Sound quality: JBL's Pulse 2 had good sound quality overall. Bass has good impact, but is a bit boomy and the deepest bass is lacking. Midrange is fairly even but a bit hazy and grainy. Treble is uneven, sizzly and lower and upper treble is subdued. So-so recovery of room ambience, sounds somewhat congested, and lacks fine detail. No significant difference between Bluetooth and wired sound quality. Provides a decent volume level in a small- to medium-sized room. Sound quality assessed with the speaker in a vertical position, as advertised. However, stereo imaging is best heard with the speaker placed horizontally, although it is not well balanced to do so since the controls roll to the bottom. When two units are used as a stereo pair, sound quality remains the same but since two separate speakers are used, the sound stage can be made wider depending on placement, and it recovers a little more room ambience. However, after stereo pairing via the JBL Connect feature, an audio glitch is evident with audio dropouts before it gets stable.
Ease of use: We found the system's ease of use to be very good overall. Although volume controls are in a prominent location, they are not obvious because they are very low contrast. There is also nothing to indicate that it is a volume control except + and – symbols. But the unit does have a non-persistent graphical volume level and indicates with a tone when you reach the max setting. Other controls are backlit. Bluetooth pairing is very easy. The unit lacks a dedicated source switch; however, incoming calls take priority over audio playback, and a Bluetooth audio connection takes priority over wired audio playback. To switch between line-in and Bluetooth audio sources; stop Bluetooth playback, but there is a delay before wired playback begins. The line-in port is labeled, but is low contrast and can be cumbersome to access. This unit lacks a remote; not an issue if it's being used within arm's reach or if it's being used with a mobile Bluetooth device, which can be used like a remote itself.
