EXCLUSIVE: Described as the best device ever attached to an Apple iPod, iPad or iPhone, the Bowers & Wilkins ZeppelinAir which is the first Apple Air product launched in Australia is set to go on sale in OZ, in April for $799.
EXCLUSIVE: Described as the best device ever attached to an Apple iPod, iPad or iPhone, the Bowers & Wilkins ZeppelinAir which is the first Apple Air product launched in Australia is set to go on sale in OZ, in April for $799.
Its predecessor was at one stage selling for $1,100 without any Wi Fi capability. The device which is set to go head to head with the Sonos S5 all in one wireless music system. The question now is which device has the best sound.
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Wired, recently described the new ZepplinAir, which has a much improved sound system as “the aural equivalent of a swimming pool filled with French vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate-dipped diamonds”.
According to Convoy the distributor of B&W gear in Australia the device is expected to be a big hit in Australia with Apple set to range the device through all their stores. It will also be sold in the specialist Hi Fi channel.
One of the new features is the introduction of lossless streaming over Wi-Fi, using Apple’s new AirPlay technology. B&W has also introduced new speaker technology, the midrange drivers have been upgraded and the tweeters are now the same ones B&W puts in its MM-1 desktop speakers.
The new Zeppelin low-frequency amp is still rated at the same 50 watts, but the midrange amp array has been upgraded from two 25-watt amps to four 25-watt class D amps. There’s also a new dimpled rear port design.
B&W the British Company behind the Zeppelin Air have been a leader in Hi Fi sound development since the early 1960’s which is why this device is proving so popular over cheap made in China iPad attach device that have little if any Hi Fi sound experience linked with the device.
The device has an iPod/iPhone dock with users now able to use an iPad or iPhone to connect with the device remotely after it has been attached to a wireless network.
The on-board chips for digital-to-analogue conversion which is also used for signal processing have been significantly up graded.
The AirPlay technology is Apple’s new protocol for streaming music from iTunes and via it’s integration into the new B&W Zeppelin Air users can also access multiple Zeppelin devices around a home with content streamed to them individually.
John Martin, Brand Manager for B&W in Australia said “This is a leading edge iPod or iPhone attach product. By incorporation the new Airplay technology into the device we have lifted not the sound quality but the capability of the device. We see it competing with the Sonos S5 with the big difference being that we can deliver superior sound. We are currently working closely with Apple as this is one of the first products in Australia with their new AirPlay tewchnology”.
