Bluesound PULSE FLEX 2i Speaker

I've been using Bluesound for a few years now. Starting with the Vault 2i then adding the Pulse 2i. I needed speakers for my PC so I decided to try the Flex 2i.

Flex offers a couple ways to hook to the PC. One is the 3.5mm jack and then Bluetooth. I planned to use the jack, but the day I received the Flex I ran through the updates and saw it was available on my PC Bluetooth. I synced them up and it works with no major issues. Only thing is a slight delay when starting PC audio such as a YouTube or X video. It doesn't play the first couple seconds of audio but you can restart the source and it's fine.

I'm able to use the BluOS app on the PC and mobile devices to network my music as normal. Grouping all the Bluesound devices works as normal. No delay or sync issues with BluOS or Tidal Connect.

I decided to just do one Flex in mono since 2 in stereo at my desktop isn't really needed. This little speaker puts out some decent volume and sounds very good for what it is. Obviously it's limited in range due to the size, but there's actually decent bass output and will play loud if needed. I may just pick up the battery pack to have a portable boom box. I'd say it's on par with some of the larger JVC portables, just not as boomy. Sound quality is pretty good for a small device. You can adjust bass/treble in the BluOS settings if needed to get things dialed in.

My only real knock is the display lights. Bluesound devices are always on, so the display is always lit up. Even on the lowest setting it's still pretty bright. I turned it off since it was lighting up the room next to the bedroom at night.

I needed a reasonably priced sound system for my garage shop to replace an aging Squeezebox Boombox. I looked at BlueTooth speakers but did not find anything that sounded good enough and I was worried that if I walked away from them I'd need to reconnect when I returned. Since the Bluesound components are WiFi I knew I wouldn't have this problem. I've always liked Bluesound components - I have a Powernode and a Node2 in two sound systems in the house - and I really like the control features of the Bluesound app. When I found Audio Factory with their factory reconditioned units at very attractive prices I decided to try a pair of PULSE FLEX 2i speakers configured as a stereo pair. The speakers arrived quickly and each looked brand new in perfect factory packaging with no signs of reconditioning. I was able to easily connect them to my network, go through software updating, then configuring them as a stereo pair using the app. The sound quality is amazing considering their small size, very musical with natrual sounding bass. These generate more than enough volume without distortion and reasonable punch. They fit my application perfectly and I am very happy with them.

I bought this speaker after trying out the Amazon Echo Studio. The sound quality is far superior and it fit in with my other BlueOS devices much smoother than that stupid talking speaker. If it was a little less expensive I would get a second to have stereo sound.