Sound quality: Bluesound's Pulse M had acceptable overall sound quality - this model reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. Bass has good impact, and goes fairly deep, but is a bit prominent and somewhat boomy. Midrange is fairly even, but is somewhat hazy, grainy, and a bit muffled, plasticky, and a touch etched. Treble is fairly extended, but is somewhat smeared and sizzly. Does a decent job of recovering room ambience and sounds somewhat congested. The two channel sound field extends a bit above and not much beyond the sides of the speaker enclosure and lacks depth. There is no significant difference between Bluetooth, WiFi, Optical and Aux inputs. It provides a decent volume level in a medium sized room.
Ease of use:
We found the Bluesound Pulse M ease of use to be very good overall. Bluetooth setup: Unit is always in pairing mode when not already paired when the Bluetooth input is selected, but does not have pairing mode indicator or indicates when pairing has occurred and never times out.
WiFi setup: requires downloading the BluOS Controller app to a mobile device; easy and intuitive - need to enter WiFi network password but don't need to leave app during setup, and all instructions are provided in the app.
DLNA: Has DLNA capability in the BluOS Controller app, but does not explain how to connect in DLNA systems.
Volume control has non-persistent graphical position marking (light) but lacks specific index markings, and lacks volume control label or symbol to indicate that it is a volume control.
Source selections: Requires app to be installed, app installation is straight forward. Once app is installed switching between sources is fairly intuitive.
