The *NOT BORING!* Hi-Fi faff chat and sales

[legrandefromage]

our telly is still showing off, 2023 OLED, barely scratched the surface for its capabilities. The remote glows when you pick it up ffs!

It can be used as a centre speaker (HDMI integration) but may use it with an external USB stick with all the music

Going back to the centre speaker thing, in 2004, many Plasma tellys still had detachable speakers, it was then easy to connect them to the high level input of a subwoofer so decent sounding TV and not a soundbar in sight. They could also be connected directly to the homecinema system, disguising their true nature.

I upgraded the drivers in mine and ran it like that for nearly ten years until PPI, a blue-ray player and a 'giant' 49 inch LCD blew that teeny tiny 42 inch plasma away

49 inch... Ha!

 

[legrandefromage]

Think of the Raspberry Pi as a very basic (but powerful and versatile) mini PC . The programs and apps being far lighter than the huge files required for Android and Windows and is easy to navigate once you get past the nerdy names and jargon

 

[Aech]

49 inch... Ha!

32 inch TV.... Ha Ha !

Oh yeah, also got a projector & screen

 

[Aech]

^this is true

I don't want to endlessly toggle through.. I want a screen with something akin to my itunes library (which is not my phone) so i can just click/play.

When i ask friends of mine the same Q's.. they say "get raspberry pi.. use such and such a viewer ect" but i think i just glaze over because they're proper nerds who work in tech and it's just a bit beyond my level of understanding.

Are you ripping your own music or downloading stuff ?

Most of my music is ripped from CD to FLAC, the program I use rips and tags it for me automatically, then I use Foobar2000 to add replaygain info so all my music is able to be played at a consistent volume level thus defeating the "loudness wars".

 

[Betsy]

Think of the Raspberry Pi as a very basic (but powerful and versatile) mini PC . The programs and apps being far lighter than the huge files required for Android and Windows and is easy to navigate once you get past the nerdy names and jargon

Aye, i know what they are.. the same friends have shown me them.. one of them uses his for a 1980s arcade machine which has got 100s of classic games on there, it's just the prospect of dloading an operating systems to it..then connecting it to my system.. then a streaming service..then a viewer.. then a... i just get overwhelmed with the info and lose interest. I just wanted a plug/play box with a screen.

Are you ripping your own music or downloading stuff ?

Most of my music is ripped from CD to FLAC, the program I use rips and tags it for me automatically, then I use Foobar2000 to add replaygain info so all my music is able to be played at a consistent volume level thus defeating the "loudness wars".

I bought the Brennan because I have 2000+ CDs in storage in my folks attic.. we only have a small house and i don't want them all on display again a'la 1990 so i was going to use it as a jukebox.. i bagged that idea off, bought a CD transport instead and i've put 200 CDs in the spare room with 25 of them in a small rack at the side of my HiFi which i chop and change.. i'm pretty happy with this approach but i still find myself buying ever more CDs so i was considering investing in a streaming service to to avoid the ongoing build up of physical media which i don't have the space for.

 

[Cro_Mega_2]

Thanks @Betsy, @legrandefromage, useful stuff. I’ll gladly buy secondhand so as long as the B2 functions and is in good condition, I’m ok with it having been used. Gumtree £400 for example https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-stereo-audio/-brennan-b2-cd-ripper-and-library-/1470862003

Doesn’t the web UI mean navigation is simple and intuitive? https://brennan.co.uk/pages/web-ui

For me, convenience is more important than customisation, and I don’t have the energy to build something, nor do I really want a laptop in the kitchen, so the Brennan B2 feels like it could be the right system.

 

[Betsy]

If it ever needs a repair there is a company affiliated with Brennan in Mildenhall called Audiotech who do their repair/warranty work.. this is where i returned my Brennan.. it must be their job to wipe the HD and repackage it for resale, of which they did a piss poor job

I never got a chance to try the UI.. i brought a storage case full of CDs home with the intention of taking a few days off work and ripping them to the Brennan..I put the first CD in, copied it and stored it to library, accessed the library to make sure it was there and it was.. along with someone elses CD collection

I haven't had a disc drive in a laptop for over a decade and the laptop i do have doesn't have anywhere near enough storage for my CD collection, i considered buying a usb disc drive + dedicated HD but i thought the B2 was this and more in one box.

I only had the intention of using it as storage/juke box.. ie turn it on.. toggle through my albums using the dial/display on the unit and click play.. taking this route is not at all easy to navigate, in fact it's very fustrating, i'm sure the UI would be 100x better.

 

[Cro_Mega_2]

Cheers mate, I’ll have a look at AudioTech, not heard of them before.

 

[elite504]

Not sure if this is the right place. Bedroom mini-system has bitten the dust. Nice little Hitachi Tuner and CD setup that sits on a nice glass plinth so it looks ok needs replacing. Any advice or recommendations? Must be remote and have a clock to wake me up by!
All advice appreciated, even if it's a bit low-brow for many on here.

 

[Ren Rawbor]

What do you mean exactly by bitten the dust? I quite like a challenge so if you're fairly close by maybe I could have a stab at resurrecting it?