Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version: Two-minute evaluate
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version is a part of an ideal lineage. It’s been nearly 20 years because the first Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin launched – again then it was an iPod dock with a 30-pin connector. It’s moved with the occasions, in fact, so now this model gives aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec compatibility and the flexibility to host quite a few music streaming and web radio providers inside the ‘Music’ management app it has in frequent with different Bowers & Wilkins wi-fi audio merchandise.
The look of the Zeppelin Professional is, in fact, the look. The Zeppelin line may be very a lot its personal factor, and construct high quality and the usual of end are predictably good. And in the case of enterprise, the Professional Version includes a reworked tweeter array and makes use of the titanium dome unit discovered within the class-leading B&W 600 S3 collection of passive audio system. That is together with a few mid-range drivers and a comparatively massive (150mm) bass driver, plus 240 watts of energy to drive them; the on-paper specification is promising to say the least.
And in observe, the Zeppelin Professional Version makes good on that paper promise. It’s easy and fast to get it up and working, and as soon as the listening begins in earnest there’s next-to-nothing to take challenge with.
It’s an in depth, spacious and vigorous pay attention, in a position to tease out the best particulars but hit with actual willpower on the identical time. The tonal steadiness is convincing, the frequency vary is built-in easily, and there’s an openness to the presentation that’s far superior to every other one-box possibility among the many best wireless speakers at this funds. It’s not the final phrase in dynamic expression, true – however nonetheless, the ‘plus’ column is way, far longer than the ‘minus’ the place sound high quality is worried.
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version evaluate: Worth and launch date
- Prices $799 / £699 / AU$1,349
- Launched in late 2024
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version is on sale now, and in the UK it prices £699. American prospects should half with $799, whereas in Australia it’s extra like AU$1,349.
You’re not in need of alternative the place wi-fi audio system at this kind of cash are involved, in fact. The wonderful Naim Muso Qb Gen 2 is all the way down to this kind of cash these days, and issues like JBL’s Authentics 500 are nicely value contemplating too…
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version evaluate: Options
- Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX Adaptive codec compatibility
- 240 watts powering a five-driver array
- 35Hz – 24kHz frequency response
In most respects, the Zeppelin Professional shares a feature-set with the 2021 incarnation of the Zeppelin. Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX adaptive codec compatibility, 240 watts of Class D grunt powering a five-driver array, compatibility with the exemplary Bowers & Wilkins ‘Music’ management app, a claimed frequency response of 35Hz – 24kHz… to this point, nothing has modified.
In truth, the one main distinction the place options are involved is relating to 40 % of the motive force array. The Zeppelin Professional makes use of the identical 150mm low-frequency driver and the identical pair of 90mm ‘FST’ (mounted suspension transducer) mid-range drivers because the 2021 mannequin – though the mid-range drivers have had their cone damping upgraded in an effort to attenuate cone break-up.
The tweeters within the Zeppelin Professional, although, are 25mm variations of the titanium dome design that’s presently in use all throughout the corporate’s 600 S3 vary of full-size passive loudspeakers. This, it’s truthful to say, is an improve on the double-dome tweeters fitted to 2021’s Zeppelin. Revised digital sound processing is deployed to take account of the brand new and improved tweeter line-up.
As with earlier Zeppelins, the Professional options built-in multi-room performance – it may be paired with different Zeppelins or members of Bowers & Wilkins’ ‘Formation’ vary of wi-fi audio system (in case anybody remembers them). The Professional can be used along with any of the corporate’s present (and wonderful) line-up of wi-fi headphones and earbuds.
And as with earlier Zeppelins, the Professional is barely part-smart. Bluetooth connectivity is all nicely and good, in fact, and the truth that it might sit on your property community and entry your favorite streaming providers (or, not less than, a few of them) is nice information too – however there’s no DLNA or UPnP compatibility, so community connectivity solely takes you to this point, and the speaker has no truck with voice assistants both.
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version evaluate: Sound high quality
- Broad and arranged presentation
- Punchy and detailed in equal measure
- Dynamic, however to not the extent separate audio system
Every thing’s relative, in fact, however whereas the concept that the Zeppelin Professional creates a true sense of stereo separation is tough to get behind, there’s no denying it generates a wider and extra spacious sound that just about every other price-comparable single-unit wi-fi speaker is able to.
It’s this openness that’s essentially the most instantly hanging factor about the way in which the Bowers & Wilkins performs. You’d by no means confuse it for the sound of two stereo audio system, in fact, however whether or not it’s enjoying a 16bit/44.1kHz file of The Marriage ceremony Current’s Dalliance or a 24bit/96kHz equal of Summon the Hearth by The Comet Is Coming, the Zeppelin Professional musters a giant, well-organised and completely convincing soundstage on which a recording can totally categorical itself.
There’s a gratifying quantity of consideration paid to the areas between devices and voices, and the quantity of elbow-room every component of a recording enjoys makes for a coherent and easy-to-follow presentation.
Low-frequency impression is important, and there’s good management of the assault of bass sounds on the identical time – so the low finish doesn’t blur, and rhythms are confidently described. The mid-range advantages an ideal deal from the general spaciousness – vocalists of all kinds and all competences get the possibility to correctly talk, for higher or for worse.
And on the high of the frequency vary, the reworked tweeter association permits for loads of substance to accompany the top-end chunk and assault the Zeppelin Professional can muster. Integration of the frequency vary is easy and unobtrusive, regardless of the numerousness of the drivers right here.
The Professional maintains a properly impartial tonality all through, and manages to take a position each a part of the frequency vary with loads of broad and effective element. It does good work with high-frequency transients, and offers the underside finish a number of texture and variation the place lesser audio system can simply thump alongside monotonally. And the mid-range is totally alive with persona – there’s an eloquence to the way in which the Bowers & Wilkins arms over a voice that’s by no means lower than participating.
Solely a slight inhibition in the course of the larger dynamic shifts in quantity and/or depth stop the Zeppelin Professional from scoring full marks right here. If ever a band indulged within the ‘quiet/LOUD/REALLY DAMN LOUD’ dynamic, it’s The Marriage ceremony Current – however when the angst actually will get into full swing the Bowers & Wilkins simply can’t fairly breathe deeply sufficient to provide it the fullest expression.
It’s not that every little thing occurs at a hard and fast stage of assault, you perceive – it’s simply that there’s higher distance between essentially the most contemplative and most fierce moments within the recording than the Zeppelin Professional is ready to describe.
- Sound high quality rating: 4.5 / 5
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version evaluate: Design
- Selection of two new finishes
- Selection of 15 (!) downlight colours
- Nonetheless appears like a Zeppelin
When you’ve seen one Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin, you’ve seen ’em all – which isn’t meant to be any sort of a put-down. In a single guise or one other, it’s a product that’s been in manufacturing for nearly 20 years, and it’s quickly approaching ‘basic’ standing – and the way in which it appears hasn’t finished any hurt on this respect.
So the Zeppelin Professional is recognizably a Zeppelin, and at 210 x 650 x 194mm it’s the identical dimensions because the 2021 mannequin. You’ll want a decently sized floor to face it on, though at 6.6kg it’s hardly a burden the place weight is worried.
The speaker wears its relative bulk fairly evenly, although, and that is helped in no small approach by the 2 finishes – each new – by which it’s obtainable. My evaluate pattern is in ‘photo voltaic gold’, and ‘area grey’ can also be obtainable. And inside the steady, logical and intensive management app, there are not any fewer than 15 totally different ‘ambient gentle’ colours with which to light up the speaker’s foot (and, should you’re something like me, expose precisely how lengthy it’s been since anybody did any dusting round right here). Or you possibly can flip it off altogether, in fact.
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version evaluate: Usability and setup
- Bowers & Wilkins ‘Music’ management app
- Some bodily controls
- Swift and steady wi-fi pairing
The Zeppelin Professional is ‘simply’ a wi-fi speaker, and as such it doesn’t take lengthy to arrange – unpack it, plug it in, let the ‘Music’ management app (free for iOS and Android) uncover it, join it to your native community, and also you’re in enterprise.
The management app is pretty completely specified. In addition to Bowers & Wilkins’ curated content material, it’s additionally in a position to allow you to combine your favorite music streaming service(s) – so long as they’re Amazon Music, Deezer, NTS, Qobuz, SoundCloud or TIDAL. Spotify Join and AirPlay 2 present alternative routes of getting music over to it. Web radio is accessible through Final.fm and TuneIn.
EQ adjustment (or, extra precisely, bass and treble adjustment) is accessible, and the app additionally enables you to replace firmware as and when, and for some purpose has a change to permit aptX Adaptive reception to be switched on or off.
There are a couple of bodily controls at high of the rear of the speaker, too. ‘Bluetooth pairing’, ‘quantity up/down’, ‘play/pause’ and ‘energy on/off’ are all obtainable.
- Usability and setup rating: 5 / 5
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version evaluate: Worth
- Bowers & Wilkins units are all the time of a really excessive customary
- Not as expensive as some B&W units, however simply as spectacular
- Glorious specs and sound
If you already know Bowers & Wilkins, you already know there’s seldom any challenge relating to the usual of construct and end of any of its merchandise – and that’s as true of the Zeppelin Professional Version as it’s of a pair of its passive audio system costing tens of hundreds of kilos.
Add in thorough specification, properly executed management choices and an intangible, however particular, pleasure of possession and we’re nicely on the way in which to calling this wi-fi speaker ‘very first rate worth for cash’. The best way it sounds merely confirms issues.
Must you purchase the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version?
| Attributes | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Options | Multi-room, aptX adaptive and extra. However it’s solely ‘part-smart’, missing some connectivity choices. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Sound high quality | A large and arranged sound that additionally packs a punch. Could be excellent with a bit extra dynamic depth. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Design | A alternative of good finishes and funky gentle colours. The Zeppelin look is large and distinctive, and it is impeccably made. | 5 / 5 |
| Usability and setup | Straightforward to stand up and working, and the B&W app may be very nicely put collectively and has good choices. | 5 / 5 |
| Worth | It isn’t low cost, nevertheless it simply delivers on its worth – for a one-box speaker, it is an excellent funding. | 4 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version: Additionally think about
How I examined the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Professional Version
I positioned my evaluate pattern on the highest shelf of my Blok Stax 2G gear rack, after which as a result of it was stopping my turntable from sitting there I additionally positioned it on a essentially massive bookshelf.
I used my Qobuz and TIDAL accounts to stream music of many various varieties and file sizes, and I additionally checked out some favourite web radio stations utilizing TuneIn.
I can’t faux it was any sort of hardship to do that for nicely over per week…
- First reviewed: February 2025