B&W Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin iPod Music Speaker System (EQUITY INTERNATIONAL)

I'm a self-professed audiophile and the B&W Zeppelin really did blow me away. I previously had a large component system but in preparation for my move to smaller digs in Korea, I needed something small that sounded GREAT. My good friends got together and bought me this Zeppelin as a birthday/going away present and I couldn't be happier with it.

Now, on with the review!

Sound Quality
The most important aspect of the Zeppelin is clearly it's sound quality. In near-field situations (about 5 feet from the unit), the sound is quite amazing. As you get further away from it, the sound quality does degrade quite a bit. So, this is not a system for a very large room. It's great for small spaces or even bedrooms and although it can get pretty loud, it's not quite as high quality at those high volumes. It really seems to shine at about 25%-50% volume for casual listening, I guess as opposed to hardcore turn-it-up-and-wake-the-neighbors volume for parties.

For comparison purposes, I have to say this blows away the Bose iPod sound system or any others I've tried. I also used to own the Klipsch model, which had fantastic sound for the money (good choice for budget iPod sound system folks). But, the Zeppelin is just a cut-above the rest in every area. The Bose system really suffers from the same problems as the Zeppelin and importantly you can never compare it side-by-side with any other unit, so it's hard to say whether how good/bad it really is (it's rumored that Bose has restrictions on placement of their products next to others, i.e. Bose Sound Room).

One bad thing about the sound quality is that B&W really does not provide any options for tuning the sound. Of course this is an iPod docking system so most of that is taken care of directly through the iPod but I still wish it had a basic 3-band EQ. Another thing is that the Zeppelin has a series of speakers stuffed in that zeppelin-shaped casing and you really have to position on a table that's high enough to spread the sound. I keep it low on my entertainment center because that's the only space I have and it seems to affect the sound quality.

I tried a variety of different styles of music and all I can say is that the sound is very well balanced. Enough bass to satisfy hiphop enthusiasts, enough mids for classical folks and really balanced treble all-around. One caveat though is that while I think there's plenty of bass, I know hiphop guys who think you can never have enough bass. So, objectively, just know that you won't turn it on and "WOW that's some SERIOUS bass!" The more likely impression is "WOW that sounds CLEAN!" and I think that's more important.

Functions
One interesting feature of the Zeppelin is the ability to output video in the form of SVHS or RCA outputs. If you have an iPod that supports video playback (i.e. iPod Video, iPhone, Touch, etc), you can hook this bad boy up to your TV and watch those video podcasts and movies. While this is an interesting feature that completes the Zeppelin's features, I personally find it a bit useless. Videos I upload to my iPod are not intended to be viewed on TV's. I upload those videos so i can watch them on the iPod when I'm in the subway or other places where I don't have access to TV.

I imagine one of the useful things about the Zeppelin's video out is that you could sync your iPod in the morning, download those news podcasts and plug it into your Zeppelin to watch them while you do your morning routine. Otherwise, I can't think of much uses, but it's a nice feature to have.


iPod & Other MP3 Docking
First of all, if you look at the picture of the unit, you will quickly realize there is only one dock and that is exclusively for Apple iPod products. If you have another type of MP3 player, you can use the 1/8" Auxilary jack on the back (never tried it).

The Zeppelin feels like it is custom-built for the iPod Touch. It fits perfect and because the iPod Touch/iPhone have the unique ability to download applications (e.g. Internet radio apps), you can have streaming radio straight out of your Zeppelin. I tried it with my iPod Video and it worked well. Unfortunately, I had trouble with the iPod Shuffle (2nd Gen) even though I used a dock adaptor and never got it to work. Yes, by deduction, you can conclude that I own 3 iPods (shuffle, video & touch).

The first generation Zeppelin had some bugs dealing with streaming Internet radio because it would just turn off when you switched from the music app to the Internet radio app. B&W addressed this through a firmware upgrade and now there's no problem. I think just the fact that the company stands by their product and was smart enough to allow for (USB) firmware upgrades is a testament to the committment to quality, design, and reputation of B&W. I don't think Bose has any such feature (or maybe they don't need it?).

Special Note to iPhone Owners: Yes, this does pick up the CDMA buzzes that the iPhone warns you about when you dock with a sound system. I'm not sure there's any way to prevent that with any system though.

Remote
An odd oval-shaped easy-to-lose remote is provided that has your basic volume and track buttons. There's also a menu button so if you can read your iPod from across the room, I guess, it would be useful. Without an LCD on the remote, this is about as good as it can get.


Design
In a word: slick. The unit is extremely heavy and I love that about it. I'm a firm believer that light-weight amps suck because that means the quality of the components inside are not high quality and there aren't enough heat-sinks. I feel the same way about speakers because larger heavier magnets usually means higher quality speakers. Try picking up any of B&W's tower speakers and you will know exactly what I mean.

The back is a very cool aerodynamic chrome with 2 port holes for the bass. The back looks so good it's almost a shame to have it hidden inside my entertainment center. Design is subjective but I can't say anything bad about it.