Brennan B2?

The DAC inside is only 16 bit which might be the reason for the uninspiring sound. However, running it through my magic DACplus, I have no complaints

 

The problem is the instructions. It is somewhat vague and as another contributor stated, its a "learning curve." Incomplete or enigmatic guidance will result in varied actions and interpretations that leads to unintended consequences.

 

As I continue to learn the B2, it's turning out to be what I needed. The size is perfect because my desk is short on space. The real Achilles heal is the instruction. The Quick Start will get you started and that is it. The twenty page owners manual is not complete. I had to watch two reviews to get more information. The ripping speed is adequate but when I hooked up a Rioddas external drive, it ripped the cd almost twice as fast. Tops speed on B2 was about 10X but with the external drive, above 18x. For headphone use, I have hooked it up to a Magic dacplus and the sound of ripped cd"s is excellent I also hooked up the Brennan to my amplifier and and tested against my CXA transport and compare the cd to a ripped CD (Dead Can Dance, Aion) and there was no discernible difference.

 

A fellow audiophile asked me about my progress with the Brennan. I have posted my response to him here as well so other members can see my progress or review:

The Brennan has been better that I thought. It's been surprisingly convenient and problems have been few such as I had to turn it off and back on when changing some wires. I picked an external drive which helps with ripping speed. The Brennan hard drive tops out at about 10x but the external drive will process at above 20x. If you go this route the Brennan must be insulated from the noise vibration of the external drive. I load about 10 cds a day and am close to 300 with nearly 3000 songs. Only one or two cds had to be ripped a second time because they were not replicated properly. It seemed the vibration problem with external drive caused the mishap. Also a dirty cd did not complete the ripping process.

I have been using the Brennan with a DAC and compared the play back to my regular system. I played a cd in my transport and played the copied cd in the Brennan simultaneously through the same amplifier. I switched back and forth between the two and could not hear any difference. While the Brennan is engaged in random play it is remarkable. I had it choosing tunes for about ten hours and did not experience any issues.

Organizing your files on the laptop has been a small problem. When my laptop communicates with the Brennan, sometimes commands are a little slow to be processed or the signal gets interrupted. Whether this is the Brennan's fault or the laptop, router or something else in the communication chain, I haven't been able to determine that.

I have used most of the connections: SPDIF, HDMI and USB and all worked well. I think the sound is best using the external DAC with the SPDIF.

Lastly, there is a bit of a learning curve to understanding all of the operations. I am not great with technology so it took multiple readings of the on-line owners manual along with watching videos to grasp all of its functions and how to access them. Once mastered, the Brennan has worked out well.

 

Are you talking about an external hard drive or an external CD drive? It would be surprising that an external hard drive would have any impact on ripping speed.

 

External CD drive.

 

Do you recall what the Sony product was by any chance?

 

There were two Sony products, both of which I *think* are now legacy but might still be obtainable:

Sony HAP-S1
Sony HAP-Z1ES

Just a heads up... One of the above (can't recall which) was known to develop a fault in the display in the 4-6 year range - a web search will probably throw up more detail. Support for an old product might be tricky.

Links to the products on a US site for info (all reviews are positive which may or may not mean anything):
Sony-HAP-S1 500GB Hi-Res HDD Player System-Hi Res Audio Player|Acoustic Sounds
Sony-HAP-Z1ES 1TB Hi-Res HDD Player-Hi Res Audio Player|Acoustic Sounds

Personally, I like the look of the Nova Fidelity products but, IMO, they are overpriced for what they are. Obviously, your opinion is the one that counts .
Novafidelity | SCV Distribution

There are several stockists in the UK.

Just a heads-up, my understanding is that Novafidelity is the official UK label for these products with Cocktail Audio supposedly being for other territories. If that's correct, how official are CA products in the UK? Heads-up 2: The Novafidelity X14 has a hard drive but doesn't have an on-board ripper, so rips have to be done externally and then transferred to the X14. For some, it will be a deal breaker; for others not.

Durability? My X10 is 6 years old and still works but I primarily use it as a hard drive source player (into a separate pre amp) and rarely use the ripper or CD player so the latter components haven't had a hard life. I should really replace the HDD now (maybe with a SSD) but that would be true of any regularly used HDD that was over 5 yrs old.

Hope you find the player that works for you.

 

Thank you very much for the detailed response - exactly what I need to know.
The HAP-Z1ES looks the business... and the historical whathifi review I just checked is very positive.
I might have to seriously consider getting on of these... but will definitely research the fault as you suggest first etc.

 

Bought one, worked fine for a while then it started playing up. Kept going into standby mode every few minutes. Would play a song, but sounded distorted, then would just switch off. Sent it back, arrived back yesterday with no information about what they had done other than to deleted my playlists. Plugged it in and it's just the same as before. You are required to deal with the company via email or a forum, so any sort of response is slow. Am at my wits end with them. Probably going back with a demand for a refund, then need to find something else to use as a HardDrive player.

 

Messy... I debated the Brennan vs. the Sony Hap-Z1ES (discontinued in Europe but still on sale in North America). I appreciate not the same machine but did the same roughly for what I wanted. The comments on the Brennan have convinced me that forking out for the Sony - which sounds incredible by the way - was the right decision. Good luck getting your refund.

 

I have the Brennan and have not experienced any problem. After using it everyday for six months, it has worked and sounded better than expected.

 

I bought one a few months back off Amazon. It arrived with a broken CD mechanism. It would not accept any CD's. I only have store-bought, no CDRs. I emailed the Brennan company and was surprised when Martin Brennan himself wrote back. He was very nice to deal with. But in the end, I sent it back to Amazon and got a full refund. I like the concept, but it's not for me. It was suggested that I just get a CD player. Duh! I've been looking, but haven't found anything. My electronics restoration guru recommended I look at the Denon DCD-800NE.
Any recommendations? All I want is a CD player that also plays FLAC files.

 

I think you would be hard pressed to find an ordinary CD player that plays FLAC files. Maybe one that accepts a memory card input or even a streaming box?

I think you can do this with an Oppo player?