Having been distracted during the summer, I have only just realised that the BBC’s apparently unloved Sounds app acquired Chromecast functionality in July. I have been playing with the radio 3 offerings on the Sounds app into a Chromecast Audio dongle, which although discontinued by Google at the beginning of 2019, is still available new from various suppliers on eBay.
Using a fibre optic feed from the Chromecast Audio into a digital input on a SuperUniti shows just how good the Sound Quality of this can be. Particularly useful is the availability of past Radio 3 programmes at much better quality (at least I think it’s much better quality) than via the low bit rate on demand option in the Naim app’s iradio for Radio 3. The future platform Naim streamers have Chromecast built in of course, so no need for a dongle.
I was wondering whether there are suggestions of other apps where Chromecast opens up some new options for high sound quality music. Personally I am only interested in classical music, but no doubt there will be others reading this thread who have different music interests to me, so I’m not limiting my question to classical music only!
Hi David
You can use Qobuz via Chromecast, which nay appeal to some, as it seems to be the streaming service of choice for some, including classical and jazz listeners. There seems to be some confusion in previous discussions about what it will support, although I did read a Qobuz article that said up to 24/96. There have been issues with gapless support on Chromecast too. Still, maybe of interest to some.
We’ve been working behind the scenes with Vtuner and the bbc to get the ondemand content more sorted. It’s not as metadata rich as bbc sounds but it’s a big step fwd.
This change went live early today and is available on all Naim devices that offer the BBC Radio network view.
Screen shot below. Now with full artwork for series/brands and episodes.
Hi Steve, thanks for the heads up. I had pretty much forgotten about the OD stuff in Naim iRadio as it seemed a bit limited, but this looks like a good improvement.
(Arguably off topic with David’s Chromecast discussion, but still good to know!)
But it’s still only 128 Kbps whereas the BBC Sounds app does I think cast the full HLS 339 Kbps version of Radio 3HD? (I’m not certain of that, but it sounds like it to me.)
While those who have future platform Naim streamers wait patiently for the promised Qobuz integration, the rest of us can already get it using a Chromecast Audio dongle and cast from the Qobuz app on IOS or Android. According to Qobuz this supports up to 24/96 ok.
