[porter944]

The new Chromecast w/ Google TV. I got one, seems to work fine for what I need. And it doesn't freeze on HDMI-CEC like the AFTV 4K does on my setup.

Thanks for that info. Full passthrough of all audio? DTS, AC3, PCM, all multichannel? If so, sounds like my KODI box. Support SMB mapping, or do I need to enable UPNP?

As far as I understand, The new Chromecast w/ Google TV,  doesn't do Multichannel files like AAC-5.1 and it doesn't do DTS-HD or Dolby-HD. In the $50 price range the X96 Air can do all of those with coreELEC on an SD card. I picked one up. The remote's not great but it can be replaced with a  WeChip G20S or something similiar. The X96 Air uses the AMLogic S905X3 board. wrxtasy mentions the board on his "Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated November 2020) thread" here: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916