Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Wireless review

If you wandered through an electronics or hi-fi store within the last decade, you've more than likely caught a glimpse of the iconic Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin in one of its two former guises. Even if you weren't aware it was from the British audio brand, its distinctive shape made it instantly memorable. The fact that it delivered refined audio with confidence and distinction meant it proved rather popular.

The Zeppelin series was beginning to show its age, however. The first Zeppelin was a docking station for one of the first iPods, whereas the Zeppelin Air introduced AirPlay for wireless connectivity and brought it slightly more into modern times. Nowadays, AirPlay alone isn't enough for most listeners, especially when multiroom audio and Bluetooth connectivity have become so prominent. The third version of the Zeppelin, now named the Zeppelin Wireless, has been brought bang up to date with all the connection methods you'll likely need to get the music blaring, while also streamlining its design.

That famous shape has made a return, and with the removal of the now largely redundant Apple dock, its lines are far cleaner and less interrupted. It now truly lives up to its name. It's an attractive design and I'd certainly not have any problems having the speaker out on display; it becomes an instant conversation piece. Bowers & Wilkins says that the shape has an engineering reason, beyond just looking unique. The oval-shaped speaker cabinet matches the internal arrangement of the Zeppelin's drivers.

In the centre is a large 6.5in subwoofer with an ultra-long voice coil that directs the lower frequencies directly forward. This is flanked by two 3.5in mid-range drivers that use Fixed Suspension Transducers, which Bowers & Wilkins says allow the edge of the speaker cone to terminate without any resonance for improved clarity. Two smaller 1in double dome tweeters are on each end to deliver the high-end. The shape of the cabinet, therefore, matches the size of each driver inside. All five drive units are individually driven, with 4x 25w and 1x 50W of power output. 

The rear of the Zeppelin Wireless has also been refined. Previously, as with many of Bowers & Wilkins' other speakers such as its A5 and A7, there was a TunePort bass radiator. This is now no longer required for the lower frequencies, so the back is completely uninterrupted. The Zeppelin Wireless weighs 6.5kg, so has some reassuring weight to it. It has been redesigned to help cut down on vibrations and cabinet reverberation with a front fascia that's also considerably thicker than previous versions. Certainly, with music played at loud volumes, there were no issues with the cabinet negatively influencing the sound. 

On the back is the play/pause button and volume controls. There is an Ethernet port and an auxiliary jack for connecting a wired audio source. Otherwise, your main way to get music to the speaker is through Apple AirPlay, Bluetooth and Spotify Connect. The latter two methods are new introductions, and open up compatibility beyond Apple's ecosystem.

In order to use Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect, you'll need to connect the Zeppelin Wireless to your home network using the iOS Bowers & Wilkins Connect app, or the desktop software for Windows or OS X. The setup process is nice and simple, with good guidance throughout.

A remote control is no longer included, but you can use the Connect app in order to adjust the volume if you don't want to use the buttons on the speaker. Subtle buttons are built into the Bowers & Wilkins logo on the front of the speaker for switching to the auxiliary and Bluetooth connections. Pairing over Bluetooth is straightforward, but it's a shame there's no NFC support to make it even easier. At least the less-lossy aptX codec is supported.

Spotify Connect integration works as well as expected, and means that if you're a Spotify Premium subscriber you can use the speaker to play music directly through the Spotify app. With the inclusion of Spotify Connect and Bluetooth, it now means you have vastly more options for getting music out of the Zeppelin Wireless. The auxiliary connection also means you could feasibly pick up an inexpensive Google Chromecast Audio or hook up to your television to use as a rather large soundbar. If your television is wall-mounted, it's certainly an option.

All the inputs are upsampled to 192kHz/24-bit through the Zeppelin Wireless' DAC. In terms of sound quality, the Zeppelin Wireless certainly delivers the clarity and control I’ve come to expect from Bowers & Wilkins' speakers. There’s a delicate refinement to the sound, especially in the mids and trebles. The vocals in Carlos Santana and India Arie’s cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps sounded wonderful with the vocals floating delicately over the instrumentation.

Listening to hip-hop, electronic bass had the kind of impact that hits you in your core, but remained tight and focused without muddying the rest of the music. The forward-firing subwoofer really made its presence felt. There's a decent amount of stereo separation, too, helped by the distance between the drivers inside, which helped to widen the soundstage to fill the room. The Zeppelin Wireless can also achieve loud volume levels without any distortion as the volume increases. 

Conclusion

The Zeppelin Wireless builds upon its rich heritage with improvements across the board. The new design is fantastic and with improved connectivity options it's exceedingly more versatile than its predecessors. It is undeniably expensive, but its sound quality and wonderful design goes some way to justify the price. The only thing lacking is true multiroom abilities. AirPlay still isn't a replacement for proper multiroom integration and it can still be finicky, and Spotify Connect only lets you play from one speaker at a time, but if you want a speaker to deliver pitch perfect audio for a single room the Zeppelin Wireless is an excellent choice.