Bluesound PULSE 2i Speaker Review

The Bluesound PULSE 2i is a larger-sized home speaker available in Black or White. Its simple, minimalist design is ideal if you want your speaker to blend into your decor. Its trapezoidal footprint is meant for easier positioning in the corner of your bookshelf or countertop. There are also holes on the bottom if you want to mount it on a stand.

The Bluesound PULSE 2i is wired-only, so it's not meant to be used on the go. It's on the larger and heavier side, too. Still, you can move it from room to room using the indent at the top of the speaker as a handle.

This speaker feels well-constructed and solid. It's made of good-quality matte plastic with metal grilles covering the drivers for extra protection. It's worth noting that this plastic is prone to collecting fingerprints, though, so you'll want to clean it off regularly. The speaker also sits on a felt-like surface that doesn't do much to hold it in place, so it can slide around on your table if bumped or nudged.

There are some simple, easy-to-use controls on top of the speaker. You can use them to adjust the volume, play/pause your music, and skip to the next or the previous track. It takes only a light touch for your command to register, and since they're backlit, it's easy to see them in a darkened space.

As for feedback, a couple of LED lights in front of the speaker let you track its status. They're synched with the play/pause button, so you can check the speaker's status there. That said, there aren't any visual or audio cues when you input different commands. You can't know when you've reached minimum or maximum volume.

• User manual and setup guide
• 120V power cord (6.3 ft / 1.93 m)
• 230V power cord (6.3 ft / 1.93 m)
• Ethernet cable (5.1 ft / 1.55 m)
• Optical Toslink to 3.5 mm mini jack adaptor

The Bluesound PULSE 2i has a bass-heavy sound profile out of the box. The extra warmth and punch in the bass is well-suited to bass-centric genres like EDM and hip-hop. While it slightly muddies voices and lead instruments as it carries over into the mids, these elements remain pretty clear and accurate in the mix. Bass and treble adjustment tools in the speaker's companion app let you customize its sound a bit. Note that we tested this speaker with the Deep Bass feature on since this improves its low-frequency extension a bit.

This stereo speaker doesn't have a 360-degree design. You get consistent sound in front of the speaker's drivers but not when standing behind it. As a result, it's best suited for use when positioned on a shelf or a countertop.

The Bluesound 2i gets plenty loud. There's some compression when you push it to max volume, but this isn't quite as bad if you use it without the Deep Bass preset enabled.

This speaker doesn't have built-in voice assistant support. Since it lacks a microphone, it can't register your voice commands on its own. If you want to control it with your voice, you'll need to connect it to a third-party Siri or Alexa device with a microphone of its own, like an Apple HomePod or an Amazon Echo. On iOS, the setup process is pretty easy since you only need to add the speaker to your Apple Home app. If you prefer Alexa, though, you'll need to search the skill library for BluOS and add it to your Amazon Alexa app. According to online reviews, this skill is quite limited in what it can do, and there are some difficulties in implementing it in practice. Something like the JBL Authentics 500 may be better for you if you prefer built-in voice assistant support.

The BluOS app has a lot of different features available. You have a lot of control over its sound thanks to its bass and treble adjustments as well as preset modes like Deep Bass, Late Night, Enhanced Dialog, and Wide Mode. You can link the device to other Bluesound speakers to spread audio throughout a single room or multiple rooms in your home. If you already subscribe to music services like Tidal or Spotify, you can link them into the app, though the functions available will vary from app to app. A video of the app is available here.

There are lots of different ways to connect your devices to this speaker. The AUX input acts as both an Optical/Analog in port, and there's also a USB Audio port for files. You can use the headphone jack to listen on your headphones, or the Ethernet port to connect to your network. There's a USB type B mini port if you need to update the speaker's firmware.

This Bluetooth-compatible speaker can only pair up to one device at a time. While some apps compensate for latency differently, it's on the higher side when paired with both iOS and Android devices. Still, you won't notice lip-synching issues. A couple of other cool features are also available, like aptX support for high-quality music streaming and the ability to transmit audio to another Bluetooth device.

The Bluesound PULSE 2i has good Wi-Fi connectivity. Since it supports Apple AirPlay, pairing it with iOS devices and setting up Siri voice assistant support through another device is easy. Latency is on the higher side, but still, there isn't a delay between the audio you hear and the visuals on screen. Some apps compensate for latency differently, though.