The Brennan B2 is not like other audio components, and does some things many of us do on our computers. It’s built with the realization that many of us have hundreds, perhaps thousands of CDs that we might like to play if they were easier to access. Some of our readers have large iTunes libraries of ripped CDs and Windows users may have used iTunes or some other software to rip many of their CDs. The Brennan B2 covers that, allowing you to import your collection where it will be identified track by track and put into an easily navigable database, allowing you to create playlists or play albums or tracks easily.
1100/2200/4400 CDs on 500G/1T/2T as FLAC.
5000/10,000/10,000 CDs on 500G/1T/2T disk in MP3.
64G SD model approximately 700 CDs MP3 or 147 FLAC (or a mix)
Note: There is a 10,000 album and a 160,000 track software limit.
Total 15W+15W RMS TPA3110 power amplifier
– 40,000+ stations from around the world.
Bluetooth In – play music from your mobile phone or tablet through B2
HDMI Out – play music through your TV or Home Cinema
Two USB 2.0 Hi-Speed 480 Mbits / sec ports. (Used by the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth dongles but can be expanded using a USB hub.)
Optical SPDIF output (shares connector with line out jack)
Rear connectors – loudspeakers, line in, SPDIF/line out, USBx2, 24V DC
256 x 64 soft scrolling graphic white OLED display
Power supply / AC adaptor – included – works from 110V to 240V.
32-key credit card remote
Bluetooth dongle (free for US buyers, optional extra outside U.S.)
(Optional MSRP $99.00) BSP50 Loudspeakers 22cm (H) x 14.5cm (W) x 18cm (D)
4.8 x 17 x 15.3 cm
2.65 lbs – aluminum construction
3GA Ltd, Cowley Road, Cambridge
500 GB storage, $499.00; 2TB storage, $679.00
Brennan B2, CD player, CD ripper, music server, Bluetooth, WiFi, CD Player Review 2018
Some readers will undoubtedly say that they already can rip their CDs, and have been doing it for years. That’s true enough, and there are dozens of solutions to play them, like Sonos or Apple AirPlay.
The Brennan B2 comes at the problem in a fresh and interesting way. It’s designed to look like a quality audio component, something you’d have in your office or along with your other HiFi components. It’s only a little wider than a CD jewel case and about as tall as a stack of ten CDs. If you wanted to, you could use it as just a normal CD player, but inside the Brennan is a small network friendly computer that will rip and catalog your CDs and make them useful to you where your audio system is, not where your computer system is.
The Brennan B2 is the brainchild of Martin Brennan, a UK inventor with a small facility in Cambridge. I expect the Brennan B2 was born to solve a problem Brennan had himself; how to listen to a large collection of music in an easy way, with the ability to browse potentially thousands of CDs to play what he wanted.
Secrets Sponsor
In addition to the Brennan’s ripping talents, the B2 contains a stereo amplifier rated at 15W/channel. Brennan was also nice enough to send me a pair of Brennan BSP50 speakers, which turn the Brennan B2 into a compact music playing system. The $99.00 bookshelf speakers are not speakers audiophiles would likely love, but they are competitive with speakers offered at a similar price. Since my main interest was the B2 and its CD ripping and cataloging abilities, I gave the Brennan speakers a listen to determine that they were fine in a small room for a not too demanding listener.
The Brennan B2 is an attractive and compact audio component. It has a round knob used for volume and navigation of its interface, and small buttons for start/stop, next, back and eject. There is a slot for inserting a CD for playback or ripping.
Setting the B2 up is easy, and a quick start card is included. Plug it in and add the Wi-Fi transceiver to the back if you want the B2 on your network for internet radio or software updates. The Brennan will list the Wi-Fi networks it sees, and asks you to input your network password.
There are a variety of hookup options on the back of the unit. Speakers can be attached, or you can use the optical or analog output to connect the B2 to a receiver. There is also an HDMI output, something rarely seen on audio equipment, so you can play music through a television or monitor. For my use, I used both the optical and analog output to connect the Brennan B2 to my receiver; the same jack does double duty for use as a stereo analog output and as an S/PDIF (Toslink) output. It supports a stereo mini plug, and I had one in hand that has 2 RCA male plugs on the end. Those RCA plugs went into my receiver when I tried that hookup method.
The back of the B2 sports a Wi-Fi dongle (included), a Bluetooth dongle (also included) and an Aux-in port for a tuner, turntable or portable media player like an iPod or mobile Phone, although Bluetooth also gives you a connection to Bluetooth equipped devices.
You can import music from two of the USB ports on the back, plugging in a USB hard drive or even a USB thumb drive. You can also import from a computer by pointing the Brennan B2 browser page at files and clicking on ‘send to Brennan B2’.
There is a headphone output, but it’s the same jack as the analog out, so you can’t use it for audio output to a receiver, for example, and a pair of headphones. In a normal use case, I would expect users would hook up their headphones to the jack in their receiver and listen to the Brennan B2 that way.
If connected to the internet, the Brennan can use an online database to get album and/or track information. If you are not connected, the Brennan ships with an onboard database that can identify all but the most recent CD releases. It contains 3.2 million CDs information, and it is updatable.
The B2 was a pleasure to use. Once hooked up, ripping a CD was simplicity itself. Insert a CD into the motorized slot, and the Brennan B2 quickly identifies the album. It did so for every CD I entered. Should it fail, you can manually enter the information through the Brennan browser interface.
Secrets Sponsor
While the Brennan is ripping your CD library, you can listen to what’s already on the B2 without any slowdowns or glitches. The B2 is an excellent multitasker. When you first set up the Brennan, you have the option to rip your disc media to either WAV or FLAC formats. In fact, the Brennan always rips to WAV format in real time, but if you’ve chosen to have FLAC rips, which I did, the Brennan does the conversion in the background very smoothly. I timed a few CDs to get an idea how long a rip takes. I averaged a shade over 6 minutes each for a bunch of 70-80 minute CDs. That’s just the timing of the first rip, because if you want FLAC it will be longer but the conversion process will be invisible to you. I found the ripping and identifying of discs to work as advertised. I saw no problems with the process. Brennan says the system will playback Apple M4a files, but I did not test this feature.
The Brennan B2 comes with a credit card sized remote, but it is chock full of buttons. You can select the playback source (CD, hard drive or internet radio), pause any playback, search for tracks, skip tracks, control the volume and many other functions. It’s very complete and will let you operate your Brennan B2 from across the room. Even better, Brennan provides a web browser. The Brennan B2 will display its IP address. Direct a browser to that address and you can take complete control of the Brennan. Playlists are easy to create, ripped CDs can be found by title, artist or track name.
You should be able to connect via any modern browser, and you can also use a mobile phone or tablet as well, and the interface nicely conforms to your device. It’s all very smooth and reliable. My Brennan B2 worked with Chrome and Apple Safari without issue. It also displayed nicely on an iPhone and iPad and worked on an Android based phone as well.
Internet Radio was a pleasure to use on the Brennan B2. You can search by country, here in the US by state, and by genre of music. The Brennan had no trouble finding some of my favorite local stations. You can also search by station name or call letters. You can even search YouTube for music. That’s a really clever idea since there is so much music up there. I tried a few searches and each one found tracks that played just fine.
You can play music from Bluetooth devices like phones and tablets through your B2 using the included Bluetooth dongle. The Brennan will show up as a Bluetooth source on your other devices, so just tap to make the connection.
To test the quality of the ripping, I ripped a CD to the Brennan, and then played the same CD on a high quality CD player, an Oppo BDP 203. I tested this with known high quality CD’s, including a Telarc disc of music by Jerry Goldsmith (The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith), and the Dire Straits Brothers in Arms CD.
I synced the Brennan B2 and the Oppo and could hear no difference between the original disk and the Brennan FLAC copy. That was true on good speakers, and even through some high end planar headphones. That’s what I expected from the Brennan, and I was not disappointed.
Other CDs I listened to included Princess Mononoke, which has lush strings and very deep bass.
Another great CD that ripped cleanly was Dafos, a wonderful percussion ensemble disc that has been an old standby for listening tests. The rip was flawless.
The Brennan B2 is not a high resolution player. You can’t store downloaded high resolution files, and you can’t rip SACDs (although you can rip the standard CD layer on an SACD).
There will be many readers who will say “just rip your discs on a computer and be done with it”. I understand the sentiment. But the Brennan B2 is a high quality audio component that is designed to live with your other hi-fi and home theater gear. It’s lovely to look at, extremely well built, and allows you to use your on-the-shelf CDs to feed a digital playback and cataloging system. It throws in internet radio and YouTube streaming, and supports Bluetooth from mobile devices. With its built in amplifier, it can be a small stereo system if you like, just add speakers.
I really like the Brennan B2. If you want to finally get control of your CDs, this may be just the device for you. In a world where physical discs seem to be slowly falling out of favor, the Brennan B2 lets you salvage your library of CDs without losing their original quality, and turn them into easily accessible digital assets.
Highly Recommended
Can you use the words simple and whole house audio in the same sentence? I…
I got a chance to partake in an exclusive outing to Sennheiser's HQ in Tullamore…
An elegant and buttoned-down loudspeaker that can still “kick it,” old school! Because of this…
Sonus faber delivers high style and high performance from its Lumina II Amator Bookshelf Speakers.…
The newest integrated amplifier from Soulnote is the A-1. This amplifier is designed by ear…
Hey Everyone, in case you didn’t realize it, a significant portion of the audio world…
View Comments
Thanks Mel - I've been waiting for an audiophile's review of this. I'm soon to live between two places wanted a solution whereby I can have my (large) cd collection at wav/flac quality in both.
I think it's a very clever device that many people will appreciate.
Thanks
Mel
I don't understand the purpose of a $500+ stand-alone unit. I ripped 900 CDs to FLAC files with EZ CD Audio Converter software, which cost just $30. It quickly and accurately rips the music, the metadata, and art, and converts to any format including FLAC which I use. I store all my files on my computer. So there is no need for a separate unit for this purpose. I also use EZ CD to convert the FLAC files to MP3s to play on my phone
I used to use a Bluesound Node 2 to manage and playback my files, but now I manage them with the outstanding Plex software app and their Plex Media Server. The Plex interface is clean and easy to use. I am listening to a Plex playlist as I type. A Plex pass costs $40/year or $150 for a lifetime subscription. With Plex, I can stream all my music and video. Through Roku, I have access to all my media on my main system either through the Roku Plex player or the stand alone Roku media player. I can also access the Plex media server through my Marantz AV Preamp or my Oppo BDP-103. Alexa can also find and play the music files. The Plex Media server is also supported by Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, and most other platforms.
I think if you'd read the article more closely your question would have been answered. Some people want a one box solution that is part of their audio system. You've also not counted your hardware investment in computers as part of your expense. As I said, this is not a solution for everyone, but it is an excellent solution for those who want a component style music management system.
That's a fair point, for someone who doesn't have a computer and wants to keep it simple. Most of us already have computers, so there's no hardware investment to consider. Also, it looks like you need a computer, smart phone, or smart TV to use the web browser.
Can the Brennan integrate with a Roku or other streaming device?
No, as I stated in the article, it comes with a very full function remote. Computer not required but everyone has one. Clearly this is not a product for you, but I found many people with computers who really like this solution. It works with Sonos. Not sure about Roku. Thanks for your comments. Mel
"Computer not required but everyone has one."
Certainly everyone who has a Brennan has a computer, as that's what it is. I wouldn't be surprised if you could load Linux on it. I mean the full desktop environment, not just the customized Linux that it comes running. I can with my home brewed equivalent, which, not being faux lobotomized, can also play video, both local and streamed. And check my email. As could the Brennan with the right software loaded and the appropriate display panel.
Getting a Brennan wouldn't be avoiding using a computer, it would be adding another one.
Now, I would have really loved this thing back in '99 when the 5 bay PIII tower the size and power draw of a small air conditioner was what was required to play computer audio files, but today I can build the equivalent system, only with wifi and bluetooth, into the sole of my shoe (which is basically what Brennan has done). And the entire built up board costs 10 bucks retail over the counter. Only 5 if you don't need wireless.
The only market I can see for this is old people (and I am a "senior citizen" myself) who haven't kept up with how things are done these days. It's just a mini all in one PC with most of the functionality removed in software.
Yes, it's a computer. So is your car these days and your refrigerator. I don't think the user base is older people.. just those who want to utilize their disc collection in a small form factor, high quality audio component that makes access very convenient.
"Yes, it's a computer. So is your car these days . . ."
I don't have a car. If I wanted one I'd look for a decent Chevette to avoid the computers.
My bicycle is computer compatible, but it is only installed when I require the data for something or other and it has nothing to do with the actual function of the bicycle.
" . . .; and your refrigerator."
No. And when there is nothing available on the commercial market without one, I will build my own. They're extremely simple devices with no need of microprocessor control.
I'm not anti-computer, rather I know them all too well.
"I don't think the user base is older people.. just those who want to utilize their disc collection . . ."
Read what you wrote, very carefully. Young people do not have a disc collection. The two HTPCs I've recently built, and the desktop I built a few days ago, are completely solid state. The desktop case doesn't even provide for an optical disc to be installed. This is the new normal. I did not even need a disc to install the operating systems from scratch.
Go on YouTube and you will find video rants by 20 somethings about how a computer case sucks, because it includes an optical disc bay. And others ranting about how they don't want to buy "stupid pieces of plastic" that they have to wastefully throw away after they've extracted the ones and zeros.
If the Brennan were intended to "utilize" a disc collection it wouldn't have up to 2TB of data storage. It's intended to play digital files. The only reason the optical drive is included is to produce digital files. Which you only have to do once per disc. Then you can throw it away (I don't advise that, but that's for legal reasons).
Once you have the digital file you can play it back through anything. Like a Micca Speck, a Kodi box the size of a bar of soap (the one in my bedroom could hide in a Trident gum pack and doesn't "include" YT audio, it fails to dispose of the video. Even my $35 dollar Chinese "MP3 Player" plays color video), or a "phone," or your refrigerator I guess.
The removable data storage media of choice for the young crowd is the (micro) SD card, which is called the *S*D card because it was intended to supplant the optical disc. For various commercial reasons it never did as a commercial distribution medium, but it's all the Kids These Days(tm) actually use (many of them have never even used a USB drive, which is form factored for data transfer, not storage).
For the purposes of bias disclosure I'll note that my disc collection includes 78 rpm shellac. The wax cylinders aren't discs. I don't play them. I have them because I bought them in a different century, so, there they are. I can't play back the cylinders anymore, but I have the digital files produced from them.
Lot's of generalizations there. Obviously this is not a product you want. But others do, and I know lot's of younger people with extensive disc collections. You are most welcome to your opinions, and that is all they are. Others can and do disagree. Thanks for writing, but it's not productive to engage in a debate over your subjective impressions or personal experiences.
"You are most welcome to your opinions, and that is all they are. Others can and do disagree."
Certainly. I myself have held far more bad opinions in my day than good ones. Such is life. That's how I learned, the hard way, that contrary to current popular opinion, not all opinions are equally valid.
The reason I still buy discs, and advise others to do the same, is because they are your legal property. So are commercially produced and distributed SD cards, but those are few and far between, more's the pity. In my opinion legal property is a good thing to have.
But it is not my opinion that you can put together a box that outperforms the Brennan for rather less money if you are willing to forgo the disc drive (and a USB disc drive is only about $25 bucks. Pull it out and use it for the rip, then tuck it away). Give me an empty cigar box, a hundred bucks and a couple hours and I can demonstrate it.
"wouldn't be surprised if you could load Linux on it."
According to their website (look up the section on changing the SD card) it's built around a Rasberry pi - so yes...
"The only market I can see for this is old people"
Or those who don't want to invest a huge amount of time ripping their collection in one go. This allows you to listen and rip at the same time - easily. Use it for a few months and you'll have your favourites all ripped and easily accessible..
"According to their website (look up the section on changing the SD card) it's built around a Rasberry pi - so yes..."
At the time I hadn't dug that deep in the manual. My first guess based on the specs alone was a Rasberry Pi Zero W, but the manual implies a Model 2 B or older (WiFi dongle, the current models have onboard WiFi and Bluetooth. The manual is a year and a half old, so perhaps he is using current models now, but then he should be criticised for having an out of date manual online).
"Use it for a few months . . ."
I build Raspberry Pi based entertainment devices (and desktops). With a DVD R/W and 1TB HDD I would have to pay $400 to give up most of the functionality - like the ability to simply plug in an Ethernet cable (have you read the instructions for how to do that? Come ooooon).
Yeah - I read a glowing newspaper review of this somewhere. Then went to amazon and saw the reviews pretty much split between 'wonderful' and 'doesn't live up to the hype".
I want to love this, but it seems to be pretty much a hobbyist device in a nice looking case. I mean it doesn't even have an on/off switch!
You rear panel image shows a power switch. I have not seen this anywhere else, even on the Brennan site.
It's there. Seems a good design feature, I really dislike devices that require the power plug to be pulled to re-boot them if there is a problem. Thanks for writing. mel
I've had a B2 since Jan '18. No power switch. Being a tech doofus I was so happy with the easy set up . . . busy summer didn't use it much, but it stayed on because there is no power switch . . . turned it on a few wks ago and got lots of blinking & no function. And, still being a tech doofus, cannot grasp any of the info that might be helpful on the forum. Mel, check out the amazing bundles of problems people have on the forum and maybe revisit this some day?
Thanks for your note... I did not have any problems with the unit.... after my review a good friend got one and it has been extremely reliable for him, but that's a rather small sample. . Amazon reviews are generally quite positive too, so I'm sorry you are having issues, I'd check with Brennan and see if they can sort it for you.
Kind of you to respond. This will be a long slog for me. I was looking for trouble shooting, etc on B2 site when I found the user forum. Thought you might be interested in perusing the scope of issues. I'm still hopeful. Had I written an Amazon review in the first few wks it would have been joyful! Thanks again.
I looked at this several years ago and thought it was interesting. At that time, it was only available in the UK. -Do you know who carries these Stateside?
Amazon is the main source stateside
It's a pity it doesn't come with a headphone socket.
to my intense shame, my CD collection has long since passed 10,000. If I understand properly, adding an external drive won't help me overcome this limitation. Is there any other work-around?
Just to make assurance doubly sure: when you were comparing the Brennan output with a high quality CD player, I understand that you were using the stereo mini-jack output from the B2 (and not the optical output) to connect to the RCA jack input of your amplifier? (I know you mention making such a connection, but it is not 100% clear to me that you used that connection for the comparison.)
Trying to see if the B2 will be able to play nice with my stereo setup. I want to send the B2 optical signal (thru an optical DAC) to my amplifier. Will this work? How much should I spend on the DAC?
I like to download 20-25 albums worth of tunes at a time from computer into my phone for use in car or w/ bluetooth speaker while traveling. Dumb question: article states that B2 can play music from bluetooth sources; can anyone confirm ability/simplicity to transfer tunes via wired or bluetooth connection from B2 to phone/tablet, etc?
I have a 'Blink Bluetooth DAC connected to my Micro Denon CD/receiver system using a spare analogue input.
Can the Brennan output its signal via BT to my receiver via my BT DAC thus playing music via my Denon's connected speakers?