http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/ Engadget Comments for Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini impressions http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 11:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkxKRF-TKRE]]>Dec 18th 2009 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 21st 2009 9:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 11:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
I don't know if $400 is the price point where tone controls become less common, but overall you are correct. Over $2,000 and you'll almost never find tone controls. Yes, you pay more and get less knobs. Why? The objective is to get the music coming out of the system to match what happened in the recording studio to begin with. The equalization curves used to record music are pretty much set in stone if your playback equimpent matches those cures, you should get out what was put in. Tone controls usually are used to correct playback equipment that is not very good. Fiddling with tone controls is like playing with the colors of the Sistine Chapel because you feel Michelangelo should have used more red. You may be right, but Michelangelo did not use more red so you should see it for what it is.

If you buy the right playback equimpment, you will not miss the tone controls. Most music will sound great. If it sounds bad, it is because it IS bad. In the case of this B&W Zeppelin, it the bass is really that lacking, then the manufacturer messed up. The fact that the tone controls are missing is not the problem. You'd just be attempting to correct a playback device that has problems to begin with.]]>Dec 18th 2009 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 2:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
Your listening room will affect sound. A carpeted room with drapes will sound duller than one with wood floors and no drapes. A large room will sound different than a small room. So matching components to your room is extremely important. That is why the better high-end stores insist you take the equipment home to test it in your room to make sure you have a good match before you buy it. To get the best sound, picking the right equipment for your room is what you need to do, instead of having the wrong equipment and trying to fix the sound with a tone control.

The one component that has the biggest effect on sound is the speaker. Choosing the right speaker for your room and your taste is very important, then getting the right amplifier and pre-amplifier (or integrated amp) that works well with that speaker is the next consideration. A good retailer will help you sort this all out. It may sound like a huge investment in time to get it right and a bit complicated. But if you are the kind of person who would rather listen to a Miles Davis CD than watch an episode of Survivor, you will be greatly rewarded by this investment to get it right.

I left out another argument used against tone controls. It introduces extra circuitry into the signal path. In the best equipment, that extra circuitry compromises the sound quality so the design goal becomes keeping the signal path as direct and clean as possible. That is how you get the best sound. ]]>Dec 19th 2009 9:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
(And Ducati makes better ones, but Bentley will still get some customers, just like JBL and Bose in this case).

Design looks great, but one too many wines and that iPod dock is going to snap.]]>Dec 18th 2009 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 11:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
I happen to have 5 rooms wired with B&W speakers, but they're still all driven from an amp where I can - and do - tweak the sound. The notion that the higher-end you go the less functionality is needed or provided strikes me as ridiculous and rather pompous. ]]>Dec 18th 2009 2:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
I have the large zeppelin and it sounds phenomenal.

I'd be interested in a review of the Klipsch unit as well.]]>Dec 18th 2009 11:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 12:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 12:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 12:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 12:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 5:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 12:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 1:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
I don't actually intend to dock anything to it. I was looking to hook a couple of these around the house to Airport Express' that I have in a mesh configuration. ]]>Dec 18th 2009 1:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 1:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 2:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 2:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 3:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
What is a gauger?]]>Dec 18th 2009 3:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/

Thats why there is no EQ on the unit, you can just do it on the player]]>Dec 18th 2009 7:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Dec 18th 2009 8:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
What a slap in the face to B&W. Try updating the Zeppelin Mini's software and see if you can tell a difference. I know I sure have.

I'd listen to my music through a Zeppelin over a Logitech speaker any day. ]]>Dec 19th 2009 10:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/
The Zeppelin Mini has a software update? And it improves the sound? I'm not saying that it's not possible, but that seems very strange.

Secondly, in reference to your Logitech comment, it makes you sound like you are focusing on brand over preference of sound production. I always try to do a blind test when I shop for any kind of audio device so that I can have an unbiased approach to a product.

A brand name or visual design can easily fool one's ears into thinking they're hearing something they might not be.]]>Feb 9th 2010 12:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/]]>Dec 19th 2009 4:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-mini-impressions/Jan 17th 2010 9:03AM