Customer Reviews and Ratings

4.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 15 reviews

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Absolutely Fantastic

    • Written by from DERBY

    63 of 67 people found this useful

    Picked up on of these from my local hi-fi shop and all I can say is WOW. Very easy to setup, you just download the free B&W app from the app store, configure the settings and you're up ready to go in less than 2 minutes. Couldn't be easier.

    The sound is great, I found that playing my music at about a third of the maximum volume was perfect, but if you need to, you can really crank up the volume and make some noise.

    It looks great too.

    very happy with my purchase and would highly recommend it.

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Brilliant

    • Written by from London

    54 of 64 people found this useful

    Just get one today in the Regent Street Apple Store.
    Really easy to set up and start playing your iTunes library.
    It sounds incredible,crisp and clear..A joy listen music in this thing ..
    Totally worth it .. Well done once again ..

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Escellent Speaker for the price

    • Written by from London

    44 of 49 people found this useful

    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.

    Was this useful? Escellent Speaker for the price

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Sublime sound

    • Written by from Kettering

    34 of 38 people found this useful

    Picked this up from the Leicester apple store. AirPlay set up took a minute! And what a beautiful speaker it is. Very pleased. Beats the Bose sounddock 10 hands down. A lot of depth to the sound. Ideal for people who do not want the massive thumping produced from the subwoofer of zeppelin air or sounddock 10.

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great system just needs the right app!

    • Written by from Ash Vale

    17 of 19 people found this useful

    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.

    Was this useful? Great system just needs the right app!

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Simply Magnificent

    • Written by from Milford

    15 of 16 people found this useful

    A magnificent product, tremendous piece of industrial design and performance. Musical excellence, coupled with cutting edge technology, create an incredibly compelling product.

    //Design
    Minimalist, classy, expensive.

    //Build Quality
    Absolutely what you would expect from Bowers & Wilkins - top notch. From the nautilus tweeters, to the class D amplifiers powering each driver, this speaker oozes quality.

    //Sound
    Sublime! Detailed throughout the range, well balanced, and delivering the vinyl-esq warmth that is the B&W trademark. The soundstage produced from one box is incredible. The DAC upscales lossy MP3s to deliver a depth that only the most discerning of audiophiles will be pick holes in. In a word, incredible.

    //AirPlay
    Flawless, delivering lossless streams from iPad, iPhone and iMac without issue. One cautionary note, lossless streams require a strong WiFi connection to prevent break in streams from packet loss.

    //Setup
    A doddle, the app from B&W is simple and effective.

    //A7 or A5?
    I have both the A7 and the A5, so can make a real life comparison between the two. The A7 provides a more dynamic range from the seperate sub-woofer, offering greater detail in the low to mid range. The A5 therefore has a 'fresher' feel, with greater reliance on mid range. However, both are incredible, and in a blind test the average consumer would be hard pushed to notice the difference. If you have the money, get the A7, however if you get the A5 you will be more than happy.

    //Summary
    This speaker will make you love with music again. Get one without hesitation.

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Stunning!

    • Written by from Richmond

    10 of 13 people found this useful

    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!

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Even better than I expected!

    • Written by from Chippenham

    6 of 6 people found this useful

    Ridiculously easy to setup and use. I can now play any audio from my iPad, iPhone and laptop. The sound is really crisp and clear. It looks gorgeous and is so compact that it fits perfectly in the only space I could put a speaker. It is expensive but you get great quality for your money. My only complaint would be that I can't unleash its full volume without annoying my neighbours!

    Was this useful? Even better than I expected!

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Sounds as good as it looks

    • Written by from Burton On Trent

    6 of 7 people found this useful

    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.

    Was this useful? Sounds as good as it looks

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Good Airplay Speaker System set up a bit challenging

    • Written by from Shepton Mallet

    4 of 4 people found this useful

    I bought one of these today and after 3 hours of fiddling around have got it working fine and it sounds very good in our kitchen. The set up app is ok but it would have been helpful to have some narrative on what to expect at each stage of the procedure.
    You have to find your way around the setup procedure and I had to reset it several times before I finally got it to work.
    It is elegant neat and has a very reasonable sound for its size

    Was this useful? Good Airplay Speaker System set up a bit challenging

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Remote volume not working

    • Written by from Buckden

    5 of 7 people found this useful

    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.

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Fantastic Sound Quality

    • Written by from Market Harborough

    2 of 2 people found this useful

    Amazing Quality sound, fantastic buy!

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Perfect setup and sound

    • Written by from Oxford

    2 of 3 people found this useful

    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.

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Superb speaker

    • Written by from Barnsley

    2 of 3 people found this useful

    The set up of this speaker was simplicity itself using the B&W app. I was up and running in a matter of minutes and streaming music from my iPod. Using the remote app I had downloaded I was just as easily streaming music from the entire library on my Mac.
    The sound quality from the speaker itself is tremendous from such a compact cabinet. Very clear, solid bass with no discernible distortion even at high volume. The build quality is very impressive and I particularly like the understated and discrete appearance
    The extra long mains lead is very useful when finding a suitable position within the room.
    I would not hesitate to recommend this speaker to anyone wanting to get the best from the excellent Airplay system.

  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Not very impressed

    • Written by from London

    16 of 39 people found this useful

    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.