Bluesound Pulse M Evaluation: 360-ish Levels of Excessive-Finish Wi-fi Sound

The Bluesound Pulse M gives full and impartial stereo sound from virtually anyplace within the room.

The speaker options an immersive driver design dubbed Omni-Hybrid that purports to ship 360-degree hi-fi sound, and in our expertise it does precisely that so long as you’ll forgive it a little bit of high-frequency roll-off from the bottom. However we’re nearly simply as impressed with the speaker’s industrial design and ergonomics as we’re with its sound high quality—particularly its proximity-activated capacitive contact controls, which stay invisible till your hand approaches the highest of the speaker.

In regards to the Bluesound Pulse M

• Worth: $449
• Top x Width x Depth: 8 x 6.7 x 5.9 inches
• Weight: 5.6 lbs.
• Speaker channels: one 5.25-inch (133mm) woofer; two 0.75-inch (19mm) tweeters
• Amplification: 80 watts complete (50 watts for the woofer; 15 watts for every tweeter)
• Wi-fi connection: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), dual-band; Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD
• Wired connection: Ethernet RJ45; Mini TOSLINK/Stereo 3.5mm; Sort A USB
• Sound codecs: MP3, AAC (over community), WMA, WMA-L, OGG, ALAC, OPUS, FLAC, MQA, WAV, AIFF, MPEG-4 SLS
• Guarantee: One 12 months

Setup is fast and straightforward through the BluOS app—obtainable for iOS, Android, Kindle Hearth, Home windows, and/or OSX. It serves as each a distant management for the system in addition to an aggregator of all of the music providers you utilize, and accessing music or increasing your listening to different Bluesound audio system or BluOS-capable units across the house is much more intuitive than it’s with a variety of the competitors. The app can also be essential to arrange 5 potential presets, accessible via capacitive contact buttons on the speaker. Along with the preset buttons, there’s additionally a quantity slider, next- and last-track buttons, and a play/pause button proper in between them.

Throughout our time with the speaker, we additionally had a BluOS-capable NAD C 3050 LE built-in amplifier in-house, and working them collectively or individually, or swapping between them, was frankly a bit extra streamlined than we’re used to with Sonos. Granted, Sonos helps much more streaming providers natively, however BluOS helps a lot of the majors, together with Amazon Music, CustomChannels, Deezer, Napster, Neil Younger Archives, nugs.internet, Qobuz, Qsic, Spotify, Soundmachine, Tidal, and Tunify, together with a handful of regional choices. Web radio assist consists of Calm Radio, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio, LiveXLive (Previously Slacker Radio), Radio.com, Radio Paradise, and TuneIn.

Whereas there are just a few notable omissions—most notably Apple Music—the Pulse M additionally helps AirPlay 2 through Wi-Fi or Ethernet, in addition to two-way aptX HD Bluetooth to fill in these gaps.

What we like

Sturdy and impartial stereo sound

Given its measurement, you wouldn’t essentially count on the Bluesound Pulse M to fill a room with sound, however so long as mentioned room isn’t too large, it doesn’t battle. Its driver structure is fairly fascinating, in that it has an up-firing bass driver and two tweeters angled at 45 levels. The advertising supplies say {that a} “custom-designed acoustic reflector above the woofer diffuses undesirable sonic artifacts whereas directing the driving force’s larger frequencies out and away from the speaker, making a 360° soundstage.” Whereas that’s fairly near true, in the event you’re listening from the bottom of the speaker, you’ll lose just a bit high-end sparkle, in addition to among the stereo impact. However it nonetheless sounds nice from any angle.

Total, the Pulse M’s sonic profile is remarkably impartial, and in lots of respects we discovered it a comparable listening expertise to the a lot bigger (though equally priced) Sonos Play:5, though it doesn’t ship almost as a lot deep bass. The Sonos will provide you with low frequencies right down to 40Hz or thereabouts (the underside word on a bass guitar), whereas the Pulse M rolls off fairly steeply under 60Hz (about as little as a cello will play). To compensate, you could possibly pair the Pulse M with the $749 Bluesound Pulse Sub+, however for most individuals in most purposes, the bass response of the Pulse M might be lots.

So far as the stereo impact you’ll get from the speaker, that largely will depend on how far-off you’re sitting (or standing) from it. We discovered that even from so far as seven toes, the widening stereo results initially of Beastie Boys’ “Hey Women” got here throughout far more successfully than anticipated (though we did after all miss the deepest of the music’s bass beats).

Even the lopsided stereo mixture of The Jimi Hendrix Expertise’s “The Wind Cries Mary” registered as such from all the way in which throughout the room, which is one thing we don’t usually count on to listen to from one-box stereo audio system—even these a lot bigger than this. Actually, the Pulse M sounded so good, we discovered ourselves nitpicking the efficiency as we’d with far more costly audio system.

The speaker did sound its finest from about 5 toes away, and we discovered that once we turned the quantity all the way in which as much as hear from farther away, we might hear a little bit little bit of dynamic compression and what gave the impression of very minor cupboard resonances affecting the midrange. In different phrases, in the event you play it loud sufficient, the cupboard vibrates sympathetically with the music, coloring the sound only a bit. However we discovered that the speaker didn’t switch any of its vibrations right down to the tables on which we set it because of a thick rubber isolation foot that runs across the perimeter of the underside of the speaker.

Setup couldn’t be less complicated

From the time we pulled the speaker out of the field, it took perhaps 5 minutes to get it added to the BluOS community, arrange for Apple AirPlay 2, and paired with an iPhone through Bluetooth. There are just a few different choices you may wish to play with, together with tone controls, output mode (stereo, mono, or a part of a left/proper pair), and one thing known as replay-gain, which provides you a handful of choices for computerized quantity leveling.

There’s a wealth of connectivity choices

As talked about above, the BluOS app for cell units and computer systems is the principle controller for the Pulse M, because it lets you not solely entry all the natively supported streaming apps, but additionally add or take away different zones of audio, play audio from units linked through the optical/3.5mm aux audio connector (there’s an adapter within the field for optical digital connectivity), or browse music saved on network-attached storage units or the Bluesound VAULT 2i 2TB Community Arduous Drive/CD Ripper/Streamer ($1,399).

In the event you’re within the temper for a podcast, audiobook, or one thing from a service not supported by BluOS, although—and that features any music you might have saved on an iOS gadget—it’s also possible to join through AirPlay 2 or Bluetooth with assist for the higher-quality aptX HD codec. There’s additionally a 3.5mm headphone jack on the again of the speaker in the event you nonetheless have any old-school wired headphones you’d wish to plug in for extra private listening.

Audiophiles will like the truth that the Pulse M is appropriate with Roon, a subscription-based music library administration service. And residential theater followers may be inclined to make use of a pair of Pulse Ms as rear audio system in a encompass sound system constructed across the Pulse Soundbar+ and Pulse Sub+. The speaker additionally simply integrates with superior house management platforms resembling Crestron, Control4, RTI, ELAN, URC, and Lutron.

There’s no built-in microphone

Usually, we’d rely the presence of a microphone and accompanying voice-control as a plus, however there’s one thing refreshing concerning the Pulse M’s lack thereof, particularly on condition that many individuals have gotten more and more suspicious of always-on, internet-connected listening units in and across the house. You may nonetheless management the speaker, together with every other linked Bluesound audio system or units, through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Or, if you wish to go positively old-school, it’s also possible to management it with the non-obligatory RC1 Bluesound IR distant management, which options transport controls and quantity changes, together with a further 5 presets, for a complete of ten. These presets could be something from playlists in your favourite streaming service to web radio stations, and even bodily supply units linked to the BluOS system.

The BluOS ecosystem is rock-solid and dependable

In a home stuffed with several types of wi-fi audio system from all method of manufacturers, we’re used to having to reboot or reconnect audio system on occasion. BluOS, then again, simply appears to work reliably, day-in and day-out. In our time with the Pulse M, it by no means wanted to be unplugged and plugged again in once more (and in the identical time interval, our Sonos Play:5 wanted rebooting twice) and it at all times reconnected to Bluetooth almost immediately.

What we don’t like

A number of extra Bluetooth codecs can be good

Whereas the Pulse M affords high-performance Bluetooth connectivity because of its aptX HD assist, in case your transportable units are Apple, you gained’t be capable of benefit from the higher-bandwidth connectivity that aptX HD permits. As an alternative, you’ll be caught with the usual SBC codec.

That mentioned, Apple customers have the choice of connecting through AirPlay 2, which depends on Wi-Fi as an alternative of Bluetooth. However for these instances when your private home community is out of attain, having a step-up Bluetooth connection for iOS customers would have been good. Whereas AAC assist is obtainable over the community connection, its addition to Bluetooth would have been welcomed.

It’s fairly dear

If you have a look at equally priced competitors, lots of the Pulse M’s rivals provide benefits which might be prone to attraction to mainstream consumers. The brand new Sonos Period 300, for instance, boasts six drivers in complete and helps Dolby Atmos for extra immersive audio and TruePlay tuning to regulate the efficiency of the speaker to the distinctive traits of your room. And the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Flex, one other luxurious providing, delivers deeper bass.

That mentioned, whereas previously Bluesound appeared content material to tout its sound high quality and assist for audiophile codecs, the Pulse M represents a brand new perspective, it appears. The speaker’s fashionable form-factor and gee-whiz top-panel controls truly make it really feel like a speaker that prices greater than it does. And that’s saying one thing.

Do you have to purchase the Bluesound Pulse M?

Sure, in the event you like good issues and are leery of voice management

The Bluesound Pulse M’s up to date industrial design, attractive proximity-sensing contact controls, enhanced connectivity, and wonderful sound high quality wouldn’t be sufficient in isolation to justify the worth of the speaker. Taken as a complete, the speaker earns its price ticket, however provided that you worth expertise as a lot as efficiency.

There are different wi-fi audio system with some advantages to efficiency. The Sonos Period 300 helps Atmos, and each the Sonos Play:5 and Bowers & Wilkins Formation Flex have extra supportive bass. None embody the rock-solid BluOS, although.

And the Pulse M is without doubt one of the few new linked audio system in the marketplace that doesn’t hearken to you greater than you hearken to it. That’s to not disparage sensible audio system like the brand new Sonos Period 300 (which does embody a change to disconnect its Alexa mic) or choices from opponents like Heos, Amazon, Apple, Google, and the like. However in the event you don’t belief such methods to not spy on you, it’s good that there’s a high-end possibility that can nonetheless play properly together with your private digital assistants even when it doesn’t have one inbuilt.

$449 from Amazon

$449.99 from Greatest Purchase

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Costs had been correct on the time this text was revealed however could change over time.

Meet the tester

Dennis Burger

Contributor

Initially a civil engineer and land surveyor by commerce, Dennis has made a profession of reviewing audio electronics and residential automation since 2002. He lives in Alabama together with his spouse and their four-legged baby Bruno, an 80-pound American Staffordshire Terrier who has by no means met a lap he wouldn’t attempt to fill.

See all of Dennis Burger’s evaluations