If it’s not the wrong way to phrase it, the Zeppelin Pro Edition has brought Bowers & Wilkins’ iconic wireless speaker back with a bang. The Pro Edition is more than a slight twist on the 2021 version of the blimp-shaped beauty, incorporating wholesale internal changes to the drive units which have resulted in another level of sonic performance from its predecessor’s solid effort. With a tweeter design descended from the brand’s 600 S3 Series of loudspeakers as well as mid-range units deploying enhanced cone damping and even a re-engineered 15cm subwoofer thrown in for good measure, all of B&W’s efforts have been on getting this new speaker to sound its absolute best.
All of that hard work has paid off. The Pro Edition is arguably the best Zeppelin we’ve ever heard, and certainly one of the finest wireless speakers you can buy at this price. The Naim Mu-so Qb 2 has it beaten for rhythms, but the Pro’s blending of scale and authority makes for an invigorating combination that demands your attention without straying into the dreaded skies of sonic brashness. The Zeppelin soars and swells, but it has the sense and restraint always to keep itself anchored enough to prevent things from becoming unwieldy. To quote from our review: "the overall sound is broad and enveloping, mushrooming out across our test room with the weight and scale of a speaker that comes across as measured, authoritative and always in control".
What these clear strides in sonic prowess have meant, however, has been a reduction in the number of physical inputs offered by the Pro. Reduction is being kind, as "elimination" would be a more apt term — around the back of the speaker you’ll find a a USB-C port for software updates sitting alongside a factory reset button and nothing else. There’s no aux or optical inputs for hooking up to a music source directly, nor is there an HDMI input if you want to give your TV's sound a shot in the arm.
Much as that sounds like negligence on B&W’s part, the brand's latest addition to the Zeppelin line justifies a glaring lack of physical connections. Such additions would be nice, but they’re secondary to what we feel is the primary use case of the Pro; a wireless speaker designed for quick and easy hi-res streaming. Capable of streaming hi-res 24-bit/96/kHz files and with support for the likes of Tidal, AirPlay 2, Deezer and Qobuz, not to mention Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX Adaptive support, the Pro Edition has most of the wire-free bases covered. Tidal Connect and Chromecast would be nice, but again, they’re small omissions rather than glaring gaps in the speaker's resume.
This is how we envision the Pro Edition being used, as a big, single-unit speaker that can dominate a given space with its powerful, authoritative sound. Flexible all-in-one units or do-it-all alternatives, be they the Cambridge Evo One or the Audio Pro C20, are on hand when you want multiple physical tethers, but few potential buyers would consider using the Zeppelin as a makeshift soundbar, say. This is the sort of thing our review suggested could sit at the head of office boardrooms or as the centrepiece of a luxury living space — big, bold and beautiful, its main appeal coming from its blending of design, ease of usability and superb sound. It's not the type of speaker to slot into a multi-source setup alongside a raft of other, similarly bulky audio equipment.
We’ve occasionally voiced concerns that some brands occasionally focus too much on features and not enough on sound, but Bowers has placed most of its proverbial eggs into the sonic basket to great effect. That gorgeous design only sweetens the deal, but the Zeppelin Pro Edition’s elevated wire-free sound demonstrates that you don’t always need a shot of physical inputs to make for a great wireless speaker. Sometimes, it's ok for a product to pick and lane and excel, rather than trying to please all of the people all of the time.
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