Chromecast USB Out issue on Ultra

[vbutani]

When I do Chromecast on WiiM Ultra from Apple Music using USB out, it plays sound for a second, then no sound for a second, and repeats. The track doesn’t play properly. Apple Music shows buffering after playing for a second, then no sound for a second, and so on. I noticed the Play LED on my DDC blinks when sound comes and goes.

When playing music from a USB disk, the Play LED on the DDC is stable, and the sound output is fine.

I also tried optical out from WiiM Ultra and Chromecast from Apple Music to my DAC directly, which works fine.

My setup:
WiiM Ultra USB out → USB hub → USB disk → USB in to Singxer SU-1 DDC → I2S in Pegasus DAC

I am on the latest firmware but have been facing this issue for quite some time.

Please advise.

 

[Burnside]

I’d raise a ticket to WiiM via the more/feedback section in the WiiM app so they can inspect your logs. Given the lossless ALAC format isn’t supported by Chromecast, it’ll be sending a lossy 256kbps AAC file to the Ultra similar to what happens with AirPlay 2 on iOS, but I can’t think why that would cause an issue with usb output but not with optical.

Does this just happen with the Apple Music app - for example, if you played one of the files you have on the USB disk from your Android phone (say using bubbleupnp) and Chromecast that to the Ultra , does that cause the issue too?

 

[vbutani]

I’d raise a ticket to WiiM via the more/feedback section in the WiiM app so they can inspect your logs. Given the lossless ALAC format isn’t supported by Chromecast, it’ll be sending a lossy 256kbps AAC file to the Ultra similar to what happens with AirPlay 2 on iOS, but I can’t think why that would cause an issue with usb output but not with optical.

Does this just happen with the Apple Music app - for example, if you played one of the files you have on the USB disk from your Android phone (say using bubbleupnp) and Chromecast that to the Ultra , does that cause the issue too?

I tried some FLAC and WAV files from Android phone via Chromecast using Bubbleupnp, it's working fine.

I think issue occurs only for Apple Music.

 

[Burnside]

To be honest, Chromecast issues with Ultra aren’t unknown and I get the feeling that sometimes it appears to be app related, so that’s why bug reporting it to WiiM is vital. It does seem strange that issues only seem to be manifested using usb output though. Hopefully WiiM can explain why.