Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins A5 AirPlay Wireless Music System

I just bought this speaker 2 days ago from covent garden apple store. I have been using the B&W speakers for ipod and iphone for long.

Well the speaker packs some good sound. I found the sound better then the Zeppelin Air. The setup was done in less then 2 minutes. Its light and portable to carry. Fantastic sound and if you are someone who loves instrumental or classical music this is the right speaker.

Was comparing it with the Bang & Olufsen PLAY Beolit and I found the B&W much better in terms of sound. Design wise B&O is great but we are not paying for the design.

Dont have any second thoughts go for this model. Found the sales women not very smart when explaining about the speaker. It was like she was least bothered. Take your time in listening to the sound when buying.

I wanted to post a review on here as I’ve discovered a few important points in the last couple of days with this product that I feel need to be shared.

I bought one last weekend on a bit of a whim to replace a Bose Companion 3 I had connected to my tv so I could gain airplay streaming. At first the TV results were disappointing compared to the Bose mainly due to the lack of bass adjustment. I have now replaced the phono headphone lead from the TV with a DAC made by CYP AU-D3 (£40) using a fibre optic cable from the TV and then a phono lead. This gave an immediate improvement and was a lot better, and to be honest using this as a tv sound bar is missing the point slightly!!

As for “the not very impressed” comments below he does have a point both the tones were slightly off and the minimum volume level is high using the apple music app on the iPad. HOWEVER download the EQ10 app from the app store (69p) and this gives a great equaliser that you can use to get the sound spot on and also allows you to reduce the minimum volume past the previous level to barely audible. I highly recommend it.

This is a great system for anyone like me who has a small lounge and wants great sound.

The conclusion I have come up with is that it is far superior than the native music app on any idevice and these apps are the shortfall. Upgrade your app to one designed to work with anything bigger than head phones and you will be blown away by the quality.

These are the best speakers I've ever had - no question. The clarity, warmth, base response and top end are beautifully balanced. I might have to get another set! Gotta save my pennies first though!

Really impressed with this wireless speaker from how easy it was to setup to the quality sound it produces. This speaker appealed to me as I didn't want anything too large in my front room but had the ability to fill it with sound, this delivers in a big way.

I use Spotify and iTunes Match and they work incredibly well with this beautifully designed unit.

I purchased a Bowers & Wilkins A5 on Saturday 9th February. I downloaded iTunes to my iPad Retina. I could not get the remote control to adjust the volume. I spoke to B&W and they suggested that the unit was faulty and I should get an exchange. I got an exchange yesterday and set it up. The remote volume is still not operating and the only way I can adjust the volume is via the iPad slider. Even the + & - switch on the side of the A5 will not adjust the sound. I am obviously doing something wrong as two untis from B&W could not be faulty. Has anyone else experienced this. I did see a blog suggesting that the only way iTunes volume can be adjusted is on the iPad which seems totally wrong. Please help.

Used their app to set it up from my ipad. From downloading the app to having the system operational took about five minutes. Sound quality is simply amazing. Extremely easy to use and control from computer, ipad and iphone. Have put the remote control away in a drawer - can't think of circumstances in which I'd use it.

I recently brought this and a couple of things that didn't work for me.

1) Sound quality compared to the Zeppelin Air are different. Mid tones seem muffed.
2) Volume levels - I had this in my bedroom and it was so loud. Trying to listen to this at night was impossible. It was either loud or nothing. I spoke to their support team and they had no answers.

I love the design (2 stars for that), beautifully made but that's about it I'm afraid.