Brennan B3 (2TB Black) Hifi - Hard disk CD ripper & recorder, storage and player with Bluetooth, Compatible with Sonos, Internet Radio, Stereo Power amplifier, NAS, Wav, Lossless (FLAC) and MP3.

I took a long while doing my research before deciding to take the plunge and buy one of these In a nutshell you can upload a massive amount of CDs or audio files to this device. You can also upload and download via the USB options front and back of the machine The lcd display more often than not will display the artwork and the track lists of each CD. It then becomes like a music jukebox for your own collection. You can make playlists up or just randomly choose your preferred tracks to listen to. There’s a new software update that enables you to listen via Bluetooth headphones or you can connect external speakers. The machine also has an option to connect to Sonos speakers via the same Wi-Fi connection. Everything can be controlled via an app or the web UI I’ve so far uploaded over 800 CDs which now sit in a box waiting to be stored away or sold I didn’t think I needed the Brennan but I enjoyed using it so much that I bought a second one to use elsewhere

Sadly this is a one star review as I'm one of a number of folks who have immediately/ or soon after purchase/ found fault -- in my case a straight out the box failure where the EJECT button would not function/ CD tray would not open. As this is the most basic and necesarry of functions it's more than a little disheartening to find this sort of issue on a £700 piece of kit (now returned to Amazon; awaiting refund). BUT, there is no question when a Brennan is fully functional they are hard to beat - before I even tried to load a CD (in retrospect it should have been the first thing I checked but it's the last thing you would expect to fail) I had wifi set up, d/loaded latest software, and a USB stick full of MP3 and WAV files sounding great through a set of wired speakers. The Brennan forums have many a user highlighting an error, glitch, failure or an aspect of the device no longer functioning, whereas those who have a fully functioning unit could not be happier. The classic line is You Pays Your Money, You Takes Your Choice, but in the case of a Brennan (particularly the B3) it's more case of You Pays Your Money, You Takes a Chance (and cross your fingers). Even with the most basic of fails on the unit I received, I'm still keen on a Brennan, but not until there is far more stabilty built in to the mechanics of the system.

I’m still evaluating this jukebox and need to do it before the 30 days are up. If you are, or regard yourself as, a techie you will probably love it. For the rest of us who just want to store our CD’s and other digital music files it’s more problematic. There are three ways to control the unit:- web UI, App and the front panel. Some actions require input from all three! All this made more difficult by the paucity of information. There’s no user’s manual but there is a forum where there are people willing to help. The bottom line is that if you have the time and inclination to work it out it’s a great machine. Otherwise think twice.

"And if you use this unit to take in your CD collection with the wi-fi dongle & the Bluetooth dongle in at the same time the unit will even identify the album & display the cover on the recording. Neat innit!?"

Just in the process of downloading 10.000 tracks. Excellent bit of kit.

The idea of transferring CDs to a hard drive that will play them through multiple speakers wirelessly is excellent. Unfortunately the Brennan B3 comes with very little useful user information and doesn't do many of the things that it is claimed to do. There is user forum but this is for tech experts, not users who want a reliable easy to use machine. My B3 would only play a single track from a ripped CD and then stop - not much use for most users. Only one of the preset radio stations would actually play and none of the BBC presets. The vTuner software for Mac also failed to play most stations selected. I wouldn't call this a good buy for an item costing hundreds of pounds.

I had a JB7 for a decade and it was great. When it came to the end of it’s life I did a lot of research and went for a B3 As a concept it’s a great idea (though not without serious design flaws - having to use a separate DAC just to connect to an amp is daft if you ask me no tonal control and the WI-FI dongle really struggles to maintain a strong enough connection when all other network items in the same room work absolutely fine) My main gripe is the buggy as hell software and the techie complexity to use/maintain (look at the Brennan forum, you need a degree in electronics & computing just to understand answers to fairly basic issues.) It is presented as a plug in and play unit, it is anything but that. Random freezes, lack of sound, power offs etc have seriously diminished my enjoyment of the player and to be honest it’s too much like hard work when all I want to do is just listen to sone music. Swing and a miss for me on this one - hopefully software updates will make life easier, but I really think this was released way before it was ready for market

I’m listening to music i haven’t heard in decades because the CDs have been in storage boxes in my attic waiting for something like this. The sound quality is great.