Let's face it: as a category iPod speakers are a pretty uninspired lot.Their plastic, boxy and sometimes downright awful industrial designflies in the face of the iPod's masterful aesthetic and intuitiveergonomics. Until now, that is.
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod speaker
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Bowers & Wilkins' curvaceousZeppelin iPod speaker is as every bit as sophisticated as Apple'siconic player. Best of all, the Zeppelin isn't all show -- its detailedsound largely lives up to B&W's high-end reputation -- at least whenwe played acoustic music. So sure, it's one of the most expensive iPodspeakers you can buy, but it may well be worth it, especially if youfall in love with the Zeppelin's looks.
The Zeppelin is currently available in the US, but will be available in Europe and the UK in early 2008 for around £400.
Design
Unpacking the Zeppelin, we couldn't help but be impressed with itsbuild quality. The speaker's entire backside is constructed out ofmirror-polished stainless steel, the front black cloth covering istastefully demure.
A LED indicator lights up from behind the grille tokeep you informed of the Zeppelin's operational status. It glows red instandby mode, yellow as the unit powers up from standby; green when theAux input is selected; white as the Zeppelin's volume approaches itsmaximum setting. The speaker's power and volume controls are embeddedin the stainless trim piece just above the iPod. Suffice it to say, theoverall package is just plain gorgeous -- another fruitful pairing up ofB&W and Native Design Ltd.
Measuring 640mm wide, the Zeppelin is certainly bigger than mostiPod speakers, and weighing a hefty 7.5Kg, it's a good deal moresubstantially built as well. A thick rubbery pad is provided to cradlethe Zeppelin -- it's the only component of the system that looks andfeels like something of an afterthought.
The curvy black plastic remote matches the Zeppelin's shape. Weappreciated its minimalist button count, but we noted that we had a50-50 chance of picking it up upside-down -- you really have to look atthe thing before you use it. The remote can raise or lower volume,mute and change tracks, but cannot access the iPod's menu -- that'sstill a hands-on operation.
Features
The Zeppelin's tapered ends house stereo 89mm glass-fiber midrangeand 25mm metal dome tweeters to maximise stereo separation. Bass isprovided by a single 127mm woofer located in the center of theZeppelin, and its sound is enhanced by twin rear-firing ports. A totalof three digital amplifiers are included, delivering a total of 100W: two 25W amps drive the tweeter and midrange units, and withthe remaining 50W allotted to the woofer. The amps generate a bitof heat, so the unit runs slightly warm to the touch.
Tucked into the Zeppelin's curvy rear end you'll find a 3.5mm auxiliarystereo input jack; a USB 2.0 port for firmware upgrades; and compositeand S-Video outputs for connection to your TV.
The Zeppelin automatically accepts any AC power from 100V to 240V, soit'll work anywhere in the world. The 30-pin docking portaccepts all recent generation iPods and iPhones, but -- like all iPodaccessories -- compatibility can be somewhat uneven. For instance, our third-generation 15GB iPod had no trouble playing music, but its battery wouldn't recharge while in the dock -- later models should.
Other iPods should be able to access the full panoply of features,including the Zeppelin's "Speaker" menu, which offers a five-positionbass EQ to tune response for system placement or individual preference.With its hefty price tag, we were disappointed by the Zeppelin's dearthof step-up features: it lacks the AM/FM radio found on many competingmodels. And the sort of wireless remote found on the Chestnut Hill George would've gone a long way to taking a bit of the sting out of that price tag.
Performance
Antony and the Johnsons I Am a Bird Nowsounded better over the Zeppelin than any iPod speaker we've tested todate. Antony's soaring vocals reached for the heavens, the band'sacoustic accompaniment was very natural. Guitars and various stringinstruments were remarkably clear.
Stereoseparation, limited by theZeppelin's two-foot width, wasn't any better than we've heard fromother similar stubby single-enclosure speakers (the Bose SoundDock, theaforementioned Chestnut Hill George, Cambridge SoundWorks 745iand so forth). The Zeppelin sounded best when we were sitting within ametre of it -- much farther than that, and it started tosound, well, like an iPod speaker.
Piano jazz with Duke Ellington highlighted the Zeppelin's refinedqualities. The piano, bass and drums were all vivid, but their soundwas miniaturised by the Zeppelin. The speaker's weaknesses were furtherrevealed when we switched to heavier hitting genres.
The quieter tuneson Arcade Fire's Neon BibleCD sounded great -- the speaker delivers more, if not better, bass thanthe vast majority of its more affordable competitors. But when the bandstarts to work up a sweat, the Zeppelin's bass turned muddy. Turning upthe volume certainly didn't help matters, but it will get fairly loud.
We couldn't resist cranking a few Led Zeppelin tunes over the B&W,but the sound fell flat. The speaker doesn't have the power to putacross heavy metal with any real conviction, and the more we pushed theZeppelin's volume, the less we liked it.
The same was true on morepop-oriented songs like Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right" -- the B&W wasfine at medium volume, but strained at higher volume levels. Contrastthat to the late, great Klipsch iFi -- the2.1 iPod speaker system will never compete with the B&W for looks,but it's still a clear-cut winner for overall sound quality.
Conclusion
The Zeppelin is an undeniably great iPod speaker: it looks amazing andis far better built than most competing models, which are little morethan hunks of plastic. But the hefty price tag and the B&W name mayhave raised our level of expectations to an almost unreachable level.
For an iPod speaker, the overall sound quality is impressive, but itsuffers when the material moves away from acoustic and instrumentalmusic to harder-driving rock and hip-hop. If your musical tastes run tomore mellow music -- and you're looking to invest in an audio objetd'art -- the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin may be just the ticket.
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday