This may be dissonance between audiophiles and regular people.

When I see that it works with my best, old-school speakers, I wonder if it has red and black posts for me to crimp my speaker wire to. But of course I know better and know that it will just provide line out audio. When they say "old school" they mean it has an RCA out jack, and when they say "speakers" they mean boombox, receiver, or modern powered speakers (the sort which often have an iphone connector on top to plug your phone into).

We as audiophiles know that the language used in the copy is imprecise and implies the wrong thing (hopefully we're also smart enough to know what it's actually implying). I suspect the average human would not be as confused.

My main audio receiver is the home theater system in my living room (and already has a Chromecast hooked up to one of the HDMI inputs). It's been good for the obvious stuff like watching movies over streaming apps and my Plex server but also just as a way to play audio and control it from my phone while walking around the house doing stuff.

Still, I have been wanting something like the Chromecast Audio for a while and already ordered one. Might even order more depending on how well it works. My reasoning is that I've considered setting up some basic "whole home audio" system but stuff like Sonos is expensive whereas powered computer speakers and older boom boxes/shelf systems with an aux-in are a dime a dozen. I've got a set or two collecting dust in a closet right now and you can even find powered computer speakers at Goodwill for $5 if you want to go cheap.

Either way, it's great for rooms where you might not need anything fancy but still would like to have streaming radio or listen to a music app. Just plug in old PC speakers, connect $35 dongle, and you've extended your music to that room.

Not audiophile grade or as classy as some $500+ Sonos system but I don't really need all that just to have music coming out of the spare bedroom or the bathroom or the basement (or all of them) while we're having people over or I'm cleaning the house. My current setup is either cast to living room and crank the volume, play on PC in basement and crank the volume, or dock phone into some crappy little speaker thing in the kitchen. I like the idea of just using my phone and then picking what rooms it will play in.

Well, considering the Google page says nothing about needing power or an amp, yes, I do. And my original point noted that the news articles claim it works with "any home speaker" and "old school speakers" when that is not the case at all. Why would I have a receiver when Google says it works "on your best speakers"?