Google has rolled out two new features for its Chromecast Audio product, offering support for multiroom music and high-resolution music over Wi-Fi.
Launched in September, the Chromecast Audio is a dongle that connects to USB power and outputs over 3.5mm analog or mini-Toslink optical connection to speakers over Wi-Fi for a quality and uninterrupted stream.
The accessory includes support for services such as Spotify, Pandora and, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio and Soundcloud in addition to the Chrome browser.
Its new Chromecast app, users can now group units around the house under one name and stream to them all as if it were one Chromecast.
The $35 audio streamer also now supports music files up to 24bit/96kHz in quality over Wi-Fi, according to CNet. However, Google has yet to announce how many units can be used simultaneously at this bit rate. High quality streams tend to chew up bandwidth and can cause issues over wireless networks.
The multi-room feature lets user group multiple Chromecast Audio devices together to play the same song out of different speakers at the same time. Groups are created with the Chromecast app for iOS or Android, and then show up as options when the cast button is pressed in supported apps, such as Spotify, Google Play Music, or Pandora. Synchronizing is easy; users just create a group of devices and cast as they normally would.
Google says the new features have been delivered to the Chromecast Audio via an automatic software update earlier this week, The Verge reported.
These Chromecast apps can be compared to the Sonos multiroom wireless speaker system.