So the music system has been running really well with the various Chromecast Audio (and regular Chromecast) devices sprinkled throughout our house.  No complaints really on interaction, responsiveness, usefulness, etc.  However… Progress(tm).

I’ve probably alluded to my ongoing quest to reduce and de-clutter my living space.  This is and probably will forever be a source of intrigue, excitement, and cash drainage.  Technology marches forward and enables ever-smaller devices to fill the role that myriad other devices once filled – or at the very least, that much larger devices once filled.  And in some cases devices become virtualized and move into the realm of bits and bytes, losing their corporeal selves and existing in “the cloud”.

Riiiight.

Back to music.  When I first began the home audio aspect of my Home Automation ambitions 11 years ago, the unanswered question was: how to bridge the digital world and physical world?  Digital, in that I was writing the software that would form the basis of the home audio system, and physical in that you need hardware to produce the music – and also to control it.  It’s interesting reading the old articles chronicling those first steps, and then reading the machinations I went through as I struggled with concepts and financial constraints to realize the system I was aiming to build.  All of this reading is available on Piper’s Pages, if you’re interested.   Even then, the two big questions were: how to physically interact with the system? And: what will produce the music?

It’s the latter that I’m focusing on in this post.  The early system’s intentions were so cute, in retrospect.  Multiple sound cards, running outputs of cards into inputs of other cards, worrying about card addressing.  So quaint.  And then we moved to another house, and those sounds cards haven’t done a single DA conversion since.  Nope… the new, temporary solution was to use smartphones or tablets connected via AUX or Bluetooth.  The remote/renderer capability of the system made this a little more bearable, in that you could purpose a tablet as a renderer and have it tethered to an amp via AUX/Bluetooth, then control it with your smartphone running as a remote.  But again… so quaint.

This was certainly a stopgap solution.  I had envisioned a full-fledged Sonos setup for the move, a dream that was never realized due to cost and unanswered questions of how to get my music to Sonos.  Would I be back to utilizing sound cards and piping music to the Sonos network via AUX?

At some point we gained Cast integration, and that was a Good Thing(tm).  Cheap to implement, could repurpose existing amplifier/speaker hardware, and it brought with it the software challenge of how to integrate my 11-year-old software project with something that was both modern and surprisingly sensical in its approach (I’m speaking of the technology that underpins Cast).

But…… Progress(tm).

The system has certainly been capable.  Multiroom is a thing, mulitple audio streams is a thing, Bluetooth headaches are not a thing.  What became evident through is the divide between interaction models.  You can get as far as casting audio to a destination, but then you have to switch mindset and think of the destination itself: is the amp on? is it on the correct input? do I control the volume in software or hardware? is the Harmony remote in the right mode?  It’s a conceptual disconnect.

Still, Cast certainly seemed like the right way to go.  And Google eventually launched the Chromecast Built-in program, which seemed to address most or all of my problems.

Which brings us to the real reason for this post – my experience with Vizio’s SmartCast products.  Specifically, the Crave 360 and Crave Pro.  And I have to tell you, I’ve really been on the fence about the move to Chromecast Built-in, much less Vizio’s own implementation.  Truthfully, moving to built-in represents more of a sideways move than a forward move: same Cast technology, same Cast integration, same music in the same physical locations (probably).  You’re spending money but on the face of it the only thing you’re really addressing is the “disconnect” issue.  Unless, of course, the new hardware does better at music reproduction.

In my case the Sony bookshelf that the Crave Pro was to replace is a pretty good system.  It’s louder than the Pro, it has boomier bass.  What irks me is the “disconnect”.  And the wires.  Man, the wires.  Getting the Sony into the music ecosystem means four physical devices (1 amp, 2 speakers, 1 Chromecast Audio), 5 wires, and 2 power outlets.  In this age of appliances I really wanted a single integrated device with a single wire going to a single power outlet.

Sooo… Crave Pro.  It really is my first experience with the amplified-speaker age that we’re in now.  And… I was disappointed.  The Cast aspect was fine, really.  But the music reproduction was something altogether different from the Sony.  Again, the Sony is louder and has boomier bass.  But… but… does that make the Sony better?  Because, truthfully, the Pro actually has a wider soundstage and richer bass at moderate listening levels.  It can’t get as loud as the Sony while maintaining the same composure that the Sony can, but… it can get loud enough.

I’m aware of the danger in trying to convince yourself of something.  And I definitely vacillated on the Pro.  The 360, on the other hand, went through one night of uncertainty but then became a firm “yes” after applying a software update which solved strange Cast disconnect issues.  The 360, unlike the Pro, is a new entrant – having a portable speaker that can be used in the yard or the garage.  It fills that role and it fills it well, so it got to stay.  And so did the Pro, honestly, once I decided that insane volume no longer has a place in our house.

That’s right folks.  Apparently I’m maturing… who knew.  The Pro is the right answer for the intended application.  It’s different than the Sony – in all the ways previously mentioned – but it turns out that it’s the right answer for the particular application.

So ya… the march goes on.  The music system is evolving.  I’ll spare a paragraph to say that what I like about the Crave 360 and Crave Pro are their simplicity: an amplified speaker with a physical volume knob (actually a ring) which itself is very thoughtfully integrated into the design of the unit.  Whatever transport controls the speaker supports are hidden away as swipe and tap gestures within the ring.  Music reproduction is nice – and actually impressive on the 360 given its size – at anything below 75% volume.  Which, frankly, is just fine when you remember that these things are not meant to be concert speakers but rather are intended to fill a room with music.

I’m happy.  They can both stay.