B&W Zeppelin Air

[vinnie83]

Hello PH audiophiles.

I'm moving to a small flat for a year shortly, and unfortunately as much as I would love to take my rather large separates system, it's a) going to take up way too much room, and b) ps off my neighbours.

For this reason I have decided that I am going to get an Ipod dock - more specifically the B&W Zeppelin Air.

I love the look and think the sound is great too, and think it's going to be more than ample for the size of the flat I'm looking at getting.

My question is - £500??

Now my research has led me to find that B&W are much like Apple on their pricing - they don't like shops deviating from their pricing.

I was wondering whether anyone here knows of anywhere I can get one at a slightly more reasonable price?

[Disco_Biscuit]

I doubt you will find one at a discount its a premium product unfortunately, they release a new one with new connector in june.

[vinnie83]

Disco_Biscuit said:

I doubt you will find one at a discount its a premium product unfortunately, they release a new one with new connector in june.

Yes I noticed that there's a new one, but it will be sold alongside the old connector model so unlikely they will discount the older model

There was a 1 day sale on at John Lewis a while back (according to hot uk deals) where it was sold for £400 but I wasn't in the market for it then.

[BenM77]

I received an e-mail from them recently about their new online shop. You can get a re-certified Zeppelin Air with two years warranty direct from them, free delivery.


http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Shop/Recertified-P...


Very happy with mine which I've had nearly three years now.

[vinnie83]

BenM77 said:

I received an e-mail from them recently about their new online shop. You can get a re-certified Zeppelin Air with two years warranty direct from them, free delivery.


http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Shop/Recertified-P...


Very happy with mine which I've had nearly three years now.

Thank you very much Ben, I think I will more than likely get this unless I happen to stumble upon a new discounted product (unlikely) in the next 2 months.

[DanB7290]

eBay could be worth a punt, but only if you're careful, we've all read the horror stories on here. But even eBay prices aren't that much cheaper, best bet is to keep a lookout at places like John Lewis. B&W have released the Z2, which is similar in size to the Zeppelin Mini, but has a lightning connector and AirPlay, that retails at £320

[vinnie83]

Well I'm not moving into the smaller flat until August so I'm in no rush - I will keep an eye out for bargains in the meantime.

I'm reluctant of purchasing on Ebay to be honest, for the small saving the potential ballache if anything goes wrong IMO isn't worth it.

I'm not looking at the Zeppelin mini though, but the full sized one.... need something that packs a punch as my current hifi has some bloody big floorstanding Kef's!

[cslwannabe]

Back in 2011 I was looking for a docking station and narrowed it down to Zeppelin Air and Arcam rCube and the B&W was available with £100 off for a short while around Nov time but as I hadn't listened to them both I didn't take advantage of the deal. After listening to them both some weeks later I thought the Zeppelin was much better for most of the tracks we tried however I couldn't find one for sale anywhere at the reduced price and despite waiting months and months I never did. A considerable time later I read good things about a JBL docking station and after listening to one in Richer Sounds was well impressed so bought one of those instead (the fact that it was quite a but cheaper was an added bonus).

http://www.jbl.com/estore/jbl/us/product/productDe...

[DanB7290]

Fair enough, the Mini has been noted to be not quite as good as the full size Zeppelin, but I would expect that given its size in comparison.

Does it have to have AirPlay? Second hand you could get the original Zeppelin at a reasonable price, surely? Even if you do need AirPlay, it'll be cheaper to get a non Air Zeppelin and the Apple Airport Express, which has a 3.5mm socket so you can plug speakers into it and use AirPlay that way

[BalhamBadger]

It's not quite as portable but to fill a smallish room I was recently looking at the Yamaha MCR-B142. I was sold on the design and the colours - no airplay but it does have bluetooth streaming which in some ways is more versatile than airplay.

[vinnie83]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I'm afraid I must admit that on this occasion, I am somewhat of a fashion victim - and IMO the B&W looks fantastic!

That and the fact that it sounds great too, I think I'm pretty much decided on the Zeppelin.

As for getting the older model and the apple airplay device, I think I would rather get the latter model as there were some upgrades to the internals (how this translates to in sound I can't say) and the added bonus of a warranty also.

[DanB7290]

Yes, the Air has upgraded internals, and the reviews do say it sounds even better, but I reckon 90% of the population wouldn't notice the difference. Evevn as one of the 10% that would, personally I would probably go for the older one + AirPort Express, simply for the cost.
Have just thought though, using the 3.5mm jack on any Zeppelin does bypass the DAC I believe, so probably not the greatest of ideas.

I am saving for a Zeppelin myself, my only worry is that if I end up going for the Air, would I want 30 pin or Lightning? I currently have all 30 pin iThings, however am looking at upgrading them all soon. Decisions, decisions...

[BenM77]

vinnie83 said:

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I'm afraid I must admit that on this occasion, I am somewhat of a fashion victim - and IMO the B&W looks fantastic!

That and the fact that it sounds great too, I think I'm pretty much decided on the Zeppelin.

As for getting the older model and the apple airplay device, I think I would rather get the latter model as there were some upgrades to the internals (how this translates to in sound I can't say) and the added bonus of a warranty also.

You won't regret it.

I think at £399 with a two year warranty the Zeppelin Air is a very good buy. I was more than happy to pay £499 after hearing it alongside a few different systems.

I also really love the design and was just glad the sound lives up to the looks

[jinkster]

Have you looked at the Beosound 8 / A8 or the Beolit 600 by Bang and Olufsen. Much better than the B&W stuff for similar price IMHO, i've got both!