Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air Speakers

Stopped working after a couple of weeks, power failure apparently quite common.
Still waiting to hear from Bowers & Wilkins having submitted a request 3 weeks ago on their website. Got in touch with the Sydney distributer who replaced the unit. I now have a flashing red light, which according to B&W means the unit has gone into protect mode and requires servicing!! As I said in the title a great looking system but rather an expensive ornament!
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air - FAIL

Like many I did not have a good start with my unit. It just would not do wifi. Scouring through the net I found out that the unit only works in wireless G mode and my modem was set to only transmit wireless N. So I changed the setting on my modem to run both N and G and viola...I have experienced the occassional drop out but not often enough to be a pain. All I can say is that it is an unbelievably great sounding unit with great mid, highs and lows emitting from all the B&W high tech speakers. No problem connecting my old IPod, iPad or just straight from to the unit. My only gripe is the absence of Bluetooth, which would be heaven sent especially if you do not want friends to log on to your wifi just to play music from their phones.

Bought myself these speakers a year ago. The sound is great the shape is large and cumbersome. You cant place them close to a wall as the quality of sound drops and they do not work well unless plugged into the wifi box!

Overall I'm still extremely happy with my Zeppelin Air. It has superb sound -- really amazing for its form factor. Even at louder volumes we're happy. However, it does fall off our network fairly often. It's a good distance from an access point, so I suspect it would be less of a problem if it were closer. I have an Altec Lansing inAir that seems to have some of the same issues with wireless, so I'm not sure how much better the competition is. If your Zeppelin is close to its source it probably won't be too much of a problem.

Makes your music on your iPhone sound great but you have to use decent music. "But my music sounds muddy on it"... yes your lime wire, free 40kbps will sound bad almost every speaker. I use a aux cord from my mac and some 96000kHz/24bit music. There is not a time I use this speaker and am not impressed. Plus if you don't like it, take it back and get your cash back. You have 30 days. Or if in the rare case you get a bad egg. Take it back and get a new one. No questions asked. The bass is not as punchy as the Bose of the same price. The quality of sound, however, is far better. So if you want to hear details in your music you never known where there. Go B&W. If you just want a speaker to play loud, thumping music for parties. Go Bose. Or, if you can, just go listen to them both.

Doesn't quite have the sound of B&W's 800 series :), but still sounds incredible for something that weighs little over 6kg. It certainly surprises visitors when such an impressive (and balanced) sound is produced from a deceptively small system. And as for AirPlay, its fantastic; plays in perfect sync with an Apple TV and Airport Express to fill the whole house with sound; though I have now learnt where the Wi-Fi antenna on an iPad 3 is; if you cover it, the music stops, so i'd recommend controlling iTunes using Apple's Remote app.

The set up app was a breeze and the price is easily justified, even if, like me, you won't use the dock on the front.

The sound is fine when it works. The wireless feature part no longer works because it needs the famous firmware upgrade. I have been hearing about firmware upgrades since the dawn of the computer age. It usually means the gadget doesn't work right. It was fine when I first set it up but after moving and trying to connect to a new network, it is impossible. Overpriced.

I shopped around for 6 months for a top of the line iPod Speaker System, and this was by far the best built, best sounding and best value for money. This system has very high quality sound, a sense of warmth and depth to the music, and BASS that is not overpowering but perfectly proportional to the volume. My only downside would be in party situations where it is on full volume - 150 watts is not really enough, as it could be a bit louder, with people acting as sound absorbers. However, this is an unbelievable system that I use everyday because I love discovering a new depth to my music, and the sound produced can't help but encapsulate you into listening. Not a iPod dock to be overlooked...

These speakers deliver amazing quality sound and the customer service is second to none. I recently had a small issue and upon return of the product, found that they had replaced damaged external parts and extended the warranty as a gesture of goodwill - unheard of from its more mainstream counterparts - Bose etc. If you are looking for fantastic acoustics delivered through a beautifully designed and built product, the Zeppelin Air is definitely for you!

I've owned the Zeppelin Air for 10 months and agree with many users that the sound is fantastic but the wireless functionality is unreliable at best - certainly frustrating.

I've used with three different wireless modems in two different apartments (and separate internet providers) with little distance between modem and Zeppelin.

I've implemented the update with no improvement. The thing drops out to the point where I can't get through a single song.

For the money, this is not worth it.

BW should stop selling this unit since it clearly hasn't committed to a solid fix after all this time and selling such a flawed product damages its reputation.

Compression in the BOSE units leads to poorer fidelity, however, at least BOSE has a more reliable technology.

Do not buy this unit.