Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air Speakers

ios 5.1 seems to have fixed the problems with the airplay from 4s. after i updated it worked perfectly.

Like many of you reading these reviews, I too had been here lusting after a Zeppelin Air. The downside for me was the price. However, on Black Friday, Apple knocked £101 off the price which made it too good to resist, so I bought one!

The network setup was a little tricky and I had to rename my wireless network as the Zeppelin wouldn't connect. Managed to sort it out and since then the Zeppelin wireless connection has been rock solid. I'm using an Airport Extreme as my wireless router.

The sound is incredible provided you feed the Zeppelin quality music. Music at lower bit rates sound a bit tinny and empty. To get the best sound, I re-ripped my entire CD collection to Apple Loseless format, and the sound is so amazing. rich, and full of life, you can hear everything in perfect clarity.

Definitely worth buying if you want the ultimate in acoustic perfection, but be prepared to re-rip to get the best sound :)

this sound is great. if you like warm sound & harmony of sounds, especially emphasized bass, zeppelin air may be the best choice. but there is one big problem. yes, you already know, the Airplay. the linkage between iProduct & Zeppelin Air are disconnected well. although i solved the problem, i didn't know how i solved it because of solving it just modifying the setting of my wireless router. i don't understand why b&w solves this problem. i think they know this problem already.

I decided to buy this after reading the reviews, finding the only negative was setting up the speaker. I found the entire process to be quick and painless. After hooking my ethernet cable to the speaker and opening the web address given in the instructions, I was on my wireless network within a minute or two. I then used a USB cable to update the firmware, which was very well explained and, again, worked exactly as described in a matter of a few minutes. I'm not sure why this was such an issue for others; I experienced no problems at all. From this point, connecting wirelessly, docked, and by USB from my iMac all worked flawlessly.

The sound, in my opinion, is very good. Depending on what you are listening to, the bass can be a little heavy. I agree with some of the others that when using an iPod with recordings that are heavy on bass, the bass reducer setting may be better. In most cases, though, I prefer no adjustment at all. Overall, these are much better than my previous Bose setup. I own Shure SE535 earphones, which I really like. This gives me something reasonably equivalent to listen to my music on when I don't want to wear earphones. I highly recommend this product. You get what you pay for.

Wow just bought this thing and I am blown away. Its not apple easy to set up but rather fool proof. You can set up and stream on any WiFi. Ethernet cable needed to connect to a computer (not your router!) only on the initial set up. (Its included in box) Only cable required to be plugged in is the power cable. I like the no wires airplay feature. Soo far its been flawless. Seems pricey but when you hear it you will understand why.

I bought this unit for Black Friday and had it set up all week. Not once in the whole time did AirPlay work for a whole song.

I first set it up with the default Firmware and followed the instructions. I had my network hidden and used WPA2 Wireless Security. The B&W would could not find my network. I un hid my network and the B&W finally found it. Once the Zepplin was all set up I tried using it via Airplay. The music would play for about 5 seconds and then the Airplay would drop and I would have to restart the Zepplin to find it again on Airplay. I tried with my MBP, iPhone 4S and iPad2 all with the same results. So, I updated the Firmware to 1.3.3. With the update I could 'almost' make it through a song before it was dropped. I repeated this several times in several rooms across my house. No Joy.

The sound is great when it is playing and it looks great but alas I bought it for the iPlay functionality not the looks. I am returning this unit as completely unhappy with it.

Note: I currently stream my music to Living Room via Airplay and AppleTV and office using Airport Extreme and an Amp. With excellent results. I wanted a portable unit to move to other rooms and the deck.

I will keep looking for a decent unit.

I hesitated at first between Bose soundock 10 and Zeppellin air, after hearing both,I came to the conclusion( very quickly),that the range,the details were amazing on the Zeppelin Air.I still need to get use to its looks!!.Air-play set-up was a breeze.Before complaining people should read the manual,I had no problems whatsoever.

I too was puzzled in getting these or the Bose SoundDock 10. Bought both for comparison at home in a quiet room. Bose is going back to store. Zeppelin Air hands down won the race in all aspects. Wireless setup was a breeze. Not sure why people are having problems. I just plugged in to my Time Capsule and AirPlay connected in a sec.

Different LED indicators are a bit tricky but once you read the manual, you would know everything.

Transmitting Apple Lossless via AirPlay is great, way better than bluetooth. very detailed sound, punchy bass, but if you are true audiophile, and want to hear your music as it is meant to be heard, get Sennheiser HD800 headphones and a good tube amp/DAC. As far as these speakers go, it delivers what promises.

I am not sure how these will be compare to Philips Fidelio SoundSphere (twice the price) when they are on sale in Europe sometimes in May.

Whilst the initial set-up of the Zeppelin Air was not as intuitive as I would have liked (it took me a handful of attempts to finally connect it to my wireless network), the aesthetics and build quality of the product are outstanding and the sound is in a totally different league to the other iPod Docks that I have sampled (Bose, Logitech etc..).

Controlling the Zeppelin via my iPhone or iPad could not be easier using the Remote App (available from the App Store) and you may be forgiven to think that this device can only play music from your iTunes library, but you can also play podcasts, radio stations or content from Spotify if you have an account.

If you want un-rivalled looks and sound from your iPod Dock, this is the product for you and I'm really glad that I stretched my budget to accommodate the Zeppelin Air.

So I purchased this because I know it's the best of the best - and it sounds great in the Apple Store. However, I lugged it home only to find out that it would not produce any sound. I was baffled. I called B&W support and they told me I'm one of the rare instances where the voltage in my house is just above 120V and the unit will not operate. So, I had to spend another $50 on a voltage regulator to plug it into. A little annoyed.