Review: Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin

Referencing one of the 20th century’s most infamous catastrophes when christening a modish piece of technology seems a remarkably bold decision even now. Back in 2007, when Bowers & Wilkins unveiled its new “Zeppelin” iPod dock (remember those? They seem about as quaint a concept as airships themselves these days, but 15 years ago they were at the cutting edge), eyebrows were raised at the product’s name regardless of its undeniable similarity of shape. 

But thanks to both its class-leading levels of performance and its disinclination to cause any fatalities, the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin rapidly transcended its risky model name and was instead widely acknowledged as the best iPod dock around.

“Zeppelin Air” and “Zeppelin Wireless” followed, but since the latter’s launch in 2015 the Zeppelin project seemed to have stalled. Bowers & Wilkins instead chanced its arm with the “Formation” range of wireless speakers—but while this range had fewer negative connotations where its name was concerned, it also lacked Zeppelin’s obvious sonic superiority over its rivals. 

And so Zeppelin is back, ready to challenge once again for the hotly contested title of “Best Quite Expensive Wireless Speaker.”

At first glance, it could be 2007 all over again. The latest Zeppelin doesn’t have an actual iPod dock, naturally, but the evocative silhouette is just the same. And at 8.2 x 25.5 x 7.6 inches and 14.3 pounds, it’s just as imposing a device as it ever was. Only the metal pedestal stand, with a dimmable integrated ambient light (which seems useful only for establishing whether or not you’ve dusted the shelf upon which your Zeppelin is standing), is an obvious departure from the established template. Well, that and the choice of “midnight gray” (for which read “black”) or “pearl gray” ("gray") finishes.

On the inside the Zeppelin is, as you might imagine, all business. Bowers & Wilkins is promising authentic stereo sound from this single enclosure, and to this end the Zeppelin features five carefully positioned speaker drivers. At either end of the cabinet there’s a 1-inch double-dome tweeter of the type that first came to prominence as part of the award-winning 600 Anniversary Series range of loudspeakers. In the centre there’s a 6-inch subwoofer dealing with the low-end stuff, and it’s flanked by a couple of 3.5-inch midrange drivers. These use Bowers & Wilkins’ proprietary Fixed Suspension Transducer technology that we most recently encountered in a pair of the company’s $40,000 800 Series floor-standing behemoths. The five painstakingly arranged high performance drivers are powered by a total of 240 watts of Class D amplification—which, by any reasonable metric, ought to be plenty.

Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth are on board for painless and high quality wireless connectivity, and the Bowers & Wilkins Music App adds further possibilities. It’s a clean, good-looking and reasonably responsive control app by the standards of any company that isn’t Sonos, and it’s here you get access to a stack of streaming services including (but not limited to) Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal, TuneIn, Last.fm and SoundCloud. Compatibility with both Amazon Music and Amazon Alexa voice-control are promised soon.

Also on the “coming soon” list is multi-room functionality, with compatibility across both the Zeppelin and Formation ranges. In the meantime, though, Zeppelin is a standalone device that can be controlled via its app or the extremely brief set of physical controls on the rear of the enclosure. 

As far as physical connectivity goes, well, there isn’t any. The USB input is for service and (maybe) updates, and aside from power cord, that’s your lot. An HDMI input would be perfect for a product like this, but perhaps doing a stint as a soundbar is a bit beneath Bowers & Wilkins’ aspirations for the Zeppelin.

At the time of writing, the Zeppelin’s 24-bit/192-kHz DAC can accept digital audio file sizes up to 24 bits/96 kHz—although there seems a strong possibility this will be increased sooner rather than later. Hi-res audio via the control app is currently only available via Qobuz, but, of course, Apple AirPlay 2 and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth are both more than up to the task of streaming MQA-powered Tidal Masters files and the like. So whichever way you choose to go about it, the Zeppelin is a high resolution device.

And with some hi-res audio files (everything from The Beatles' “Two of Us” and Chick Corea’s “Return to Forever” to Lana Del Rey’s “Black Bathing Suit” and Aphex Twin’s “produk 29 [101],” sourced from Android and iOS smartphones) on board, the Zeppelin is immediately and uncomplicatedly impressive.               

It’s not above criticism, naturally enough, so we’ll get our gripes (such as they are) out of the way first. Yes, the Zeppelin produces a fairly wide and reasonably expansive sound—but stereo separation is alluded to rather than obvious, and so the sonic presentation is more like extremely open and well-defined mono rather than truly stereo. When a mix uses the full stereo width (as it does with The Beatles), then there’s a degree of “left” and “right” to be perceived, but the point-source of the entire presentation is never really in doubt. And with that complaint off our chests, we can discuss all the stuff the Zeppelin does beautifully.

Mind you, it’s important to explain that everything the Zeppelin does beautifully, it does entirely on its own terms. There’s some minor EQ adjustment available in the app—Bowers & Wilkins has demonstrably spent a lot of time and effort in getting the Zeppelin to sound the way it sounds, and the company isn’t about to let you fundamentally skew all that hard work. And there’s no gesture towards spatial audio or any other current audio faddishness. With Zeppelin, you pretty much get what you’re given.

Happily, that means convincing tonal balance, an absolute stack of detail both broad and fine, and frankly unlikely dynamic potency. The Zeppelin summons real bass depth and weight, but in a very straight-edged and controlled manner—so even when it’s punching hard, it’s right on top of the attack and decay of individual sounds. Bass has substance and momentum, it never overstays its welcome and it keeps well out of the way of the midrange. Which is just as it should be but quite often isn’t with products of this type.

The midrange itself is distinct, detailed to the point of fanaticism and entirely believable. It’s at its most communicative when dealing with a vocalist, of course, and it freights a singer’s delivery with all the nuance and character required to bring a performance to life. Despite the lack of true stereo separation, voices exist in a discernible little pocket of space even as they’re integrated smoothly into the performance as a whole. The Zeppelin does particularly good work with vocal transients, no detail is too fine or too fleeting to escape its notice.

The top of the frequency range is nicely assertive without getting in any way bolshy—so there’s proper, rattling attack when it’s required but also a degree of refinement. Some similarly priced wireless speakers will roll off the highest frequencies (all in the name of good taste, you understand), but that’s not how Bowers & Wilkins rolls. If treble sounds in a recording are bright and shiny, that’s exactly how the Zeppelin delivers them.

There’s great dynamic ability here too, both where the basic “from dead quiet to bloody loud” transitions are concerned and in the harmonic variances in, say, a solo piano. Fundamentally, the Zeppelin is an attentive and insightful device, and is able to pay attention to the secondary aspects of a recording without sounding remotely analytical or dispassionate.

Overall tonality is naturalistic, integration between all those drivers is smooth, and there’s decent spaciousness to the Zeppelin’s presentation even if its soundstage isn’t especially extensive. And just as importantly, there’s authentic animation to the speaker’s sound, an energy and engagement that’s never a given in audio equipment of any type or price.

So as far as comebacks go, Zeppelin’s is pretty comprehensive. As long as you have a shelf big and sturdy enough to accommodate its size and support its weight (and are fastidious enough to have no fear the inexplicable spotlight is going to glow on something it shouldn’t), it’s exactly what a wireless speaker at this sort of money should be.