Bluesound PULSE 2i Premium Wireless Streaming Speaker

I use this unit with my Spotify premium account and I was immediately struck by the incredible richness of sound. Plus it is very light and portable so it's very easy to move from room to room. Worth the price IMO.

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/bluesound-pulse-2i
I have now done extensive listening with the Pulse 2i and also the Pulse Mini 2i. I initially agreed with the lukewarm review of the Pulse 2i by WhatHiFi. I can see why they gave the new Pulse 2i only 3 out of 5 stars. I do think though that WhatHiFi missed something. The Pulse 2 and 2i have different interfaces in the Bluesound app. The settings and controls are more extensive with the new 2i than with the 2. It took a while for me to figure out but the devil is in the details.
With the older Pulse 2, when the equalizer settings are turned “on” it only muddied the sound. When I called Bluesound support they said that if I increase the bass to its maximum on the Pulse 2 what happens is that the midrange is decreased by up to 6 decibels. What? If I increase the midrange to its maximum it decreases the bass by up to 6 decibels? None of this made sense to me. If I want to increase any signal level I should be able to do so without affecting any other level. This was impossible with the Pulse 2. Without a doubt, the most open, transparent, and best sound from the Pulse 2 is achieved with all equalizer settings turned off.
Again, the Pulse 2 sounds best with its equalizer settings turned off. Conversely, the Pulse 2i sounds flat and lifeless out of the box but with the equalizer sliders maximized the 2i the sound opens up and sounds much better. With this configuration the sound from the Pulse 2i is better than the Pulse 2. Perhaps Bluesound implemented a passive equalizer on the Pulse 2 and an active equalizer on the Pulse 2i. With the Pulse 2 you can only reduce the signal levels whereas with the 2i you can boost the signal levels. So with both speakers optimized for sound quality, how much better does the Pulse 2i sound than the older Pulse 2?
My roommate is an acoustic guitar player and computer geek and together we put both the Pulse 2 and 2i through their paces once we got the sound settings maximized for each speaker. Our conclusion was that the treble on the 2i was a good 30% better on the 2i than on the 2. Bass was about 20% better on the 2i than the 2 and the midrange was a bit of a mixed bag depended on whether you were listening to a symphonic orchestra or pop music. There is something to be said about the ease of the midrange on the Pulse 2 but overall the Pulse 2i sounds as if you were listening to the Pulse 2 but someone took the veil off of it. The Pulse 2i is just more open and transparent. For instance, when listening to jazz on the 2i I really can hear the thrush on high hat cymbals that was recessed on the Pulse 2.
Overall, however, both my roommate and I have come to the conclusion that the sound quality of the Pulse 2i is about 20 - 30% better than the Pulse 2. Yes, this might not seem like what I would conclude after my previous statements about the Pulse 2i but the Pulse 2 really is a special speaker and the 2i does build on this but not as substantially as I would’ve hoped for. The added tweeters on the 2i is the biggest improvement. In addition, the Pulse 2 has one 5 inch woofer with two bass ports and the Pulse 2i has two 5 inch woofers instead.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the Pulse 2i is that Bluesound should’ve carried over the two 2.75 inch midrange drivers from the Pulse 2 into the Pulse 2i. Though the Pulse 2i does sound better with two 5 inch woofers and two 1 inch tweeters the addition of the two midrange drivers would’ve added to the sound quality substantially. The 2i speaker enclosure is large enough to support the additional drivers.
Also, even though I don’t think the Pulse 2i is the hugely improved product we’ve been waiting for and Bluesound should’ve tried harder, my overall rating for the Pulse 2i is 4 out of 5 stars.. For me, the improved sound quality and the improved software interface of the Pulse 2i is worth the upgrade from the Pulse 2. For others, the Pulse 2i might not be worth the upgrade because Bluesound doesn’t have the same name recognition as Sonos so selling your used Pulse 2’s on ebay may result in a bigger financial hit than its worth.
In closing, I am able to write this extensive review, in part, because of World Wide Stereo's liberal 60 day return policy. I have had plenty of time to carefully listen and compose my thoughts. I will continue to purchase all of my audio equipment from World Wide Stereo and I encourage everyone who read this review to do the same. We must fight together against the mega online giants and support those businesses with incredible knowledge, expertise, and personalized service. Thank you, World Wide Stereo.