The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is a large, smart home speaker with a unique zeppelin-like design meant to be a focal point in your home decor. It has a metal base, and there's a purple LED light underneath the speaker that gives the impression that it's hovering. It has Alexa built-in, and you can connect its companion app with music streaming apps like Deezer, SoundCloud, and Tidal.
Our Verdict
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is good for music. It has a balanced sound profile, making it suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content, and there's a bit of warmth and boom in the high-bass range. There are bass and treble adjustments in its companion app, meaning you can customize its sound to your liking. However, it lacks low bass, so you can't feel the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music like EDM or hip-hop. That said, the speaker gets loud enough to fill large spaces with sound without much compression at max volume, so audio quality remains clean and clear-sounding when you bump up the volume and doesn't degrade when it's maxed out. Its soundstage is also wide and immersive-sounding.
- Gets loud.
- Little compression present at max volume.
- Bass/treble adjustments.
- open and spacious soundstage.
- Lacks low-bass.
- Not very portable.
- Doesn't connect with other speakers.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is decent for watching videos and movies. Its balanced sound profile ensures voices and dialogue in your videos and movies sound clear and present in the mix. However, while there's some warmth and boom in the high-bass range, it lacks low-bass, so you can't feel the deep thump and rumble typically present in action-packed scenes. It gets quite loud, and its soundstage is perceived as wide and immersive-sounding. It has low Bluetooth latency with Android devices, so there aren't any syncing issues between the audio you hear and the visuals on your screen. While its Bluetooth latency performance isn't as great with iOS devices, it has low latency via Apple AirPlay, so you don't have many syncing issues over this connection. It's important to note that it isn't designed for use as a soundbar. If your TV is Bluetooth compatible, you can connect it to it. That said, there are no ports like an optical or HDMI port to wire it to your TV.
- Low Bluetooth latency with Android devices.
- Low Apple AirPlay latency.
- open and spacious soundstage.
- Lacks low-bass.
- No Google Chromecast compatibility.
- High Bluetooth latency with iOS devices.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is alright for podcasts. It has a balanced overall sound profile, so voices and dialogue in your podcasts and audiobooks reproduce clearly and accurately in the mix. It also gets quite loud with little compression present at max volume, so you can still hear your podcasts clearly from across the room. However, it's designed to remain in one place, and needs to remain plugged into a power outlet to work, so you can't easily move it with you from room to room. It also doesn't connect to other speakers, so you can't continue to listen to your audio on a different speaker when you change rooms.
- Little compression present at max volume.
- Bass/treble adjustments.
- open and spacious soundstage.
- Not very portable.
- Can only connect to one device at once.
- Doesn't connect with other speakers.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 offers excellent voice assistant support. This home speaker comes with Alexa built-in, which you can activate with your voice. It can register your commands even when you're far away or in a noisy room. You can also mute its mic when you no longer want it listening to you. It has decent directivity, meaning you can hear your assistant's voice clearly from most angles. It also gets quite loud, so you can still hear Alexa from far away.
- Gets loud.
- open and spacious soundstage.
- Alexa built-in.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 isn't designed for use outdoors.
Changelog
- Updated Oct 17, 2023: Added market comparison for the Bluesound PULSE 2i in the Dynamics box.
- Updated Aug 17, 2023: Updated the Portability picture for greater clarity and consistency between reviews.
- Updated Feb 17, 2023: Added a market comparison to the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge to the Voice Assistant box.
- Updated Dec 05, 2022: Added a market comparison to the Devialet Mania in the Portability box.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 comes in two color variants: Midnight Grey and Pearl Grey. This review represents the test results for the Midnight Grey variant, though they're expected to perform similarly.
If you come across any other variant, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Popular Speaker Comparisons
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is a large smart home speaker with a unique design that offers fantastic voice assistant support with Alexa built-in. However, unlike the Bose Home Speaker 500 and the Sonos Move, it doesn't support Google Assistant. It has a balanced sound profile overall, making it suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content. That said, unlike the Denon Home 350, it lacks a thumpy and rumbling low-bass. Also, unlike other home speakers we've tested, it isn't designed to blend into your home decor but rather stand out as a main focal point within it.
Check out our recommendations for the best home speakers, the best smart speakers, and the best Alexa speakers.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is a better speaker than the Sony SRS-RA5000. The Bowers & Wilkins offers a more balanced sound profile that can produce a slightly more extended low-bass. It can play stereo content without downmixing it to mono, resulting in a more immersive soundstage. It can get louder with less compression at max volume, so the audio quality remains clean and clear-sounding at louder volume levels. It also offers fantastic voice assistant support with Alexa built-in. While the B&W comes with bass and treble adjustments, the Sony is more customizable with a graphic EQ and presets in its companion app. It supports Sony's '360 Reality Audio' format, which you can find on premium music services like TIDAL. It also has an 'Immersive Audio enhancement' feature that the manufactuer advertises to enhance the speaker's soundstage.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is a better speaker than the Sonos Five overall. The Bowers & Wilkins can get louder with less compression present at max volume, so audio quality doesn't degrade as much as you bump up the volume. It's also Bluetooth-compatible, comes with Alexa built-in, and can easily register your commands from far away and in noisy settings. If you prefer listening to bass-heavy music, the Sonos can produce a more extended low-bass that lets you feel the deep thump and rumble typically present in bass-heavy music.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is a better speaker for music than the Bose Home Speaker 500 overall. The Bowers & Wilkins can get louder with less compression at max volume, so audio quality doesn't degrade as much as you bump up the volume. Its sound profile is also slightly more balanced. However, the Bose offers a wider and more open-sounding soundstage. It's smaller and takes up less space than the Bowers & Wilkins. While both speakers have Alexa built-in, the Bose also comes with Google Assistant built-in.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 is slightly better than the Denon Home 350, though they're similar speakers with different strengths. Both are smart home speakers that offer fantastic voice assistant support with Alexa built-in. However, the Denon can produce a more extended low-bass that can produce the deep thump and rumble typically present in bass-heavy music. You can connect it to a compatible Denon soundbar too. That said, the Bowers & Wilkins offers a wider-sounding soundstage and has less compression present at max volume, resulting in cleaner audio quality at louder volume levels. It also has lower latency with iOS and Android devices, making it better suited for watching videos and movies.
Test Results
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