Just heard the Zeppelin Air

[Jason36]

I arranged a demo of the new Zeppelin Air this afternoon with my local HiFi Dealer as I'm looking for a small system for my office.

So I turned up and the guy is still getting it out of the box...no space for it in the demo room, so he decided to sit it on top of a speaker.

Straight out of the box and with my iphone docked (Lossless Files), initial impressions were fairly good, nice sound but nothing groundbreaking in my mind...started out with a bit of Modest mouse which sounded average and a little bassy at higher listening volumes. Rumour's latest album sounded better and I was impressed with the detail that the dock produced, even at higher volume levels you could hear the layers of music and instruments (albeit I think the dock obviously needed playing time to loosen up a bit). Next I decided to play Robert Plant and Alison Krause's Raising sand.....OMG talk about unruly bass!!!!

Next I thought I would try the streaming capability from my laptop to the Air. Hmmmmm obviously this was straight out of the box and wasnt set up for streaming.....the guys had no idea what the problem was and I had to read the instruction manual to see how it worked. When I worked out the laptop needed connecting to the zeppelin via the supplied Ethernet cable to set it up...there was no offer for me to go ahead and do this...now bearing in mind this is why I was looking at the zeppelin because most listening would be via streaming...just seemed I had a wasted journey.

Would I part with £500 for it.....I really do not know at the moment. Would I get just as good sound with a pair of B&W MM1 speakers connected to my laptop for £100 less...probably!!

So I'm now back to square one with regards to my office system :-(

I'm back to the idea of active speakers, a dac and possibly an airport express to stream my music.

Or alternatively a pair of MM1's connected directly to the laptop.

 

[Anonymous]

Have a look at the (active) audioengine a2's, I bought a pair to plug in to an airport express in the kitchen, and am still amazed at how good they sound...Very very solid little speakers with a remarkable amount of bass, good detail and no detectable distortion at a deafening half volume!

And if you have the space for the A1's, not only are they supposed to sound even better, they have an iPod dock on the top of the speaker and a powerplug for an airport express in the back...

Re DAC, I have a CYP DAC which I'm most impressed with (optical out from airport express) and it was only £40!

 

[BenLaw]

Sorry to hear about your experience Jason

Disappointing service not even to let you audition the streaming aspect - they're going to have to do it some time if they want to let other people audition in future...

But I think you were saying from the start you didn't want a traditional dock - the SQ just doesn't compete with traditional speakers. The rCube is your other dock & network option, but there won't be a massive jump in SQ, if any.

Have you heard the MM1s? I've only listenened to them for a few minutes, but I didn't think they could compete with a more traditional setup, like the kind you're also considering. There's also no upgrade path if you get tired / bored of them, so you'd have to sell and start again.

I'd still recommend you consider Sonos. Flawless streaming, not dependent on your wireless network, multiroom capabilities in future, and upgrade path with Dac, amp and speakers. Something like ZP120 + MA BX1, or ZP90 and the sort of near field actives you were talking about in your other thread.

Good luck

 

[Jason36]

Have a look at the (active) audioengine a2's, I bought a pair to plug in to an airport express in the kitchen, and am still amazed at how good they sound...Very very solid little speakers with a remarkable amount of bass, good detail and no detectable distortion at a deafening half volume! And if you have the space for the A1's, not only are they supposed to sound even better, they have an iPod dock on the top of the speaker and a powerplug for an airport express in the back... Re DAC, I have a CYP DAC which I'm most impressed with (optical out from airport express) and it was only £40!

Funnily enough I was just looking at the Audioengine 5's.

So I take it with the 2 or 5's I could in theory attach an iPure dock which would then convert DAC via the dock into the 2/5's. How do the Audioengines connect to the iPure? Is it just RCA cables?

As for the Airport express would this plug into the ipure for streaming purposes? If I am streamming lossless files would feeding this through a DAC make a difference?? Would a seperate DAC be necesary?

 

[Jason36]

Sorry to hear about your experience Jason

Disappointing service not even to let you audition the streaming aspect - they're going to have to do it some time if they want to let other people audition in future...

But I think you were saying from the start you didn't want a traditional dock - the SQ just doesn't compete with traditional speakers. The rCube is your other dock & network option, but there won't be a massive jump in SQ, if any.

Have you heard the MM1s? I've only listenened to them for a few minutes, but I didn't think they could compete with a more traditional setup, like the kind you're also considering. There's also no upgrade path if you get tired / bored of them, so you'd have to sell and start again.

I'd still recommend you consider Sonos. Flawless streaming, not dependent on your wireless network, multiroom capabilities in future, and upgrade path with Dac, amp and speakers. Something like ZP120 + MA BX1, or ZP90 and the sort of near field actives you were talking about in your other thread.

Good luck

Ben could I use the Sonos for streaming from a laptop or pc that I work off....I always thought the Sonos worked best with storage devices and via a network router?

Can you tell I am new to this streaming lark?

 

[WishTree]

Hi Jason - I own a Zeppelin Air and I have it for about a week already. I used to have the Zeppelin before and with the launch of Air, I sold of the old one and got the new Air.

Zeppelin / Zeppelin Air / RCube and other one box solutions cater to a diferent segment of audience. IMHO, if there is a provison or an option for two seperate speakers (with amp or just active), then with a little bit careful choice, it will beat all these one box solutions very easily. However if your requirement is just one box solution and no other comprimise can be done, then I guess Zeppelin (Air) is the answer.

I love the sound of Zeppelin Air in the Office Room as well as the ease to connect it with Air Play. Finally, I can have any one with iPhone / iPad / iPod, play their music on to this unit which is quite awesome when some friends have new music which you want to hear just not from handheld device.

It is all about the convenience and not sacrificing the SQ so much. That is it and that is all to expect from Zeppelin. Value For Money, Superior SQ compared to two seperate speakers take a back seat here

 

[The_Lhc]

Ben could I use the Sonos for streaming from a laptop or pc that I work off....I always thought the Sonos worked best with storage devices and via a network router?

Your laptop IS a storage device and it is connected to your network router (presumably). It'll work fine. You can get the S5 (if you want something of that form factor) for around £300 and the WD100 iPod dock if you want that functionality for £100, so still 100 quid less than the Zeppellin.

 

[Jason36]

Looks like Sonos isnt suitable as something has to be connected directly to the router.

My office is actually in a managed complex and the broadband I receive is wireless with te hub and router being elsewhere in the building, which I then connect to wirelessly.

So looks like I am back to the idea of the active speakers, airport express and ipure dock.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

I've got another option to consider. it's more expensive but on the up side you get a system which can easily compete with budget seperates system up to it's price. it's Dynaudio DM15 active desktop speakers + Logitec Squizebox streamer. what you get for the extra outlay is truly active speakers i.e. with active crossovers followed by twin power amps, one for each driver. cheaper "active" speakers are just ordinary passive speakers with power amp hidden in one of the enclosures i.e. sygnal goes to power amp then is sent to speakers but needs to be filtered through passive crossover. this just to let you know the difference.

as far as streaming from a PC or laptop is concerned. that should not cause any problems provided you have your PC connected to your LAN and you enable your PC/Laptop hard drive as networked so as other network devices could "see" it.

regards

 

[Jason36]

I've got another option to consider. it's more expensive but on the up side you get a system which can easily compete with budget seperates system up to it's price. it's Dynaudio DM15 active desktop speakers + Logitec Squizebox streamer. what you get for the extra outlay is truly active speakers i.e. with active crossovers followed by twin power amps, one for each driver. cheaper "active" speakers are just ordinary passive speakers with power amp hidden in one of the enclosures i.e. sygnal goes to power amp then is sent to speakers but needs to be filtered through passive crossover. this just to let you know the difference.

as far as streaming from a PC or laptop is concerned. that should not cause any problems provided you have your PC connected to your LAN and you enable your PC/Laptop hard drive as networked so as other network devices could "see" it.

regards

My laptop is standalone and uses a central wireless connection in a managed office complex....There is no hard wiring into a router or LAN network, as its just me and 1 pc.

Do all wireless streaming devices need a connection to a router or LAN? i.e. can I just stream directly from my laptop to an AE via Active speakers??

 

[Andy Madden]

Guys, just in case you're interested, our review sample of the Zeppelin Air has just floated into our stockroom. Expect a full, in-depth review in the May issue - on sale 11th April...

 

[manicm]

If you found the Zeppelin Air a bit heavy-handed with the bass - remember it has two rear ports and needs a bit of space - when you heard them were they very close to the wall?

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

My laptop is standalone and uses a central wireless connection in a managed office complex....There is no hard wiring into a router or LAN network, as its just me and 1 pc. Do all wireless streaming devices need a connection to a router or LAN? i.e. can I just stream directly from my laptop to an AE via Active speakers??

hi

I'm not really familiar with apple's products. I just think all that stuff is only overpriced but well marketed and shiny looking ordinary junk. what do you refer to as AE? is it Airport Express? from what I managed to find out it's just a fancy name for a 802.11n wi-fi router. in which case this think just creates another wi-fi LAN. unless you are talking about some different device I gather it can't transmit or decode music files because it only creates environment for wireless data transfer... you still need some sender i.e. Apple laptop or a NAS compatible with this Airport Express and then receiver. am I right?

if this AE is what I think it is it might be difficult to implement. because if you want to send your music files from your computer you would have to be connected via AE. in which case you'll not be connected to your main wi-fi LAN (the one being provided by office complex) becouse as far as I'm aware one computer can only be connected to just one wi-fi network at a time. so it's either music playback or access to internet. solution to this problem would be using your main wi-fi network for both or using another AE enabled storage device for transmiting music files within your office. if you chose to use your main network for both make sure you enable access to some insignificant folder i.e. containing only music because most likely everybody connected to that network will have acces to that foder and could browse its contents. unless you'll find a way to create password to access your network folder...

I took the liberty to check up B&W Zeppelin's specs and it seem it only uses AirPlay for streaming purposes. AirPlay means it's Airport Express compatible and it doesn't support older protocols. in which case you either get yourself another AE enabled NAS and set up an AE network in your office or you ask the management of the building if their router supports 802.11n protocol in which case you could stream from your laptop and use the internet altogether. Logitec Squeezebox suports only 802.11 b/g so it's not Airport Express compatible. but I'm sure your main network works in 802.11g.

however, if you're willing to avoid perturbations with streaming, be it through AE or not AE, you can also go the USB route. Squeezebox supports USB and have USB master sockets (wide one, like on your laptop) which means you can get yourself a USB stick with for instance 64GB memory and forget about streaming. this capacity should contain nice bite of your collection. Zeppelin on the other hand has a USB slave (square one) which means you get a USB cable and connect laptop with Zeppelin (like DAC).

that's enough now. I hope that helps a bit. and I hope I wasn't mistaken about what AE is...

 

[Anonymous]

The above post is completely wrong and should be ignored.

The Airport Express can join an existing network so you can stream directly to it while still being connected to you existing network, there's no need to disconnect. It is also n, b and g compatible.

Full specs here : http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/specs.html

 

[Jason36]

If you found the Zeppelin Air a bit heavy-handed with the bass - remember it has two rear ports and needs a bit of space - when you heard them were they very close to the wall?

It was placed about 20 cm from the wall....originally they set it up with both ports firing into a corner....hmmmmm

Not sure that should affect it though because I believe you can get a wall bracket for the zeppelin Air which means it would be sited closer than 20 cm to the wall, surely.

 

[Jason36]

This all seems to be very confusing :-(

I think I have definately decided on the Audioengine 5 speakers and this will definately be connected to a Pure Digital i20 dock.....providing analogue feed from the onboard DAC into the Audioengines. Most of the music on my laptop is on the iPod anyway and if I invest in a 160gb Classic then all my music will be on the iPod.

I think this is an easy and fairly cost effective solution to an office music system, which wont be played at extreme volumes anyway. Alternatively If I wanted better speakers I could look at the Dynaudio DM15's as mentioned previously.

I can then look at the option of adding streaming capability to this setup at a later date when I have undertaken some research on how it all works.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

The above post is completely wrong and should be ignored.

The Airport Express can join an existing network so you can stream directly to it while still being connected to you existing network, there's no need to disconnect. It is also n, b and g compatible.

Full specs here : http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/specs.html

yes, my bad. it indeed merges with existing network rather than creating one on its own...

 

[Anonymous]

Have a look at the (active) audioengine a2's, I bought a pair to plug in to an airport express in the kitchen, and am still amazed at how good they sound...Very very solid little speakers with a remarkable amount of bass, good detail and no detectable distortion at a deafening half volume! And if you have the space for the A1's, not only are they supposed to sound even better, they have an iPod dock on the top of the speaker and a powerplug for an airport express in the back... Re DAC, I have a CYP DAC which I'm most impressed with (optical out from airport express) and it was only £40!

Funnily enough I was just looking at the Audioengine 5's. So I take it with the 2 or 5's I could in theory attach an iPure dock which would then convert DAC via the dock into the 2/5's. How do the Audioengines connect to the iPure? Is it just RCA cables? As for the Airport express would this plug into the ipure for streaming purposes? If I am streamming lossless files would feeding this through a DAC make a difference?? Would a seperate DAC be necesary?

Hi Jason, yes, you could easily add an iPure or any other iPod dock to the Audioengines. On the back of the A2's you have a 3.5mm minijack and standard RCA's, on the A5's you have that plus a powersocket (designed to take an airport express allegedly), and on the top of one of the speakers you have a USB-charging port and another 3.5mm minijack. In my experience, they come with every conceivable cable combination, so you should be good to go straight away.

It doesn't look like the iPure i-20 doesn't have any other inputs, so to connect the Airport Express, you would need to connect via one of the supplied leads (either 3.5->3.5 or 3.5->RCA).

Personally I think the sound quality is surprisingly good just as it is, but if you want to add an external DAC, maybe have a look at something like the MusicFidelity V-DAC or the Beresford T7520 *, which can take USB (either direct from a computer, the iPod cable or via a dock), coaxial and optical (3.5mm to TOSLINK cable from the airport express). Then a single pair of RCA's from the DAC to the Audioengines and you're off!

[*The CYP-DAC i have, is only optical/coaxial to RCA, which is fine for a one or two sources, but might be limiting if you want to add several, and is probably on a par with the DAC built into the iPure i20, so would only be of benefit to the AE if you already have the iPure)

Hope that helps and hasn't added to the confusion? I'm seriously considering a pair of the A5's to replace my Creek-based system (which is "too big" apparently?!!) and I don't think I'm going to be too disappointed based on what the A2's sound like...

P.S. I agree with GrottyAsh, oldric_naubhoff is talking smack! ;-) The Airport express can join and/or extend any existing Wifi a/b/g/n network, and is a cinch to set up with the supplied/free airport software for both Mac and PC...