Brennan B2 2TB Metallic HiFi - Hard Disk CD Ripper, Storage and Player with Sonos, Bluetooth, Spotify, YouTube, Internet Radio, Stereo Power Amplifier, NAS, Wav, Lossless (FLAC) and MP3.

COVID gave me the excuse to buy more gear and tune up the audio system. After building a new pull out platform for my turntable I moved on to the CD's. I wanted to consolidate over 400 CD's and be able to sort them. I have a Sony 200 CD storage player as well a high end single disc player but there are times I wanted to listen to a specific song instead of single disc or genre as they are stored in the Sony. Once I ripped the CD's sleeping in the Sony, the CD's left behind by my kids and those I found in drawers, racks, folders, and the trunk of the car, quarantined life was bearable. Only 4 were not identified by the system and I used Shazam to properly identify the album and songs when there was no jewel case. Playlists were awkward to set up but like everything else there is a learning curve. Now one year later, the unit is still working perfectly and managed on our iPhones. We have access to streaming radio presets in addition to playlists I set up for Christmas, Classical, Blues, Folk, Jazz, Show tunes, Chill, Hip Hop, Opera, Alternative, and my Classic (kids called it Jurassic) Rock. Picking out a single song or album seems faster in my laptop but the sound quality is excellent compared to the turntable, and the CD players. System works as advertised., worth the expense.

I’ve wanted one of these for some time now. I love the idea of being able to store my entire collection of CDs on one device, even if some of my younger colleagues consider the idea quaint. I’m fairly technically capable but I found this device very hard to set up. It took me what seemed like at least an hour or more to get the unit to simply connect to my Wi-Fi. I have a Bose SoundTouch and likewise I found it very difficult to pair via Bluetooth. I don’t have a huge collection of CD, probably about 500 or so CDs. It took about a week of off and on ripping to rip my entire collection. For the most part the CD database was able to correctly identify the CD, but not always. I have not used the Web Interface but the iOS app. I find this very lacking and clunky and not intuitive, but I am able to find what I am looking for. The app lacks polish. To a lesser extent I have used the internet radio. Internet radio is to me what shortwave radio was to me as a kid, I find it fascinating. At the end of the day, would I buy this device again. Yes, probably. I mostly use this to play CDs on random mode which I like because I listen to my entire collection instead of just my favorites. What this needs is a much improved user interface. I’m not as tech savvy as I once was, but I’m still pretty capable. Documentation provided with the unit is sparse, there is a setup guide but no user manual which I believe there should always be…. I believe there is an online manual of sorts. I have NEVER EVER had so much difficulty in getting a “modern” device to connect to Wi-Fi or to pair via Bluetooth. The supplied remote is very “busy.” Lots of buttons, most of which I personally don’t find very useful. For instance there is no “standby” button on the remote (that I can find anyway). There doesn’t seem like there’s a way to power off except via the power button. A clever device that I think has a lot of potential but needs a lot more work…

If you have a music collection that spans various formats such as Vinyl, CD's, and MP3's then this device is for you. My first advice is to read the features, What it can do is amazing. This unit even has an HTML slot so you can connect it to your audio system. It can even work without an internet connection for most of the basic functions. My advice from personal use it to print out the specs on the unit commands. It will help in the initial learning curve. After a short while, the use will become second nature.

Great idea and cool little unit - in theory, but not in practice! No alternative but to return my unit two days after it arrived. PROS: the unit is tiny and "cute" - very simple: an old fashioned slot for inserting CDs, a screen that letters roll across (if you're lucky), a small knob that turns or pushes, depending on the function you're trying to access, 4 miniscule push buttons: Back; Next; Eject; and Play/Stop. CONS: Everything else, sadly. Lots of reviewers ding the low-tech power cable/wall wart design as adding right channel noise, but I never got that far before the thing gave up the ghost. On the rear plate, there are: a Power On/Off switch (apparently a newer addition - earlier models were on perpetual standby mode it seems); an HDMI port (said to be there to allow you to listen to playback via TV - who listens to FLAC files on their television set?); an unmarked hole (said to be for future improvements of some kind); two inputs for Ethernet cable (one is shield shaped and the other is simply an extended slot - never seen Ethernet cable terminations that would fit these holes); a Micro USB slot; the 24V DC input; a USB A slot (this is where you're supposed to stick your nonworking WiFi dongle, supplied but not working properly); 4 red and black L/R speaker connections (Brennan offers super cheap speakers that get meh reviews); a USB C slot (for a Bluetooth dongle, supplied though I almost missed it in the packaging); a Line Out + SPDIF hole; and an AUX in hole. The whole unit is the size of a very large Sony Walkman. A further word on the SPDIF hole, which shines bright red indicating a Toslink connection. This port is clearly the port designed for most (non TV) playback. And yet for so important a port, it is strangely (for me) built to accomodate EITHER a headphone/line out, OR a Toslink cable - each of these have to be terminated at that end in a mini jack plug. Since I never got to playback, I have no idea whether this mixed-use Toslink connection is any good - if the unit had worked, this is where I would have connected to unit to my Marantz DAC. Set up went pretty well at first, following the Quick Start Guide, though the time zone setting was lost every time I turned the power off, and back to UK time. When a CD is inserted, you theoretically have the option of playing it or ripping it to the generous 2TB hard drive. Ripping itself was never a problem, though there was no good way to play the ripped CD file back again, so impossible for me to say whether the ripping feature actually works, or how well it does. When you link the unit to your WiFi and enter the ID, you can open a screen on your PC (or Mac I guess) which gives you some information about the current CD, and earlier ripped CDs which is potentially helpful (if the thing worked otherwise). I tried a few rips, and the unit correctly identified the CD by comparing it with online CD library entries; usually it was unable to locate any artwork, however. Then I made the Big Mistake - I updated the software. After that recommended step was taken in the recommended fashion, the unit simply lost its mind, and never recovered. I could no longer access Settings at all, and so, as the unit would report that it was, then wasn't, then was, then wasn't connected to WiFi, I could only look on powerless to do anything about this. No Settings. As the unit (which really runs hot) started to heat up after a few more CD rips, strange half letters starting scrolling across the screen mysteriously. The cure-all for the many glitches in the software, the Quick Start Guide tells us, is simply to turn the power off, then on again. Sometimes this worked - for a few minutes. Then back to the weird symptoms. Even removing the power cable and reinserting didn't fix the problems for very long. I finally gave up when, after the unit had been powered off all night, I tried again this morning to rip a CD. No Settings access. The PC screen showed no signs of recognizing any CD or anything else had been inserted into the unit's slot. No clue as to what CD I was ripping, let alone any successful hunt for the artwork. After a few failed attempts to revive the thing from its software-update insanity, I sadly gave up and returned the unit. Maybe you'll be luckier. It does seem that Brennan has a good number of "refurbished" units available at a discount on its website, so maybe these are from other buyers who made the fatal mistake of trying to update the software. A real shame, and I hate to have lost the time it took to worthlessly rip (I think) a score or two of CDs. Ugh.