Bluesound is a Canadian audio firm inside the Lenbrook household, which additionally consists of the upscale manufacturers PSB and NAD. Like many such well-respected firms, Bluesound has entered the wi-fi speaker market with a number of fashions, together with the Pulse Flex 2i. Unfortunately, this explicit speaker’s efficiency falls far wanting what I had anticipated.
Feature set
The Pulse Flex 2i’s cupboard measures 4.9 x 7.2 x 3.9 inches (WxHxD) and weighs a hefty 2.7 kilos. Its semi-trapezoidal footprint nearly invitations you to put it in a nook, which is able to improve the bass efficiency whereas making it much less intrusive than a speaker that sits away from the wall. You may also get an non-compulsory wall-mount bracket for $60.
The custom-tuned drivers embody a 4-inch woofer and 1-inch dome tweeter powered by a complete of 25 watts with 0.03% THD. The cupboard is sealed, and the required frequency response extends from 45Hz to 20kHz (no tolerance specified).
Physical connections embody a 3.5mm combo optical/analog enter, USB port, 3.5mm headphone output, and ethernet port. The smaller USB port is for service solely. The black space above the connections is a canopy for the connections utilized by the non-compulsory battery.
Connections abound on the Pulse Flex 2i. Wirelessly, it helps Bluetooth 4.1 and the aptX codec in addition to Wi-Fi (802.11ac dual-band). This permits it to play music from Windows and Macintosh computer systems on the community (together with AirPlay 2 from different Apple gadgets) along with streaming suppliers similar to TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, and others. Wired inputs embody a 3.5mm combo Toslink/analog jack, a USB port for reminiscence sticks, and there’s a gigabit ethernet port. There’s additionally a 3.5mm stereo output for headphones.
Supported audio file codecs embody all the standard lossy compressed codecs (MP3, AAC, WMA, and so forth.); a number of lossless compressed codecs (together with FLAC and ALAC); uncompressed AIFF recordsdata, and MQA-encoded recordsdata. Within these codecs, it may possibly deal with sampling charges as much as 192kHz and bit depths as much as 24 bits, making it totally appropriate with nearly all types of high-resolution audio.
Using Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to place a Pulse Flex 2i in numerous rooms and group them—together with different appropriate Bluesound audio system—to play music all through your house in excellent sync. You may also use two Pulse Flex 2i audio system as a stereo pair or {surround} audio system with a Pulse Soundbar 2i and a Pulse Sub to type a whole, wi-fi surround-sound system.
BluesoundThe Pulse Flex 2i features a 4-inch woofer and 1-inch dome tweeter. The port to the left of the tweeter is sealed, on account of a design change within the product’s second era after the entrance baffle had already been in mass manufacturing.
An non-compulsory battery pack ($80) attaches to the again of the Pulse Flex 2i, permitting you to make use of it wherever. If there’s no Wi-Fi community out there, Bluetooth offers all of the wi-fi connectivity that you must rock out wherever you occur to be.
User Interface
The Pulse Flex 2i offers 3 ways to regulate the speaker. First, the BluOS Control app is freely out there for iOS and Android gadgets. You want the app to attach the speaker to your Wi-Fi community, title it if you want, and carry out different set-up chores. Then, you’ll be able to management the speaker totally from the app. Available controls embody bass and treble changes, replay achieve (monitor achieve, album achieve, sensible achieve), output mode (stereo, left, proper, mono), and quantity limiter. You may even set an alarm and sleep timer.
Scott Wilkinson / IDGIn these screens, you’ll be able to see the depth of management the app offers.
The replay-gain setting is fascinating. It makes an attempt to normalize the playback ranges of tracks which may nicely have totally different intrinsic ranges. According to Bluesound, it really works with “volume-adjustment metadata tags from your audio files to select the appropriate volume levels.” In different phrases, it depends upon metadata embedded within the digital file, however there isn’t a assure that such information are even included within the file. The track-gain setting normalizes single tracks, whereas album achieve normalizes a whole album. Smart achieve is alleged to pick out the most effective stage for every file.
The app is comparatively complete; nevertheless, I discovered it considerably non-intuitive to navigate. For instance, to get to the settings from the house display—which exhibits a listing of the audio system linked to the app—you have to first go into the audio settings for one of them, after which faucet on Close, which opens the Settings display. There needs to be a Settings button together with an Audio button with every speaker within the home-screen listing.
Touch-sensitive, backlit buttons on the highest of the speaker present onboard management of playback and quantity. Also, you’ll be able to program 5 preset buttons to play your favourite streaming companies or playlists. The play/pause button and an indicator behind the grille on the entrance change coloration and blink sample relying on the circumstances (powering up, linked to community, muted, firmware updating, and so forth.). The handbook features a lengthy listing of “blink codes,” which you need to hold helpful to decipher what the assorted colours and blink patterns imply. The lights are fairly vibrant by default, however you’ll be able to set them to dim or off within the app.
BluesoundIn this exploded view, you’ll be able to see the seal that was added to the port after a change within the design.
Finally, the Pulse Flex 2i is appropriate with Amazon Alexa voice instructions. This, nevertheless, requires an Amazon Echo or different Alexa machine with the suitable ability put in. It’s additionally appropriate with Apple’s Siri voice-controlled digital assistant.
Setup and efficiency
I downloaded the BluOS Controller app to my iPhone XS and adopted the onscreen directions to arrange the Pulse Flex 2i. Those directions say to go to the telephone’s Wi-Fi settings and choose the speaker, however the Pulse Flex 2i didn’t present up within the listing. I attempted connecting to the speaker through Bluetooth, after which went again to Wi-Fi, the place the speaker now appeared.
But I then received an error message: “An unexpected error occurred. Try again.” The speaker was now not within the Wi-Fi listing, and I may see no solution to strive once more. So I unplugged the speaker and plugged it again in, after which it appeared within the Wi-Fi listing and I used to be in a position to end the setup.
I chosen the Pulse Flex 2i in iTunes, after which went again to the BluOS Controller app, which knowledgeable me that an improve was out there and it could take as much as 30 minutes to put in. I initiated the improve, which took just a few minutes, throughout which era the play/pause button and entrance indicator flashed in a wide range of patterns.
Scott Wilkinson / IDGL-R: The residence display of the BluOS Control app exhibits a listing of linked audio system with a battery-level indicator and quantity slider. The tone controls embody treble and bass sliders, replay-gain setting, output mode, and a quantity limiter. The Settings menu offers comparatively complete management of the speaker.
Finally, I received right down to some severe listening. I began with “Hey Nineteen” from Steely Dan’s album Gaucho. The sound was fairly congested, and the vocals have been a bit farther again than I’ve heard on different programs. In addition, the midrange was considerably strident and too ahead. I attempted turning down the bass management by 3dB and turning up the treble management by 1dB, which helped a bit, however not a lot.
I attempted the stereo and mono settings within the app, however I heard no distinction between them. There was no soundstage in any respect; the sound was coming totally from a field.
Next up was the jazz traditional “Since I Fell for You” from the album Rhythm Within, by trombonist Steve Turre. This minimize options Steve on muted and unmuted trombone with rhythm part and sea-shell trumpets offering the background. Here, the trombone sounded wealthy and thick—too thick, actually—and once more, the general sound was fairly congested.
The similar was true of “No End to Love” from Joanna Cazden’s album Living Through History, on which I performed all of the wind-instrument elements and did all of the engineering. This monitor consists of Joanna’s vocal, acoustic piano and bass, celeste, and a 9-piece synthesized-woodwind ensemble utilizing a Yamaha VL-1 wind synthesizer. The sound was very thick and closed in with a congested vocal.
BluesoundThe onboard controls on prime of the Pulse Flex 2i embody skip ahead and again, play/pause, and quantity up and down. The numbered preset buttons allow you to recall favourite streaming sources of playlists.
Moving on to brass band, I listened to “Helter Skelter Gallop” by the Americus Brass Band on its album The Dodge City Cow-Boy Band. Once once more, the sound was very closed in, prefer it was being performed by means of a megaphone.
For some classical music, I performed “Calling of the Sea” by Jeff Rona from his Songs of the Sea: The Regatta Suite, which he composed for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. It seems like a full orchestral film rating, which isn’t stunning, since Jeff is primarily a film and TV composer. As I’d come to count on by now, the sound was congested and closed in, with instrumental sections crowding one another within the non-existent soundstage.
Two less-expensive audio system that sound higher
To examine the sound of the Pulse Flex 2i with comparable merchandise I had available, I pulled out the JBL Xtreme 2 and the Tronsmart Element Force, each of which I reviewed for TechHive. I used to be in a position to change between all three audio system whereas a monitor was taking part in, permitting me to straight examine their sound.
After matching the extent of the three audio system as intently as I may by ear, it was instantly obvious that the JBL and Tronsmart each sounded a lot cleaner, clearer, extra open, and nicely balanced than the Pulse Flex 2i. The JBL had considerably deeper bass than the Tronsmart, which additionally sounded a bit lighter. As I had heard throughout my evaluation, nevertheless, the Tronsmart produced an incredibly broad soundstage that prolonged nicely past its tiny enclosure. The JBL’s soundstage was kind of confined to its cupboard, nevertheless it sounded a lot better than the Pulse Flex 2i.
Bottom Line
Given Bluesound’s status with different merchandise, I had anticipated the Pulse Flex 2i to sound fairly good. Alas, that expectation was fully dashed. The total sound was congested and closed in with no readability or soundstage in any respect. The JBL Xtreme 2 sounds a lot better, and it sells for $189 on Amazon, which is $110 lower than the Pulse Flex 2i. Even higher, the Tronsmart Element Force sells for a mere $59.99 on Amazon, and it smokes the Pulse Flex 2i as nicely.
Granted, these audio system are Bluetooth-only; they can not be a part of a Wi-Fi community to type a whole-home audio system. Nor can they reply to Amazon Alexa or Apple Siri voice instructions. But if the sound high quality isn’t good, these different options don’t imply a lot to me. If you’re out there for a small wi-fi speaker, I’d look elsewhere.