The original Chromecast turned every dumb TV into a smart TV, and people loved it. Google tried to take that same idea to speakers with the Chromecast Audio, but it was quickly abandoned. So why are people still clamoring for it today?
Google’s first Chromecast was the best-selling media streaming device in the U.S. in 2014—10 million units had been sold globally. Naturally, Google wanted to take this same concept to more platforms. Chromecast Audio was the answer, and it may have been too good an answer.
How did Chromecast Audio work?
Casting to speakers before Assistants
The Chromecast Audio was released in 2015 along with the second generation of the Chromecast for TVs. It cost the same $35 and looked very similar to the Chromecast 2nd Gen, except it had a nifty vinyl record texture and a 3.5mm audio jack instead of an HDMI output.
The idea behind the Chromecast Audio was essentially the same as its video counterpart. You simply plug the audio jack into a speaker and, boom, you’ve now got a smart speaker that you can cast music and podcasts to. Simple enough, but a few things made it stand out.
First, the 3.5mm audio port was also a mini-TOSLINK socket, which allowed it to be connected to high-end home audio equipment. Importantly, it also supported 24-bit/96 kHz high-resolution audio, making it worthwhile for those high-end setups. The Chromecast Audio was the only Chromecast with a DAC, too.
Perhaps the biggest feature that people loved was multi-room playback and speaker groups. You could cast Spotify to one room and a podcast to another at the same time. Speaker groups allowed multiple Chromecast Audios to be paired together for synchronized stereo sound. This was something you needed much more expensive Sonos systems for.
7 ways to repurpose an old Chromecast
Got an old Chromecast sitting in a drawer unused? It doesn’t matter if you no longer need it for streaming, there are plenty of other ways to make use of it. So connect it to your TV, update the software, and try one of these ideas to repurpose your old Chromecast.
Google’s own speakers get in the way
“What if we sold the speaker, too?”
Google never made a second version of the Chromecast Audio. Three years after it first launched, Google slashed the price to $15 for Black Friday and kept it there for three months. Officially, the company said they already had products that people could use for music and podcasts.
Those products are, of course, the Google Home/Nest line of speakers and displays. The first Google Home was released a year after the Chromecast Audio, but the Home Mini was likely the real nail in the coffin. At only $50, it was barely more expensive than the Chromecast Audio, and it had Google Assistant built-in.
The Chromecast Audio was nearly universally praised, but it clearly didn’t fit Google’s new smart assistant product strategy. You might buy or rent movies from Google on a Chromecast, and using Assistant on a smart speaker helped the company collect data, but what was profitable about a cheap dongle that let you stream Spotify to old speakers?
The Chromecast Audio lives on
People still love these little dongles
It’s been over a decade since the Chromecast Audio was released, but for many people, a better product has never come along. Many are still using them today and even buying used models on eBay. Here’s a smattering of what people have said about the Chromecast Audio in just the last couple of years on Reddit:
“I should have bought 20 of them while google was still making them!”
“Such a useful product, loads of people bought them, and there’s virtually no competing products. I don’t understand.”
“There is nothing better for twice the price., and years ahead if its time. Simple to use, and good sound quality.”
“Peak music streamer design. Incredible they hit the size and price point they did. Really wish this product was still made.”
“I have them all over my house, and if they ever stop working, well that’ll be a f***ing shitty day.”
Some of these comments are less than a year old. It’s incredible that Google made a device that was so good it still doesn’t have an equal competitor 10 years later, yet the company decided to ditch it after one model. Of course, Google is well known for killing products that people loved. We’ll probably never see another device like the Chromecast Audio.
Google’s hardware graveyard: 7 obscure devices even Google wants to forget
Google is known for a lot of things, and one of those things is killing its own products. The graveyard is filled with Google apps and services you may have heard about, but there are interesting, lesser-known hardware projects, too. Some were ahead of their time, others were just not good.
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