Bluesound Generation 2
Bluesound Pulse 2, Bluesound Pulse Flex, Bluesound Node 2 Price £1450 (£600, £300 & £500)
FOR Intuitive app; appealing sound: Pulse 2 is class-leading
AGAINST Loses ground on newer products; price increase
Two things have contributed to Bluesound’s Generation 2 multi-room family dropping from a three-time Product of the Year last year to a four-star review now – and it’s mostly got nothing to do with Bluesound itself.
A price increase in itself is rarely the cause for such a dramatic shift, but the introduction of newer, cheaper and more talented rivals has brought into question the Bluesound’s value for money.
It isn’t that the company has stood still over the past two years – more that the newer competition is particularly aggressive when it comes to pricing and performance. The combination of the Pulse 2 and Pulse Flex remains a strong partnership.
Bolt from the blue
Both speakers feature in this particular test, pairing up with the Node 2 as means of connecting existing hi-fi to the multi-room network. The Node 2 presents a greater prospect to those wireless links offered by other multiroom systems. As a streamer, it is also effectively a source, a functioning cog of your hi-fi system rather than the bolt used to hold it and the cloud together.
It has all the ports you’d expect on a modern streamer. There is an optical and analogue input, an optical output, as well as coaxial digital ports, and type A USB port. Bluetooth 4.0 with aptx is on board, and there’s also a built-in headphone amp and dedicated output.
It plays uncompressed FLAC, ALAC and WAV files up to 24-bit/192khz, as well as other popular formats such as MP3, AAC, WMA and AIFF.
The benefits of the Node 2 as part of a Bluesound set-up are clear, but its feature list, design and build quality should also, in theory, make it a streamer to compete with the big boys.
To its credit, the Node 2 has an easy-going tonal balance, each element of the frequency range being kept in line. But it isn’t quite able to contend with other dedicated streamers now in its price range. Dynamically, for example, while the Node 2’s handling is steady, the performance isn’t as bold as we’d like. Though it retains the ability to discern loud from soft, overall expression is somewhat dumbed in comparison.
It’s also symptomatic of a looser sense of timing. The Node 2 doesn’t necessarily miss beats, but nor does it possess the natural rhythmic sense of rival streamers at this price. The Node 2 skims the notes’ surface, without such a telling insight.
Reviewed with fresh eyes, the Node 2 is an adequate performer, where once it was deemed superlative – but kinder fates await the wireless speakers. The Pulse 2 demands our attention, but leaves us with little new to say. It remains a great wireless speaker with a broad skillset.
It’s a whopper of a speaker, with two 7cm drivers and a 13cm woofer semiconcealed by its grille, each individually amplified with a total of 80W of power.
Its rear houses optical and analogue inputs for playing digital and legacy sources, a dedicated headphone output, a higher-power USB input and a new wi-fi chipset to ensure a faster, more stable wireless connection.
There’s also aptx Bluetooth on board, plus a more powerful ARM 9 processor that means library indexing and playback should be up to 20 per cent faster. In terms of performance, its presentation offers the kind of power and space apt for its size, with lots of taut low-end. It tempers that with an acute awareness of timing and sympathetic dynamics to portray the expression of a piece as well as its energy and verve.
It’s a sophisticated listen, and with its features taken into account justifies its hefty price tag. For sound quality alone, though, the Audio Pro C10 runs it close, and at just half the price.
As a smaller speaker, however, the Pulse Flex has greater challenges. Its own driver array is limited to a 9cm mid/
“The introduction of newer, cheaper and more talented rivals into the market has brought into question the Bluesound’s value for money”
bass woofer and 25mm tweeter, bi-amplified for a total power output of 20W, but the scale of its presentation is certainly not where its flaws lie. It shares that Bluesound bent for low-end authority belying its stature.
The Flex’s main enemy is not itself but its rivals. With a price hike, it now matches the Audio Pro Addon C10. But even pitted against the smaller, cheaper Addon C5, the latter comes out on top.
The Audio Pro doesn’t so much teach Bluesound a lesson as score higher on a test, but the better timing, organisation and dynamic articulation are noticeable. The Addon C5 doesn’t offer hi-res music support, but the Flex won’t make the most of hi-res music anyway.
Audio Pro’s emergence on the multi-room market, at a cheaper price, is much of the reason Bluesound has lost a star. Bluesound was the multi-room option for those who valued sound quality above all, but that’s no longer the case. The app is still one of the best around, but it’s short of Sonos’s offering, being a little cluttered in comparison.
Losing its USP
The lack of universal search function and full support for Spotify are particularly disappointing, although its selection of services – which includes Amazon Music, Deezer, Napster, Qobuz and Tidal – should satisfy most users. You can also create on-the-fly playlists combining tracks from any or all of those, plus your own library. Even seemingly less important features, such as alarms, help integrate multi-room into your home life.
Essentially, Sonos always offered the best multi-room user experience, and Bluesound was the choice if you didn’t mind sacrificing a bit of usability for an improved sound. Now Audio Pro is the choice for sound quality above all else, rather robbing Bluesound of its USP.
But with a slightly better sound than Sonos and a better user experience than Audio Pro, Bluesound is still an option – a range refresh could see it dominate the multi-room arena once more.