Sure there are quirks but the ability to control Chromecast is great, and also the audio is impressive for listening to Podcasts such as DotNetRocks from my phone.
I hooked the bundled Chromecast Audio to the Line In on my Asus Sonar Deluxe 1.3 HDAV on the HTPC, which connects to a 20 year old Rotel Preamp + Amp combo (separation of concerns!), and equally old (but since then refurbished) Infinity Kappa speakers. Sound quality is great that way, so I didn't see the need for a Home or the Home Max which I knew was coming.
So I can say stuff like. "Hey Google, play {some album, artist or playlist} on the PC", and it'll cast to that if I want the big sound. It is way easier than navigating Spotify on my phone or using the Spotify software on the HTPC itself (which is limited to 1 account, with the hassle of logging out / in).
I wish Google could publish server software for Win10 so that I could cast to that as a Chromecast target rather than go via the Chromecast Audio. However I understand there's probably DRM reasons why efforts for this to happen were shut down.
As a PS, my 7 year old son absolutely loves talking to Google. It's pretty impressive to hear him figure her out.
Audio-only Cast devices do not support DRM, so I don't know why audio casting to a desktop PC would be stopped by DRM concerns.
I got a demo of two of these in my friend's house the other day. The sound quality is exceptional. In a stereo pair the sound was loud and clear throughout the range with good bass as well. Very impressed, plus it's just a nice looking device imo.