After redesigning their Zeppelin Air, which had an out-of-style dock and was Bluetooth only, Bowers & Wilkins released a brand new wireless version that is pretty hard to beat. Like the old model, the $700 Zeppelin Wireless maintains its blimp-like shape that delivers insane sound quality and brings in support for non-Apple products.
Without the dock, the black missile-like speaker is sleek and attention-grabbing no matter where it sits in your home. Its shape may be cool, but it serves a very loud purpose. Thanks to five drive units individually driven by bespoke class D amplifiers and a 150mm subwoofer right in the middle, the speaker delivers super clean sound no matter what you’re listening to. Plus, its reinforced cabinet is 50 percent thicker than the older version, ensuring that vibrations aren’t an issue.
Not just great at low volumes suitable for background music, this thing gets really loud and can easily be bought as the main source of music in a house. Seriously, it sounds like your favorite artist is doing a live set right in your living room, from Elvis Presley to Adele to Drake. Considering it’s from B&W (who even make sound systems for Maserati), the quality comes as no surprise.
In order to sync it with your home Wi-Fi, all you have to do is download the free B&W Connect app and follow the directions. If you have issues getting the gadget to connect, which happened to me for a couple of hours, you can always just use it via Bluetooth, AirPlay or Spotify Connect until you figure it out. One of the coolest features by far is that you can hook Zeppelin up to your television or computer via the speaker’s 3.5mm audio jack, giving you many more options as to how you want to listen. That said, Zeppelin doesn’t have a built-in battery, so you do need to keep it plugged in.
