Helix USA

I'm super impressed by the Helix. I've used it primarily for creating digital (wav) files from my CD collection. Its as simple as a few clicks. Ok so it only rips at 1X, but that works fine for me if I just want to listen to the CD over my Sonos network or headphones. But most of the time I just mute Sonos and let it run in silence. Writes the files without flaw or hiccup to an SDXC card (max 256GB supported). Even finds the album art and track listing for most CDs. Though some of my obscure stuff it understandably can't find. WAV files are the only option on this model, but I prefer this native and completely lossless format anyway... storage is cheap so might as well. There's been some thoughtful engineering in this device, that clearly needed development time to work as seamlessly as it does. And a super affordable price point. An easy 5 star rating.

The unit is great by itself. However in this day and age there should be no reason for a lack of a remote. The product offers a app remote for a phone or laptop or table. But I was never able to get the app to work. Phone, laptop or table all failed. There is no customer service number for assistance. Just a email correspondence. Not acceptable in this day and age. So I sent it back.

So the unit is straight forward and works well with sd card, but the phone app is clunky. It works, but the play button does not react when touched so you don’t know if it worked or not since there is sometimes a delay in response. All in all it allows me to play all my music but could use a next generation app.

The Brennan Helix is amazing technology and does exactly what I've been looking for, for years. Allowed me to load more than 300 CD's and now I can play my music one CD at a time, or I can play one artist in random order, or I can play over 3000 songs in random order.The negatives. The user interface and the app are terrible. The front display will switch to CD for no reason, or the zone (i use Sonos speakers) will switch for no reason, or the display will just freeze and the controls don't respond. It's common that I have to shut down the whole system and restart it. The app is not intuitive and you have the same issues as you have with the unit control.The other negative is that "burning" the CD to the micro-SD card requires playing the entire CD at normal speed so it took several weeks to load the 300+ CDs onto the SD card.Thanks goodness you can control things thru the Sonos app, which makes things a bit more bearable.

CD players have gotten unjustifiably crazy expensive in recent years. The current price for the Helix is a no brainer. If you don't feel like swapping out CD's, get yourself a 256GB micro-SD card, burn them as WAV files on your PC (I use Music Bee), and pop it in the microSD slot in the Helix. Make sure you update your firmware first because certain functionality was not available at release. Built really well with an aluminum case. I was so happy with my initial purchase; I bought another as a back-up.

Great CD player. It was easy to connect to my Sonos speakers via wifi. Entire set up probably took less than a couple minutes. The sound quality is great.I would highly recommend this to someone who is interested in getting a CD player to connect to their Sonos speakers. I am really enjoying it.

I bought the Helix to play cds wirelessly through my Sonos Beam as it was advertised as the only player on the market that would connect directly to Sonos. The Helix does connect and tries to play cds but skips and jumps through the tracks. I returned the first Helix I bought thinking the item was defective but the replacement behaved the same. Strangely, both boxes played a cd the first time with a very few skips, but subsequent cds were unlistenable. I used the “software upgrade” function without any success. I obviously checked it out on different cds and checked the wifi signal strength. My router supports 3 tvs, security cameras and other devices streaming simultaneously. I tested the Helix without any other devices in use without any improvement. The manufacturer does not have any customer service help by phone or chat so basically I was dead in the water. This one is going back too.

I am happy with the Helix. It performs exactly for what I bought it for, which is quick access to listening to a modest collection of CDs through my audio system with lossless audio quality. If you have more than about 300 CDs, consider the more expensive model. I can sit in my listening chair and access my entire collection through the phone app. I'm listening to CDs I haven't heard in years just due to the ease of not having to get up and change out the CD in the player. For the $200+ price tag, it's a no-brainer. Here are a few cons which you may or may not care about. First the ripping speed is 1:1 so it takes time to get your CDs on the micro card. Second, the power switch is on the back of the unit which makes it inconvenient to turn on and off as it sits in my audio rack. Lastly, I would like to see the ability to create custom play lists in the app. Maybe that could be incorporated in a future app update?Overall a well built product and I'm happy with it. Playback of my music is just as clean as the original and so much easier!

Me gustaría explicar porque le doy 5 estrellas a un producto que por sus limitaciones debería tener 4 estrellas.Le doy 5 estrellas porque el Brennan Hemix cumple exactamente con lo que prometió. Es el entry Level de los Brennan B3 y B3+. Que elimina el Bluetooth, un SSD, más conexiones alambricss, una app más robusta, ripping a 40x, etc. a cambio de un producto más accesible en precio.Cada vez es más difícil encontrar en las plataformas del streaming albums del género que me gusta y esto es en Apple, Tidal, y Amazon Music y Spotify y mi colección de CD’s estaba empolvando. Ahora la puedo disfrutar otra vez.El Brennan Hemix es un CD player y lector de Mini SD, para oír vía cable óptico o a través de SONOS que es para esto último que lo compré.No frills, muy sencillo en su presentación y eso me agradó en el diseño. En las otras versiones hay quien dice que es complicado, pero yo no soy ningún experto y siguiendo las indicaciones de instructivo está muy fácil ponerla a funcionar.Mandar sonido del CD de manera inalámbrica puede ser una complicación por el tema de la fuerza de la señal wifi. Pero yo que lo uso primordialmente de la mini SD, no tuve problema alguno. Del CD a bocina cableada sin problema.Estoy contento con la compra, pero aclarar que hay tradeoffs en esta edición que solo cuesta poco más de 1/3 de la Brenna B3.El “rippeo” puede ser lento (1x) para muchos, a mi en el foro me explicaron como hacerlo a través de la computadora (40x) y compruebo que funciona.pero es invertirle tiempo si tienes una colección muy grande.Puedes ampliar la capacidad de tu música grabada en 512 GB a un precio menor, pero eso implica tiempo rippeando tu colección.Mi unidad llegó con una Mini SD 8GB de regalo, pero vas a requerir más capacidad si tienes más de 200 CDs.La aplicación está todavía incipiente porque el modelo apenas tiene un mes de haber salido. Y el creador y su equipo están constantemente escuchando al consumidor para hacer actualizaciones.Ojo este equipo es de diseño de un equipo de estudio, de amantes del sonido, no es una mega-corporación. Con todo lo bueno y malo de esto.Tengo que decir que el equipo de customer service en el forum son una joya. Super amables, ayudan en cualquier paso de manera amable. Tienen un comunidad increíble y te explican mucho antes de que compres el producto.Si tienes el dinero y no quieres pasar por tanto rollo haciendo cosas por separado, vete por un Brennan B3 de SSD. , pero si quieres algo sencillo y deseas redescubrir como es el sonido de un CD (aunque también puedes mandar a las Sonos MP3 ¿pero para qué querrías eso de un CD Player? El Brennan Helix es una excelente solución.