Bluesound’s latest addition to its wireless home theatre range is the PULSE SOUNDBAR+, and it looks like an absolute beast of a soundbar.
Bluesound’s PULSE SOUNDBAR+ (and yes, it does seem to be all CAPS) claims to be the “ultimate audiophile-grade soundbar” that looks to satisfy any home entertainment need. Judging from its specification, that doesn’t sound too far fetched.
It doesn’t appear to be replacing the Soundbar 2i, which managed to land a place on our best soundbar list when we reviewed it in 2019.
Available for the price of £799 / €999 / $899 (in black) and £899 / €1099 / $999 (in white), the soundbar comes packaged with a wall-mount bracket and two kickstand feet to enable easy installation whichever route you decide to go for.
Blueosund’s aim for the Soundbar+ is to be an all-in-one system that replaces the need for AV receivers. Measuring at 1073 x 141 x 70mm (WHD), it should be able to fit beneath the frames of most TVs, though at 6.8kgs it’s no shrinking violet. It can also be paired with the Pulse Sub+ to add even more low end power, as well as a pair of Pulse Flex 2i wireless speakers to act as rear gunners.
Support includes Dolby Atmos in the home cinema realm, as well as High-res audio files (such as FLAC and MQA) up to a resolution of 24-bit/192kHz. Packing “8 audiophile-quality drivers”, the system is driven by 120 watts of power, with Bluesound saying the Pulse Soundbar+ “is to audio what 8K TV is to video”. Well unlike 8K TV and content, lets hope we can actually hear it…
Connections are wide-ranging across physical and wireless sources. You have HDMI eARC to ferry to a full-fat Atmos signal, Optical Toslink, RCA, USB, as well as Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2 and two-way aptX HD Bluetooth, opening up connectivity to the likes of gaming consoles, laptops, music streaming services and music libraries through the BluOS music streaming system.
Integrating a custom-specified ARM Cortex A53 Quad-Core chipset, the new chip is capable of processing audio 8 times faster than previous generations of Bluesound architecture. There are two Wi-Fi chips to prevent network latency and signal drops.
BluOS (which we’ve had issues with in the past) offers the ability to integrate the Soundbar+ into a multi-room system so you can fling audio to it and other compatible devices. There’s also hands-free assistance (a choice of Apple, Amazon and Google), while those interested in custom smart integration can have fun with popular control systems such as Lutron, Crestron, RTI, Elan, among others
The Bluesound Pulse Soundbar+ will be available for purchase in April 2021. The black finish is priced at £799 / €999 / $899, with the white variant at £899 / €1099 / $999.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
