Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air

Solid, great sounding speakers, but AirPlay was a key selling point.

I bought my partner the ZA for Christmas from the Online Store. After spending three hours on Christmas Day trying to get it to AirPlay properly I have come to the conclusion that the WiFi or AirPlay module is faulty. I had to update the firmware to 1.1.3 twice. After the first firmware update, the unit went into some kind of torpor and wouldn’t even respond to a hard reset.

I found that a LOT of customers have the same problem, but most end up returning it at this point. It was by PURE CHANCE that I ran across a forum post that pointed me to where to download the software to restore the firmware to 1.0.0.

Incidentally, B&W don’t include a USB cable, so unless you have one handy, you can’t update the firmware.

But EVEN AFTER finally successfully updating to 1.1.3, the ZA now connects to my wifi network fine, but will only AirPlay for half a minute. I set my WiFi router to issue a dedicated IP to the ZA’s MAC address and used an IP scanner to watch. When the ZA stops streaming, it disappears from all my iDevices’ AirPlay lists, and also the IP scans fail to detect it. So I’m quite sure that the WiFi/AirPlay module is kaput.

Apple was very accommodating when I called to arrange for a replacement, but ultimately, I wasted a lot of my time trying to get it to work and have to waste more time and effort lugging it to FedEx and waiting another 7-10 days for a replacement unit that was supposed to be a CHRISTMAS GIFT for someone special.

This product isn’t cheap. Is it wrong to expect better QC than this?

7 of 8 people found this useful

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

17 of 28 people found this useful

From the get-go, unable to connect wirelessly to my router using any of the three methods provided in the online manual (but not the one it came packaged with), or to install the firmware update (getting "no device present" in Windows 7 32-bit). The progress before failure using each connection method varies by attempt. Googled it to find that these are problems experienced by other users too, given which you'd expect the website and the instruction manual to have something a tad more enlightening to say than "check your password" or "reconnect power and try again". E-mailed B&W's support, who mailed back promising a 3-day response. Not promising.

25 of 44 people found this useful

I bought this product because i love to play music and do other things with my Iphone at the same time. I was very excited to hear about AirPlay and try it. I read the reviews and all the people that said they had many problems seting it up. My advise for these items is to READ THE Manuals before you touch anything. The set up took almost no time at all. The quality of the sound from the system is fantastic. Its as good as the Bose system I use in the same room. I also love the stylish look of the system. The only down side that i have found is that the remote controll does not work very well with the Ipod on my phone when the phone is not docked to the system the volume does not increase smoothly and sometimes goes down instead of up. This only happens with Ipod and not other music applications like Pandora. I would highly recomend this system to amyone that loves great sound, the airplay ability ( that's the main reason why i got this speaker) and stylish looks.

7 of 8 people found this useful

I've enjoyed high quality audio for a while in both multii-channel and stereo formats. I like the everything about a multi-channel setup except for the fact that it begins to take over the room it is setup in. I became tired of the cables, stands, subwoofer, can't put this furniture here, etc...etc..
I decided to move to a simple, one piece solution, and the Zeppelin Air fit the bill. After looking into some different sound bar options I decided that I didn't care for something that pretends to produce multi-channel audio. I just wanted something that sounded nice and clear, but still could produce clean bass without a separate subwoofer. Well the Zeppelin Air also does that, and it looks fantastic as well. The Zeppelin has just the right inputs for my needs, I use the USB for my computer and the optical input for my Xbox 360. I'm happy and now my living room is much more comfortable to be in.

6 of 6 people found this useful

One of the best speakers I have ever had. In addition to all of its positive feedbacks, I wanted to add that it has some minor issues such as WI-FI. It is pretty hard to set your device up in order to use it wirelessly.

6 of 7 people found this useful

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.

16 of 27 people found this useful

This is by far the best iPod speaker on the market. We picked up ours at a local Magnolia HiFi store and ended up using it as a sound bar for the tv as well as a wireless speaker system from our iMac. It's pricey but nothing else like it even comes close to the amazing sound this thing produces.

8 of 11 people found this useful

Terrible connection issues! The unit sounds great but if you prefer to connect via the home network then forget it, this thing is rubbish!. I cant find a fix anywhere for it so it's going back. This thing costs £500.00 here in the UK. I think I'll go for the Bose instead. Hugely disappointed with the wireless facility :-(

13 of 21 people found this useful

This unit did not work out of the box after setting up the air play on a wirelessG router with 128bit encryption. Furthermore hooking up an iphone4s to unit plays for a couple of minutes and then turns off. The red light flashes, unit has to be unplugged and powered up again.

This is no better than an expensive and ugly recharger. The sound, when it can be heard is awesome for mp3 player. All details are clear and balanced bass is deep. I put in a support request to B&W and hope to get some help because the web site support does not say enough. Furthermore the video is so lame. I'm from a computer engineering background and should be able to get through all the manuals to setup unit easily but this unit just doesn't work well. It is a dissapointment.

14 of 23 people found this useful