Sound quality: With the Wide and Dialog enhancement modes turned off Bluesound's Pulse Soundbar delivers sound quality that falls in the good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. The bass has good impact, but is slightly boomy and doesn't go deep. The midrange is fairly even, but is a bit grainy, hazy, and echoey. The treble is fairly extended, but is slightly subdued and smeared. Overall this model sounds a bit congested and lacks fine detail, while it does a decent job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), that ambience is a bit obscured by the slightly echoey quality of the midrange. The Wide and Wider sound modes make the sound stage wider and higher, but the sound gets more diffuse and echoey. The Dialog enhancement modes boost the upper midrange and makes voices harsher sounding. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the optical, analog, Bluetooth, and WiFi inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Good overall. Setup: Initial setup for TV use requires connection to home network and the soundbar's functionality will be severely limited if the network connection is not maintained (the WiFi remote will not work if there is no network connection so the input, volume and mute setting can't be changed). The typical WiFi connection involved downloading the app to an Apple or Android mobile device and a following a number of steps that the apps guide the user through. WiFi connection is straight forward (however it is slightly easier with the Android app than with the Apple app). Connecting via Ethernet cable also involved downloading the app to an Apple or Android mobile device, finding the directions for Ethernet setup (which are hard to find since they are buried in the "Help" screen of the apps) and connecting the Ethernet cable as directed. With the Android setup the soundbar connects to the network and then to the remote app automatically. With the Apple setup after connecting to the network the soundbar did not connect to the remote app so there is no way to control the soundbar. The soundbar does not require setting up an account for network functionality. All appropriate cables for TV connection included. Ease of Use: The Pulse Soundbar does not have a physical remote control; it is designed to work via WiFi with app remotes that are downloaded onto Apple and Android mobile devices. We found the general use section of these app remotes (used to control the soundbar for TV use like a physical remote) to be easy to use and glitch-free. The soundbar console does not have any controls, but it does have an auto on/auto standby mode with a standby button that puts it into deep standby as opposed to normal standby. The Standby button is well marked, but it is on the rear of console where it is not easy to see or access. This model is intended to be operated using the display screens of the mobile device apps; the soundbar's console only indicates its power and WiFi connection status - there are no source, volume level, muting, DSP, or surround/stereo status indicators.
Features setup and ease of use: Excellent overall. Setup: Except for Bluetooth pairing the initial setup for TV use also takes care of setup of non-TV features that don't involve optional accessories. Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated the unit is automatically in pairing mode. Ease of Use: This soundbar does not have a physical remote control; it is designed to work via WiFi with app remotes that are downloaded onto Apple and Android mobile devices. We found both the general sections (used to control the soundbar like a typical physical remote) and the streaming content player sections (used to play audio streamed from the Internet, the mobile device, or from a computer on your home network) of these app remotes to be easy to navigate, well marked, well organized, and glitch-free. The soundbar console does not have any controls, but it does have an auto on/auto standby mode with a standby button that puts it into deep standby as opposed to normal standby. The Standby button is well marked, but it is on the rear of console where it is not easy to see or access. This model is intended to be operated using the display screens of the mobile device apps; the soundbar's console only indicates its power and WiFi connection status, there are no source, volume level, muting, DSP, or surround/stereo status indicators.
