Chromecast audio over Wiim Multiroom

[ccristal]

Hi!
I just received my Wiim Pro. I have it configured as a master, with two Audio Pro C3 as the slaves, in the Wiim Home app.
Everything seems to be working fine, except that if I stream audio via Chromecast to the Wiim Pro, I can't hear anything from the slaves.
Is this by design, or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks!

 

[Mr Ee]

Hi!
I just received my Wiim Pro. I have it configured as a master, with two Audio Pro C3 as the slaves, in the Wiim Home app.
Everything seems to be working fine, except that if I stream audio via Chromecast to the Wiim Mini, I can't hear anything from the slaves.
Is this by design, or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks!

You mention a pro in the first sentence, then say you stream audio via chromecast to a mini.
The mini doesn't support chromecast, can you please confirm your setup / scenario?
Your post implies that multiroom works for other sources.

What happens if you put the devices into a google home group instead of a wiim home group?

 

[ccristal]

Yeah, sorry, I have now corrected the mistake. I have a Wiim Pro. Spotify Connect, vRadio and Radio Paradise work well with multiroom, Chromecast doesn't.
The Audio Pro C3 doesn't support Chromecast, so I can't add the slave speakers to a Google Home group.

 

[Mr Ee]

Yeah, sorry, I have now corrected the mistake. I have a Wiim Pro. Spotify Connect, vRadio and Radio Paradise work well with multiroom, Chromecast doesn't.
The Audio Pro C3 doesn't support Chromecast, so I can't add the slave speakers to a Google Home group.

tbh, I've hardly ever used chromecast on my pros.
I can try CCing to a pro and adding a mini to it in a group to see what happens a bit later, but it may not be relevant to your case as you are using C3s (which I know nothing about).

 

[ccristal]

It is relevant. In fact, it's exactly the same use case: master with Chromecast support, slave without. I would really appreciate it if you could try and let me know.
Thanks!

 

[Mr Ee]

It is relevant. In fact, it's exactly the same use case: master with Chromecast support, slave without. I would really appreciate it if you could try and let me know.
Thanks!

I wrote "may not" as in my case both are wiim devices, which may (or may not!) be a factor, hence my qualification that I know nothing about the C3s, although I did note they appear in the wiim app for you and you can group them.
i.e. I was just covering my bases!

 

[Mr Ee]

It would seem that grouping devices in the wiim app has no effect when using chromecast.
CCing to a single pro works (as expected), but when adding either a mini or another pro to it, nothing changes.
The original pro keeps on playing; neither the mini nor the added pro makes a sound.

However, if I make a Google group of my pros and cast to that then they all play.

 

[ccristal]

Thanks for giving it a try. @WiiM Support , is it supposed to work this way, or is it a defect? Why can I stream analog sources to a LinkPlay multiroom group, and not a Chromecast source?

Thanks!

 

[Mr Ee]

Thanks for giving it a try. @WiiM Support , is it supposed to work this way, or is it a defect? Why can I stream analog sources to a LinkPlay multiroom group, and not a Chromecast source?

Thanks!

I would imagine it's a chromecast issue / limitation / feature.
I don't recall it being discussed / answered on this forum before, but maybe that's just me not remembering.

You might be lucky and wiim might reply here; otherwise raise a feedback request from the wiim app.
(Settings menu on bottom menu bar.)

 

[Griff]

I had the same experience when I tried a while back. Assumed that unlike alexacast all devices (Pro and Mini) were not Chromecast enabled. Stuck with the WHA and Amazon App. Had tried Chromecast to use the native Qobuz app but as said above it only worked on the Pro.

 

[ccristal]

Got this back from @WiiM Support :

We regret to inform you that due to inherent feature restrictions of Chromecast, it currently does not support LinkplayMRM, the Group function within the WiiM Home app. We understand this may limit your user experience, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

 

[onelivewire]

Circling back on this - still an issue, unfortunately.

I'm trying to leverage my Plex library more and more in place of Tidal and it's very frustrating to not be able to leverage multiroom.

No blame on the WiiM devs here, sounds like it's purely a Google-locking-things-down issue. Funny, I upgraded to WiiM because Google home's multiroom support is about as functional as a dumpster fire.

Native Plex support would be FANTASTIC, though.

 

[normaali]

I can hardly describe my disappointment after purchasing a Mini to pair with my Pro and finding out the Mini won't repeat music I've chromecasted to the Pro. And finding it out after a Google search, because there isn't even an error message in the app - everything looks like it works, sans the music from my Mini.

Even if I felt like trying my luck with a second Pro, the thing's just too big to have it sitting on top of my Tivoli radio. I mean, even my NUC PC is smaller than this network audio streamer.

 

[Mr Ee]

I can hardly describe my disappointment after purchasing a Mini to pair with my Pro and finding out the Mini won't repeat music I've chromecasted to the Pro. And finding it out after a Google search, because there isn't even an error message in the app - everything looks like it works, sans the music from my Mini.

Even if I felt like trying my luck with a second Pro, the thing's just too big to have it sitting on top of my Tivoli radio. I mean, even my NUC PC is smaller than this network audio streamer.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a limitation of using chromecast, i.e. it only works in multiroom with a chromecast group, not a wiim group.
And the mini doesn't support chromecast....

 

[Brantome]

Even if I felt like trying my luck with a second Pro, the thing's just too big to have it sitting on top of my Tivoli radio. I mean, even my NUC PC is smaller than this network audio streamer.

Couldn’t you sit the radio on top of the Pro?

Joking aside, you might want to consider a small unit like the one below for stacking kit should you go for the Pro

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KGUSS-Component-Rack-Aluminium-Transparent/dp/B0BCYLF3HD/

 

[normaali]

only works in multiroom with a chromecast group, not a wiim group.

this is where my logic failed. I though being connected to the pro via chromecast would not limit the devices abilities to stream to the mini. after all, if I connected my turntable to the aux in the pro, it would flawlessly stream to the mini.

I suppose google's licensing doesn't have such holes.

Couldn’t you sit the radio on top of the Pro?

A valid question. Another valid question is, if the Raspberry Pi systems already have Chromecast. I gave up on the Raspberry Pi some four years ago, but I suppose it's time to start looking into it again.

 

[Mr Ee]

this is where my logic failed. I though being connected to the pro via chromecast would not limit the devices abilities to stream to the mini. after all, if I connected my turntable to the aux in the pro, it would flawlessly stream to the mini.

I suppose google's licensing doesn't have such holes.

Indeed, this is one of those common sense moments where it's not so common. But doesn't that describe digital audio in general?
I was quite surprised too when I tried it, but I practically never use chromecast so it's not an issue for me!

 

[Brantome]

Indeed, this is one of those common sense moments where it's not so common. But doesn't that describe digital audio in general?
I was quite surprised too when I tried it, but I practically never use chromecast so it's not an issue for me!

Yeah, I've naively assumed similar that the inputs are independent from the processing (EQ, PEQ etc) which is independent from the outputs, but it doesn't appear that the pipeline is from one to the other, so we have situations like this and the inability to apply EQ/PEQ to bluetooth output and airplay casting.