Em84 wrote: @Administrator is it too late to include an ethernet port?

The speaker has no internal playback control/app to go with an ethernet connection. Wired connections would be analog or digital input, wireless streaming is via Chromecast or Bluetooth.

Moderator wrote:

Em84 wrote: @Administrator is it too late to include an ethernet port?

The speaker has no internal playback control/app to go with an ethernet connection. Wired connections would be analog or digital input, wireless streaming is via Chromecast or Bluetooth.

Noted. I meant Chromecast support via an ethernet interface.

Is it too late to include an ethernet interface that supports Chromecast?

For those that might have unreliable WiFi for 24/96 streaming and just want to use the WiFi as a controller only? Since ethernet is more robust.

Even Google themselves recognise people need ethernet and offer an official Chromecast ethernet adapter. But this doesn't work with these speakers obviously.

store.google.com/product/ethernet_adapter_for_chromecast

And I'm sure most people would prefer avoiding TOSlink if it's possible (I know the Chromecast Audio has TOSlink output).

Either an ethernet interface or USB interface - is it too late to include either on these speakers?

1) Interesting, I hadn't seen that adapter (I have Chromecast all over my house, all wireless) - Chromecast over Ethernet vs Chromecast over wifi, certainly seems possible, shouldn't be any difference - but, I'll make sure engineering is aware of this option.

2) As I mentioned before, there is no playback control on the speaker, direct connection to a data source would be of no use.

Moderator wrote: 1) Interesting, I hadn't seen that adapter (I have Chromecast all over my house, all wireless) - Chromecast over Ethernet vs Chromecast over wifi, certainly seems possible, shouldn't be any difference - but, I'll make sure engineering is aware of this option.

Thanks. Yes Google have been selling the ethernet adapter for a few years now..

Regarding: "Chromecast over Ethernet vs Chromecast over wifi, certainly seems possible, shouldn't be any difference - but, I'll make sure engineering is aware of this option."

Thanks, appreciate you forwarding to Engineering. Hopefully it isn't too late to include an ethernet port.


Regarding "As I mentioned before, there is no playback control on the speaker, direct connection to a data source would be of no use"

Noted - that's not relevant to what I'm asking about (and wishing for), so this isn't an issue at all. Controlling via an app is what everyone would be doing anyway.

An ethernet input supporting Chromecast is all I'm wishing for if it's not too late for Engineering to add an interface and support it.

As mentioned, not everyone has WiFi that's robust enough for reliable 24/96 streaming throughout the house, like you do.

Fortunately engineering is way ahead of me ... good thing.

Since this is still in design stage I have not seen/used a final product so I have limited information to confirm things at this point. What I can tell you is there will be wired access to Chromecast, just not sure which input that will be (ethernet or usb-to-ethernet). I don't yet know about other possible wired inputs for using an outboard streaming app, but as long as the source is controlled by the app there is certainly the potential for some type of connection.

Regarding home wifi, I understand this issue all too well. After adding so many "wired" items to my home over the last few years, all of which are wireless actually, I had all sorts of issues with my basic wifi router setup. Even extenders did not help intermittent issues. The solution was costly but easy, I added an Amplifi mesh network system with two hotspots (which is easily expandable for larger homes). I now have perfect wireless for all my devices, full signal strength everywhere in the house, and none of the typical wifi issues we all know so well. Highly recommended.

Moderator wrote: I can tell you is there will be wired access to Chromecast, just not sure which input that will be (ethernet or usb-to-ethernet). I don't yet know about other possible wired inputs for using an outboard streaming app, but as long as the source is controlled by the app there is certainly the potential for some type of connection.

Absolutely brilliant.

Chromecast covers every streaming service from their native apps (other than Apple Music - for now). So Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud all support Chromecasting from their native apps. So Chromecast support is easily the best umbrella solution. Qobuz suports 24bit/96kHz streaming over Chromecast... These bookshelves are now back on top of my list. 'Wireless only' was a deal breaker for me. Very happy indeed.

I'm in a big apartment block and there is interference on both 2.4GHz and sometimes even 5GHz wireless, due to so many wireless access points around me, causing dropouts with hi-res streaming sometimes. Hard wired is bullet proof to these issues which is why I mentioned the robustness earlier ... In my previous and much larger home, I had quite a bit of space between neighbours, and my wi-f mesh i had no such issues, like you..

Good to know Engineering has considered not only their own needs but the needs of end users too, by adding a hard wired option.

Does this also mean that a wired connection between each speaker itself is also coming? Or will that remain wireless only?

I'm worried about dropouts between each speaker, for the exact same reason I worried about wireless input... Can you please feed this back to Engineering...

There is a reason the LS50 wireless has both hard wired input and hard wired connection between each speaker and my guess is again due to robustness of hard wired and the potential interference issues of wireless...

While I'm sure we'll get to the point where wireless can be bullet proof for all environments, we're not there yet. Wired is still king for robustness.