Sorry for the delay.
Device Information:
(#1) Nest Hub (gen1)
- System Firmware: 12.20230611.1.58
- Cast Firmware: 1.70.371084
(#2) Chromecast Audio:
- Cast Firmware: 1.56.281627
(#3) Nest Mini:
- Cast Firmware: 2.57.375114
All devices are on the same network subnet as is the Android phone (Pixel 6P) I'm using to make changes via the Home App as well as issuing Google Assistant commands. Also all devices are part of the Preview Firmware Program.
I create a new home called "Test" (very creative I know) as requested and moved the 3 device listed above into this new home. I also deleted my existing speaker groups from my primary home. I then switch into the "Test" home and made sure the 3 devices listed above were in there. I then created a new speaker group call "Bridge" (Star Trek anyone). I then tested several combinations of speakers in the group and noted the results below. I used the following command via Google Assistant on my phone to play audio to the speaker group: "Play WUNC on Bridge" and "Stop Bridge" to stop audio to the speaker group.
Device Combo in Speaker Group --> Results
- #1 --> Worked as expected
- #2 --> Worked as expected
- #3 --> Worked expected
- #1, #2 --> Audio plays on #2 but not on #1
- #1, #3 --> Worked as expected
- #2, #3 --> Worked as expected
- #1, #2, #3 --> Audio play on #2 and #3 but not on #1
Some interesting observations:
- There were a few random times where I put #1 and #2 into the speaker group and the first time I asked Google Assistant to play audio it actually did work but if I stopped audio and then tried to play audio again to the group, #1 would not play audio. I tried a few more stop and starts but #1 would not start playing again.
- Like above there was a random time when I had #1 and #3 in the speaker group and #1 would not play audio. Doing a stop and start didn't seem to get #1 working. I eventually removed #1 from the speaker group, played audio to the group where #3 was the only speaker in there which worked, stopped audio, added #1 back to the group and then started audio again and that seem to get #1 and #3 playing nicely with each other again.
- When audio does work to #1 you will see cast icon pop up on the screen and then switch to the player showing what was playing. The times it would not play audio, the screen doesn't change. As in no cast icon or what's playing. It just stays on whatever was already on the screen like the clock for example.
- In the case where #1 was in the speaker group but didn't start playing I could see via the Home app on my phone that audio was playing to the speaker group. If I click on the Cast icon on this notification it will pull up a list of devices with check marks next to the devices currently playing audio. The #1 device was listed but did not have a checkmark next to it. If I click on the #1 device to add it to the cast, audio would start playing out of device #1 BUT the notification in the Home app which said the name of the speaker group "Bridge" before now says "#2 + 2". Basically listing each device separately instead of them being in speaker group "Bridge".
- In all the combo testing I never had #2 or #3 not play audio when they were in the speaker group.
As I noted in my original post, I've had the original speaker group setup for a few years with the #1 devices in it pretty much since I bought it and never had this type of issue. The only change that seemed to correlate with it breaking was it getting the v12 Fuchsia upgrade recently.
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Device information.
