B3 User Guide - 1.0
This guide is for the B3 and B3+ and all references to B3 include the B3+ unless specified.
Using this Guide:
As well as this guide you can find more information on our website - brennan.co.uk - click on the B3 or the More > How To Guides tabs.
You can also search the website - click on the spyglass - for things like Bluetooth, Backing up, etc.
There are more articles and guides on our Forum page - Link
Index:
- Connections
- Controls
- Display
- Setting Up
- Playing the B3
- Ripping CDs
- Compression
- Backing Up
- Scan Disk
- Controlling the B3
- Bluetooth
- Playlists
1. Connections:
USB A:
- Connect a *USB storage device - HDD (hard disk drive), SSD (solid state drive) or memory stick (thumb drive) for making backups or transferring music
- A USB-DAC e.g. USB Headphones amplifier (The B3+ has a built-in DAC)
- Bluetooth dongle - only plug this in if you are going to be using Bluetooth
*Any USB storage device must be FAT32 formatted for the B3 to recognise it.
USB B:
- The WiFi dongle (802.11N) usually goes here
- USB-Ethernet adapter - used in place of the WiFi dongle
- USB-Hub to expand the number of USB ports
24V DC:
Power supply input from the B3 power supply unit
Left & Right:
Connect 'passive' type loudspeakers (our BSP50s for example). The red and black sockets are for 4mm 'banana' plugs.
Please note: These outputs must only be used with 'passive' loudspeakers. They must not be connected to the inputs of an external amplifier/receiver or active (powered) speakers.
The B3 and B3+ can be safely used without speakers connected.
B3+ Line Out and SPDIF (Optical)
The B3+ (B3 plus) has two additional output connections - Line Out (analogue audio) and SPDIF Optical (digital audio) - which are for connecting to the input of an external amplifier or receiver or active (powered) loudspeakers.
Line Out is a 3.5mm (1/8") stereo socket and Optical, a TOS Link connector.
Please note - the B3 does not have these output connections.
2. The Controls:
BACK - a quick press and release
- Select the previous Track when the B3 is playing
- Go back one step when navigating the menus
- Delete the last character when entering a password
A long press will exit the menus.
NEXT - a quick press and release
- Start the B3 playing all Tracks in randomised order
- Select the next Track when the B3 is playing a CD or from the hard drive
- Connect to WiFi, as part of the Setup WiFi procedure
EJECT - a quick press and release opens the CD drawer
A long press opens the Factory menu - This menu contains options that include deleting all of your music, so use with care.
PLAY/STOP - a quick press and release alternates between play and pause.
A long press
- Stops all processes and saves any user settings before switching off
- Cancels ripping
- Halts compression
- Stops Importing
CONTROL KNOB (rotary control with push switch)
- Adjust the volume
- Navigate the menus and select options
- Enter password characters
3. The Display:
IP Address
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique numerical label assigned to every device conected to your computer network.
The B3's IP Address is assigned by your router when the B3 connects to your WiFi network or is connected to the router via an Ethernet cable (requires a USB-Ethernet adapter) e.g. 192.168.1.200
Your numbers will probably be different but a similar format. Each device connected to the network will have a different number e.g. 192.168.1.xxx.
cm (Classical mode)
When Classical mode is on, it stops the B3 playing at the end of an Album.
Turning Classical mode on, turns off Random mode, so you will see either CM or the random symbol.
Random Mode
Shows Random mode is on.
BT (Bluetooth dongle detected)
Only displayed when a Bluetooth dongle is plugged in.
Headphones (a USB audio device is detected)
A 'white' headphones symbol is displayed when a compatible USB audio device (a USB DAC or an SPDIF adapter) is connected to USB A.
As the B3+ has a built-in DAC, the symbol is always displayed.
Example Displays
Playing music from the hard drive
Playing a radio station
The % readout shows the 'buffer memory', a measure of how well the B3 is receiving data from the radio station.
Please note - IP address, Source, cm, BT, Wired 23 etc are not displayed at all times. Turn the control knob a couple of clicks to see them.
Accessing the menus
- Click (a short press and release) the front control knob to open the Main menu
- Turn the control knob to highlight the required option
- Click to select
A short press on the BACK button takes you to the previous menu. A long press exits the menus.
Some menu options select a specific function e.g. Turn Random On, Turn Random Off, whilst others like Settings & Tools, Maintenance and Advanced select sub-menus.
Some options are only available via the front panel, for example Export/Import and Web Upgrade.
A Menu Summary can be found on the website - link
Menu layout
The display only shows 6 menu items at a time, so some options will be off screen. The number of items in each menu is shown top right e.g. 1/12, meaning the cursor is on item 1 of 12. Turn the control knob to see the other options.
Conditional menu options (Main menu)
- Bluetooth Out - the Bluetooth dongle (V5.0) must be plugged in
- USB Functions - there must be a FAT32 formatted USB storage device in USB A (or USB B)
- Select Output - a USB audio device (USB-DAC or USB-Opto adapter) must be plugged in to USB A (this option is always available on the B3+)
- CD - only shown when a CD is in the drive
Factory menu
This is accessed by pressing and holding the Eject button. It contains seldom used commands, some diagnostic tools and the Format HDD command, which will erase all of your music. So use with care.
4. Setting Up:
The B3 is supplied with two dongles - 802.11N is for WiFi and V5.0 is for Bluetooth
Do not plug the Bluetooth dongle (V5.0), if you are going to be using Bluetooth, until you have connected the B3 to your WiFi.
1. Plug the WiFi dongle into USB B (on the rear panel), connect loudspeakers (if being used), the power cord and then switch the B3 on
2. The B3 starts by loading it's operating system software - the B3 displaying DAC + Amp initially, is normal - this takes around 10 seconds.
3. Click (a quick press and release) the control knob to open the Main menu > turn to Settings & Tools > click > Setup WiFi is the first option, so click to select.
The B3 will scan and list any networks it has discovered. If the one you want to connect to is not listed first, turn the control to highlight your network and click to select.
4. Enter the password (the one you use to connect your phone, computer, etc to your WiFi).
Passwords are usually case sensitive and do not have spaces.
Turn the control to scroll through the available characters and click to select each character in turn. Upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols are available, keep turning to see them all.
A short press on the BACK button deletes the last character and a long press exits the setup process.
5. With all of the password characters entered, press the NEXT button briefly to connect. After a a while the B3 will display Success and then the clock and an IP Address.
If the B3 fails to connect, check the Network, WiFi and Ethernet articles on our Forum - link
Please note - The B3 does need a healthy WiFi signal to work reliably, so after the B3 has connected we recommend you check this before starting to use the B3. Use the front control to navigate to Main menu > Settings > Maintenance > Advanced > WiFi Strength.
The reading needs to be in the -20dBm (a strong signal) to -50dBm (the weakest signal for reliable operation) range and not be flucuating by more than a few digits. The readout uses a negative number by convention, so the smaller the number, the stronger the signal.
If the WiFi signal is out of range, check out the articles on our Forum - link
5. Playing the B3:
Play to connected (wired) loudspeakers
This is the default setting, so you may not have to adjust anything - check the display is showing Wired xx, where xx is the volume setting. If this is not shown, go to Main > Pick Speaker > select Wired .
If you have connected a USB-DAC or USB-Opto adapter and it has been selected, PIck Speaker will show USB DAC instead of Wired, on both the B3 and B3+
Play to Sonos speakers
Main > Pick Speaker > select a Sonos name e.g. Living Room
The B3 will discover and list any available Sonos's during it's start up routine. If no Sonos's are listed in the Pick Speaker menu, go to Main > Settings > Maintenance > Sonos Scan.
The web UI (user interface) includes Sonos Grouping and Group volume control.
Play to a USB-DAC or USB-Opto adapter
When a compatible USB-DAC (Behringer UCA222 for example) or USB-Opto adapter is connected to USB A, the B3 will display a 'white' headphones symbol and an additional item, Select Output, is added to the Main menu.
To make the B3 play to the USB-DAC/USB-Opto adapter, go to main > Select Output > DAC Only (this option switches off the loudspeaker outputs) or Speakers + DAC.
The headphones symbol, shown on the clock screen, will now be 'red' to indicate it has been selected.
The B3 will only work with 'UAC class 1' USB-DACs, which are rated at upto 24 bits and 96kHz.
B3+ (B3 plus)
The B3+ has a built-in USB-DAC, which provides the Line Out and Optical outputs., so the 'white' headphones symbol is always displayed. The DAC does need to be activated via Main menu > Select Output > DAC Only - you only need to do this once.
6. Ripping CDs:
Background
Although in the past, some CD manufacturers did implement CD Text, the vast majority of music CDs do not contain any Artist, Album or Track info - it was never part of the original specifications for CDs. So the B3 and other CD rippers, have to extract data from the CD, such as TOC (table of contents) - an idex of things like track start positions, total playing time and session data - and use this data to look up the title information from an online CD database.
Brennan currently uses the CD database provided by musicbrainz.org (for titles and track info) and coverartarchive.org (for Album artworks).
Please note - The musicbrainz.org database is made up of contributions from members of the public, so occasionally errors and omissions can occur. For example not all of the CDs in a multi-set will be listed.
You can manually rename Artist, Album and Tracks, and add Artworks via the web UI (user interface) - Link
The 2026 version Web UI includes an Album Editor where you can easily add/rename unrecognised CDs and add Artworks - do a software update on the B3 and refresh the web UI page.
Ripping
1. Assuming the B3 is connected to WiFi (or to your via Ethernet) and can access the internet (displaying the clock), insert a CD. The B3 reads the disc (Checking), followed by Database Lookup.
Lookup can take a while so be patient....
2. The B3 will display the Artist and Album name and an Artwork (if available)
3. Click the control knob to see the Track listing, which can be compared with the actual CD
4. Click again or press the NEXT button, on the front panel, to start ripping.
Sometimes more than one title will be found and the first one listed may not be the correct one. Select a title from the list shown on the web UI or highlight the correct one on the B3 using the front control.
Ripping speeds can vary, from x3 or x4 upto x40, with x10 to x20 being more typical and is a measure of how well the CD drive is extracting data from the CD. If the drive is detecting data errors, it slows down.
Tracks are automatically numbered to keep them in their original playing order.
Ripping multi CD sets (Box Sets)
In some cases the CD database may have all of the CDs in a set, listed with the same name/title and when this happens ripping the next CD overwrites the one before. A work around, is to rename the 1st CD, after it is ripped - add CD1, CD1 of 4, etc to the Album name e.g. 100 Greatest Hits - 1 of 10 - before ripping the 2nd.
Some owners like to merge Box Sets, into a single Album - see this post on our Forum, on how to do this - link
No CD info found
If the CD is unrecognised, try ejecting and reinserting the CD - you may have to repeat.
If that doesn't work, the CD may not be listed on the database, so the B3 will give it a generic name such as Album 123, etc. When ripped the CD will be stored as Unknown for Artist, Album 123 and the Tracks labelled Track 01, Track 02, etc
Remember you can add and/or rename via the web UI - link - but this should be done before running compression, to ensure the correct metadate is embedded.
7. Compression:
Background
The B3 by default, rips and stores CDs in their original WAV (Waveform Audio File) digital audio format. WAV files are large and take up more memory space on the B3's hard drive and also mean that backups will take longer as there is more data to copy. So the B3 has the option to compress the files to FLAC, a lossless compression format that reproduces the exact same digital data as the original on replay and saves aorund 40% hard drive space.
There is also the option to compress WAV to MP3, via the Tools menu, if you are wanting to store as much music as possible and don't mind losing some audio quality.
Start Compression
Compression is a separate process from ripping and needs to be started manually - Main > Compress Now (for FLAC compression).
If you want to use MP3 compression, this must be selected via - Main menu > Settings > Tools > Compress WAV to MP3, each time.
How long does Compression take
Compression is quite slow, around 4 CDs per hour and you cannot use the B3 while compression is running. So we suggest ripping 20-30 CDs at a time and running compression overnight. That way the B3 will be ready for the next day's use (and may help stop ripping becoming a chore).
Please note - You should edit names and add artworks before running compression as during the conversion process, metadata is tagged (the process of embedding identification data) to the music files. This data ensures tracks are correctly identified, streamed and organised on platforms like Sonos and in software like iTunes.
Stats
Check the Stats for uncompressed (WAV) files - Main > Settings > Stats
If you have run compression (and allowed it to finish) and the Stats still show some WAV files, try running Scan Disk - Main > Settings > Maintenance > Scan Disk - and then check the Stats again.
8. Backing Up:
We recommend running a backup after ripping and compressing every 50-100 CDs or more often. The backup process is incremental, so each time it is run it will only copy anything not already on the backup drive.
See the article on backing up on our Forum page - link
Tip - don't run backups until all of your music has been compressed - check the Stats - otherwise you can end up with uncompressed (WAV) and compressed (FLAC or MP3) versions of the same Tracks i.e. duplicates. This happens because the B3 sees these as being different i.e. Here comes the Sun.wav looks different to Here comes the Sun.flac, so saves both versions..
9. Scan Disk:
The B3 generates a music database (index) of the Artist, Album and Tracks, called b2db, which it uses to locate and play your music. This database is usually updated automatically as you rip CDs and/or edit any Artist, Album or Track names and/or upload music but can get out of sync with what's on the hard drive.
Running Scan Disk rebuilds the b2db database and is the go-to-command for any missing music or play back issue or after deleting and/or editing names - Main > Settings > Maintenance > Scan Disk - the progress is displayed e.g. Scanning Disk 2097.
Scan Disk can take a while to run and will take longer as your collection grows- a 1,000 collection will take around 10 minutes to scan - and must be allowed to finish in order to update the database. The B3 should not be playing anything while Scan Disk is running.
10. Controlling the B3:
Whilst the B3 does not have a dedicated remote controller it can be controlled via a computer/laptop, a tablet or a smart phone, connected to the same WiFi network as the B3, running the web UI (user interface) or the 'app'.
Web UI (user interface)
This runs on any platform that supports a web browser, such as Chrome, Safari, etc and loads like any website except the data comes from the B3 rather than the Internet - more details here - link
There is more information and articles on using the web UI our Forum - link
Running the web UI on a computer or laptop, with it's larger display, keyboard and mouse (touch pad) is the most complete and versatile way to view and edit your music.
Brennan App
Apps are available for the iPhone (App Store) and Android phones (Play Store) - search the stores for Brennan.
Currently the app is best used a remote controller for basic functions such as search, play/stop and volume adjustment. Use the web UI for ripping, editing, etc.
11. Bluetooth:
You can use Bluetooth to play music from your phone to the B3, which will play through the B3's speaker outputs (or Line Out/Optical on the B3+) or to play music from the B3 to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones. You can find more information here - link
The Bluetooth dongle is marked V5.0 and should be plugged into USB A on the front panel of the B3.
Please note - the Bluetooth output from the B3 is a fixed level so you will need to adjust the playback volume on the speaker or headphones.
12. Playlists:
Playlists on the B3 are simply lists of Artists, Albums and/or Track names, saved as text, that tell the B3 what to play next.
See - link - for more information on creating, editing and using Playlists.
13. Hints, Tips and Advice:
Switching the B3 off safely:
Press and hold the play/stop button (or the front panel control knob) until you see the OK to turn off message displayed. Release the button and wait for the message to go before switching the B3 off.
If switching on again, wait at least 10s before doing so.
If you live in an area that suffers with frequent power outages, it is best to switch the B3 off when not being used.
Reboot:
The B3 is based on a computer board with additional hardware, running software that makes it behave as a piece of audio equipment. Like all computers, the B3 will benefit from being rebooted occassionally, say weekly if you leave the B3 on 24/7.
Connect the B3 to your WiFi:
The B3 needs to be connected to your WiFi network (or an Ethernet connection to your router) and have access to the Internet in order to display the time, retrieve Artist, Album, Track and Artworks when ripping CDs, do software updates and play the online Radio stations.
A network connection is also required to play to Sonos speakers.
The dongle supplied with the B3 will only work on the 2.4GHz WiFi band.
WiFi signal strength:
Collective experience has shown that many operational problems have been due to a poor and/or weak WiFi signal at the B3. See the Setting Up section for how to check this.
Only ask the B3 to do one thing at a time:
The B3 has limited processing power compared to a laptop or smart phone and should only do one process intensive task at a time.
So for example, do not have it playing while ripping, editing Artist, Album and/or Track names or creating Playlists.
If at any time the B3 appears to be unresponsive, wait, as repeated button presses on the B3, web UI or the App will only serve to confuse things further.
Software Updates:
We sometimes release software updates to add new features and/or for bug fixes. The update process needs to be started manually using the front panel control.
Main menu > Settings > Maintenance > Web Upgrade
Check the Latest Software page on the website, from time to time.
Ripping CDs:
The B3 will only play and rip standard audio CDs that have the 'Compact Disc' logo or CDRs burned as audio disks.
It will also rip some Audio Books - depending on their digital format - but not SACDs or DVDs.
The B3 will play WAV (the native digital audio format used on audio CDs), FLAC, MP3, M4A and ALAC (Apple lossless) audio files. It will not play Apple AIFF or Apple m4p protected or Windows WMA files.
The B3 can play 24 bit, 96kHz audio files but will struggle with higher bit-rates of 128kHz and above.
CD Naming:
There is a 170 character limit for any Artist, Album and/or Track names. Longer than this can cause problems such as stored music not being displayed and Scan Disk not running.
Album Artworks:
To make sure these are displayed as expected, find and add any missing artworks before running compression.
The 2026 Web UI (user interface) has an Album Editor panel where you can edit Artist, Album and Track names and add artworksfrom other sources. You can also search for artworks on Discogs website.
Backing up is important!
Backups are important! You will spend many hours ripping, organising and editing your music collection, so losing it would be a loss of that time and effort and your music.
Turn off the B3's power amplifiers:
If you are not going to be using connected (wired) loudspeakers, it is best practise to turn off the internal power amplifiers.
Main menu > Settings > Maintenance > Advanced > Disable Power Amplifier
Compression:
Compression can be used to save hard drive space (and allow you to store more CDs) but needs to be started manually using the front panel control knob.
Main menu > Compress Now.