Evaluating two wi-fi multiroom audio audio system from separate ecosystems, just like the Sonos Period 300 and Bluesound Pulse M, could look like folly. In spite of everything, for those who’re already locked into an entire house’s price of Sonos audio system, are you more likely to bounce ship to BluOS, or vice versa? Maybe not. However that’s to not say that the comparability is totally with out advantage. In spite of everything, you might be trying on the newest upper-end audio system in each lineups as a benchmark to determine whether or not you’d like to purchase into Sonos or Bluesound to start with.
The Sonos Period 300 and Bluesound Pulse M don’t make that selection a straightforward one. Every takes a decidedly distinctive strategy to the notion of what a high-end wi-fi multiroom tabletop speaker ought to be, the way it ought to behave, what it ought to sound like, and the way you must work together with it. One depends on native Atmos capabilities to fill the room with sound in three dimensions. The opposite focuses on expansive stereo sound completed effectively, but in addition provides a component of elevated luxurious with its fashionable design and novel motion-sensing illuminated controls. Which one is best for you—once more, assuming you’re not already a devoted Sonos or BluOS fan—is essentially dependent upon whether or not one speaker or the opposite’s design philosophy and strategy to sound copy higher jibes with yours. Having reviewed them each, we’re right here to assist make the choice somewhat simpler by evaluating them by way of value, design, options and interface, and naturally sound high quality.
Value
Credit score:
Reviewed / John Higgins
The Sonos justifies its barely larger value with {hardware} that helps to decode Dolby Atmos sound.
The Bluesound Pulse M sells for $399, whereas the Sonos Period 300 prices $50 extra at $449. On the one hand, the Period 300 justifies its larger value with its six drivers—two side-firing woofers, two side-firing mid-tweeters, a horn-loaded up-firing tweeter, and a front-firing tweeter with a waveguide to manage dispersion and improve effectivity. The {hardware} required to natively decode Dolby Atmos audio from Amazon Music and Apple Music additionally actually provides to the manufacturing prices.
The Pulse M, in the meantime, has a single woofer and two angled tweeters. That will appear to offer the Period 300 the sting by way of worth, even when not by way of pure backside line. However the Pulse M additionally has a couple of enhancements that justify its value. The touch-sensitive controls that seem out of nowhere as your hand approaches the highest of the speaker contribute to a kind of Bang & Olufsen-like person expertise, and the match and end are high notch. So, regardless of the disparity in value, each audio system appear on fairly even footing by way of bang for the buck.
Our decide: Draw
Design
Credit score:
Reviewed / Dennis Burger
Among the many Bluesound Pulse M’s many design thrives are motion-activated contact controls that gentle up as your hand approaches.
The design of the Sonos Period 300 was finest described by our personal Managing Editor John Higgins as “cinched.” That’s a matter of type following operate, because the distinctive driver configuration initiatives sound not solely out into the room, but in addition to the edges and upward. It actually stands out, and the capacitive contact controls are straightforward to identify and straightforward to make use of. But it surely’s nonetheless not more likely to be the centerpiece of your room’s décor.
The Pulse M, however, could have a look at first look remarkably much like the Sonos Transfer 2 moveable speaker, what with its squashed cylindrical cupboard. However nearer inspection reveals extra delicate design cues that elevate the speaker’s zhuzh: the curved bevels on the underside of the speaker, the angled dividing line between grille and cupboard, and most significantly, the motion-sensing capacitive contact controls, which gentle up as your hand approaches the highest of the speaker. You will not be within the behavior of utilizing the bodily controls in your wi-fi multiroom audio system, however the Pulse M will problem you in that regard. It’s a speaker that begs to be touched.
Our decide: Pulse M
Options and interface
Credit score:
Reviewed / Dennis Burger
The BluOS is a smooth, dependable, and simply navigable interface that is exhausting to beat.
The Sonos app is almost universally thought-about to be straightforward to arrange and straightforward to make use of, and certainly, we’ve discovered it to be way more intuitive than a lot of its competitors. The common search operate is exceedingly useful, particularly given what number of streaming providers Sonos helps. It’s the undisputed king in that regard.
That mentioned, we discover BluOS—the working system constructed into Bluesound audio system, together with streaming-capable hi-fi merchandise from sister model NAD, together with a couple of others—to be simpler to arrange, simpler to navigate, extra dependable, extra steady, and requiring fewer reboots (zero, in a number of months of use, the truth is). It could not help fairly as many streaming providers as Sonos, however it virtually actually integrates the one you utilize most.
Bluesound just lately introduced a serious overhaul of its platform, and we’d be mendacity if we mentioned that didn’t make us nervous. The brand new v4.0 app reportedly advantages from improved navigation, higher customization, centralized integration of streaming providers and exterior sources, and higher/sooner search capabilities. The true query is whether or not or not it can diminish the intuitiveness of the app. We’ll have to attend and see, however for now, we expect BluOS is a significantly better app and platform than Sonos.
Our decide: Pulse M
Efficiency
Credit score:
Reviewed / John Higgins
Whereas each audio system carry out, one indisputable fact is that the Sonos Period 300 fills bigger rooms higher.
That is hardly an apples-to-apples comparability, as a result of whereas each audio system carry out fairly effectively, the Period 300 does issues that the Pulse M merely can’t: particularly, it legitimately decodes Dolby Atmos music streamed from Amazon and Apple, and fills the room with sound that radiates upward, outward, and towards the listener.
The Pulse M, in the meantime, has a single woofer and a pair of tweeters which can be angled outward at 45 levels, supplying you with one thing of a stereo impact even for those who’re on the opposite facet of a mid-sized room.
The Sonos additionally advantages from room-correction know-how referred to as TruePlay, which reverses a number of the harm completed to the sound by the room itself, smoothing out the mid and higher frequencies and enhancing bass with out permitting it to turn into bloated.
There’s merely no denying that the Period 300 can even play extra loudly in bigger rooms. Oddly sufficient, although, even regardless of its TruePlay tuning, it’s a bit extra delicate to placement within the room. Get it too near a wall on one facet or the opposite, and the soundfield will get lopsided far more prominently than does the Pulse M. The tonal stability of the music additionally modifications extra drastically if it’s nearer to at least one facet wall than the opposite, or if it’s positioned too close to a nook.
Place each audio system in fairly acceptable spots, although, and so they each sound wonderful. The Period 300 is—each by default and after TruePlay tuning—a bit extra bass-heavy, which provides the subjective impression of much less treble and because of this much less element. The Pulse M, in the meantime, has barely recessed midrange frequencies, not wholly dissimilar to beloved audiophile audio system just like the traditional BBC LS3/5A, and barely extra perceptual element due to a bit extra vitality within the larger frequencies.
Our decide: Draw
And the winner is …
Credit score:
Reviewed / Dennis Burger
Whereas the Bluesound Pulse M takes extra classes in our evaluation, each audio system are improbable and shine in several areas.
With two clear wins for the Bluesound Pulse M and two attracts, it may appear the apparent winner on this showdown. However actuality on the bottom isn’t fairly so easy. In the end, each audio system are wonderful, and it’s actually going to come back all the way down to what you’re on the lookout for in a wi-fi speaker. Once more, that’s assuming you don’t have already got a powerful choice for BluOS or Sonos.
For those who’re an audiophile who’s eager to construct a multiroom audio system that additionally contains conventional hi-fi parts resembling an built-in amplifier with audio system hooked up, BluOS might be the higher selection for you. The Pulse M can be a extra engaging speaker, and the wow-factor of its hand-sensing contact illuminated contact controls hasn’t worn off a bit within the months we’ve lived with the speaker.
Alternatively, the Sonos Period 300 provides you respectable Atmos sound from one cupboard, and it performs higher in bigger rooms that the Pulse M struggles to fill with stereo sound.
For those who’re nonetheless undecided or if none of those standards actually sway you, the BluOS platform is simpler to arrange and use on a day-to-day foundation, so maybe that may be the figuring out issue. The fact is, there’s no dangerous selection right here, although.
Sonos Period 300
The Sonos Period 300 guarantees unimaginable spatial audio efficiency from a single compact speaker and it completely delivers.
Purchase the Period 300 at Sonos
Bluesound Pulse M
The Bluesound Pulse M offers full and impartial stereo sound from virtually anyplace within the room.
Purchase the Pulse M at Amazon
