B&W Zeppelin Air ipod speaker with Apple airplay

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air

The Zeppelin Air is one of B&W's most prideful products and is one of the most critically acclaimed iPod speaker docks in the world. The Zeppelin Air is often considered the flagship iPod dock of the hifi industry. It gets it's name from the unit's unique shape, which houses two midrange drivers, two tweeters and a large bass/midrange driver in the center of the unit. Bowers-specific dimpled bass-ports on the back of the Zeppelin Air allow for an almost liquid bass response. Thanks to the AirPlay functionality within the unit, you can change track, volume or source at your own convenience without even having to approach the unit itself.

AirPlay Wireless Streaming

The Zeppelin Air utilises AirPlay. AirPlay is Apple's high-quality streaming technology, and allows for a lossless transfer of audio from a compatible source to the Zeppelin Air wirelessly. Compatible devices include iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, iTunes on PC. AirPlay will stream anything being played from these devices, whether it be from music streaming applications like Spotify or Last.fm or simply straight from the music application of the device. Certain applications on Android will also play to AirPlay devices. 

Simple Set-Up

Setting up the AirPlay on your B&W Zeppelin Air is easy and stress-free thanks to B&W's dedicated 'Control App', available from the Apple App-Store. The application simply walks you through the process of connecting the Zeppelin to your home wifi network, step-by-step, allowing you to name your Zeppelin and manage your settings in a wireless domain. This eradicates the need to waste time with cables or consult lengthy and boring manuals. If you're having difficulty setting up your AirPlay, Alex has kindly written a blog tutorial to help with the process even further. Should the blog post not suffice, then feel free to give Hifi Gear a call and we'll be happy to help you through it.

B&W-Style Sound

Bowers & Wilkins simply refuse to make a bad product. The Zeppelin Air is constantly referred to as being drastically superior to practically all iPod docks on the market today, especially within its price-range or lower. Speaker docks have a notoriously infamous predisposition of being tinny and lacking in bass. The Zeppelin Air simply destroys this misconception and sets an entirely new standard of what to expect from an iPod docking speaker. Listening to the Zeppelin Air will truly put you in the scene, as every rumbling bass note and each delicate high-hat is easily audible from the Zeppelin Air's highly capable speaker units.

Sound-Stage

The unique shape and length of the Zeppelin Air isn't just for aesthetic design purposes. The placement of the drive units allows for a highly impressive dispersion of sound, forming an open and natural panning response, while the pristinely built drivers and delicately constructed tweeters produce a room-filling sound that truly places you within the performance. Each speaker is powered indivudally.

Dimpled Bass Port

To the rear of the Zeppelin Air, you will find a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 'Flowports'. Flowport technology can be found in many of B&W's high-end HiFi speaker systems. The philosophy behind dimples of the Flowport is similar to that of a golf-ball, designed to smooth airflow and reduce unwanted noise, therefore producing a superior bass sound.

Audiophile DAC Technology

As the Zeppelin Air is designed to reproduce digital music at an exceptionally high standard, the DAC technology within the unit needs to be as well designed as the rest of the speaker doc. Lesser DACs often lose sonic detail while converting the digital signal, therefore reducing the overall playback quality of the song. This is not an issue that the Zeppelin Air can experience, thanks to it's audiophile quality, 24bit DAC.

30-Pin Legacy, or 5-Pin Lightning Connection

A 5-pin Zeppelin Air is also available, this model is compatible with the newer Apple devices such as the iPhone 5, 5S, 5C, iPod Touch (5th generation) and the iPod Nano (7th generation). The Zeppelin Air is wirelessly compatible with any AirPlay device. Apple's approved adaptor is compatible with the Zeppelin Air, should you wish to hard-dock an older Apple device to a 5-pin Zeppelin.

Additional Compatibility