Brennan Vb1

8th March 2023 - VB1 Coming soon - Introductory price

VB1 will be available - in limited numbers - from 20th March . Register your interest by emailing thebrennanb2@gmail.com and you will be eligible to buy VB1 at the introductory price of $90. Please mention you are in the US in the email.

The Brennan VB1 is a totally unique device that lets you play vinyl and other music sources wirelessly to Sonos speakers and Brennan music players.

Simply connect your music source to the phono connectors on the back of the Brennan VB1 then press the button on the top to start and stop transmission.

The Brennan app is used to connect the Brennan VB1 to same Wifi network as the Sonos speakers or Brennan player.

You can use the app to select which speaker or Brennan you want to send the music to. The app also lets you control settings like gain and sample rate.

Using the iPhone App to connect VB1 to Wifi

VB1 creates a wifi hotspot so that you can make contact initially and tell it the name and password of your wifi network.

The hotspot is also known as an Access Point or AP. Start the process by clicking the "Setup using Brennan AP" button on the Welcome to Brennan screen. You can return to this screen from the main app by clicking the little hifi icon near the  top right.

Clicking the start button. Then click the Join button to give permission for the iPhone to connect to the Brennan VB1.

You will then need to select your Wifi network in the top box and type the Wifi password in the second box.

The app will then tell VB1 and both the iPhone and Brennan VB will switch over to the Wifi network you gave it.

The app then shows the Brennan VB1 screen. If you play music into the phono connectors you will see it on the display

Android App

Support for VB1 on the Android App is under development and should be available by mid April.

Connecting VB1 without the app with an Android phone

You can connect VB1 to your Wifi network without the app - although you still need a mobile phone. Android owners might use this until the Android app is ready.

The same approach will work with an iPhone though the detailed steps may be slightly different.

  • Tap Settings -> Connections -> Wifi
  • Look for BrennanVB in Available Networks and select it.
  • Enter "brennanvb" when prompted for the password
  • Your phone should now be connected to the Brennan VB1 hotspot.
  • Open a browser (typically Chrome) and type 192.168.4.1 in the address
  • This will display the Brennan VB1 web UI

  • Open the Current Network panel - by tapping the triangle
  • Select your Wifi network in the upper white box
  • Tap Wifi Scan if you don't see your network
  • Enter the Wifi password in the lower white box then tap send.
  • The Brennan VB1 will then attach to your Wifi network and it will display the IP address at the top. Record this IP address - you will need it.
  • The Brennan will now be able to see Sonos speakers and Brennan music players on the same Wifi network.
  • Switch the phone back to your original Wifi network using Settings -> Connections -> Wifi
  • Open a browser and type the IP address from above. You will see the same Web UI. But this time using your Wifi network. You should see any Sonos speakers and Brennan music players in the Current Zone panel.

Recording from VB1 on your Brennan

You can record from VB1 on a Brennan B2, BB1 or B3

  • Pick the Brennan B2, BB1 or B3 in the VB1 zone panel (App or Web UI)
  • Start playing by pressing the button on top of VB1 (or App or Web UI)
  • Open the original web UI using the IP address for the B2, BB1 or B3 in a browser
  • Click on the “Rec” button to open the recording control panel
  • Click on the button to start and stop recordings

 
You can see where the artist, album and name of the recording as it records. You can rename these later.

Notes

The Brennan will turn off the Brennan VB1 hotspot after it has connected to your Wifi network. However it is turned on for five minutes after you apply power.

If the audio signal is too loud you will see the waveform flatten at the top and bottom. Turn the gain down until clipping is eliminated. You will need to wait a couple of seconds to hear the level change because of buffering.

The VB1 does not have a phono preamplfier - most turntables sold nowadays have these built in. You will need a seperate phono preamplifier if you have a high end turntable has direct output from the cartridge.

While playing music the network bandwidth is displayed in the waveform display on the app or in the Current Zone panel in the Web UI.

Uncompressed music needs quite a high consistent network bandwidth or you will get dropouts. You can reduce the bandwith required by changing the sample rate and stereo/mono setting.

Mode Bandwidth required
22K Mono 44k
22K Stereo 88k
44K Mono 88k
44K Stereo 176k

 

If you change the mode while playing you will hear the music playing at the wrong pitch for a few seconds. Thats normal.

To turn off VB1 just turn off the power or unplug.

Software Update

The software version is displayed at the bottom of the Brennan Config panel of the app - or on its own panel in the Web UI.

To update the software with the app - tap on the Version

To update with the Web UI - open the Version panel by tapping the triangle then tap the Update button

Software update takes about a minute and VB will restart. The version will update after the change. Refresh the browser after the update if using the Web UI

You only need to update if you know there is newer software available.

The latest software available is 7th March 2023