We (finally) set ourselves up at Bowers & Wilkins‘ highly prestigious and well-talked about ‘Society of Sound’. We’re finding ourselves spending almost as much time there as we are on our own site…

Bowers & Wilkins is a name that carries a certain amount of class and sophistication, being one of the United Kingdom’s most illustrious and proud-of audio companies, having touched all aspects of audio-playback industry; home hifi, studio audio and car audio.

Speaker models like the multi-award winning CM10 bring a certain degree of new life to any environment, while uber high-end models such as the Nautilus range truly set new standards in design and sonic performance with every release. The P3, P5, and P7 headphones from B&W were greeted with a similar amount of positivity, especially with the P7 model which has been described as being able to take the original warmth and clarity of a Bowers & Wilkins speaker with you on the move. Other new-media products like the A5, A7 and ‘best iPod docking system in the world’; the Zeppelin Air have done equally well with reviews and consumer comments across the world.

In 2007, Bowers & Wilkins embarked on a new road, launching an exclusive online community for users of the internet who have a taste and appreciation for high-quality sound and music. If you have a B&W product, you are eligible for a 3-month free trial of the service, once you’ve registered your product at their website. Society of Sound is split in to three main aspects, these are the Fellows, the blog, and the music download page.

The Fellows are a group of people who have made an impact in the sound-recording industry at a ‘celebrity’ level. The Fellows regularly contribute to the community in a number of ways, including writing blog posts and reviews and allowing lossless/FLAC recordings of their music available for download. Some off the Fellows include music/sound legends like Peter Gabriel, Steve Van Zandt, James Howard, Kenneth Grange, Cassandra Wilson, Jerry Horton and Bowers’ own Dr. John Dibb.

The blog at Society of Sound provides hours of interesting audiophile reading. Some of the posts you’ll find here include news and reviews about Bowers & Wilkins own product range, as well as some interesting set-up ideas and comparisons against other products. Blog posts are often written by Bowers & Wilkins fellow and often consist of album names and listening suggestions as well as news within the music and sound recording industry. All blog posts have a ‘comment’ section where Society of Sound members can have their own input and converse with other members about the topic at hand.

Finally, the music download section of Society of Sound is one of its leading points. The catalogue of available downloads spans over 43 pages and consists of many different styles and genres of music. The chosen albums and compilations have been selected because of their sonic excellence and each download is said to bring out the very best in your high-end audio system. Some downloads are free to members and all downloads are available in at least one of three high-quality audio formats including Apple Lossless, FLAC16 and FLAC24. Some artists, such as former Suede front-man Brett Anderson released his solo solo album ‘Wilderness’ through the Society of Sound before making the album available for retail.

Society of Sound is an audiophile’s dream, a hub of in-depth sound-related discussions, articles and lossless audio download.