Just read the announcement of the new Google Cast for Audio (http://chrome.blogspot.com/2015/01/introducing-google-cast-for-audio.html). I don't see Sonos listed as an early supporter, though. Any chance something is in the works?
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Isn't the Moto Stream just another Bluetooth receiver? Not a real contender vs casting, too many issues...
It's NFC connected and Bluetooth. Works really well, sounds good and seamless with the line in auto settings.
Looks like "Hendrix" will support multi-room audio. Will be watching tomorrow for any hint of Sonos integration...
Yes very interesting developments with Google at the moment. Fingers crossed and hoping Sonos will be very much involved with them going forward
So now that Google released a Google Cast for Audio reciever that will be multi room capable and only costs 35$ its time for Sonos to integrate this!
We don't know where Sonos is on Google Cast. We don't know if they are able to integrate it into existing Sonos software or will require new device. Heck we don't even know if they are truly working on it has just been rumors.
The new google cast receiver may be finding a home though hooked to my current Play:5. So then for me its kinda done!
The new google cast receiver may be finding a home though hooked to my current Play:5. So then for me its kinda done!
I did go ahead and purchase one of the $35 Chromecast Audio devices. That way I will hook it to my Play:5 and therefore have full Chromecast ability. Chromecast functions in much the same way as Sonos pulling music so I'm anxious to see how it does. As those who have seen me post I absolutely hate Airplay, so this should be a good alternative (although I rarely have used my airplay on Sonos).
Only disadvantage of the Chromecast Audio device vs. integration is of course with integration you could chose each speaker in your system individually from the google compatible apps. With the audio device I have to go in Sonos app to chose which speakers get the chromecast stream. Not a big deal and then lets me control everything again in Sonos app. which I do prefer.
Only disadvantage of the Chromecast Audio device vs. integration is of course with integration you could chose each speaker in your system individually from the google compatible apps. With the audio device I have to go in Sonos app to chose which speakers get the chromecast stream. Not a big deal and then lets me control everything again in Sonos app. which I do prefer.
Only disadvantage of the Chromecast Audio device vs. integration is of course with integration you could chose each speaker in your system individually from the google compatible apps. With the audio device I have to go in Sonos app to chose which speakers get the chromecast stream. Not a big deal and then lets me control everything again in Sonos app. which I do prefer.
Thanks, that answered some questions I had regarding Chicks's earlier suggestion to use the aux port to get around Sonos's lack of iOS Control Center support (since all the other streaming apps that support Cast work with Control Center).
But seriously, wow, the Chomecast Audio is a game-changer. There's already an article on Engadget comparing it to Sonos ("competitor at 1/10 of the price"). That said, you have to put your own system together, which a lot of people won't want to do. So there's still a place for Sonos, but they need to get their head out of their rear and focus on the hardware, and adopt Cast as a standard before they get left in the dust. With all the other services they support, I don't see it being that difficult. No specialized hardware is required. Sonos has a great system, but they can't compete with Google's reach to get all these app devs to code compatible apps. YouTube support alone will be huge.
The aux trick could potentially be a fix for me, although it would kind of suck to have to buy a Chromecast to fix the Sonos (never mind the Sonos 5 or Connect that I'd have to buy, as I was already planning on getting one). I'd rather keep buying Sonos, but if I'm going to have to kluge stuff together, I'd at least consider selling my Sonoses and buying higher quality speakers/amps, outdoor speakers (Sonos still hasn't created a weatherproof product) and hooking them up to Chromecast, at probably 25-50% of the cost of Sonos.
You act like the aux is a trick or hack. It's neither. It is what it is designed for.
You keep saying YouTube. Most YouTube content is available on soundcloud which is freely available on sonos.
You keep saying YouTube. Most YouTube content is available on soundcloud which is freely available on sonos.
Whoa, Chris. No need to get so defensive. I meant "trick," as in something I wasn't aware of. I thought if you did that, it would only play through that one speaker.
That said, it is a kluge compared to building it into the app. I shouldn't have to buy another piece of hardware to do something that they obviously can support, given the compatibility with the Google Play Music casting. If that wasn't around, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt, that despite being able to support so many other individual services, they couldn't just support one service that would give them access to all the others and greatly reduce their development efforts.
"Most content' is on Soundcloud, really? Do you have a source for that? So you're saying I could have just listened to the Nexus announcements today on Soundcloud instead of the livestream on YT? Never mind the fact that young people overwhelmingly use YT for music discovery (in Time 3 yr ago). Soundcloud's interface sucks, too. It's too hard to find actual artist's stuff in between all the covers. They don't even have big artists like Taylor Swift.
You have an iPhone. How do you control the volume on your Sonos when your screen is off? Does it not bother you that you have to turn on and unlock your phone just to adjust the volume? Or am I missing something?
That said, it is a kluge compared to building it into the app. I shouldn't have to buy another piece of hardware to do something that they obviously can support, given the compatibility with the Google Play Music casting. If that wasn't around, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt, that despite being able to support so many other individual services, they couldn't just support one service that would give them access to all the others and greatly reduce their development efforts.
"Most content' is on Soundcloud, really? Do you have a source for that? So you're saying I could have just listened to the Nexus announcements today on Soundcloud instead of the livestream on YT? Never mind the fact that young people overwhelmingly use YT for music discovery (in Time 3 yr ago). Soundcloud's interface sucks, too. It's too hard to find actual artist's stuff in between all the covers. They don't even have big artists like Taylor Swift.
You have an iPhone. How do you control the volume on your Sonos when your screen is off? Does it not bother you that you have to turn on and unlock your phone just to adjust the volume? Or am I missing something?
It actually doesn't bother me to turn on the phone to adjust volume. If it did I would just use my Logitech Harmony remote to adjust the volume or my Apple Watch.
I don't find it very kluge when all I have to do is go in the Sonos app and pick which speakers I want to play Google Cast.
I haven't explored Soundcloud in Sonos that much.... maybe you have. I have seen others reporting it has very much the same content as YouTube (ok maybe not the newest). I personally use my desktop computer if I need to play YouTube to Sonos (which has a Sonos connect in between the computer and speakers - giving me full computer sound throughout my sonos system and allowing my desktop speaker system to be Sonos speakers - another very good dual purpose method and no more expensive then the Play:3 I used to have in my office).
I don't find it very kluge when all I have to do is go in the Sonos app and pick which speakers I want to play Google Cast.
I haven't explored Soundcloud in Sonos that much.... maybe you have. I have seen others reporting it has very much the same content as YouTube (ok maybe not the newest). I personally use my desktop computer if I need to play YouTube to Sonos (which has a Sonos connect in between the computer and speakers - giving me full computer sound throughout my sonos system and allowing my desktop speaker system to be Sonos speakers - another very good dual purpose method and no more expensive then the Play:3 I used to have in my office).
I too am interested to see how Chromecast Audio works, particularly in a multi-room environment. They say that this capability will be available in the future, but I have not seen an ETA.
As it is now, I see Chromecast Audio as more direct alternative to an an AirPlay system than a Sonos system. The capabilities that the forthcoming Chromecast app supports will be the key to making it a true Sonos competitor.
That being said, people should keep in mind that Chromecast Audio is far from "wireless". To cobble together even just a stereo pair that is most similar to a Sonos pair of Play1/3/5, you would need...
Powered speakers
Chromecast Audio
Power running to Chromecast Audio device
Power running to powered speakers
And something I've not seen mentioned...speaker wire connecting the 2 speakers
If you go the route of using an amplifier, even more wiring is required. And, grabbing 1 of the speakers to move to a different room or bring outside and plug in is certainly not nearly as convenient.
Further, adding a sub to a Chromecast Audio setup would add more wiring, require outputs from the powered speakers, or require an external amp.
I am not trading in my Sonos system.
As it is now, I see Chromecast Audio as more direct alternative to an an AirPlay system than a Sonos system. The capabilities that the forthcoming Chromecast app supports will be the key to making it a true Sonos competitor.
That being said, people should keep in mind that Chromecast Audio is far from "wireless". To cobble together even just a stereo pair that is most similar to a Sonos pair of Play1/3/5, you would need...
Powered speakers
Chromecast Audio
Power running to Chromecast Audio device
Power running to powered speakers
And something I've not seen mentioned...speaker wire connecting the 2 speakers
If you go the route of using an amplifier, even more wiring is required. And, grabbing 1 of the speakers to move to a different room or bring outside and plug in is certainly not nearly as convenient.
Further, adding a sub to a Chromecast Audio setup would add more wiring, require outputs from the powered speakers, or require an external amp.
I am not trading in my Sonos system.
Powered speakers
Chromecast Audio
Power running to Chromecast Audio device
Power running to powered speakers
And something I've not seen mentioned...speaker wire connecting the 2 speakers
This is not really an accurate comparison. It only applies if you are using Google's own Chromecast Audio dongle, which is basically comparable to the Sonos CONNECT (at a fraction of a price). Google is partnering with various companies to add Google Cast for Audio support directly to their all-in-one speakers. So hardware competing directly with the Sonos PLAY line exists (Sony and LG are already shipping), it's just not being made directly by Google. So the start of the hardware ecosystem is there, and if Google delivers multi-room synchronization that works well, then the one main advantage Sonos has evaporates.
I'm not about to ditch my Sonos gear, either. But without them adding Google Cast for Audio support, I'm not likely to expand it, either. Audio content providers don't want to support multiple APIs for accessing whole-home speaker systems. So when faced with selecting between implementing Google Cast for Audio and implementing Sonos' proprietary API, I don't see many putting developer resources into Sonos going forward. Further, the Sonos Controller app tries to make all content providers a one-size-fits-all and is also aimed at making the branding Sonos rather than that of the content provider. As a content provider, you absolutely want to control your brand experience, and making your own app with user experience tailored to your service will be 1000x more appealing than implementing Sonos' API and showing up as just another random Music Service in Sonos' app. It's better for the end users, too (witness all the desperate cries for Sonos to implement Spotify Connect because the Sonos Spotify experience blows donkey balls compared to Spotify's native app).
And yes, Google Cast for Audio is similar to AirPlay. Except it has one big difference: it works on both Android and iOS. So again, for developers, it makes more sense to support Cast than it does Airplay from a development effort and support perspective. But to be fair, I think Sonos should also implement an Airplay receiver, since the Apple ecosystem is pretty large on its own. With Spotify caving and implementing Google Cast support, I think Sonos was probably smart to pass on Spotify Connect as I expect hardware vendors to abandon Spotify's proprietary streaming in droves now and only implement Google Case for Audio.
I thought (well, rather hoped) that when Google launched their own Play Music app which did allow you to 'Cast' to individual Sonos speakers directly from their app - that this would be available to other content providers, but sadly this didn't pan out. Some time after that Google made their Cast Audio announcement and I guess focus has been elsewhere.
However, the Google (lets call it) experiment - does prove that Casting is technically possible on existing equipment - so there is hope for the future.
However, the Google (lets call it) experiment - does prove that Casting is technically possible on existing equipment - so there is hope for the future.
Chris, it will be interesting to see how the Google device works in your setup. I had used a bluetooth device on a Play:5 to stream music. I ran into an issue which only seems likely to be worse with the Google device.
When I go out, I often just turn off the speaker using the power switch on the speaker. The problem was that the bluetooth adaptor was live, so my phone was still sending the music to it. The online site only stopped sending songs when i got out of bluetooth range. It is my understanding that the Google device runs independent of the phone once launched. So if I launch Spotify from my phone using the cast function, and then turn off the speaker, it sounds like Spotify will just continue to send music to the Google device. It could be hours or even days playing with no one listening.
I realize I'm not directly paying for the extra streaming. But obviously any cost to Spotify will eventually be passed onto the listeners. I can see the streaming services only playing for an hour or so and then requiring a positive response that someone is there.
When I go out, I often just turn off the speaker using the power switch on the speaker. The problem was that the bluetooth adaptor was live, so my phone was still sending the music to it. The online site only stopped sending songs when i got out of bluetooth range. It is my understanding that the Google device runs independent of the phone once launched. So if I launch Spotify from my phone using the cast function, and then turn off the speaker, it sounds like Spotify will just continue to send music to the Google device. It could be hours or even days playing with no one listening.
I realize I'm not directly paying for the extra streaming. But obviously any cost to Spotify will eventually be passed onto the listeners. I can see the streaming services only playing for an hour or so and then requiring a positive response that someone is there.
Yes if you were listening to Spotify radio I assume it would just keep going. I will let you know what I find when I get it. Would be nice if a setting in the Google audio device to disconnect overnight.
My entire comparison was about Chromecast Audio dongle...I should have added the word "dongle" to my 1st sentence. But we are in agreement overall, with 1 exception...
You state "which is basically comparable to the Sonos CONNECT (at a fraction of a price)"...I think the missing piece is we don't yet understand the implementation and efficiency of the new Chromecast App for multi-room systems. This could make/break the experience.
I will do a review of the single when I get it. Should receive next week.
I think we would all agree that a Google Cast parnertership similar to what LG and Sony have In place with Google would be the perfect multi room setup.
We have all stayed away from these other "newbies" going down the route that Sonos invented and brought to the market way before anyone else.
Hopefully Sonos have a great relationship with Google and the Cast option will be rolling out soon.
By the way my moto stream is working a treat connected to my play 5! I think I would keep it connected just to have the added bonus of nfc connection.
We have all stayed away from these other "newbies" going down the route that Sonos invented and brought to the market way before anyone else.
Hopefully Sonos have a great relationship with Google and the Cast option will be rolling out soon.
By the way my moto stream is working a treat connected to my play 5! I think I would keep it connected just to have the added bonus of nfc connection.
I've invested heavily in Sonos, but that has stopped for now. Moving into a new house next week, and will likely wait for more casting support from Sonos, or just leave all together. I can't justify spending so much money on a closed system when so many new options are coming to the market. Being able to cast directly from original native apps is simply just easier and faster in most cases when compared to using the Sonos app. I think the Sonos app is fine, and probably useful in certain situations, but I've literally decided to not listen to music at times because of going through 2 or 3 extra steps. Lazy? Sure! But we've paid a lot of money to have the best.
I agree, I am holding off on any more speakers until I hear more on this, I really hope they are working with Google to try and add support for cast, would make their system the best out there, also Sonos is starting to add other features (ie Truplay) which would still help set them apart from other hardware manufacturers. I think even if you could cast between many different brands I would still choose Sonos.
Interesting article about CCA and Spotify - it seems that you will need one of the premium subscriptions in order to be able to cast via CCA.
http://www.androidcentral.com/googles-deal-spotify-start-unfortunate-new-chapter?utm_medium=slider&utm_campaign=navigation&utm_source=ac
http://www.androidcentral.com/googles-deal-spotify-start-unfortunate-new-chapter?utm_medium=slider&utm_campaign=navigation&utm_source=ac
http://www.androidcentral.com/go-wireless-these-google-cast-enabled-speakers
So another use case for Google Cast for Audio that the native Sonos app cannot do. I was listening to a two hour DJ mix on SoundCloud on my way home from work. Get home, and would like to resume it on Sonos. Except there is no way to sync the listening position from the SC app to Sonos. So I ended up casting it to the CC hooked up to my TV (which is not connected to my Sonos speakers). Simple stuff like this wins BIG on user experience, and the native Sonos app cannot do it.
Google Cast does help with bridging that gap between home and away. Lets hope Sonos can get it running natively. I'm assuming you have no playbar or Sonos unit with input to feed google cast into your system currently.
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