Google - Chromecast Audio - Black

If you use Sonos Connect mostly to stream music from Pandora or Spotify to your home audio system, then Chromecast Audio is a much cheaper alternative for 1/10th of the price and almost the same sound quality. Sonos offers many other features such as DLNA support, party mode playback, to name a few. But if don't need these functionalities, Chromecast Audio will suffice. During setup, make sure to turn on the High Dynamic Range option which is suggested by the Chromecast app for AVRs and HiFi systems. You may also turn on this option in the settings screen. If you are not so keen with audio fidelity, Chromecast Audio will meet if not exceed your expectations. I plan to buy another or two Chromecast Audio if and only if Google release a firmware update to make it support simultaneous playback of same signal (party mode) like Sonos does.

Forget Bluetooth. This is so much better. Uncompressed high quality sound that doesn't drop out. I downloaded Google's Play Now program on my PC, and it grabbed my entire iTunes library and loaded it up into Google's cloud. Now I've got access to all my music, plus tons of other music -- all at high bit-rate and uncompressed. Hookup and use are simple. My wife loves it (she never never used Bluetooth). When their multi-room software update comes out in a month or two, it's hard to see why anyone would choose a more expensive alternative. A true giant-killer product for 35 bucks.

Works great to cast audio from any device: Android or Apple iOS phone or tablet, Mac or PC. Best way to switch multiple devices through my main speaker system. One trick I learned is to plug my headset into the Chromecast Audio - requires a 5v micro usb power source. Especially like the ability to adjust volume control from my casting device.

With some setup involved with the app and connecting to the device, once that was taken care of I was able to access my music library that I stored in Google's Play Music app (psst, they allow you free uploading of 40,000 songs, free). It has been amazing turning my older high quality speakers into a great streaming system. Expect good sound quality but not great. For $35, its worth it. The Marvell DAC inside the device is a good one you aren't getting a Sabre, Wolfson or Burr-Brown. You get what you pay for.

Relatively cheap, easy to set up, great sound. One of my favorite features is the fact that once you select something to stream to it, it streams that directly from the internet and not from your device. I can stream an album from Google Play Music to it and close the tab, the album will keep playing. If you do pick this up, the most important thing to do is to enable 'High dynamic range' in the settings menu from the Chromecast app. It isn't enabled by default and music doesn't sound as good without it enabled.

I love being able to enjoy music in the entire house with the "multi-room" feature. I have an older Victorian house where the living room and kitchen are separated by doorways, so if I play music in one space, it's hard to hear it in the other space. This usually leads to playing music too loud for the room you're in but too soft for the one you're not in...but with 2 Chromecast Audios and multi-room, I can easily play synchronized music in both rooms at the same time.

Picked up three of these babies for around $100 total. Setup was super easy using the iphone chrome cast app. Can stream NPR, Spotify and Google music straight from the internet - frees up phone to make calls, text, etc. Can also use Google Cast extension for chrome to cast audio to the device. Has analog and digital optical out (same as on Apple Airport Express). Sound is very good (make sure to select the HDR audio in settings). Currently, software does not allow for "multicasting" or selecting multiple devices to play same music, but it is promised in a future update. Does not support direct streaming of Apple Music. Overall - a great way to turn a set of speakers into a makeshift (and cheap) Sonos substitute.

I just got this yesterday and I am blown away. It's real easy to set up that even my tech illiterate dad could set it up. The 3.5mm audio jack DOES support optical out, providing you have the cable or the adapter for it. You can cast popular apps like Pandora and Tune-in, but it doesn't support YouTube mobile audio yet. (You could get around that by mirroring the screen in the Chromecast app). All in all, this is a pretty cool device for $35, although it should be cheaper since this is just an audio only device.