Chromecast audio - equaliser applied before Toslink connection?

[BrendanC]

After enjoying the sound of my trusty Chromecast Audio through my Arcam Black Box DAC for quite some time, today I was shocked/appalled to notice that in the Google Home app, when I select the Chromecast Audio, there's an equaliser - and it seems to be changing the sound BEFORE it goes into the DAC.

So, I flatten the EQ and it loses bass and treble. Turn either up, and they go up. This is absolutely not want I want, nor would I expect. Surely any software EQ would be bypassed when connecting to an optical out and going into an external DAC? Surely?

I've looked into whether it's possible to switch it off or bypass it altogether, and whereas I suspect there may have been a way when the Chromecast Audio was a live product, I can't find anything about doing it through the Google Home app.

If not then I'm unsure what the EQ is doing, whether turning bass and treble all the way down is the way to go (I don't think so - it sounds very flat), keeping them midway as they were when I discovered (sounds OK), or what.

Perhaps my only option is to listen carefully to a CD, then flip between that and the Chromecast Audio, then play with the EQ until it sounds as close as possible to neutral. But this really annoys me. I use HiFi Cast with FLAC files so that can get bit-perfect reproduction, but clearly Google has inserted itself into my audio chain somehow.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Brendan

 

[BrendanC]

Just one bump - and if no takers then fair enough, the Chromecast Audio hasn't been a thing for quite some time... (which is such a pity because it's a great little piece of kit, apart from this eq issue...)

 

[iandb1970]

Interesting. This thread made me release why my new set-up was so quiet - I had Google Home at 19% volume. However the same issue arises - should the volume on the Google app change the output of the Chromecast Audio when using the Toslink output of the Chromecast Audio? However in my very quick test the once I had changed the volume on the Google Home app, the equaliser settings did not make a difference. I like the OP am slightly confused.

 

[nopiano]

After enjoying the sound of my trusty Chromecast Audio through my Arcam Black Box DAC for quite some time, today I was shocked/appalled to notice that in the Google Home app, when I select the Chromecast Audio, there's an equaliser - and it seems to be changing the sound BEFORE it goes into the DAC.

So, I flatten the EQ and it loses bass and treble. Turn either up, and they go up. This is absolutely not want I want, nor would I expect. Surely any software EQ would be bypassed when connecting to an optical out and going into an external DAC? Surely?

I've looked into whether it's possible to switch it off or bypass it altogether, and whereas I suspect there may have been a way when the Chromecast Audio was a live product, I can't find anything about doing it through the Google Home app.

If not then I'm unsure what the EQ is doing, whether turning bass and treble all the way down is the way to go (I don't think so - it sounds very flat), keeping them midway as they were when I discovered (sounds OK), or what.

Perhaps my only option is to listen carefully to a CD, then flip between that and the Chromecast Audio, then play with the EQ until it sounds as close as possible to neutral. But this really annoys me. I use HiFi Cast with FLAC files so that can get bit-perfect reproduction, but clearly Google has inserted itself into my audio chain somehow.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Brendan

My CCA isn’t installed currently so I cannot ‘see it’ on the Google Home app. I do remember there was a limiter, which was best switched off for Hifi purposes. I can’t recall an equaliser, but like you I’d expect it to operate only in the analogue domain, when using the built in DAC.

 

[BrendanC]

I think the 'limiter' might be the 'Full Dynamic Range' feature in the Google Home app which only applies when using CCA's analogue out and its own DAC. I think you can only see these features when you've set up the CCA properly and assigned it to a room.

The equaliser is most definitely affecting the sound coming out of my external DAC. I spent some time switching between FLAC and CD (Rotel RCD865 - I'm old school) until I'd satisfied myself that the sound with the equaliser at the mid point for Bass and Treble is pretty much the same (which was the default setting). But, I'm still very surprised that the equaliser is in the circuit before the optical out. And it still doesn't feel right to me that there's some software in the middle of what should essentially be a hardware chain, even if at the midpoint settings it's pretty passive. It's bonkers.

I mean, I guess I could set it up improperly and just pretend these features didn't exist, but I kept getting nasty hissing noises out of the CCA cos it has playback start and volume change sounds which I think weren't compatible with the DAC. I found when it was all straightened out, the noises stopped - but the EQ appeared!