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There aren’t many products out there that can truly challenge Sonos but it looks like Canada-based Bluesound is giving them a run for their money.
Bluesound’s PULSE M is a wireless speaker that connects to Bluesound’s own wireless platform. The speaker costs $449 and connects to any other Bluesound speaker, allowing you to make multi-speaker or stereo pairs.
From the release:
The PULSE M’s Omni-Hybrid™ design is composed of an angled, up-firing 5 1/4″ (133mm) woofer and two 3/4″ (19mm) tweeters mounted and offset at 45 degrees from each other. A custom-designed acoustic reflector above the woofer diffuses unwanted sonic artifacts while directing the driver’s higher frequencies out and away from the speaker, creating a 360° soundstage. The driver assembly relies on a meticulously engineered power supply and a DSP smart amplifier producing 80 watts of system power to achieve real-time monitoring and control of frequency bandwidth, dynamic range and distortion to direct clear and lush audio from nearly any listening angle.
As you can see the speaker supports wired or wireless connectivity as well as analog in and out alongside optical in. This means you can turn the speaker into a receiver that can then broadcast the audio around the house.
Interestingly, the product is pretty robust. It offers a twenty of native music sources as well as many ways to stream directly to the device.
“The PULSE M offers an array of ways to connect to music, including built-in access to over 20 natively-integrated music services and thousands of internet radio stations directly from the BluOS Controller app,” the crew writes. “Quick-access playback, including volume controls and 5 programmable presets are available right on the top of the player with a proximity-sensing touch panel display, or through voice control assistants like Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant. Alternatively, music can be played over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, AirPlay 2, two-way aptX™ HD Bluetooth, USB-A, 3.5mm dual analog/digital input, or the 3.5mm headphone jack. The PULSE M fits into smart homes, with drivers for popular home control systems.”
The speaker is available now online and from select retailers.
Specs
Bluesound PULSE M in white from the rearSpecs
- Smart DSP Amplifier
- 80 Watts Total System Power
- Omni-Hybrid™ Speaker Design
- 5 Programmable Quick-touch Presets
- Proximity Sensing Touch Controls
- Acoustically Transparent Fabric Grille
- Optical & Analog Audio Combo Input
- Quad-Core 1.8 GHz ARM® Cortex™A53 Processor
- BluOS™ Wireless Muti-Room Platform
- Stereo Pair and Home Theater Grouping
- MQA and Hi-Res Music Streaming
- Airplay 2 Integration
- Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant
- Dual-Band Wi-Fi + Gigabit Ethernet
- Two-Way aptX™ HD Bluetooth
- Wired & Wireless Headphone Output
- Wireless Subwoofer Output
- IR Remote Learning Capability
- Simple Wall and Stand Mounting System
- Black or White Finish
