Bowers & Wilkins A7 AirPlay Wireless Music System

• Simply, the best speaker I ever owned

  5.0 out of 5 stars

  1. Unboxing
  Apple-like experience.
  2. Appearance/Form factor
  Extremely good build quality. Love the minimalistic finish. Fits p erfectly in the bookshelf.
  2. Setup
  Connected to the power cord. Set it up with the App from iPhone. Just had to follow through the user-friendly wizard. It was up and running!
  3. Sound quality
  Simply magnificent, near sublime sound quality! Response to wide range of frequencies, from bass to tweet is well balanced. No distortions observed even at the maximum volume. (Disclaimer: I am not an audiophile)
  4. Extras
  B&W gives three months of gift subscription for the Society of Sound where you could obtain high-fidelity FLAC 24-bit albums, with which, the true potential of this system could be unleashed.
  
  Room for improvement:
  Although A7 DAC is capable of processing 96kHz 24 bits, currently Airplay (although I am not sure whether is it Apple of B&W to blame) supports only up to 44.1kHz 16 bits.
  
  Obscurity in tech specs:
  It is not clearly stated whether A7 supports Wireless N? (since I have a wireless router with a/b/g/n support, I have no way to verify) … More (Read full review)

  • Written by Sriram I from 港区
  • Nov 14, 2012

  73 of 77 people found this useful

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• Outstanding

  5.0 out of 5 stars

  I recently upgraded from the Zeppelin Air to the new B&W A7. I wondered if the A7 would justify the extra money and within minute s of the first use, I was very happy with the upgrade. First, the set up took less than a minute using the B & W app. The same app didn't work as well on the Zeppelin even though they're both using AirPlay devices. It took me over an hour to set up the Zeppelin and it I was only able to do it with an old Gateway laptop. It wouldnt take to my MBA or any of my iOS devices. None the less, it eventually connected and it sounded great. The A7 delivers (IMO) crisper fuller tones. Our great room has 25ft ceilings and the A7 easily fills the room. I took it outside to do yard work and it still sounded great without having wall to bounce sound off of. Plus, it reconnects within seconds of plugging it back in. Again, the Zeppelin takes up to 10 minutes...I moved it one time, and at first thought I had to reconfigure it. Since the A7 reconnects so quickly, I take it with me to another room if I think I'm going to be in it for a while. It's also more compact and can fit into more narrow places, ie the toilet tank. I'm planning on getting at least one more. I want every room to have one. It's so convenient with the airplay. I've never had an interruption or dropped connection. Before I had the dedicated AirPlay speakers, I used apple tv to stream Pandora, but I have to either leave the system on or turn it on every time I want to listen. This stays on standby mode until you're ready.
  Lastly, the build quality is classy and conservative. It easily blends with any decor and doesn't compete for attention. I've become a little discriminating to electronics and feel like the music systems should be heard, not seen...that much. … More (Read full review)

  • Written by Edward R from Damascus
  • Nov 18, 2012

  66 of 69 people found this useful

  Was this useful? Outstanding

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• Awesome Sound & Quality

  5.0 out of 5 stars

  I bought this item to replace my bose soundlink to play music throughout the house. This unit fills the house with highs & lows. V ery well balanced and clear sound, I don't think its even possible to distort the sound even at the highest volume. Set up was extremely easy using the set up app available for ipad or iphone. I was however expecting the range using airplay to be significantly greater than I experienced with my bluetooth bose but that has not been the case. It cuts out if I walk outside or move behind 2 closed doors. That said airplay does offer other advantages over bluetooth. This unit connects to any device easy once you are logged onto the same network. I would buy this speaker alone just for the sound it produces (and I will for a second one in the bedroom). … More (Read full review)

  • Written by TODD T from Wichita
  • Nov 13, 2012

  65 of 68 people found this useful

  Was this useful? Awesome Sound & Quality

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• Added to a Sonos system - ideal

  4.0 out of 5 stars

  My first generation Zeppelin died a loud and unpleasant death. Having been on for several days and getting a lot of play, I heard - grrrrrr, BANG! My Zeppelin self destructed. For a moment I thought it just didn't want to play any more Bob Dylan - that can't be true. It was five years old and had provided many hours of enjoyment. I loved it's deep, rich, full sound.
  
  Now it came time to select a replacement. Having had a previous occurrence with my Zeppelin of a bad power supply requiring me to send it to the service depot for repair, I was reluctant to buy another B&W product. I had a Sonos Connect allowing the Zeppelin to be part of my home listening system. So, I was looking for powered desktop/book shelf speakers to connect to the Sonos. I also have several Sonos powered speakers scattered around in various rooms, but I never thought the sound was any better than passable. I listened to several other offerings. None of them had the richness of my Zeppelin. I did not need a iPhone/iPod/iPad dock. I just needed a good powered speaker for my office. I had no way to listen to the A7 prior to purchase, but I was taken by B&W's claim that the A7 had their highest quality amps for best playback on their renowned speakers. Digital optical input to the amps should be ideal. So, I bought it.
  
  I thought that my Zeppelin was the hottest thing on the market for my purposes. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the A7 out performed the Zeppelin - to my ears. The sound is rich and dynamic. I generally don't like heavily accented bass. But the A7 has very clearly distinguished bass while not being overdone. The channel separation is as good as one can expect from a single desktop speaker. I like to use Bob Dylan's "Man in the long black coat" as a measure of my sound systems. The opening provides very clear channel separation and instrument isolation. The A7 is not my Mark Levinson/Thiel CS2.7 combination, but it's pretty darn good.
  
  Several reviewers have been disappointed with the WiFi, and I am too. It's the only reason I rated the A7 as four stars rather than a perfect five. Luckily, my Sonos Connect has an ethernet output that connects directly to the A7. This way when I want to use the A7 independently from the Sonos music system, the A7 can access the internet via the B&W app. WiFi problem solved. … More (Read full review)

  • Written by Patrick O from Santa Cruz
  • May 10, 2013

  1 of 1 people found this useful

  Was this useful? Added to a Sonos system - ideal

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• Love the Bowers & Wilkins A7

  5.0 out of 5 stars

  I purchased this about a couple of months ago and love it. The sound is incredible for any office or any small room.

  • Written by George R from New York
  • Apr 29, 2013

  2 of 3 people found this useful

  Was this useful? Love the Bowers & Wilkins A7

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• Very impressed and completely satisfied with my A7 purchase.

  5.0 out of 5 stars

  If you want great quality sound, this is the unit to purchase. Setting it up is not as easy as a bluetooth system would, but it wa s still fairly easy. For those people that have/had problems with skipping, look into your network/router settings or the strength of your wi-fi range.
  
  Download the B&W Control app first and the whole set up should be done within 10 minutes or less. Updating the firmware is very easy as well. Download the update from B&W website and access device properties by right-clicking on it's icon in the network folder. This is obviously done using your PC/MAC.
  
  One more thing, I do own other B&W speakers and they require their speakers to be broken in. I found this to be the same with my A7. Sound is flawless!!! Never once had a skipping problem.
  
  Network: Verizon FIOS
  Rouer: Actiotec … More (Read full review)

  • Written by Jeevey B from Pomona
  • Apr 26, 2013

  2 of 2 people found this useful

  Was this useful? Very impressed and completely satisfied with my A7 purchase.

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