Bowers & Wilkins has launched a new Music App that lets you control music across the B&W Formation range of products. The B&W Music App works with Qobuz (including hi-res, 24-bit 96kHz files), Tidal, TuneIn, Dash Radio (in certain markets), NTS Radio and SoundCloud. More services will be added "in the coming months", according to B&W.
Previously, the B&W Formation range recommended use Roon to control your music (or AirPlay 2 or Spotify Connect), with the B&W Home App only offering set-up functionality. Now, much like multi-room systems from Bluesound, Audio Pro and Sonos, there is a fully functioning control app.
The B&W Music App aggregates content from each streaming platform into one "easily browsed and elegant interface". It brings you tracks, albums, playlists and radio stations, which B&W adds to with personalised recommendation features and a selection of curated Bowers & Wilkins playlists.
Music App is available now on iOS and Android. Initially, it will work alongside the existing Bowers & Wilkins Home App, which guides you on how to set up your Formation device. But soon the Music App will do the job of both, and the Home App will be retired.
Following a management shake-up at B&W, the company is keen to stress that "the Formation platform is wholly owned by Bowers & Wilkins". B&W has also been on a hiring spree in an effort to expand its development resources and engineering team, which sounds like good news to us.
The Formation family is B&W's take on a multi-room system. And it's very good indeed. The Formation Wedge and Formation Duo both picked up a perfect five stars from our reviews, while the Flex earned a still very respectable four. They all offer AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth aptX HD for offline streaming from mobile devices, as well as integrated support for Spotify Connect and Roon. They can all be controlled with your voice using the Amazon Alexa personal assistant, too.
And now there's an all-new Music App, which sounds like it could make Formation an even more enticing proposition.
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