Chromecast Audio is Dead

[Miska]

When you play Spotify on Chromecast, or Spotify Connect for that matter, the stream is not supposed to be going between your Spotify app and the Chromecast/Connect. Chromecast and Connect are suppposed to talk straight to the streaming server. Similar way like you do with UPnP.

 

I didn't try yet to run Wireshark to see what goes on between Spotify and CCA.

 

Another question worth checking is how Tidal works through CCA.

 

AFAIK, Spotify can alternatively send also MP3 and AAC streams instead of Vorbis depending on what the device supports. Probably quality also depends on what format they happen to get from the labels. There have been reports that sometimes labels provide MP3 versions to Spotify which then transcodes it to Vorbis. If Spotify gets material in lossless format from labels, probably all versions are also sourced from that material.

 

If you read Apple's documentation, they ask labels to provide material in 96/24 format and then they convert it to AAC and what ever Apple Music / iTunes uses. But I'm quite sure they also get more or less random selection other than preferred 96/24...

 

[Daccord]

When I was comparing trial offers for Google Play and Spotify I couldn't believe how bad Spotify sounded, both through the CCA and to another device via Airplay. And I couldn't get Spotify to do gapless, even to the Airplay device. I finally discovered that turning off volume leveling in Spotify (which is on by default) solved both problems. Spotify deals with everything as either a "song" or a "playlist". It makes no sense to attempt to level the volume on every track in the same opera, but that's what Spotify was doing by default. It treats an opera as a bunch of songs in a playlist - to the point where the big green button to start playback is "Shuffle and Play", and to start playback without shuffle you have to navigate to the first track and press the small Play control beside the track name.

 

That was early in 2018. They may have changed the app by now, but I'm not tempted to try it again. I'm hoping Qobuz will be available in Canada by the time Google discontinues their music streaming and tries to shift all subscribers to youtube.

[bluesman]

16 hours ago, crenca said:

This short and/or unpredictable life cycle is a downside/con of just about anything from likes of Google and the wider electronics world.

 

It’s a downside of our vulnerability to aggressive (some might even say predatory) business planning. Picasa hooked us on free, full resolution cloud photo storage and an outstanding editor so we’d move to a fee based Google Photo service when they ended Picasa.  Amazon Prime gets pricier and more complex by the minute, yet we keep following the yellow brick road while Whole Foods picks up a huge new customer base.

 

This is an integral factor in a free market economy. I understand and can live with it, especially as there’s usually a better & often less expensive innovation just around the corner. Until whatever we adopt instead of CCA comes along (and it probably won’t be from Google), I’ll wait patiently while listening to what I have.

 

And if my CCAs die before then, I have enough Raspberry Pis to keep music going in every room

[audiobomber]

18 hours ago, Em2016 said:

It’s very good. Capable of 24/192kHz on TOSlink output (as long as your TOSLink cable and input play nice at 24/192 also).

Not that it matters really, but 24/192 files are downconverted to 24/96 in CCA.

DSD and 2X DSD will also play, downconverted to 24/48. 

 

I experienced a popping noise, dropouts and signal loss, on three external DAC's. Hi-rez files work fine with the internal DAC. This is the usual result for most people in the CCA threads I've read.

 

I replaced CCA in that system with a slightly modified Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and USB. Playback is now rock solid, sound quality is more robust and everything plays in native resolution.

 

I still use CCA with its internal DAC in two locations for background music, because it allows me to play synchronized music on upper and lower levels of my house. I bought three more during the recent sale to gift to my grown children. CCA is great if you don't mind the compromised SQ.

 

I wonder whether there will be a replacement? The price is untouchable.

[Mark Dirac]

56 minutes ago, bluesman said:

And if my CCAs die before then, I have enough Raspberry Pis to keep music going in every room

Do apps' "cast" menu options work as well to Raspberry Pi as they do to CCA?  Or is there typically some other mechanism required to "play" an app on RPi instead of CCA?

[audiobomber]

3 minutes ago, Mark Dirac said:

Do apps' "cast" menu options work as well to Raspberry Pi as they do to CCA?  Or is there typically some other mechanism required to "play" an app on RPi instead of CCA?

I use DLNA with both CCA and PRI. IME, casting music is not as reliable as DLNA. 

[bluesman]

2 hours ago, Mark Dirac said:

Do apps' "cast" menu options work as well to Raspberry Pi as they do to CCA?  Or is there typically some other mechanism required to "play" an app on RPi instead of CCA?

 

Rpi makes a versatile endpoint because you can use it on a number of platforms. Sadly, there’s no Chromecast receiver app available for it from Google AFAIK, but there are 3rd party receiver apps out there. I haven’t used any, but the death of CCA is the push I needed to check them out.

 

There are many DLNA renderers, browser-accessible portals, and ad hoc players like Roon Bridge and Squeezecast clones that you can easily run on a Pi with your network streamer of choice. Beagleboards, Beaglebones, and other micros are equally usable.  I’m currently running 2 Pis, a Beagleboard xM, and a Beaglebone Black with Roon Bridge plus a Pi with a full instance of JRMC 24 and 6 CCAs on our LAN.  JRMC is easily accessed through Panel from any web browser for remote control and as a renderer.  

 

The hitch for for me is that synchronized play on multiple renderers is imperfect or impossible unless all are on the same platform, both with JRMC and with Roon. I can play Roon to all my CCAs or all my RAAT devices but not a mix. And zone linking on JR is impossible to synchronize, even with the latest “fix”, except if all linked zones are on the same platform. And JRMC only works well & consistently on my LAN for JR zones - linked DLNA zones are not perfectly in synch.

[asdf1000]

22 hours ago, Miska said:

If you read Apple's documentation, they ask labels to provide material in 96/24 format and then they convert it to AAC and what ever Apple Music / iTunes uses. But I'm quite sure they also get more or less random selection other than preferred 96/24...

 

I think to get the 'Mastered for iTunes' stamp, they need to submit to Apple in 96/24.

 

But not everything gets the Mastered for iTunes stamp, so I guess those are the ones not submitted in 96/24?

 

It's been a few years since I last read it - maybe something has changed.

 

Even with a random selection, Apple may have one of the largest hi-res collections on the planet?

[asdf1000]

On 1/14/2019 at 1:08 AM, Miska said:

I didn't try yet to run Wireshark to see what goes on between Spotify and CCA.

 

Another question worth checking is how Tidal works through CCA.

 

Just out of general interest, I wanted to try to see what Tidal is doing through CCA (more interesting than Spotify).

 

I've downloaded Wireshark but struggling to see what to look for.

 

I can only see what's directly connected to the Mac right? The Mac is casting Tidal to CCA, from Chrome browser.

 

The only Chromecast and Tidal related stuff I see is the following, but no "flac" or "aac" related extensions that I can see. Unless I'm looking for the wrong thing.

 

Any tips?

 

 

 

[Miska]

You need to hook into CCA's WiFi traffic. When you start the stream, the interesting part is when Chrome sends the media URI to CCA, try to catch that URI. That won't tell as much, but next is to see the initial traffic when CCA issues HTTP GET for the stream, out to the Tidal server. That'll tell what the content is.

 

Now getting to see the CCA's traffic to Tidal server in a switched network means that you need a smart switch where you can configure another port to mirror the traffic to be able to see it. Or alternatively look at it in the internet gateway. Like in my case all internet traffic goes through my firewall computers, so running tcpdump there is easy to way to see all traffic which can be then loaded to wireshark.

 

[asdf1000]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

You need to hook into CCA's WiFi traffic. When you start the stream, the interesting part is when Chrome sends the media URI to CCA, try to catch that URI. That won't tell as much, but next is to see the initial traffic when CCA issues HTTP GET for the stream, out to the Tidal server. That'll tell what the content is.

 

Ok will try this. Tidal sounds WAY better than Spotify on CCA, so I have to assume it's .flac

 

It will be so embarrassing for me if it turns out to be 320kbps aac 😁

[Miska]

Just now, Em2016 said:

Ok will try this. Tidal sounds WAY better than Spotify on CCA, so I have to assume it's .flac

 

It will be so embarrassing for me if it turns out to be 320kbps aac 😁

 

While you are at it, please check also what Spotify does nowadays!

 

[asdf1000]

31 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

While you are at it, please check also what Spotify does nowadays!

 

 

So it will work for me if both CCA is on WiFi and Macbook is on WiFi?

 

I normally use Cat 6 ethernet cable for both but right now have both on running WiFi. I don't have any smart switches.

 

I'm running Wireshark now and looking for a Tidal URL that looks similar to what HQPe shows me when I use HQPe as UPnP renderer.

But I can't find such URL anywhere. 

 

Is it possible Chromecast encrypts the address? Or deliberately scrambled?

 

[Miska]

5 hours ago, Em2016 said:

So it will work for me if both CCA is on WiFi and Macbook is on WiFi?

 

I normally use Cat 6 ethernet cable for both but right now have both on running WiFi. I don't have any smart switches.

 

I have to admit it's been a long ago when I last touched WiFi snooping, so I'm not sure if that'll work.

 

But one alternative is to put up access point on Linux and connect CCA to that one. The package is called "hostap". Then you can snoop the traffic going from WiFi to ethernet, for example using "tcpdump -i eth0 -s 1500 -w traffic.cap" where "eth0" is name of your ethernet interface. You can then open the traffic.cap file in wireshark for inspection.

 

5 hours ago, Em2016 said:

But I can't find such URL anywhere. 

 

Is it possible Chromecast encrypts the address? Or deliberately scrambled?

 

It could be scrambled somehow. But likely CCA's GET request to the streaming server is plain.

 

[asdf1000]

8 hours ago, Miska said:

 

I have to admit it's been a long ago when I last touched WiFi snooping, so I'm not sure if that'll work.

 

But one alternative is to put up access point on Linux and connect CCA to that one. The package is called "hostap". Then you can snoop the traffic going from WiFi to ethernet, for example using "tcpdump -i eth0 -s 1500 -w traffic.cap" where "eth0" is name of your ethernet interface. You can then open the traffic.cap file in wireshark for inspection.

 

 

It could be scrambled somehow. But likely CCA's GET request to the streaming server is plain.

 

 

Yikes. I get stressed just reading all this.

 

I'll have to attempt this after a couple of cold beverages 😁