Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air

I have owned an old pair of B&W DM14 speakers and this is just as good

Not a novice with setting up audio and computers. Have A+ certification on Operating systems and Hardware.......I say this because....During setup, had numerous errors and problems....sometimes worked, other-times didn't...Called B&W....they gave me completely different instructions to setup different than instructions with unit..Finally unit stopped working and B&W told me to return because it seemed a defective unit......LOTS of other websites where people are having same issues....I spent 6-7 hours a day for 3 days before giving up.
I must say B&W speakers are some(if not) of the best you can buy anywhere...totally top of the line....but the Zepp air is a product that shouldnt be at market....buyer beware

This is tremendously frustrating since I bought it online (US Military living overseas) so it is impossible to return, can not get the system to pair with my Apple desktop, the Led keeps blinking and will not go solid as advertised, what an enormous waste of money - I would tell you how great the sound is if I could hear it!

Picked one of these up the other day for my living room as I had been spending the last few months trying to decide the best way to get a sound system setup for casual listening. Something that wouldn't take up a lot of space, but still sound great. This definitely fits the bill. My main use will be streaming to it from my iTunes library.

I have a bit of a background in audio production / mixing so I'm quite picky when it comes to what I spend my money on, let me tell you when you read a review that says this thing sounds great, it really does. Of course, it helps to start with good quality music. I imagine low bit rate MP3's would be awful, and this system might even bring out the flaws in them more so than another speaker of lesser quality.

My iTunes library is all in Apple lossless format and whether I'm playing The Beatles, Neil Young, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Tracy Chapman, Gorillaz, Eminem, Nine Inch Nails, or Tool this system performs. It sounds clear, smooth, full and balanced. Separation between instruments / vocals is excellent. Anybody who says "there's not enough bass" is simply misspoken. They may prefer more bass sure, but this system has a balanced and natural amount of bass as far as I'm concerned. For me, more would be bad. If you need more, EQ to your own personal preferences.

Just to wrap it up, a lot of the online reviews complain about two things a) it's expensive and b) the stereo imaging / separation is poor unless you are listening from within 2-5'.

Well my answer to that is;

a) You get what you pay for, and when it comes right down to it for an all in one compact system of this quality, the price is what it is. Personally I don't think it's unreasonable.

b) This is not a flaw in the unit, but a limitation of physics. The way stereo imaging works (your ability to distinguish between the left / right speaker channels for a good stereo effect), is that the closer the left / right channels are together, the closer you have to sit in front of the speakers. The farther apart they are, the farther you need to sit. If you want good stereo imaging from 10' away, then the left / right speakers have to have a distance of 10' between them. Now I don't know about you, but I think having this thing 10' wide would defeat the purpose no? This is after all a speaker dock is it not? It's meant for quality, casual listening. If you want the ultimate hi-fi stereo setup where you can adjust your listening distance accordingly then buy the ultimate hi-fi stereo system, but be sure to have the proper sized room for it!

I must say that this is the sweetest sounding set I have bought. It was super easy to set up and the sound fills my town home. I have already told friends about it and bought one as a gift for my brother.

B&W great job!

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 love the way these speakers sound. they truly give you a new perspective to how your music sounds, even better than you thought! my problem lies with the airplay and it doesn't work. while other reviews have said it drops after 30 seconds, i've had luck where it doesn't drop for 30 minutes or less. it's extremely frustrating to pay $650 for something that should work. apple shouldn't sponsor 3rd parties if they don't work with upgrades...or apple should work with third parties about how their upgrades change things. this is my second set of speakers and my phone still doesn't dock to play music. have to play by airplay and that doesn't work either. iphone 4s and itunes 10 have created a series of problems for this technology. i've worked with b&w on this but their fixes don't solve the problem either. if you are considering, possibly wait for the airplay bugs to be fixed.

Love everything about it. The sound is impeccable and the AirPlay is a lot of fun to use. I like the ease of connectivity. The only problem is that my new iPhone 4S will not work longer than a minute and the zeppelin drops from the wireless network.. Just as the other reviewer said. I have to unplug it to get it up and running. Everything else that I use to AirPlay to it does not have this effect. Please fix it soon and I would be happy to give it 5stars.

Just got mine yesterday. the sound is absolutely incredible. the crispness of the instruments on live albums is unbelievable. zeppelin fills the whole room with amazing sound. can't stop listening to it. ALSO airplay feature is great. easy to set up when following step by step instructions

This speaker has an amazing sound, the bass is incredible and the the music is balanced even at loud volume, the speaker not only looks great but the performance is also excellent; the airplay function is a little hard to configure but once you got it right the freedom it offers is unparalleled, since you don't have your phone on the dock at all times and goes with you around the house instead.

bottom line one of the best loud speakers, great design and the innovative airplay function.