Good luck with that! They are going for around $130 on TM at the moment if you can find one. I'm testing a new solution for a friend though that uses a standard Chromecast and a digital HDMI audio extractor to essentially provide the same function with one key benefit. If you use a normal Chromecast connected to an amp, you can also cast audio from YouTube. This is not possible with a Chromecast Audio.

I'm going to pop a video on my channel once I've tested it and compared it to the digital audio from my Chromecast Audio's.

Interesting....my proposed initial use case was to cast the audio from youtoob so you might have saved me a disappointment there !

I am looking for a solution that's stand-alone analogue audio. Under your proposed solution, does the standard chromecast require HDMI termination by a display or other device ?

I am guessing that the chromecast audio only(mainly?) works with google play music, is that right?

When you cast from YouTube, only Chromecast devices appear, not Chromecast Audio. My solution will hopefully get around that limitation. Other apps like Deezer, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, YouTube Music, Google Play music etc will cast to all devices.

elpenguino:

 

I am guessing that the chromecast audio only(mainly?) works with google play music, is that right?

 

Basically any app that features Chromecasting can cast to a Chromecast, and the post above mentions a few of the key ones; others I use a lot are Podcast Addict (many other podcast apps support it) and Hifi Cast (casts my ripped CDs from the NAS controlled via a phone app). 

And then one can also open the interface for the specific Chromecast in Google Home and select it to cast whatever the phone is playing, if the app itself doesn’t support it natively.

They are fantastic devices - we have six around the house I’m so keen on them. So annoying that Google stopped producing them, so a good idea to try to use a video Chromecast to achieve the same ends. HDMI audio extractors also typically have analogue out (even if a 3.5mm socket), so i assume it won’t be limited to digital audio. The problem is ensuring the converter is of a decent quality - some of the cheap types I’ve bought off AliExpress haven’t been great!

They one I'm bringing in has Toslink, Coax Digital and analogue so it'll be interesting to see how all those outputs fair.

jonathan18:

 

Some of the cheap types I’ve bought off AliExpress haven’t been great!

 

Do you have one you need to get rid of for my testing?😜

xbmcnut:

jonathan18:

Some of the cheap types I’ve bought off AliExpress haven’t been great!

Do you have one you need to get rid of for my testing?😜

The audio extractor I'm getting has a HDMI input which should hopefully keep the CC happy without a downstream TV connection but of course, that has to be tested. I'll post my results on this thread once I've tested it but it's likely a few weeks away knowing the AliE shipping at the moment.

xbmcnut:

 

The audio extractor I'm getting has a HDMI input which should hopefully keep the CC happy without a downstream TV connection but of course, that has to be tested. I'll post my results on this thread once I've tested it but it's likely a few weeks away knowing the AliE shipping at the moment.

 

I can answer this one actually.

I got an HDMI audio extractor from AliExpress a couple of weeks ago, sounds similar to what you describe (has "Mini HDMI Audio Splitter" written across the top of it) and it works absolutely perfectly with a standard chromecast and the audio piped out to a normal home stereo. No further downstream HDMI connections are required.

lagbort:

 

I got an HDMI audio extractor from AliExpress a couple of weeks ago, sounds similar to what you describe (has "Mini HDMI Audio Splitter" written across the top of it) and it works absolutely perfectly with a standard chromecast and the audio piped out to a normal home stereo. No further downstream HDMI connections are required.

 

Awesome, thanks for the info.

lagbort:

 

I got an HDMI audio extractor from AliExpress a couple of weeks ago, sounds similar to what you describe (has "Mini HDMI Audio Splitter" written across the top of it) and it works absolutely perfectly with a standard chromecast and the audio piped out to a normal home stereo. No further downstream HDMI connections are required.

 

That's great as that is the one I've ordered too! 😜

xbmcnut:

 

lagbort:

 

I got an HDMI audio extractor from AliExpress a couple of weeks ago, sounds similar to what you describe (has "Mini HDMI Audio Splitter" written across the top of it) and it works absolutely perfectly with a standard chromecast and the audio piped out to a normal home stereo. No further downstream HDMI connections are required.

 

 

That's great as that is the one I've ordered too! 😜

 

before this I was using a raspberry pi 3B to stream music to the stereo but it was quite a bit of overkill for the task. So far the splitter has functioned perfectly as a replacement.