AirPlay and Spotify Connect also on board for the 2021 Zeppelin
Bowers & Wilkins has released a new Zeppelin speaker; a fresh take on the original icon of iPod docks, from the days long before most of us had even heard of Spotify.
The iPod and iPhone connector of the original series is gone, replaced by Alexa.
Bowers & Wilkins’ new Zeppelin is a full on Alexa smart speaker, letting you ask for songs via microphones on the speaker itself, rather than having to make requests through your phone.
Essential reading: The best smart speakers
There are bunch of other ways to use the B&W Zeppelin, though. It has Bluetooth with aptX codec support, AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect.
You can also use the Bowers & Wilkins Music app, which integrates a bunch of streaming services including TIDAL, Quobuz, Deezer, Soundcloud, TuneIn and last.fm. This is already used by the company’s ultra-high-end streaming speakers, like the Formation Duo.
However, some core features are still in development. B&W says Alexa multi-room music support is coming in early 2022.
We’re most interested to see if another smart assistant will be added to the mix in future. After all, the Sonos One currently supports both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, proving the two are not totally mutually exclusive.

Zeppelin’s rock credentials
How will the B&W Zeppelin sound? Excellent, most likely. It has a 240W amplifier and five active drivers.
A 5.9-inch subwoofer handles the bass, a pair of 3.5-inch drivers take care of the mids and “Decoupled Double-Dome” tweeters provide the high-frequency stuff.
The mid-range and tweeter drivers share design features with B&W’s hifi speakers, as you’d hope. And the tweeters are mounted on the Zeppelin’s sides to give the widest soundstage.
This arrangement is similar to the classic B&W Zeppelin from 2007, with some tweaks. The bass driver is larger this time, 150mm instead of 125mm, and there’s 40W of additional amplification power.
No doubt all the drivers are of a completely different structural design too — although their sizes are otherwise comparable.
The Zeppelin itself looks fairly similar to the original, minus the 30-pin dock proboscis, but the new one also has LED light on its underside that casts a “halo” glow onto the metal foot stand.
Bowers & Wilkins’s Zeppelin is available from today for £699. It comes in two colors, both grey: Midnight Grey and Pearl Grey.