SYSTEMS &
SOLUTIONShouseholds, including using Siri voice assistance.
Apple Music subscribers can use their iOS device
or HomePod to control music: ‘Hey Siri, play
Lizzo in the living room’ or ‘Hey Siri, turn it up.’
If you have an Alexa Dot or other Amazon
device, you can download a skillset to operate
some functions by Alexa voice control.
For wider smart-home control, the Bluesound
2i range is friendly to systems including Control4,
Crestron, ELAN, iPort, Lutron, push, RTI and
URC. They are also Roon ready, should you invest
in that fine music delivery software.
These advances apply across the Bluesound 2i
range. So the Powernode has all this as well, plus
amplification — and impressive amplification too;
read our mini review on the previous page.
THE VAULT
One of our favourite Bluesound devices has
always been the Vault. This takes everything
from the Node and adds a CD-ripping drive
and a good-size 2TB hard drive. Again see our
mini-review on the previous page.
THE SPEAKERS
Most people know Bluesound from the standalone
wireless speaker range, and these all now benefit
from the Generation 2i upgrades as well. From
the $699 Pulse Flex 2i speaker through the $
cinema impact. (Until end-September Bluesound
is giving you a PS4 if you buy bar and Sub
together – see bluesound.com.au/ps4.) You can
even use a pair of Bluesound Flex 2i units as
wireless rear speakers — again a simple job to
set them up as a system using the app: so simple,
indeed, that you could bring them into the lounge
for special movie nights, while other times using
them as wireless speakers elsewhere.AND THERE’S MORE — BLUOS
While the Bluesound ecosystem is extensive
enough, sister company NAD has made it still
more powerful by putting the Bluesound operating
system, known as BluOS, into its own products,
or making it available as an upgrade module. This
not only gives these NAD products the streaming
and networking abilities of Bluesound, it enables
them to play their own sources through other
Bluesound products in the home. With a NAD
amp in your lounge, you could play your turntable
sound through a Pulse speaker in the kitchen, or
the soundbar in your media room — or, of course,
in the other direction. With NAD’s products
including full strength hi-fi equipment and home
cinema receivers, this is a potentially thrilling
extension to the Bluesound ecosystem, getting the
very best quality from its high-res abilities, and
still with all the multiroom abilities through the
app at your fingertips. Whatever next?Bluesound 2i wireless
multiroom systemPRICES
Node 2i: $
Powernode 2i: $
Vault 2i: $
Pulse 2i: $
Pulse Mini 2i: $
Pulse Flex 2i: $
Pulse Soundbar 2i: $1699/1799 (black/white)
Pulse Sub: $
Contact: Convoy International
Telephone: 02 9774 9900
Website: http://www.bluesound.com.au8
Pulse Mini 2i (reviewed on the previous page)
and on up to the $1599 Pulse 2i, all the wireless
speakers have been re-engineered, benefiting
from new amplification offering twice the power
of the previous models, with newly simplified
set-up procedures, and faster streaming speeds,
too, thanks to the dual-band Wi-fi and upgraded
Bluetooth, including that ability to stream music
out to headphones as well as in from a phone. In
performance terms one of the biggest differences
in sound comes from the re-designed speaker
drivers, which aim to deliver better acoustics
and deeper bass. And these advances build on an
already high quality, given that several previous-
gen Bluesound speakers have won Sound+Image
awards in the past for their musical performance.
You can go even further by pairing Bluesound’s
wireless speakers up, using them as a stereo pair,
which is a simple matter of linking them through
the Bluesound app. Not only do you thereby
double the power of your system, you can enjoy a
true hi-fi level of stereo separation.HOME CINEMA
Bluesound also has a soundbar solution now in
its new generation, the Pulse Soundbar 2i (see
main image p6). This is no ordinary soundbar,
however, since it has the full Bluesound 2i suite of
streaming technologies in addition to the HDMI
input, which can take sound from
your TV using ARC to play through
its combination of six speakers and
twin passive radiators. The processing
includes full Dolby Digital, and of
course it can also double as your
music system, with all the Bluetooth,
AirPlay 2 and network streaming
available on all Bluesound 2i devices.
And there’s more — there’s a
Bluesound Sub which can be added
wirelessly to extend the low end for
both music and that deep homeBluesound Pulse Flex 2i: $699 Bluesound Pulse 2i: $LEFT: Bluesound’s method of indexing
your music content results in fast and
reliable listing, including album art.Bluesound Pulse Mini 2i: $