Roon and Chromecast

Audio Gear Talk
1

I want to cast my roon to my downstairs system.

Which device do I get? CCAudio? or the standard CC device with HDMI?

Am casting the artist/track video from CC standard to my 55" flatscreen now, but would like to add a device for streaming audio to another room.

Will both/either support synched output?

2

Chromecast Audio is what you want. Google just announced an update to the standard CC device that would allow it to be used as an Audio device like a CC audio, but no idea if that would work with Roon. It would seem that if you could add the standard CC to an audio speaker group in Google Home, then it would work?

3

Thanks. Believe you are right. The standard CC handles only 24/44 while the CCA does 24/96 from toslink.

4

I dont believe you can sync CC zones with other zones (CC or RAAT or anything else)

5

From the KB article:

Roon supports grouped playback on audio-only Chromecast devices via the Google Home app. Using the Google Home app, you can set up groups of devices, which then appear as additional audio devices in Roon alongside the hardware devices. So for example, you could group a few Chromecasts into a “Whole House” or “Living Room + Patio” zone, enable them as separate Zones in Roon, then play to them freely. Note that video Chromecast devices cannot be grouped together in this manner.

Due to hardware limitations, Chromecast devices can not be grouped with other, non-Chromecast devices outside of the Google Home app.

I note that “play to them freely” phrase. That would seem to imply that the true syncing possible with RAAT is more like a “best endeavour” with CC

6

As noted they cannot be grouped in Roon. And I think the chrome grouping only applies to audio only devices

7

So I just tried it: I went into the Google Home app and added a Chromecast (CC) to a speaker group that previously only had Chromecast Audios (CCA) in it. Then I went into Roon and played music to that CCA group, and sure enough, the CC played along with the rest of the CCAs. I did have to go into the settings of the CC an set add 130ms of delay to the CC to get it in sync with the CCAs.

A couple notes:

  1. Despite the fact that grouping CCs and CCAs in Google Home app resulted in audio playing from both when playing to that group in Roon, I do not see the CC as a separate zone that I can enable in Roon.

  2. In the settings from my CC, I have the preview program turned on so I may have a more recent firmare. In my CC, the firmware version is 1.36.140318.

8

I’ve got two Chromecast Audio connected devices. Each device appears in Roon and I can connect to either perfectly well. The devices are also grouped in Google Home but the group does not appear in the list of zones within Roon. Any suggestions?

9

Found it:–

Preferences > Audio > Networked > Google Cast Group > Enable

10

how do I get album art and track information to be displayed please when I have 2 CC devices grouped into the same zone? tapping on the display icon seems to cause playback to stop. not sure what I’m doing wrong here…