PULSE FLEX 2i

This is a superb active speaker. Out the box, plug in, download their app. The speaker then connects faultlessly to my network, downloads updates and is ready! I use roon, and roon finds the device immediately and 10 minutes after the Amazon delivery driver hands me the box I've got lovely sound from the speaker. Clear and full. Loud enough for a big room. I am delighted. The only suggestion I have for Bluesound is... With three power cables I can plug in in three regions, but It would be nice to have white cables with the white speaker. The black cable is a bit in your face against the bright white.

I own two PULSE Flex 2i speakers (both with BP100 batteries) and a Bluesound Sound bar 2. Once everything is connected and going they are terrific. Rich sound detail, simple design, premium solid build quality. Setup and use is pretty straightforward once you have registered services, connected with Wi-Fi, setup sound and configured pre-sets. Minor gripes: The player connectivity (My Players in the BluOS app) remains an occasional frustration. Players can disappear and getting them to reappear is sometimes a mysterious waiting game. These issues are not a daily occurrence (eg. fine for months, then maybe happens 3 times in a week). For me, this isn't a big deal unless it happens when you are hosting guests, for example. Then it can be a tad annoying. The Spotify connection is also quite clunky at times. Overall, at a price approaching the premium end, I find it hard to give it 5 stars because I'd be saying that my experience with every aspect is perfect. It's not. However, these speakers do sound great and the issues are very manageable. The market is full of cheaper streaming speaker solutions and I could have bought something for half the price and thought it was a wise move. Who knows? The fact is that now I have these I tend to think that other systems I've heard (other people's houses etc.) don't sound as good. Maybe that's just me trying to justify forking out the money and I'm one of those condescending audiophile types. I don't think I am one of those, but I do think they sound better than most of the others I've heard. I'm very happy I chose these and I would buy more of them. Why would I buy more if I don't give it top marks? Well I just feel that when they are functioning they are brilliant and that tends to outweigh the occasional connection glitch. Every firmware / app update that is issued I'm hopeful that these minor issues will be resolved. When they are, I'd be more than happy to give them the 5 stars they deserve. In addition, the support I have received from Bluesound was very good when I had issues with the BP100 battery not charging. They responded quickly, troubleshot it sensibly before sending a replacement.

Brilliant sound via TIDAL

I tried, I really did. I think this unit looks and feels nice, high quality and the sound is good, although I prefer the 'Denon sound' myself. I returned it because at my level of tech ability the set up is very complicated and a compete lack of custormer service was too much. The control app is, to me, too complex and clunky. I am shure others will find it fine. The on-line help is extensive and if you are able to find the right article it is helpful. I now have a pair of Denon 250's.

What a piece of garbage. I have spent 3 days trying to get this piece of junk to connect to my WiFi without any success. I wanted a speaker for the kitchen to connect to my Bluesound Node but I was reluctent to spend this much money on a small speaker however I have been told no other brand of speaker will connect to Bluesound so I took the leap. What an incredible dissapointment I tried every possible way to connect this to my WiFi but it would not do it no matter what I tried. My WiFi network is fine, with 7 other devices connected without any problems so it's the speaker.I am no faced with the prospect of getting rid of my Bluesound node if I want to have the same sounds in my kitchen. I am going to go back to my 7 year old Sonos system which connects flawlessly to my WiFi. It has limitations but I will work around those as best I can. BTW if you connect the Flex 2i to an ehternet cable the sound is excellent. What a shame Bluesound did not put as much effort into their software as they but into developing a good sounding speaker. This is going back to Amazon for a refund. I won't be touching Bluesound again... Avoid this product at all costs

Super Sound quality and form completely spoiled by regular drop outs even when well within range of wifi. Also issues with laggy bluetooth. This is with latest software as at October 2020. Frustrating!!!!!

I purchased a Bluesound Flex 21i speaker and battery pack to connect via Bluetooth with my Astel & Kern SR15. It sounded great when I heard it at a high end audio shop. The first problem was with a faulty battery. It didn't charge. I told the shop: There is a bluesound thread on the battery problem with this from 21 days ago. It sounds as though it is not suited for my main purpose which is for frequent "occasional use". The thread said: "it's a poor design by the otherwise excellent Bluesound team. The unit does not go into 'standby' mode or 'powersave' mode when paused or not playing (even though they say it does, sort of); it's effectively always 'on'. You can switch it to vacation mode, by pressing the play button for something like 15 seconds, but this effectively powers down the unit but this does the unit no good, and is not recommended by Bluesound, so best not to do that too often. I agree, this is very poorly communicated, and like you I would have thought twice before buying a 'mobile' version, because it's not mobile really unless using it for a few hours. I've also not really had a good enough answer from the Bluesound Crew - I suspect they are embarrassed as this is clearly not good enough for a £300 item. . Fully charge the battery pack, then undock it from the actual unit and only plug it back on when you are using the unit - it takes a few minutes to regain the wif fi signal and switch on, WHICH IS VERY INCONVENIENT but at least it works and doesn't damage the unit (although it surely wears the terminals and connection mechanism), It does produce great sound though and is splendid for using it at a Barbecue, say, so all in all a good item, EXCEPT IT IS USELESS FOR OCCASIONAL USE such as, as a 'bathroom companion'" The battery was replaced. Then I spent 15 minutes trying to get the speaker to connect via Bluetooth. At times the speaker didn't event show in the App. When it did appear it looked fully charged. It did not connect with the SR15. I turned off the Bluetooth on all other devices in range and that made no difference. There was no fault in the SR15 which could connect immediately with a Sony SRS SB01. When I came to pick up the faulty battery I complained there was no user guide/manual. The shop told me that speakers like this no longer came with user guides. Yesterday I was able to download a comprehensive user guide for a Bose 500 speaker. I asked for a refund and got one with no problem. Bluesound are too clever by half. I expect to do better with a B&O Beolit 20. I have already read the used guide.

Bluesound sure has a pedigree when it comes to sound. Being in the same corporate family as NAD electronics the hifi part is not a problem. But what Bluesound knows about delivering music with a punch it lacks in software and streaming. To put it simple its a mess. A big mess. Its marketed as a wireless system but doesn’t work wireless at all. Half of the time the app doesn’t find your speakers. The speakers themselves doesn’t connect to the wireless network in a proper way. Using the Bluesound system is a constant hit and miss, effectively takes away all joy from your streaming life. You never know when its going to work or not. Its like a constant struggle trying to teach your senila grandpa to use an iPhone. Some things should just be left alone. Support is helpful. But the base attitude is that Bluesound doesn’t have any faults and its your gear that’s faulty. Unplug, restart, factory resets and fiddling with your router settings is the the core of their support. After spending hours and hours comes a firmware update and fixes the problems until the next firmware update ruins it all again. It's a real shame really because when it actually works it sounds good. But bottom line is that unless you are a network technician with masochistic tendencies the Bluesound system is not for you. So what to use instead. Sonos would be my first choice. The stability is unparalleled. It just works. Denon Heos system now supports high res audio but I have not tried it yet. Footnote. I tried the Bluesound system with Linksys Velop mesh system, ASUS, ROG Rapture GT-ax1100 and Netgear Nighthawk AX12 RAX200.