I’ve completed a lengthy journey of understanding a problem with Google’s (discontinued) Chromecast Audio device. The symptom is the sound sputters, as if it were gargling.
The process I’ve been through to figure out the problem would be tedious to explain and boring to read. The upshot was that I bought an excellent external DAC with a display.
These are the essential points:
- Android resamples audio to 48 kHz. This will be seen when using the Home app to cast all audio from Android, rather than casting from an app that does its own audio rendering.
- Android audio played via USB is always 48 kHz.
- Resampling 44.1 audio to 48 kHz causes Chromecast Audio to “gargle.” This is true whether using the device’s analog output or an external DAC.
- USB audio works perfectly at 48 kHz.
- Google Chrome browser no longer supports audio-only Chromecast.*
All of this is within Google’s “ecosystem” and control, especially considering my Android phone is a Google Pixel 4a. It’s an example of where Google continues to be sloppy and inconsistent.
They create a lot of interesting stuff, with the Chromecast Audio puck at the top of the list, as far as I’m concerned. It’s painful recalling the innovative Logitech Revue with Google TV being abruptly discontinued. Google’s problem is they don’t fully commit to the pursuit of polishing their products to perfection as Apple, following Steve Jobs’ lead, seems obsessed with doing.
* Correction: The Chrome browser in one of my Windows 10 PC’s continues to show Chromecast Audio as an available device. It’s playing the audio for a YouTube video, at 48 kHz. So after so much careful checking, being sure that my WiFi PC’s are on the same network as Chromecast Audio, only to see the device no longer being listed in the Chrome browser, I am confronted with yet another quirk that will require even further testing.
Follow-up: Oh yeah, it’s working now!
