Tech Tools Review: Chromecast Audio

I hesitate to use the word “dumb” about speakers when it comes to those you may have bought before the rush towards streaming music services and bluetooth enabled speakers. Because they’re not really dumb, they just aren’t quite as flexible as you’d like. They may have some serious audio power under the hood. And you can probably still connect your phone to your old system via wires if you really want to.

Take our jukebox, for example. It will play CDs, it has an iPod dock - 30-pin connector though - and it’s got a couple on connections on the back so you can hook up extra speaker and the like. It also comes with an auxiliary input, with a built-in 3.5mm connection. So it would be a little unfair to chuck it on the scrapheap because it won’t play my Spotify or Deezer playlists.

But maybe I don’t want to have my phone tethered to the sound system all day. Maybe I need to move it around with me because I’m expecting a call, or I need to check my email, or simply because I’m on the best Candy Crush streak of my life.

There are a few options. The Vamp will give your old speakers a wireless connection and a power supply. But it costs around €100, and I’m not sure I really want to use my old speakers that badly. Chromecast Audio, Google’s new product it announced a few weeks ago, is a more pocket-friendly bet. It looks remarkably like the updated video Chromecast that you plug into your TV: round, flat, micro USB jack for power. But there’s no built-in HDMI cable and it has a bit of a vinyl-record-feel to the design.

It supports RCA, 3.5mm and optical speaker inputs through the one jack, so that should cover all its bases when it comes to connecting to most of your older speakers. In the box, you get a 3.5mm cable, but the rest you’ll have to supply yourself.

It took one minute to set up Chromecast Audio. I timed it. Once it was all connected, the device immediately downloaded an update and installed it, which took a further two minutes. All in all, not bad.While it was doing all that, it offered me advice and help on how to use the audio streaming device. It was an educational few minutes.

Chromecast Audio, like its video counterpart, requires a wifi connection to bridge the gap between your devices. Connect your Chromecast to your wifi network as part of the set up and then you’ll be able to cast audio from compatible apps and services. There’s no bluetooth pairing, and very little messing about.

I cast the audio from Deezer to the Chromecast Audio connected to the jukebox. It sounds pretty good, with no interruptions. It also means I can use my phone without interrupting the music for the most part; my phone also doubles up as, among other things, a baby monitor. So being able to listen to that through the phone speaker and still have music streaming through the speakers via cast was another advantage over the regular cable method. It also means a call won’t cut off your music either.

The good As far as setup goes, this is simple. The app talks you through the process, and it’s

done in under a minute. The Chromecast Audio not only looks good, but it won’t leave a dent in your finances.

The not so good It still needs power, so you’ll need to have your speakers close to a power source of some kind. While you may be cutting the wires between your phone and your speakers, you’re still tethered, like it or not. Not every service supports cast either, so make sure it will work with what you use before you invest.

The rest You can cast audio from a number of devices, including iOS, Android, Chromebook, Mac and Windows laptops. And there’s a decent number of apps that support it too, including Spotify, Deezer , Google Play Music and TuneIn Radio.

The verdict

HHHH At €39, it’s a budget-friendly way to get more out of your old speakers.