If this works as expected (and i plan on trying it out this weekend) it would lead the way to being able to add Spotify Connect devices to existing Stereo systems cheaply (a Raspberry Pi and possibly an external sound card)... Do the Pis still have crappy Stereo Audio? i remember the first (and possible second) gen ones being bad... not sure about the newer ones...
It's still buggy, but it mostly works as intended. I've been using it together with https://github.com/badaix/snapcast/ for whole-house multi-room audio.
The analogue audio is still pretty subpar. It's just (12bit?) pwm into a simple RC filter. the hdmi output is fine though, and there's a whole aftermarket of boards providing better audio (typically using their own dac on the i2s bus)
Spotify Connect lets any spotify client act as a remote, and lets you hand-off from one sink to another.
The primary benefit for me is that a Connect client is actually connecting to spotify itself - it's less output sink and more headless client. So if I start spotify playing, and then close my laptop, it can sleep properly without interrupting my Connect device.
I don't want to use a custom firmware image. I like the firmware provided by Google, and the monthly security updates. If I were to switch to a custom build of AOSP, I'd need to sideload Google Play Services (by downloading it from a source I trust less than I trust Google) and would also no longer get security updates.
