Bluesound PULSE FLEX 2i Hi-Fi Speaker - Impressed

[PlasmaNewbie]

Just wanted to post some feedback on Flex 2i, incase anyone is considering one... This isn't a review as such. Just some feedback, as the reviews on Amazon aren't that great.

We were using Ultimate Ears Megaboom, in our bedroom. Nothing wrong with the Boom, but it gets used a lot and isn't always charged, and bluetooth is a pain when you want 'duel' control. So my requirements was something mains powered and easy to use, having an alarm would be a bonus. It also had to be unobtrusive (or small in english!). T

I've got a Marantz in my main system, so I'm familiar with the HEOS app, and looked at the Denon Home 150 specs. I'm not a great fan of the heos app, its integration with Tidal is best described as 'functional' . After looking (on the web) at Sonos/Bose/Denon and a few others. One of my 'would likes', was Tidal connect, which is based on ease of use rather than sound quality. It wasn't essential but that really cut down the options, I decided to take a chance on the Flex 2i, there wasn't too much info/feedback here, but on the basis I could return it if I was unhappy I ordered one.

• It was very easy to set the speaker up, I have linksys Velop mesh wifi, and the bedroom is in a weakspot. There was no problem connecting to the wifi, and I've had no dropouts.
• Blueos app - Compared to Heos this app is a dream. Although some of the navigation is counter-intuitive (to me), over all its easy to use. Main complaint is that the alarm and sleep timer options are under the settings menu.
• Connectivity - supports Tidal Connect/Spotify Connect /Qobuz and Tunein Radio (plus loads of others I don't use). I've tried Bluetooth / Airplay and these worked without issue, but that's not the sources I will be using. Blueos was also quite happy to connect to my music share, and cataloged/played the handful of flac albums I'd purchased with no issues. Of course if you are using spotify/tidal connect then you don't have to touch the app.
• Smart Speaker - I'm not interested in hooking anything up to Alexa/Google/Siri Assistant. So I can't comment on this.
• Sound Quality - The flex has a 4" woofer and a 1" tweeter, considering that the sound quality is good. I was actually pleasantly surprised on how good it is considering the size of the unit. But I'm not compared it to anything other than a Megaboom. A side by side test with a sonos/Bose 500/Denon home 150 would be interesting. Of course its mono only,
• Value for money, tough one its £299, build quality seem good on the outside, but I felt it maybe should be about £50 cheaper. There is no logic to that, just my gut feeling. If it had been £200, I would have bought another one for a different room.
• Remote - there is a remove which is extra. Given the app can be used to control the volume, I didn't think £50 was worth the extra spend/

I'm sure that there are better sounding speakers for less. Although I felt that its overpriced, it has ticked all of the boxes for me. So its a keeper. Ideally I would have liked to have compared the different options in a shop before buying, but that wasn't possible. I've not tried to see if I could tell the difference in sound quality between bluetooth/airplay and direct streaming from the unit itself.

If anyone is looking for two of these (maybe for different rooms) SSAV sell a bundle for £538, but personally I wouldn't spend that much to just to get a stereo system.