Chromecast Bitrate

[log63]

What bitrate does the Chromecast Audio stream at?

There have been other threads addressing this problem, but they all seem to give contradictory answers.

This thread says that the Chromecast automatically streams at 320 kbps:

• Bitrate on Chromecast?

This thread says that the audio quality is determined by the streaming source (i.e., the Spotify app):

• Extreme quality with Chromecast Audio

This thread leaves both answers open as options:

• Chromecast & iPhone: Changing audio quality ?

Finally, this thread says that the option to change the sound quality of the Chromecast has been implemented within the Spotify app settings, which doesn't seem to be correct:

• [Android][Other] Extreme Quality on Chromecast Audio Device *** Issue Solved***

Can someone with definitive knowledge of Spotify's integration with Chromecast Audio (i.e., a Spotify employee) give an answer?

[dfa2]

Bump. I have the same question as TS.I also find the sound to be much better when I run through desktop -> dac than chromecast -> dac. Would apreciate an answer!

[Bonasa9712]

Bump here too. What's the delay for? 

[minochjmk]

Bump again...... Please answer 

[Realneyc]

Bump 

[martinparachu]

Standard quality for streaming Spotify with Chromecast is AAC 128kbit/s, and 256kbit/s for Premium.

Desktop

The desktop app’s standard quality is Ogg Vorbis 160kbit/s.

Premium subscribers can choose to switch on High quality streaming, which uses 320kbit/s

https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/system_settings/high-quality-streaming/

[sez4m]

.

[siu07jn · Accepted solution]

I opened a supoprt ticket with Spotify today and they confirmed it's not possible to stream to the chromecast at 320Kbit/s currently, but he said;

"our engineers are currently working on getting the streaming quality higher."

He also confirmed premium users currently stream to chromecast at 256kbit/s.

I'm going to try out Deezer tonight and see if the sound quality is better than Spotify, can't find a clear answer on their website either as to what kbit/s they stream. Wondering if it's a limitation of the chromecast audio rather than Spotify.

[Gustavo_x]

Excelent!! Please tell us about the test with the other streaming source.

[Henrik-melander]

Is the soundquality as bad when you cast to a amplifier with spotify connect. Just got the chromecast audio and have connected it with optical cable and the sound quality is noticible worse than from my laptop to a cheap usb soundcard and optical out.

I was thinking of buying a spotify connected reciver like the hegel h190.

Now im not as sure that is the right option and I might stuck with the laptop usb/toslink solution

[cookaa]

I'm using the highest quality stream settings on 3x Chromecast audio devices and to me it sounds pretty solid. I only just realized it's 256 and not 320. I wonder how many humans can hear a difference between 256 and 320. It's good to hear the Spotify engineers are working on improving. I also wonder if this is on Google or Spotify's end. Surely there are some hifi people working at both companies who care about this problem.

[d_le_nen]

I am a premium user.

I can see the data rate between the Spotify app and Chromecast on the network monitor of windows 10, and it is definitely less then 160 kbit/s., not the 256 kbit/s mentioned here. Interestingly, the data rate never drops below 60 kbit/s or so, even if there is no music playing. OTOH, I can also see the data rate between the Spotify app and their server, and it is around 400 kbit/s, which is to be expected with "high quality" switched on. So, if there is no bypass, i.e. a direct data link between the Chromecast device and the streaming server, which I consider to be unprobable,  the app does not pass even half of the data it gets further to Chromecast and certainly not what's declared in the specs.

With other apps I have no problem to send a 1.4 Mbit/s data stream to Chromecast, so this is absolutely a Spotify issue. 

[Groppe]

Just so I understand you, do you mean the data rate between the Chromecast, playing Spotify, and the spotify server is 160Kb/s?

I'm asking since you wrote "the Spotify app" and The Chromecast, which sounds like from IE a phone to the Chromecast. As I understand it Chromecasts communicate directly with the servers.

Great way of checking the bitrates thou, kudos 🙂

[d_le_nen · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, nowadays any normal computer software is called "app", not only those programlets you load onto your smartphone. So in this case, no smartphone, only laptop.

To clarify:     chromecast  <--(160 kbit)--  laptop  <--(400 kbit)--  spotify-server

As I wrote I doubt, but I am not quite sure, that chromecast has a direct link to the spotify-server. But in this case, only a flow of control data from laptop to chromecast would be necessary with 10 kbit or so at most.

So my hypothesis is, that spotify just sends a default 128 kbit stream to chromecast no matter what.

[cagx]

Both Amazon Music and Google Play have superior sound quality via Chromecast

[Pseudopod-]

I measured the data usage for my chromecast audio just now, and it is definitely using more than 160 kbit/s. My router shows an average data rate on my wifi of roughly 32 kB/s, which is 256 kbit/s. This is with only the chromecast connected, so nothing else was affecting the measurement.

It would have been preferrable to get 320 kbit/s, but at least it's well above the worst case scenario. Now, if they could only implement gapless playback...

[Bullseye64]

---

@boojit wrote:

@Joostdriel HDR Setting? Can I ask what you're referring to?

---

Chromecast Audio supports full dynamic range output. This provides premium and professional audio equipment such as HiFi audio systems, AV receivers, and monitor style speakers with the highest quality sound output.

To set up your Chromecast for HDR use the link below:

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6290498?hl=en-CA

[Az_]

I listen to music through my Home Theatre (which has great sound quality).

I can connect to it using my Phone via Bluetooth, and sounds great. But becomes a problem when I want to "start" the music stream from my PC or a Different phone, and the BT has some other rather nasty technical side effects in this scenario.

The solution is to use WIFI instead of Bluetooth. Which I tried using my brand new ChromeCast! This solved the BT technical issues, and allows other devices to see and manage what is being cast.
The downside to this solution is that the Spotify audio quality is so bad, that the volume had to be immediately reduced by half, to relieve the discomfort caused by the distorted audio and piercing sounds it created, apparently due to poorly encoded low bit-rate lossy data being streamed to me.

My hardware setup & connectivity is not a bottleneck (WIFI connects at 866 Mbps, and my Fibre Internet connects at 100 Mbps).

Since the issue is more of a 'compatibility' issue between Spotify & ChromeCast, and if neither is providing a fix - then the solution is to drop one of them!

So the easiest option is to simply end the music subscription, and switch to compatible music provider - although I'd rather not do this!

[Bullseye64]

You didn't mention if you have adjusted any of the audio settings in Spotify or Chromecast. I would look into the suggestions on this post and see if any of them help.

I have a Chromecast audio connected to my stereo and use the Spotify app on my phone, tablet, and computers to change music/playlists and couldn't be happier with the sound quality. It's not CD quality but you won't get that without going to a high end $$$ service and Chromecast won't support the higher bitrate anyway. 

If you were getting satisfactory sound via Bluetooth then I'm sure with the correct adjustments you can have the same thing with your new setup.

[Az_]

Thanks for the Reply! 🙂

Spotify automatically detects when I'm casting to ChromeCast Ultra, and disables (greys-out) all the options for streaming quality (in the apps settings), until I stop casting.

I don't believe there are any settings on a ChromeCast to control audio quality?

I only read a few pages of this long thread, and the general consensus from that, appeared that there is no way to fix it?

I have Spotify Premium.

[Bullseye64]

I have both the older Chromecast and the Chromecast Audio. I am using the audio on my stereo. I should have asked which one you are using. The audio adjustments via Chromecast I mentioned are only available in my Chromecast audio. As for adjusting the Spotify settings, I am only able to do so via the desktop app, they are greyed out on the phone app. I would see if you can adjust the output quality via the desktop app while connected to the stereo.

Here is a link to adjusting the audio settings:

https://support.spotify.com/sk/using_spotify/system_settings/high-quality-streaming/

Hope this helps.