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The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro looks and sounds the part. A highly dynamic sound profile means mid-range frequencies excel and the bottom-end is beautifully controlled. It is very expensive for a singular speaker though.
The Good
- Mid-range sounds incredible
- Super loud with little distortion
- Looks like a statement piece of tech
The Bad
- Expensive
- Lacks smart features if those are your thing
- It is massive, so you better have space for it!
Why would you spend £699 on a Bluetooth speaker that doesn’t have any form of smart tech built into it? Add to that the absence of a line-in connection, no Dolby Atmos or fancy room-filling speaker configurations, and dimensions that would trouble even the most spacious bookcases, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Bowers & Wilkins has gone utterly mad.
Welcome, one and all, to the world of the Zeppelin Pro, which started life as an expensive but highly regarded third-party iPod speaker dock that retailed between 2006 and 2011. Since then, Bowers & Wilkins has reimagined its home speaker as the Air, the Mini, the Wireless, and the streamlined fourth-generation model which arrived in 2021 and was simply called ‘Zeppelin’.
The Zeppelin Pro has now arrived and looks identical to the model it replaces, save for a new colour option and a fancier downlight.
All this to say: you probably have many questions. I certainly did, which is why I was delighted to get hands-on with the Zeppelin Pro before it hit the shelves.
Specs and pricing
The Zeppelin Pro is available in two finishes: Space Grey and Solar Gold (I was sent the latter to review).
Inside that unmistakable casing sits two one-inch titanium dome tweeters for the highs, two 3.5-inch FST drivers for the midrange, and a single six-inch subwoofer for the bottom end. They’re powered by a 240w amp and deliver a frequency response of 35 Hz to 24 kHz.
Bluetooth 5.0 is on connection duties and supports aptX Adaptive, AAC, and SBC codecs. There’s also compatibility with Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect. High-res audio is on offer from Deezer, Qobuz, and TIDAL – all of which are available directly within the Bowers & Wilkins app.
There’s just one model of the Zeppelin Pro available, and it costs £699/$799.
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What’s new?
The Zeppelin Pro may look identical to the Zeppelin, but there have been several upgrades – and only one of them can be seen by the naked eye. That’s the customisable downlight which can now be cycled through 15 colour options and adjustable brightness in the Bowers & Wilkins app.
The more comprehensive and meaningful changes can be found behind the speaker mesh. The new titanium-dome tweeters borrow their design from the 600 Series loudspeakers and are built to offer improved clarity and precision.
When it comes to midrange oomph, the Fixed Suspension Transducer (FST) tech aims to provide more detail thanks to better cone dampening. The redesigned subwoofer has also been tweaked to reduce cabinet vibrations while offering more refined bass.
We’ll get to what that means in practice in a second, but let’s first talk about the design.
Design
The Zeppelin Pro is huge. It therefore immediately demands that you have adequate shelf space or a sizeable – and free – tabletop surface before going anywhere near the ‘add to cart’ button.
As a result, it’s a purposeful yet elegant speaker. Truth be told, the design of the Zeppelin series hasn’t really changed since 2006, but that’s fine; its shape doesn’t need explaining, given the name, and Bowers’ choice of colour options is spot on. Place this anywhere, and it looks like you’ve spent serious money on home entertainment.
The Zeppelin Pro is as much a statement as it is a wireless speaker. It’s also beautifully constructed and reassuringly heavy. That downlight is a gimmick, obviously, but the ability to change its colour will please anyone who likes their home tech to blend seamlessly into a room’s aesthetics.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, it can be wall-mounted, too, via an optional bracket.
Sound
Setting up the Zeppelin Pro is as simple as it should be. You just feed it power (nope, it isn’t battery-powered), open the Bowers & Wilkins app and follow the instructions. There’s no room tuning, and no sliders, buttons, or switches to get it working – you just stream music to it either via one of the aforementioned high-res audio services or by connecting your phone via Bluetooth.
The sound provided by the Zeppelin Pro is typically Bowers & Wilkins. Anyone who has owned a pair of Bowers & Wilkins headphones will know exactly what I’m talking about, but for the uninitiated, it’s refined, detailed, wide, and demands that you spend time with it. The only thing I had to do for my taste was add a little bit of extra treble in the app (Bowers only offers treble and bass as adjustable EQ frequencies).
If you’re used to home audio gear from the likes of Sonos, Bose, or practically any other consumer-focused hi-fi brand, the Zeppelin Pro might take some getting used to. At face value, you might even think it sounds a bit ‘boxy’, such is the absence of the immediately pleasing EQ treatment the aforementioned brands often employ.
However, that boxiness relates mainly to the mid-range, which leaps out of the Zeppelin Pro like nothing I’ve heard before. This means that vocals and anything else that sits in the middle of the mix are front and centre without ever sounding harsh or distorted. Just like Bowers & Wilkins headphones, the Zeppelin Pro demands that you explore your music collection and actually listen to it. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
Despite this, the Zeppelin Pro can be the centrepiece of the party, too. It’s super loud without any form of distortion entering the fray, and will consequently fill most big rooms. It might not have multiple speakers firing in all manner of directions, but it is room-filling thanks to the volume on tap and the wonderful stereo field on offer.
The bottom end is beautifully controlled and not at all overbearing and there’s not a hint of harshness from the upper frequencies.
Things get even better when you listen via a high-res streaming service. I managed to grab two months of free access to Qobuz via the Bowers & Wilkins app and can confirm that the audio reproduction via that source sounds so much less compressed and really comes alive. It also reveals exactly how you should be listening to the Zeppelin – and who this speaker is aimed at.
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Conclusion: who is the Zeppelin Pro for?
If you’re after a smart speaker that’ll keep an eye on your egg timer while belting out Virgin Radio or one that can be unplugged from power and thrown into the garden during the summer, the Zeppelin Pro isn’t for you. Let’s get that straight, immediately.
If you’ve got the previous version, the Zeppelin Pro is tough to recommend, given the price. I heard both side-by-side during a demo event and there’s a big difference between the sound quality; the new version is definitely more impressive. But if you’re happy with your Zeppelin, I wouldn’t spend any more money.
If you’ve bought a pair of Bowers & Wilkins headphones and fancy treating yourself to a similarly brilliant home speaker (and don’t mind the concessions that must be made with the absence of the fancy smart stuff) I highly recommend the Zeppelin Pro.
If you don’t own any Bowers & Wilkins stuff but want a home speaker that places sound quality and the desire to explore your music library like never before above everything else, the Zeppelin Pro is a solid purchase. The inability to connect your music library to it via any other means than a streaming service will be irritating for some, but in return, you do get the convenience of plug-and-play, near-limitless music.
The Zeppelin Pro is my first experience with Bowers & Wilkins’ wireless speaker range and I’m totally on board.
