Bluesound Multiroom Speaker HiFi Pulse 2i White

If I could give it a zero rating I would, unfortunately I can't. Playlist software is simply unusable. I am trying to use it via Spotify but connecting and reconnecting is almost a daily event, you never know when it is going to work even though my router is a few feet away. The only way to make it reconnect is to power it down and back up, it is incredibly annoying to say the least. I have regretted buying it and so will you, absolute garbage.

You are an audiophile, has a tidal HIFI account, drools when MQA is mentions and are looking for a quality build streaming equipment. Whats not to like about Bluesound then? Well imagine Bluesound being a premium brand car. Its shiny, sexy, oozes quality and your off tyour maiden voage to the local grocery store for milk. Then imagine the sterring wheel is gone just to be back five minutes later. Insecurely you give it a go and it all goes quite well for 500 meters then it abruptly stops. Nothing but to call the tow truck but when the tow truck arrives all of a sudden it starts again. Finally after two hours you have your milk. Now imagine doing that every day. Welcome to Bluesound. The shiny outside apart the inside is flawed. Software is buggy to say the least. One firmware update fixes one issue only to give you four new ones. The app matches the harwares firmware. Bluesound is just really unreliable, making listening to music or watching a movie a hassle more than anything. Care to restart, pull the plug, restart the app, check for updates in the middle of your favorite song or movie. Thrice?

If you're taking the time to read this review. You're likely someone who has a love for music and clear reproduction standards as the recording engineers desired. You're probably shopping with a price/performance ratio in mind. Maybe you're considering the likes of Sonos Five, Zeppelin Wireless or Wedge, Vifa, Denon Home 350, etc. I don't usually write reviews but in this case I had to, just to aid anyone who cares to read on why you can stop your search now! Bluesound/BluOs are cutting edge in the space of HiFi technology that many are unaware of. This Pulse 2i is an engineering masterpiece. Anything nowadays can stream music. But, If you're like me....you're looking for something that can stream true Hi Fidelity music 24/192 and the like. I read as many reviews as I could find and was nearly discouraged from purchasing this unit due to the whathifi review. They previously gave the prior version of this same speaker the Pulse 2 a 5 star rating, but even with all the improvements (drivers and increased power to name a couple) they didn't praise the Pulse 2i nearly as glowingly. Here's the reason I believe they got it completely wrong. This speaker comes out the box with an extremely flat sound profile. It's honestly alarming how dull it will sound upon first listen. But, once you start to use the app to 'tailor' the sound to your tastes. Boy does it come ALIVE! You must be comfortable with dialing in the system for me to recommend this box. As most audiophiles love to do, tinker here....adjust there until Voila....that's it! I should mention, this being a speaker completely engineered for HiFi sound.... be sure to supply it with the best streaming signal possible (If wireless is your reason) otherwise there are many input possibilities to choose from according to your tastes. I didn't find Tidal MQA to sound anything close to Qobuz!!!! Once I started streaming from Qobuz I was simply AMAZED. The sparkle, the depth and weight of bass, the incredibly wide sound stage. I mean it's almost like a Wave of completely undistorted sound washes over you! You will very rarely need more than 50% volume. The power and clarity of this speaker is unbelievable. Jump on it and don't look back.

Der Lautsprecher hat einen sehr ausgewogenen Klang und ist in den Höhen und Mitten sehr klar und bringt auch feine Details sehr gut heraus. Der Bass ist kräftig aber nicht aufdringlich oder gar "breiig". Nutze ihn für Streaming in CD-Qualität und HiRes und die Vorteile spielt er klar aus. Da merkt man deutlich, wie lausig Streaming in geringer Bitrate ist - wie stark die Musik beschnitten wird. Endlich ein Lautsprecher, der für einen angemessenen Preis extrem hohe Musikqualität bietet und nicht mit übersteuertem Bass (wie bei verkaufsstarken Mitbewerbern) Qualität vortäuschen muss. Meine B***-Box, die mir immer zu Basslastig war, wird nun eingemottet, da sie im Vergleich keinen Spaß mehr macht. Die Verarbeitung wirkt sehr solide und die Steuerung mit der App funktioniert einwandfrei. Auch dass Streaming von CDs, die ich auf einen USB-Stick gezogen habe, funktioniert prima. Die hohe Konnektivität bietet mehr als ich benötige und ist für alle Fälle ausgelegt. Empfehle kein Bluetooth, da selbst mit aptx HD hörbare Verluste. Lediglich die fehlende (vollständige) Bedienungsanleitung fehlt, was ein wenig Ausprobieren oder online-Recherche erfordert, z.B. erschließt sich nicht intuitiv, dass man zum Abschalten das Play/Pause-Feld einige Sekunden berühren muss. Ansonsten ist vieles bei genauer Betrachtung der App auch selbsterklärend, was wiederum einen großen Vorteil darstellt. Das Design ist schlicht und passt sich dezent in jede Umgebung (bei mir) ein. Ich freue mich sehr über die Anschaffung und merke mal wieder, das allein die gute Musikqualität beim Hören meiner Musik glücklich macht.

buenisima

This review will largely be about the Bluesound brand, although this speaker is really really fun - especially when paired with a 2nd one to have it in stereo. The build quality and features of the speakers are excellent and I love that they keep improving the firmware/software. When I was looking into purchasing a new "ecosystem" of sound, I looked into the different players. There aren't a ton and Sonos was the leader. I dug into both Sonos and Bluesound becuase I knew I'd be building a new house and would be purchasing a lot of components - so before the big financial investment, I wanted to make sure I was heading in the right direction. Because it all came down to quality of sound for me, I leaned heavily towards Bluesound. I started my journey by purchasing the Bluesound Powernode about 2 years ago, and replacing my amplifier in my office with it. I had 2 simple bookshelf speakers and a powered sub. WOW, once i set it up I was floored at how much better sounding the system was. I was very much hooked on the experience and did really like how Bluesound and the BluOS worked. I then bought 2 of these speakers for my house and have been testing them out in relation to my home and home network. Now for the support team. With one of the speakers there was an issue where it would cut out/power off and because it was so new I didn't want to try and deal with it. I worked through their support team and the replaced it for me. That was a year ago and I just worked with their support team for the PowerNode that was out of warranty, but they also replaced that for me and their support team is responsive and very helpful. It feels like they've been working on the support side, which for me is key since i'll be purchasing a LOT more components at the end of this year when our house is finished - and I want to make sure I'm completely covered. TLDR; Loud, clear audio and great support means i've found a long term partner for my expansion needs.

I'm hooked on the BlueSound products. I've purchased, through BlueSound, first a power node (sealed the BlueSound deal for me) for my TV and classical stereo speakers, 2 pulse minis (kitchen & workshop), and a Pulse 2i (basement) and then lastly through amazon, this last pulse 2i for my den. The whole home operation is awesome: No need it have the sound blaring, it can be quitely playing through the whole house. I feel the multiple speaker reverb gives music the feeling of a live performance. It’s great to purchase superb sound products from a Canadian company. All the music on my local NAS library and Tidal streaming service is now available without a PC. The internal integrated amplifiers are all modern and extremely efficient, so the units do not heat up. Sold my old Bang & Oulfsen receiver that was like a space heater. The only disappointing thing when purchased from Simcoe audio via Amazon, was that the package seal was broken, and there was no double packaging, so when left on our doorstep, it’s BlueSound packaging was clearly obvious. Luckily, for the hour it was on our doorstep, it was not stolen. When opening, it appeared new and unused, so no problem. When purchased directly through BlueSound, for the same price, the items are double boxed. I purchased this one from Amazon because it was fulfilled by Amazon, and they have given me great service: I new if something was wrong, it was an easy return. BlueSound also has a 30 day return policy, but Amazon is so straight forward and easy. Some people have complained about the phone/tablet user controls. Some things may seem hard at first, but once one gives a bit of time to understand the operation, I think it’s well thought-out. I’m not sure how to make it better.