Ed Selley
Hi-Fi Editor
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2003
- Messages
- 12,046
- Reaction score
- 5,503
- Points
- 3,078
- Age
- 43
if thats how you were treated then i dont blame you.I had the original 30 pin version when it first came out. Using an Apple iPod and input from a tv, it took the tv sound up a couple of notches, But. After about 13 months it died on me, contacted the seller who gave the usual response, out of warranty try contacting B&W which I did but was politely told to F@%$* off. Swore then I would never buy another B&W product again, which I have not. Perhaps I was just unlucky.
How is the audio for music compared to B&W Soundbar?
I’m sooooo tempted to go for one of these at the discounted price, but the fact that it’s been discounted does concern me slightly - are they just abandoning it? As I said above, if the (potentially non-existent) multi-room update does include Roon, then this is a superb product for me, but the price drop could suggest they’re not doing any more active investment. And obviously we’ve got to buy what a product does today, not what’s been suggested might come later.
@daveb975 thanks for the writeup, very interesting. I have a Naim Muso QB2 but I find the sound quite thin at low listening levels, it really needs to be cranked loud to get decent bass output.
I've been considering this speaker since the price drop and it seems to get good reviews across the board. The smart features are of no relevance to me, I would just use it as an airplay speaker.
As it happens, I have an offer of a 15% discount from Sonos on any of their speakers, so this brings the price of the Play Five down to €509, versus €650 for the Zeppelin. I'm just wondering how these two speakers stack up against each other and whether the Zeppelin is worth the additional outlay?
Received this from B&W support today:
"The new Zeppelin (2021) and the Panorama 3 are indeed destined to be added to the Formation multi-room system at some point in a future update. However, the development program is subject to variation in demand and as such no definitive timeline is issued. I would not expect this to be likely until the latter part of the year.
Roon interaction was part of the original Formation landscape, but is not planned for these standalone products.
Once a Roon stream was established at an original Formation speaker, this would be able to be selected on the Zeppelin, or Panorama, either through the Multi-Function button, or in the Formation Music app.
Finally, Airplay 2 could possibly be used to extend zone functions from a multi-room system, if using Apple products."
Looks like this one is a no-go for me then...
For me, I don't want to have my phone as my music source, as the music stored on my phone is lossy, and the music on my server is lossless, so AirPlay wouldn't really be an option. Plus, having all the music on a server (still don't use a streaming service, though I am tempted by Qobuz) means that everyone in the house can access one single "store", rather than being limited by what's on their phones.Indeed, too much of a gamble on possible future upgrades with 'no definitive timeline', and you'd have to be bought into the original Formation series anyway.
I also don't like the changing standards that much. Apple AirPlay2 is a great multi-room solution if you use Apple Macs/iPhones as opposed to PCs/Android, but it only tends to come built into expensive devices.
In my case, I could use the Zeppelin multi-room that way as most of my rooms have an Apple TV or Mac in them, but some don't and I'm loathed to upgrade my current systems to ones that support AirPlay2 to then find Apple move on to AirPlay3! It's worth noting that relatively recent B&W products like the A5, A7 and Zeppelin Wireless are stuck with the original AirPlay rather than Airplay2.
Spotify doesn't support AirPlay2 either, so that would force me across to Apple Music. I'm much more likely to stream music to multi-room speakers where as I'd listen to my own collection more on a single system.
It's understandable I suppose, but we do seem to be getting ourselves back into a VHS vs Betamax-type situation with all of these proprietary technologies being built into speakers, and this is compounded by ones like this not having any external inputs either.
For me, I don't want to have my phone as my music source, as the music stored on my phone is lossy, and the music on my server is lossless, so AirPlay wouldn't really be an option. Plus, having all the music on a server (still don't use a streaming service, though I am tempted by Qobuz) means that everyone in the house can access one single "store", rather than being limited by what's on their phones.