player before it, but it's a little less warm.
Why voice control when it’s being used purely to control music playback? My experience of seeing friends attempting to get Alexa to actually respond, let alone play what they’re asking for has me trying to stifle my laughter
Meh - it works for me. You can also hunt for your stuff on your phone if you'd rather not use voice.
That’s a thought – can I continue with my Google Nest (I think) as the Alexa part, and ping it to the bluetooth speaker? Will the Nest deliver pretty good sound?
I have some Bluetooth active speakers in my kitchen. They sound great when streaming directly from my phone, and dreadful when streaming from a Google mini. I've no idea why.
I have some Bluetooth active speakers in my kitchen. They sound great when streaming directly from my phone, and dreadful when streaming from a Google mini. I’ve no idea why.
Have you checked how each device is outputting? What frequency/bitrate/bluetooth codec? What's the source material for each?
I find Chromecast Audio a bit hit and miss connected via line-in to my Denon mini-system
