Www Bowers Wilkins Com Zeppelin Air

B&W began a revolution of sound, style and role in 2008 with the original Zeppelin. Competing with a plethora of cheapo iPod docks that sounded dreadful, B&Westward created an aural and visual tour de force, functioning much more than an iPod dock, with multiple inputs (line level, USB, Toslink and S-Video) to make the Zeppelin a true compact hifi system.

By and present models expect virtually identical, with just subtle differences between them. The start generation Zeppelin has a polished aluminum rear confront, where the Air sports blackness. Around front, the iPod cradle now says "Bowers and Wilkins" where information technology said "B&W" before, simply yous won't really need that cradle anymore. The cradle indicator LED at present glows purple, meaning you are connected wirelessly to your iPhone, iPod or iPad, in one case you've taken a few minutes to enable AirPlay.

While our original Zeppelin survived teenager torture for four years, everyone sighed a huge sigh of relief thanks to AirPlay, knowing there would be no more rough and tumble with the dock. The wireless connectivity also makes for a ton of fun when friends visit – now everyone can play their music through the Zeppelin Air.

And What a Sound it Makes

The original Zeppelin redefined tabletop possibilities with its 2.one speaker organisation, consisting of a centrally located woofer (powered by a fifty watt amplifiers) with a pair of Kevlar midrange drivers and dome tweeters (powered past a 25 watt amplifier per channel) derived from B&Ws 800 series of home speakers.

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Everything in the Zeppelin Air has been upgraded. The internal DAC is now able to play 24/96 files native (through the digital line input) and upsamples everything else to this resolution, along with the ability to grab the digital bitstream straight from the iPod, instead of merely using the line level output as the original model did.

Next, comparing the new and old Zeppelin is similar comparing the Jaguar XK and XKR – most of the differences are nether the hood. The speakers accept been upgraded and now each one of the iv drivers has its own 25 watt amplifier, rather than each midrange and tweeter pair sharing one. This is evident the minute the volume climbs above a whisper – and much like the ii Jags, you don't realize how handy that extra power is until you climb back into the lesser automobile. The Zeppelin always did an fantabulous job with heavy music, but now when playing hard rock or heavy hip hop, it provides a thunderous presentation.

The sublime seperaration between the bass line and guitars when playing Tool now makes the Zeppelin a serious metal motorcar. With a tiny chip of room reinforcement on the kitchen countertop, "Intolerance" (from the Undertow album) fooled a few dinner guests into thinking the theater system in the other room was on. And aye, I play metal when I'yard cooking. The increased bass response and power will entreatment to those in the latter category as well, the deep synth bass pervading MIDIval PunditZ "Atomizer" had the cutlery rattling in a manner the original never could.

Horsepower without finesse is uninteresting (or mayhap a Dodge Viper) and again the Zeppelin Air glides through effortlessly. The pianoforte solo on Bowie'south "Aladdin Sane" from the cocky titled album was vivid and hung in the air well in forepart of the speakers possessing exceptional timbral accuracy. Whatever secrets lurk in the DSP processing, the engineers in charge should get a pay raise. If I only had $600 to spend on a system, I wouldn't even bother with separates. Those in a compact space will find that the Zeppelin Air makes a great addition to your flat screen TV for a lot less than any number of soundbars now available.

To Dock or Not to Dock

Handy as Air Play is, if the music on your iPod has been stored in Apple Lossless or uncompressed format, there's a real advantage to plugging in – the new DAC takes the digital bitstream straight from the player, bypassing the 1 in the iPod.

It volition only take a second to make y'all a laic in the cause of higher resolution. The Zeppelin Air sounds deflated when you become back to MP3′s – it's that performance affair again. Should you be a real digital audio geek, you tin import 24/96 files via the optical input and Mac Mini. The Zeppelin has plenty resolution to showcase loftier res files, and some of my favorite downloads from HD Tracks and the B&W Society of Sound websites were even more heady than playing from the iPod in sixteen/44.1 mode. Miles Davis' horn on the title track from Tutu, exploded from the Zep, total of life and resonance.

Having both wired and wireless modes available makes the Zeppelin Air hands adaptable to all the same yous'd like to listen. AirPlay is perfect for casual listening, yet you can attain essentially higher quality plugging your device directly in.

I'1000 Neither Mazed nor Dislocated

I've made it all the way through this review without making any reference to that not bad ring with the same name, merely my Anti-Zeppelin muscles can only stay flexed for then long. I wound up the evaluation with "Stairway to Sky." I couldn't resist, and information technology was crawly.

Kidding aside, we are proud to award the B&W Zeppelin Air one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2012. The worlds best iPod dock goes from marvelous to monstrous and in four years, the price has stayed the same, at $599. The Zeppelin Air rules.

The B&West Zeppelin Air