Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --

Subject: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: ossonflags
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 03:51 AM

has any one got one? and what do you think.As far as I can see they are just an expensive hard drive.

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 04:21 AM

Thought about one but not that seriously. My intention is to buy a Mac Mini (using the uncompressed option on iTunes) and a large hard drive which would be far more flexible (e.g. you can stream them all over the house) but possibly a little more expensive.

The problem as I see it is that if you have several hundred CDs you need somewhere to store them, in a retrievable form, adjacent to where you intend to play them. A decent CD cabinet - rather than a set of racks from IKEA - will cost you over £1000; hence it would be simpler to commit the CDs to a hard drive and store them elsewhere.

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: SteveMansfield
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 05:23 AM

As far as I can see they are just an expensive hard drive.

I've had mine for about a year now and am really impressed with it.

It's way more than just a dumb HDD.

It's got a built-in amplifier so you can literally connect a pair of speakers and you have a complete quality playback solution.

The control and search facilities are also good - there's a decent LCD screen which doubles up as displaying info about the currently-playing track during playback, and for the various menus and functions for searching for tracks/albums, getting your music onto the device, backing it up etc.

You can insert your CDs into the Brenna and use the inbuilt database for track names etc., but I found it more ergonomic to rip them (@ 192Kb) on the computer and then transfer the MP3s onto the Brennan through the USB on the device front (that way you've got (a) more control on how track names etc appear, (b) it's much easier to enter data for discs that the internal Brennan database doesn't recognise, and (c) you've immediately got a backup copy of what's on the Brennan.

The boxes and boxes of CDs are now all up in the loft, and the inconvenience of having to going up there when I want to find arcane details from the sleevenotes is far outweighed by the fact that we've got a whole wall of storage back.

The Brennan doesn't do anything that can't be achieved by other devices on the market, or by a combination of devices and a media streamer from a PC (the Brennan won't natively stream BTW) - but for me the price / convenience / design point of it was just right, and I've not been disappointed by it.

No financial interest, just a really satisfied customer.

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 12:12 PM

"use the inbuilt database for track names etc.," - what's the scope of the database? Does it have the sort of obscure music that I'm likely to put on it and how does it cope with titles not yet issued?

"then transfer the MP3s onto the Brennan" - does it only use MP3s? If so, its not much good for classical stuff then.

What sort of price are they?
??R

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: SteveMansfield
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 01:57 PM

"use the inbuilt database for track names etc.," - what's the scope of the database? Does it have the sort of obscure music that I'm likely to put on it and how does it cope with titles not yet issued?

I can't really comment on the scope of the database as I didn't use it much as detailed above - however I remember it did successfully identify Xim's excellent CD '989', so if an own-label French dance music CD from the Norwich end of the Massif Central is any kind of yardstick of obscurity, it passed. If you wish to rely on the internal database, updates are handled through purchasing a later version of the database though Brennan. Or just rip the CDs onto your computer first like I did.

"then transfer the MP3s onto the Brennan" - does it only use MP3s? If so, its not much good for classical stuff then.

Any CD, or indeed cassette, vinyl, 8-track cartridge, or probably wax cylinder, can be easily converted into MP3, either through the in-built CD ripper or via the appropriate player and your computer. The classical database is probably no better or worse than any other genre.

What sort of price are they?

350 UK pounds ish OTTOMH. Prices, and all sorts of other further details, are at http://www.brennan.co.uk.

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: ossonflags
Date: 25 Apr 11 - 01:44 PM

I have a Bose speaker sound system connected to my computer and a terrabite hard drive seems to me this is as good since you have to load cds to your computer anyway using the brennan; or is there any other advantages with the brennan folks?

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: ossonflags
Date: 02 May 11 - 12:44 AM

ffersh

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: ossonflags
Date: 08 May 11 - 03:53 PM

up you go once more

Subject: RE: Review: Brennan j b7 Hi Fi --
From: GUEST,Guest Vivienne
Date: 08 May 11 - 04:59 PM

You don't have to use your computer - the Brennan has its own hard drive. I've been surprised by how many of my CDs are on the database.
Mostly I like the random facility - I've now loaded all my Cds, about 1200 or so, and never know what is coming up next.