ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Since I now have Chromcast enabled B&O speakers around the house, including a Google Assistant in my Beosound 1, I thought of adding a Chromecast Audio to my Beovision 11-46 so I could command GA to play music over the Beolab 3s connected to the Beovision.
Chromecast Audio (CA) can easily be connected to the AV input on the BV. I used nice cables sourced from SoundsHeavenly.
After some struggle to activate the CA and add it to the Google Home app, I got it working. Unfortunately BV11 is not autosensing the AV input, so I have to activate the AV port. I have added that input to one of the shortcut buttons on the BROne. Of some reason no input information is displayed on the screen when the AV input is activated, as it does when e.g my AppleTV input is activated.
One thing I noted was that BV11 introduce a delay. That was expected, and there seems to be a possibility to adjust that in the Google Home app when you have more than one speaker playing, but the Google Home app crashes everytime I try that so I cannot say how that would improve things.
All in all I´m happy with the result and now have the possibility to use GA to play music to the various places in my home.
Now just waiting for Deezer to introduce GA support here in Sweden.
Livingroom: BL3, BL11, BV11-46 Kitchen: Beosound 1 GVA, Beocom 2 Bathroom: M3 Homeoffice: M3, Beocom 2 Library: Beosound Emerge, Beocom 6000 Bedroom: M5, Essence remote Travel: Beoplay E8 2.0, Beoplay EQ, Beoplay Earset
Please do yourself the favour to use the SPDIF/coax/digital input on the BV11 for the CA.
This can output digitally - you will, however need a small optical to coax converter in between plus the 2 cables.
If you have more Speaker Groups you can also default the choosen connection/input to e.g. a stereo/2.0/2.1. group.
If you use the BROne, you may also be able to use one of the MyButtons to choose the input with a muted tv screen....
....the screen will give you no information from the CA anyway, since it - for the BV11 - is just a ‘sound input’.
If you choose the analog output/input, be sure to configure the CA to the best output quality = toggle on ‘Full Dynamic Range‘.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Millemissen:Please do yourself the favour to use the SPDIF/coax/digital input on the BV11 for the CA.
Hiort: Is soundquality the reason for the recommendation or are there other benefits?
Is soundquality the reason for the recommendation or are there other benefits?
I’d say yes....mostly because you can eliminate issues with bad cabling and connections.
I’d choose a digital connection over a plain L/R connection as a rule of thumb.
With the digital you have a fixed volume output, which is good, since you do the volume regulation with the remote of the tv anyway.
Whether you will be able to hear a difference in daily use, is another question.
However, my best advice would be to use a ChromeCast Video device instead - this can since some time be added to an audio group of CC devices.
You would then have a feedback on the screen, if that is what you prefer....and you could use it for video too.
(I am just about to replace a CA on one of my BV’s to a CC video version)
Better get Chromecast Ultra.Yes,it has power supply adapter,and I keep mine wired.No hickups,no resets,no worries.
Beogram 6500 MMC2,Beosound Ouverture,2xBeolab 8000,2xBelolab 4000,Beolab 2,Beolab 7.2,Beo4 navi, 2xBeocom2,Serene,Beosystem 3 mk3,H6 2nd gen,Earphones E8,A8,A9 keyring,Beoplay A1,Bottle opener,Beoplay A2 active(thanks Botty)Wine Set(thanks Botty),4Ktv Samsung 55'',Beolab 7.1 with 42''Panasonic plasma,,Oppo udp-203, LinTronic.
Millemissen:However, my best advice would be to use a ChromeCast Video device instead - this can since some time be added to an audio group of CC devices.
Not knowing the Ultra, but the CC. It is significantly more difficult to get a CC to run dedicated Audio (HD) than a CA.
I agree on your Digital/Analog assessment, with a tiny wrinkle. The DAC in the CA is actually pretty decent
BEOVOX141: Millemissen:However, my best advice would be to use a ChromeCast Video device instead - this can since some time be added to an audio group of CC devices. Not knowing the Ultra, but the CC. It is significantly more difficult to get a CC to run dedicated Audio (HD) than a CA. I agree on your Digital/Analog assessment, with a tiny wrinkle. The DAC in the CA is actually pretty decent
You may have a slight point there - however, I am not sure that a ChromeCast device should be the first choice, if someone wants to do ‘dedicated audio (HD)’.....whatever that could mean.
As for your ‘tiny wrinkle’ I already saw that coming.
Please notice how I phrased that sentence - I was talking about a ‘plain R/L analog’ connection 😉
And that I at the same time questioned, whether you will notice a difference between the two ways of connecting in real life listening.
(As you very well know, I am not a member of the ‘Holy Church of digital connections is per definition better than analog’).
Yes, the DAC solution in the CA is actually pretty good:
http://archimago.blogspot.com/2016/02/measurements-google-chromecast-audio.html
P.S. For a BV11 the CC should do the job - no benefits for that tv from a CC Ultra.
If you want to run that wired, you can get an adapter like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Ethernet-Adaptor-Chromecast-Network/dp/B01N1X28F1
@MM
Just to clarify Years back you could run a "somewhat" dedicated audio stream on a CC but the functionality has long gone, at least in my desktop world.
Software like Videostream will cast virtually any Audio content (multi channel included) but it's being recorded and the same goes for VLC. It kind of makes sense since its built to carry the full Audio/Video stream. And to me it look like the is CC now is being tailored to the Google ecosystem, every update removes a tiny bit of functionality. The CA has been discontinued and is poperly safe for now and it is not doing recording!
I actually tried the DAC solution with the IFI and i really couldn't tell the difference, apart from an extra pile of wires
Worth noticing this was connecting to an analog BL speaker!
Thus my remarks about the Quality of the DACs