Chromecast Audio - gapless playback

[SoNic67]

I have two CCA devices. What was driving me off the wall was the fact that playback wan't gapless from my sources (only from Spotify and such).
That meant that in between songs, my DAC will loose the SPDIF connection and re-establish it. That, with current SPDIF receiver, takes a couple of seconds so I would lose the beginning of the song.
Adding the SPDIF iPurifier in between changed that pause to distortion in the song (first second or so).
Granted, a better SPDIF receiver in my DAC would probably make this a non-issue, but I feel that in 2017, every network device should be able to handle gapless playback.

Recently I have found this Hi-Fi Cast app:
http://www.findhdmusic.com/high-resolution/android-apps/music/dlna-upnp-chromecast/hi-fi-cast/

They managed somehow to alleviate what Google refuses to repair... It is still not perfect, but it improves the playback between tracks (doesn't do anything for skipping tracks), so I recommend this app.
"Gapless playback via your Chromecast (available for MP3 and AAC files on all Chromecast devices - and WAV and FLAC files up to 24bit/96kHz when using the New Chromecast or Chromecast Audio Devices, and 16bit WAV and FLAC files when using the Original Chromecast)"

 

[E.Auer]

Is that common for DAC's to loose connection when no signal is detected?

Eric

 

[SoNic67]

All SPDIF receivers loose connection if the signal drops. My DAC is an older generation (R2R multibit), so it reconnects slower, enough to be detectable. The Denon AVR-3806 on the other hand doesn't care about this.
However there are cases when... it matters a lot for other resons:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapless_album

 

[E.Auer]

I get the idea of gapless and its cool when intended but I like silence between songs as well.(more actually).

I don't use any SPDIF connections for music so a non issue for me at least, with a networked receiver.
But good to know, as I did not know that this could even happen.

Upgrade Dac?

Eric

 

[House de Kris]

Silence between songs is not (necessarily) related to gapless. Silence can be part of the file which contains the song and be before and/or after a song, as appropriate. The notion of stopping the SPDIF stream just because a song is not playing is infuriating. A player should just sit there, with no song playing, and be spitting out a valid SPDIF stream. The stream would be null in this case, but still valid so that the receiving unit can lock onto it.

The scenario described by SoNic67 is worse than a non-gapless player. Most non-gapless players at least keep the stream alive while changing songs. Stopping it all together in between songs should be criminal.

 

[E.Auer]

How about the Dac just having a 10 second or so shut down delay?

Seems easy to implement.

Eric

 

[SoNic67]

The ChromeCast devices have a memory that can store several songs and it should not need to shut off the SPDIF stream. But it does. The above software somehow manages to "convince" the ChromeCast to store something in advance.
I have enrolled both my CCA in the "beta" firmware program, but I don't have great expectations.

LE: Last night, using Hi-Fi Cast, I managed to listen Pink Floyd trough CCA and, for the first time, not being annoyed by the breaks in the songs (gapless albums).

 

[Poultrygeist]

Haven't experienced this with either of my two CCA's, one connected to an Audio GD and the other to a Schiit DAC.

 

[LesE]

My understanding is that when gapless playback is enabled, Hi-Fi Cast streams the audio data to your Android device where it is buffered to remove the gaps before casting to the Chromecast. That's why the music stops if you shut down your Android device. When gapless is disabled, casting takes place from the media server and music should continue to play when you shut down your device.

I've been using Hi-Fi Cast for a few months now and it's been working very well although it does cause my tablet to reboot on occasion for some reason. But that's a small price to pay in order to enjoy gapless playback.

Les.

 

[SoNic67]

It's very obvious on any of the gapless albumes listed in the Wiki link. Pink Floyd albums are famous for that.

My Parasound DAC has a "Link" LED that lights up when SPDIF link is established. It has a Dolby Digital decoding section and maybe that's why is slower to acquire the lock, but regardless, it should not happen this way.

 

[LesE]

Same goes for the some of the Moody Blues albums which have few if any gaps between tracks. Also, side 2 of Abbey Road is pretty much unlistenable with gaps.

Les.