Glad I could help. If you have more questions the Forum is a great place to ask. I or someone else will be happy to add information. www.thebrennanforum.com/ Was there anything in the video that was confusing or needs more explanation?
I should have added this to my original comment. It is actually pretty easy to replace your drive with a 2TB model. Just be careful not to buy a fake, lots of them on Amazon. Spinning disks work fine, SSD is still a bit pricey. You just need patience and some dexterity.
I own the B2. It stopped working after about 2 years. Ordered the B3 as a replacement. It stopped working straight out of the box. I think we are done here.
Sorry to hear that. Brennan offers a full refund 30 days I think. You can email them at thebrennanb2@gmail.com with a brief message explaining the problem and they will get back to you. I am not a Brennan employee. If you want to work on getting your B2 working again, let me know and we can try some things out. Your call.
The Guy himself turn off comments but I think this is a wonderful idea for auto lovers but I only have one concern and that is a cool device like this I hope does not void warranty if a person wants to upgrade the hard drive to something bigger and better. Imagine it being sold with just a 250 gig SSD and you want to upgrade it to 2 terabytes but doing that voids warranty. Replacing the drive should not void the warranty or so I hope. Ok now watching your video :-)
I have to ask, who has turned off comments? Your comment is right here. I am not the Brennan company but if you visit the Forum you will see multiple examples where opening the unit does not void the warranty. In fact there are directions on the Forum to do exactly what you ask. If you have questions for the company, send them email or ask in the Forum under the topic Presales. The email address is thebrennanb2@gmail.com. The Forum website is www.thebrennanforum.com/
I recently learned about the Brennan. Thanks for this video. I have been reading/watching what I can to learn about this device. My end goal is to play to my Sonos ecosystem. Have you tested/used streaming CDs or ripped CDs with Sonos? or similar wireless speaker setups? I see you show the power down procedure. I assume that it is ok to leave this on all the time, other than when necessary to restart?
Please use the Forum in the future www.thebrennanforum.com/ The Brennan products work fine with Sonos speakers. It does not matter how you obtain the digital files, they will work if the are WAV, FLAC or MP3. The B3 will not work with other wireless speakers, only the Sonos Ecosystem. It does not do Bluetooth out at this time. It also does not support DLNA at this time. You can leave it on all the time. There is no power saving option however, it does not 'sleep'.
An update to my answer. The Sonos system apparently will only work for files up to 48KHz. I suspect the bit size is 24 but I am not sure. Uploading songs at a higher resolution will not work with Sonos or the B3. The B3 is CD quality at 16bit/44.1KHz. Bluetooth has been added to the B3 for output. Limits on what works, basically it must have its own volume control as the B3 will output the digital stream as is. The B3 does not send volume commands, it just plays it at max.
I would be curious how it is not working well. What are the particular issues? The most I have ever had to do with mine was to replace the microSD card and that was because I was fooling around with the operating system.
Thanks for the review. I have the B2 and love it. Question can you connect the B3 to an Amplifier/home stereo? Or are powered speakers the only connections allowed?
Please use the forum (www.thebrennanforum.com/) for future questions. Yes you can connect your amplifier to the B3. You will need to purchase a DAC to connect to the USB port. A very economical one is the Behringer UCA222 which has both analog and optical outputs. Ask in the Forum for more detail.
@Louis76 I love it. It has worked great for me. I can’t compare it to others because I don’t own those. It is less expensive. I get software upgrades that I don’t think the others do. It is high on my scale for doing what I want, 8 or 9 out of ten
If the folks on the Forum saw this offer, I think they would jump on it. The B3 is a jukebox. After you do the one time function of ripping your CDs, it will store and play them. No more jewel cases, no more switching CDs and you can store them anywhere. The reason I say that is that owning the CD is your license to listen to the music. Without that CD you could be accused of stealing/pirating the music. The unit support playing by artist, album or single track. You can create playlists as well. You can stream radio stations and listen to podcasts. The remote control is your desktop, phone or tablet. It supports Sonos speakers. It is capable of recording some streams as digital files as well. You are probably comparing different models. The L699 unit is probably the two terabyte storage model. The one you are being offered could be as small as 240Gigibyte. It provides access to your CD for years after you rip them. It is a lot more than just a CD ripper. Another feature of a Brennan is that they update the software and add new features. Something that a lot of CD jukeboxes don't do. You can learn a lot more on the Brennan forums www.thebrennanforum.com/
@@raydion hey, thanks for taking the time to respond. I went ahead with it, it’s the 2tb version, it’s repo but came with all the bits. Im gonna play around with it and join the forum. If it’s not for me I’ll see if anyone on the forum wants it before sticking it on eBay. Sounds like a great device, but not sure if I would use it given I have Sonos and the app streams off Spotify etc. makes sense if you have a large cd collection from 90’s and early 00’s. Your video was super helpful for set up.
bought one broke after 2 days sent it back for a refund .. not worth the 700 price, even with the 1000 plus cd collection I have , I'll wait until they improve it . The idea is good but the execution is lacking , not having the option to connect to certain speaker systems is a problem , hopefully they will improve the product or something cheaper comes out ,,
Sorry to hear that. The product is built on a Raspberry Pi and other devices. There is only one custom board and that is the amplifier. You can do it cheaper but it would be DIY. I would be interested in understanding what was broken about it.
The parts for a small company were simply not available anymore. The supply chain prevented Brennan from manufacturing the B2 which had those outputs. The choice was continual redesign (and support of software and hardware) or let the customer decide what level (cost) of DAC was good enough for them. Some amplifiers will take the USB input directly and use the DAC inside the amplifier.
@@raydion Thats interesting as the B3 does provide an analog amplifer section. My assumption is the analog input to this amplifier section would likely be 'line level'. I wonder what component(s) prevented that from being routed to a couple of single ended RCA jacks at the back?
@@gregvisioninfosoft I do not know the level of detail to do that. It may go from the DAC directly to amplifiers never meeting the specification of a 'line out' interface. Splitting out such a signal would require its own stage to meet specifications for impedance and cable length requirements. I think Brennan went for a minimum number of hats so the supply risk could be reduced. The B2 and the B3 use the same internal DAC - Burr-Brown from TI USB Audio CODEC On the B2 the line out is from a minimalistic DAC. Higher end users almost always discuss using the SPDIF outputs and their own DAC. I have a Behringer UCA222 that provides the same DAC as the internal B3. It provides SPDIF, analog line out and headphone outputs at an equivalent level as the B2. Runs less than USA$30. I have created a duplicate essentially of the B2. I can use the SPDIF, analog and headphone outputs at the same time. I can only use one of them at the same time on the B2. Your statement about not having those outputs does disappoint many B2 owners, they think the B3 is an upgrade. It is not. It does however have a new Linux version which could offer potential. Software upgrades for Brennan products are free! So I agree with your comment to some extent, just knowing the history as discussed in the Brennan forum, I understand the business decision they made.
@@raydion POssibly once purchased, one can do an after purchase modification. But its alot to pay for without looking at the circuit board to see just how accessible those pins, or what package form the chip is they used. it may not be accessible easily.
@@raydion by the way, thanks for your very useful insights here. whats your background? do you build your own electronic music equipment or circuits? sounds like you are close to this.
It can be simply hooked up to a real stereo. As many modern stereos have different type of connections available (SPDIF Optical or coax, analog and in some cases USB) it is not clear cut what to use. For best results the SPDIF optical or coax are the best choices. Optical is the most common and a Cubilux USB to optical converter, a Behringer UCA222 or a Sailyin S10+ all work just fine. The Behringer and Sailyin both also have analog outputs. All three range from USA$10 to USA$30 from Amazon. Brennan now is producing a B3+ it includes an optical and analog output built in.
Thanks for the video Ray from the Big Island. Still considering getting this.
Glad I could help. If you have more questions the Forum is a great place to ask. I or someone else will be happy to add information. www.thebrennanforum.com/
Was there anything in the video that was confusing or needs more explanation?
That is very easy on the eye! I wish I would’ve waited a little longer as I bought a 2tb B2 a few years ago. Ah well
I agree the looks of the B3 is nice with the larger screen but I prefer the B2. Less dongles and smaller footprint on the desk.
I should have added this to my original comment. It is actually pretty easy to replace your drive with a 2TB model. Just be careful not to buy a fake, lots of them on Amazon. Spinning disks work fine, SSD is still a bit pricey. You just need patience and some dexterity.
thanks for the video
You're welcome. Hope you found it useful. See you on the Forum.
Mine arrives tomorrow. See you in the forums. Thanks for this video.
Hope you enjoy it!
I own the B2. It stopped working after about 2 years. Ordered the B3 as a replacement. It stopped working straight out of the box. I think we are done here.
Sorry to hear that. Brennan offers a full refund 30 days I think. You can email them at thebrennanb2@gmail.com with a brief message explaining the problem and they will get back to you. I am not a Brennan employee.
If you want to work on getting your B2 working again, let me know and we can try some things out. Your call.
looool
The Guy himself turn off comments but I think this is a wonderful idea for auto lovers but I only have one concern and
that is a cool device like this I hope does not void warranty if a person wants to upgrade the hard drive to something bigger and better.
Imagine it being sold with just a 250 gig SSD and you want to upgrade it to 2 terabytes but doing that voids warranty.
Replacing the drive should not void the warranty or so I hope. Ok now watching your video :-)
I have to ask, who has turned off comments? Your comment is right here.
I am not the Brennan company but if you visit the Forum you will see multiple examples where opening the unit does not void the warranty. In fact there are directions on the Forum to do exactly what you ask. If you have questions for the company, send them email or ask in the Forum under the topic Presales. The email address is thebrennanb2@gmail.com. The Forum website is www.thebrennanforum.com/
@@raydion The creator of the radio. not your video channels. lol sorry for confusion
I recently learned about the Brennan. Thanks for this video. I have been reading/watching what I can to learn about this device. My end goal is to play to my Sonos ecosystem. Have you tested/used streaming CDs or ripped CDs with Sonos? or similar wireless speaker setups? I see you show the power down procedure. I assume that it is ok to leave this on all the time, other than when necessary to restart?
Please use the Forum in the future www.thebrennanforum.com/
The Brennan products work fine with Sonos speakers. It does not matter how you obtain the digital files, they will work if the are WAV, FLAC or MP3. The B3 will not work with other wireless speakers, only the Sonos Ecosystem. It does not do Bluetooth out at this time. It also does not support DLNA at this time.
You can leave it on all the time. There is no power saving option however, it does not 'sleep'.
An update to my answer.
The Sonos system apparently will only work for files up to 48KHz. I suspect the bit size is 24 but I am not sure. Uploading songs at a higher resolution will not work with Sonos or the B3. The B3 is CD quality at 16bit/44.1KHz.
Bluetooth has been added to the B3 for output. Limits on what works, basically it must have its own volume control as the B3 will output the digital stream as is. The B3 does not send volume commands, it just plays it at max.
I have the B2. Never worked well since day 1. Great idea though.
I would be curious how it is not working well. What are the particular issues? The most I have ever had to do with mine was to replace the microSD card and that was because I was fooling around with the operating system.
Thanks for the review. I have the B2 and love it. Question can you connect the B3 to an Amplifier/home stereo? Or are powered speakers the only connections allowed?
Please use the forum (www.thebrennanforum.com/) for future questions.
Yes you can connect your amplifier to the B3. You will need to purchase a DAC to connect to the USB port. A very economical one is the Behringer UCA222 which has both analog and optical outputs. Ask in the Forum for more detail.
@Louis76 I love it. It has worked great for me. I can’t compare it to others because I don’t own those. It is less expensive. I get software upgrades that I don’t think the others do. It is high on my scale for doing what I want, 8 or 9 out of ten
No 3.5 mm output or inputs? They were on the B2! Glad I bought that instead of the B3....
Recently Brennan announced the B3+. It will have optical and analog outputs on separate jacks so both can be used at one time.
I got offered one for £200. Should I buy it? What does this do a normal cd ripper can’t do? RRP at 699 is a bit much.
If the folks on the Forum saw this offer, I think they would jump on it. The B3 is a jukebox. After you do the one time function of ripping your CDs, it will store and play them. No more jewel cases, no more switching CDs and you can store them anywhere. The reason I say that is that owning the CD is your license to listen to the music. Without that CD you could be accused of stealing/pirating the music.
The unit support playing by artist, album or single track. You can create playlists as well. You can stream radio stations and listen to podcasts. The remote control is your desktop, phone or tablet. It supports Sonos speakers. It is capable of recording some streams as digital files as well.
You are probably comparing different models. The L699 unit is probably the two terabyte storage model. The one you are being offered could be as small as 240Gigibyte.
It provides access to your CD for years after you rip them. It is a lot more than just a CD ripper.
Another feature of a Brennan is that they update the software and add new features. Something that a lot of CD jukeboxes don't do.
You can learn a lot more on the Brennan forums www.thebrennanforum.com/
@@raydion hey, thanks for taking the time to respond. I went ahead with it, it’s the 2tb version, it’s repo but came with all the bits. Im gonna play around with it and join the forum. If it’s not for me I’ll see if anyone on the forum wants it before sticking it on eBay. Sounds like a great device, but not sure if I would use it given I have Sonos and the app streams off Spotify etc. makes sense if you have a large cd collection from 90’s and early 00’s. Your video was super helpful for set up.
Your voice is so quiet. Maybe buy a mic to do videos?
I'll try to do better. Using my phone and iPad to create the video.
Couldn't hear a word. Wasted videos
bought one broke after 2 days sent it back for a refund .. not worth the 700 price, even with the 1000 plus cd collection I have , I'll wait until they improve it . The idea is good but the execution is lacking , not having the option to connect to certain speaker systems is a problem , hopefully they will improve the product or something cheaper comes out ,,
Sorry to hear that. The product is built on a Raspberry Pi and other devices. There is only one custom board and that is the amplifier. You can do it cheaper but it would be DIY.
I would be interested in understanding what was broken about it.
kind of lame to not provide line outputs for conventional stereo systems.
The parts for a small company were simply not available anymore. The supply chain prevented Brennan from manufacturing the B2 which had those outputs. The choice was continual redesign (and support of software and hardware) or let the customer decide what level (cost) of DAC was good enough for them. Some amplifiers will take the USB input directly and use the DAC inside the amplifier.
@@raydion Thats interesting as the B3 does provide an analog amplifer section. My assumption is the analog input to this amplifier section would likely be 'line level'. I wonder what component(s) prevented that from being routed to a couple of single ended RCA jacks at the back?
@@gregvisioninfosoft I do not know the level of detail to do that. It may go from the DAC directly to amplifiers never meeting the specification of a 'line out' interface. Splitting out such a signal would require its own stage to meet specifications for impedance and cable length requirements. I think Brennan went for a minimum number of hats so the supply risk could be reduced.
The B2 and the B3 use the same internal DAC - Burr-Brown from TI USB Audio CODEC
On the B2 the line out is from a minimalistic DAC. Higher end users almost always discuss using the SPDIF outputs and their own DAC. I have a Behringer UCA222 that provides the same DAC as the internal B3. It provides SPDIF, analog line out and headphone outputs at an equivalent level as the B2. Runs less than USA$30. I have created a duplicate essentially of the B2. I can use the SPDIF, analog and headphone outputs at the same time. I can only use one of them at the same time on the B2.
Your statement about not having those outputs does disappoint many B2 owners, they think the B3 is an upgrade. It is not. It does however have a new Linux version which could offer potential. Software upgrades for Brennan products are free! So I agree with your comment to some extent, just knowing the history as discussed in the Brennan forum, I understand the business decision they made.
@@raydion POssibly once purchased, one can do an after purchase modification. But its alot to pay for without looking at the circuit board to see just how accessible those pins, or what package form the chip is they used. it may not be accessible easily.
@@raydion by the way, thanks for your very useful insights here. whats your background? do you build your own electronic music equipment or circuits? sounds like you are close to this.
This device looks like a horror to use.
What functions are you concerned about?
This thing is worthless if you can't hook it up to a real stereo. Mind boggling that there are no audio connections.
It can be simply hooked up to a real stereo. As many modern stereos have different type of connections available (SPDIF Optical or coax, analog and in some cases USB) it is not clear cut what to use.
For best results the SPDIF optical or coax are the best choices. Optical is the most common and a Cubilux USB to optical converter, a Behringer UCA222 or a Sailyin S10+ all work just fine. The Behringer and Sailyin both also have analog outputs. All three range from USA$10 to USA$30 from Amazon.
Brennan now is producing a B3+ it includes an optical and analog output built in.