Stephen Mejias

"Small sounds beautiful," says Bowers & Wilkins. The heralded British loudspeaker manufacturer has announced a smaller, updated version of their striking Zeppelin iPod music system, simply named the Zeppelin Mini. It costs $399.95.

We had heard and enjoyed the original Zeppelin in the Stereophile room at CES 2008, The Year of the Music Server. We were impressed by the size of the sound—large for such a sleek product—and nearly every visitor to the suite appreciated the Zeppelin's streamlined look. Standing in front of the Zeppelin, I found myself wanting one.

While the original Zeppelin took its name from its distinct shape—like a zeppelin (duh) or a slim, elongated football, with a cool armband iPod dock wrapped round its center, and seeming almost to float just above any surface—the new Zeppelin Mini is somewhat more conventional in appearance. It measures 6.8" H by 12.6" W by 4" D, and its polished top plate reflects the shape of the original Zeppelin.

The Mini uses two new 3" fiberglass drivers and B&W's Digital Signal Processing. Two digital amplifiers provide 18 watts each. The flexible Zeppelin docking arm has been revised to allow vertical and horizontal docking, so you can easily enjoy your iPod's cover flow feature: Neat! B&W states that the Zeppelin Mini accepts your iPod's audio signal in "pure digital form," performing onboard digital-to-analog conversion. In addition, a mini-USB port on the Mini's rear panel allows the user to stream content from Macs or PCs.

For a brief demo, let's visit this dude, Tom, in the very room where the music for Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings was mixed. Woo!

And there's all sorts of interactive, educational stuff at the Zeppelin Mini mini-site. Cool banana.