B2 Overview
*The Brennan B2 has been discontinued. We are keeping this page for existing owners to use.
The Brennan B2 is a CD Ripper, Hard disk Jukebox and Complete Audio system. This short video takes you through many of the features.
B2 rips CDs and stores them losslessly using FLAC.
There is an internal 15W+15W RMS power amplifier to drive external speakers.
There is an optical output so B2 can deliver music to a high end DAC or other high end audio equipment with uncompromised audio quality.
The digital output is indentical to and therefore as good as any high end CD player - regardless of price.
Key Features
- Play and Rip CDs
- Internal 15+15 Watt RMS amplifier
- Internal disk stores up to 5,000 CDs losslessly or 10,000 as MP3
- Use with our BSP50 speakers or attach your own speakers.
- Web user interface - extra control with your phone, tablet or computer
- 40,000 Internet Radio stations
- Play Youtubes
- Bluetooth
- Network attached storage (NAS) - works with Sonos
- Works with Spotify
- Apps for Android and iPhone. (Voice control on Android)
- Compact, solid aluminium construction.
Full specifications here
The Web UI
The Brennan can be controlled from any web browser on the same wifi network. The browser can be on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. This is called the Web UI.
This shows the web UI on a desktop browser.
- See whats playing, change volume, back, stop, next buttons.
- Search the B2 with search results updated as you type.
- Rename, delete, add album art
- Click on an artist to see all the albums by that artists.
- Click on an album to see all the tracks in that album.
- Create, reorder, delete & combine playlists
- Assign radio stations to Presets
- Upload music from your computer
- Rip CDs and manage album art.
- Find and play internet radio stations - 40,000 stations .
- Find and play music on Youtube
- Browse files on external USB devices
- Apps for Android and iPhone help you connect
Feelgood Button
You don't need to use the web UI. In fact just click Next when B2 is not playing - and B2 will play your entire music collection at random.
You can do most things from the front panel.
Internet Radio
The Brennan can play internet radio stations. There are more than 40,000 to choose from. Use the vTuner tab on the Web UI to explore.
Bluetooth
You can play music from Bluetooth devices like phones and tablets through your B2.
You don't do anything on the B2 - you will see BrennanB2 on your phone/tablet Bluetooth settings - tap to connect and then music playback on the device will be routed to the B2 speakers.
Playlists
Playlists can be made up of a mix of artists, albums, tracks and Youtubes and can be played in order or randomly.
There are seven basic playlists you can start with two clicks on the remote.
More playlists can be added with the Web UI and Playlists can be edited and combined. You can use playlists to create collections belonging to different family members, different genres and moods or for special occasions.
Youtube
B2 now has a fun feature that lets you tap into the millions of music videos on Youtube.
1) Click on the Youtube panel on the Brennan B2 Web UI
2) Type part of a song title (or lyrics or artist).
You can tell B2 to cache the soundtrack as you listen
And then the soundtrack will show up among the regular B2 Search results alongside your music. You can then play it, add to Playlists and even listen to it when there is no internet.
More here
Spotify
A great thing about the Brennan architecture - is that it can grow and grow. We add new capabilities every few months.
Thats important because music is changing as fast as ever. Five years ago iTunes was dominant. Now its Spotify.
We have just added a facility to run an open source app called Librespot.
This allows Spotify Premium users to stream music to their B2 or BB1 using Spotify Connect.
More here