Gift Guide: Bowers & Wilkins A7 Wireless Airplay Speaker

Short Version

Bowers & Wilkins Wireless A7 speaker system is as good as it gets when you’re looking for big sound out of a compact design. Setup is incredibly easy thanks to Airplay, which lets you connect and control content wirelessly through your iOS devices. Yes, it’s relatively expensive, but it can essentially play the role of a complete music experience on it’s own. Plus, you can buy other Bowers & Wilkins pieces — perhaps another A7 or the smaller A5 — to enjoy room-by-room control throughout the house.

Long Version

Features:

  • 8.5″ tall x 14″ wide x 6.3″ deep
  • 12.5lbs
  • Airplay
  • USB Streaming
  • 2x 25mm (1.0in) Nautilus tube aluminium tweeter, 2x 75mm (3.0in) Midrange, 1x 150mm (6.0in) Subwoofer
  • Ethernet, 3.5mm input jack, and USB 2.0

Info:

The B&W A7 is…

… an excellent all-in-one wireless Hifi speaker system.

The A7 can fit almost anywhere, and only needs to be near an outlet to function. It’s truly compact, and initially gives the impression of small sound, too. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The A7 delivers quality sound, with clear and powerful bass, and articulated highs and mids. I’ve even switched over my Apple TV audio with an optical audio cable adapter, and action movies just seem that much more real. Obviously, it’s not the same as having a full-fledged surround sound home theater system, but it’s a serious upgrade from a standard setup and/or other Airplay speakers I’ve used before, like the Sonos line.

Setup is incredibly simple — just plug in the A7 and download the Bowers & Wilkins setup app on an iOS device. It’ll ask you to connect to your Wifi, give the speaker a name (like Living Room, Bedroom, or whatever), and you’re good to go. Any one of your iOS devices (iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Apple TV) can then connect directly to the speaker, wire-free.

Buy the A7 for…

…the audiophile with limited space.

Truth is, the A7 is the perfect start to a room-by-room sound system. Owners can purchase the A5 or another A7 and expand the experience to various rooms in the house. That’s a great gift for a tech-enthusiast dad, father-in-law, or brother, but a complete system would end up being quite expensive.

What impresses me most about the A7 is that a college student in an apartment or dorm room can hook up one A7 and it will upgrade their entire audio lifestyle without taking up too much real estate. It’s expandable in the future, but for now it functions perfectly as a little all-in-one wireless system.

Because…

… the A7 actually makes a difference. It’s expensive, certainly, but once you have this thing up and running you really notice how powerful this little speaker is. It often feels with audio products, ranging all the way from earbuds to high-quality systems, the quality difference is negligible. But the A7 is an easy, compact system that can truly fill every audio need. It’s well worth the price for what it offers.