Taking the humble chromecast audio to greatness

[newlash09]

Hi all...wish you all a great new year ahead

My listening has mostly been gaana with whatever they claim to be HD for paid subscribers for the last 3 years. Ive never had any downloaded collection of my own. So ganna and tidal via chromecast have been my staple diet.

I had been looking for a streamer with inbuilt chromecast. And the only one i came across was the cambridge audio cxn v2. And if i spent that kind of money, i wanted a aes-ebu out, which it sadly didnt have. So i figured i had to optimise the CCA as best as i could. And everything used, should be able to continue in service even after i upgraded to the metrum ambre as transport, or the expenditure would be futile.

So got a small 500cvt that i can chuk under my daughters bed. Then the cvt was fed to a isotek evo3 polaris power filter. This inturn feeds a Jay's audio LPSU ( thanks manniraj ). The power cable feeding the LPSU is a isotek evo 3. The CCA is hardwired with an amazon fire stick adaptor, so it is hard wired to LAN, without any wifi gremlins. The CCA is then fed to the AMR dp-777 dac cum pre amp with a audioquest cinnamon or forest ( i honestly dont remeber ) mini optical cable, specially designed for the CCA.

And how does it sound after all this faff...in one word...phenomenal

There is dynamic head room and such rich tonality in the mix, 2 main complaints of mine over these last few years. And iam so surprised with the improvement in sound quality that clean power brings.

However , iam not done yet. I still have to add a 500va isolation transformer after the cvt to get the purest power feeding the dac cum preamp and the CCA. Will update once the ultra isoltaion is added in the chain

So no more CCA bashing on the forum i guess. Google designed a great solution , and just left the power end to end users to decide on. Great design and decision by google in the end

 

[tuff]

Nice. Pictures would be awesome

 

[newlash09]

Hi tuff...iam unfortunately not very good at forums or computers. So iam just loading up some pics haphazardly. Sorry

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Hi all...wish you all a great new year ahead

CCA is hardwired with an amazon fire stick adaptor, so it is hard wired to LAN, without any wifi gremlins.

Didn't quite understand the CCA being hard wired to an Amazon Firestick adapter. Will be greatful for some explanation.

Cheers!

 

[Kannan]

Didn't quite understand the CCA being hard wired to an Amazon Firestick adapter. Will be greatful for some explanation.

Cheers!

Chromecast devices can be connected to supported Ethernet adapters. The USB port in such connection provides both power and internet connectivity to the Chromecast device. The Ethernet adapter is connected to the router with a Ethernet cable. Setup can be done only via Android or IOS, no support for this yet on windows platform

 

[sunand777]

Hi tuff...iam unfortunately not very good at forums or computers. So iam just loading up some pics haphazardly. Sorry

You have a great setup, specially Dac AMR dp-777 ,
Enjoy music...

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Chromecast devices can be connected to supported Ethernet adapters. The USB port in such connection provides both power and internet connectivity to the Chromecast device. The Ethernet adapter is connected to the router with a Ethernet cable. Setup can be done only via Android or IOS, no support for this yet on windows platform

Thanks, I was a bit confused because he mentioned Amazon Firestick

 

[newlash09]

Thanks, I was a bit confused because he mentioned Amazon Firestick

Hi fifty fifty...sorry for the late reply. Got busy with other stuff. If you search a bit on amazon india site, you will find that they have Lan adapter for their firetv stick. So this small dongle takes a wired Lan connection and a power input on one side. And outputs a single mini usb cable to plug into the chromecast or amazonnfire tv stick. This single cable carries both power and internet connection. This usually helps with a steady sound transfer.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Hi fifty fifty...sorry for the late reply. Got busy with other stuff. If you search a bit on amazon india site, you will find that they have Lan adapter for their firetv stick. So this small dongle takes a wired Lan connection and a power input on one side. And outputs a single mini usb cable to plug into the chromecast or amazonnfire tv stick. This single cable carries both power and internet connection. This usually helps with a steady sound transfer.

Makes sense. I'll get the adapter!

 

[raghupb]

I have a basic question. So this expt is basically cleaning up power to CCA?

CCA does not host streaming apps that connect to outside world.
If the hosting device is on wireless, then WiFi "gremlims" are there, correct?

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Fiftyfifty]

If the hosting device is on wireless, then WiFi "gremlims" are there, correct?
Raghu

You mean the casting device? That would merely act as a remote, na?

 

[raghupb]

Doubt it. CCA or CC is not the one hosting the app.
If I understand correctly, chromecast is a casting device not the phone/tablet/laptop.
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[tuff]

Chromecast gets a URL from whatever app you use, and cast's it.

 

[raghupb]

Hmmm
Ok. I stand corrected.
Thanks for pointing this out.
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[mpw]

Newlash

Are you sure the CVT under someone's bed is the right place for it to be ??

Is the CVT always on ??

Maybe you may like shorter Speaker cable run too ??

Regards

 

[newlash09]

Newlash

Are you sure the CVT under someone's bed is the right place for it to be ??

Is the CVT always on ??

Maybe you may like shorter Speaker cable run too ??

Regards

Hi mpw...

Yeah iam absolutely out of place with my setup. Have got the marching orders from the dining room, and ended up in my daughter's bedroom now. My idea was to mount the cvt and isolation transformers outside the flat, and run dedicated power lines from there. Till i find a electrician and isolation transformer, this is a temporary location for the CVT. I keep it off when not in use. Does emit some heat, but never found it more than warm. So probably okay for winters, but will have to see how it behaves in summers with our heat issues.

The speaker cables are directional and factory terminated. Dont want to chop them up to shorter lengths, as i dont know if my system will be in this room much longer

 

[newlash09]

I have a basic question. So this expt is basically cleaning up power to CCA?

CCA does not host streaming apps that connect to outside world.
If the hosting device is on wireless, then WiFi "gremlims" are there, correct?

Cheers,
Raghu

Hi raghu....

Yeah the whole idea was to just see if clean power makes a difference for the CCA or not. And in my setup it made a huge difference. Iam sure that things can be further improved with better LPSU, but iam happy with the sound i ended up with.

However, i still have to add a isolation transformer after the cvt. As of now, the isotek evo 3 polaris power block is doing some amount of power filtering, but its main strength is in galvanically isolating all the 6 power leads, so that one component does not dump noise back into other plugged in components through the power lines. So the 6 components plugged into this will not corrupt each other. However, the entire block will be free from the noise coming from the rest of the house, only after a isolation transformer is installed

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Chromecast gets a URL from whatever app you use, and cast's it.

How come the volume control on the phone works when the chromecast is directly accessing the url?

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Hi raghu....

Yeah the whole idea was to just see if clean power makes a difference for the CCA or not. And in my setup it made a huge difference. Iam sure that things can be further improved with better LPSU, but iam happy with the sound i ended up with.

However, i still have to add a isolation transformer after the cvt. As of now, the isotek evo 3 polaris power block is doing some amount of power filtering, but its main strength is in galvanically isolating all the 6 power leads, so that one component does not dump noise back into other plugged in components through the power lines. So the 6 components plugged into this will not corrupt each other. However, the entire block will be free from the noise coming from the rest of the house, only after a isolation transformer is installed

Have you considered running a dedicated phase from your db to the cvt? If you make sure nothing else in the house is connected on this phase, there will be no noise coming from the rest of the house

 

[newlash09]

Have you considered running a dedicated phase from your db to the cvt? If you make sure nothing else in the house is connected on this phase, there will be no noise coming from the rest of the house

Hi fifty fifty

Thanks for the suggestion. That is indeed in the works. Just need an electrician who can rewire by room. And considering the small job scope, folks don't seem to be keen to attend just for this petty job.