Bluesound Pulse Cinema Mini review: Scaled back for size and surround sound

You’re not short of choice when it comes to expensive sound bars that aim to deliver surround sound. With the new Bluesound Pulse Cinema Mini, the brand has addressed some of the perceived issues with several high-end models currently on sale.

It’s usefully compact, so while it may not have what it takes to fill very large rooms with sound, its real-world usefulness in smaller spaces and/or where its companion TVs aren’t huge, can’t be overemphasized. But despite its neat size, it manages to look and feel (and sound) like a premium product.

It is part of the BluOS ecosystem, too, which means it can be controlled by one of the most advanced applications, easily integrated into a multi-channel or multi-room audio system, and compatible with products from many manufacturers. And when it comes to surround sound, the Pulse Cinema Mini delivers in many ways. It lacks a precise scale, but goes back a long way to sound design, dynamics, detail retrieval and tonal consistency.

What do you get for the money?

The Bluesound Pulse Cinema Mini is priced at £799, an outlay that gets you a compact, well-designed and carefully finished soundbar that measures 850 x 140 x 74mm (WDH).

Usually products of this type, costing this kind of money, want a large TV to sit underneath if it’s not going to look small, but the Pulse Cinema Mini is neat enough to fit a 48in TV without creating a visual mismatch. Bluesound offers a choice of finishes: black fabric with black aluminum for my review sample, or an exotic tan (reads reddish-brown) with white aluminum.

While I’m talking about what this kind of money usually buys when used elsewhere, there are a few sound places that want to create a sound experience of the place using only physical means. This is not one of those sound bars. Instead, it has six drivers and two passive radiators, arranged in a 2.1 channel configuration and relies on incredible digital sound processing to create a sense of sonic height that is the whole point of surround sound.

There’s a 21mm tweeter and a 45mm midrange driver positioned at each curved end of the soundbar; they are pulled out slightly in an effort to produce sonic range. At the top of the bar, there are two 102mm bass drivers and two radiators of the same size that handle low frequencies. Each of the four small drivers gets 38W of Class D power, while the two bass drivers get 65W each.

The Pulse Cinema Mini can be wall-mounted, and Bluesound includes a wall bracket in the package. If you choose to go this route, the soundbar’s built-in accelerometers notify you when it’s wall-mounted, and the audio output is adjusted accordingly.

The input options are numerous, as are file format compatibility. The Pulse Cinema Mini can handle every major audio file format, and can handle LPCM, Dolby Digital/Plus, Dolby TrueHD and multi-channel Dolby Atmos content – although any DTS compatibility is conspicuous by its absence.

Information can come in via dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2 (compatible with aptX Adaptive codec), HDMI eARC, Toslink, Ethernet or analog stereo RCA input; all physical ports are located in the recess on the back of the chassis. In addition, there’s a subwoofer pre-out, and the soundbar can connect wirelessly to its Pulse Sub+ subwoofer, too. All digital audio information is handled by a DAC chipset that operates at native 24bit/192kHz resolution and DSD256.

You get control options, of course, the best of which is the free BluOS app for iOS and Android. As well as full control of the sound bar’s functionality, it offers the possibility to combine the services of Internet radio and music streaming, to define several settings as shortcuts, to create a multiroom audio system with other BluOS products (including. it is abundant) or integrating the Pulse Cinema Mini into a real surround sound system. It is a logical, readable, comprehensive and completely stable method. Which means it’s an improvement on everything else.

There are a few touch controls on the top of the soundbar that wake up using a proximity sensor. These are Play/Pause and Volume Up/Down, as well as access to your two app-defined settings. And if you integrate Bluesound into Amazon Alexa Skills, you can, in a roundabout way, get voice control that happens as well.

What did we like about it?

I’ve already touched on the excellent build and finish seen here, but I want to emphasize that the Bluesound Pulse Cinema Mini is built to a very high standard. The acoustic fabric that covers the front and top of the chassis is used flawlessly, and the overall impression is that of a premium product.

The BluOS control app, too, speaks volumes for the quality of the product you bought it from. The fact that many third-party manufacturers are happy to come on board means that it’s a well-recognized interface, and it makes your options when it comes to multi-room and multi-channel audio much wider than elsewhere.

It’s where sound quality is concerned, however, that this sound bar excels. It’s not perfect, nothing is, but it gets more right than wrong. The consistency and consistency of the presentation is perhaps the most impressive thing about the Pulse Cinema Mini’s audio, and it’s a feature of lasting beauty.

Other similarly priced soundbars cost less with a surround sound effect, but there’s admirable height and width to the presentation, and they’re delivered as a single entity rather than as a separate collection of individual components. Flight time Dune II faithfully followed, but effects like these are carefully integrated into the overall sound. You may not feel as “inside” the song as other soundbars, but the presentation here hangs together convincingly.

It helps that the Pulse Cinema Mini has a fair amount of reach to the bottom of the frequency range and maintains a well-balanced tonality throughout. There is something right and hit the bottom end, but it is well controlled, and there is enough variation in the bass sounds to prevent the Bluesound from becoming a thumper.

Dolby Atmos soundtrack to They are sinners streamed from Apple TV shows well the area of ​​the sound bar with midrange resolution: it is distinct and projects well, which is very impressive if you remember that there are no dedicated channel drivers. There is a decent amount of food to bite and shine at the high end, too. In fact, there’s a neutral, natural quality to the overall tonality, and when the going gets bumpy, there’s enough dynamic headroom available to get you out of your seat.

What can be improved?

The lack of a remote control is a pain of the smallest kind, and a way to get around the houses where voice control can be achieved. But if we want a really proper improvement, it should affect the exact scale of the sound delivered by the Pulse Cinema Mini.

Basically, it doesn’t sound that big. Indeed, the creative sound stage escapes the confines of the cabinet from all sides, but not as much as you’d expect. If you consider Bluesound’s record with products like this, enter the price, and get a full experience of the kind of spatial sound that a more expensive soundbar from Marshall or Sonos can get you, the range of output and output of the sound that this product brings is very small.

Context, however, is still important. Both the Marshall Heston 120 and the Sonos Arc Ultra are physically bigger, and they sound bigger – so if you have a small TV (meaning under 55in) or want a soundbar to use in a small room, this Bluesound is the right choice.

Should you buy the Bluesound Pulse Cinema Mini?

By now, it’s hopefully clear why you should buy the Bluesound Pulse Cinema Mini. You’re buying it because you have a small TV that you want to boost the sound of, you’re buying it for solid integration and spatial audio presentation, you’re buying it because you have plans for a multi-channel or multi-room sound system, or you’re buying it because you know an outstanding user interface when you see one.

If you’re after a precise sound measurement, especially the sound of the surround sound (and why wouldn’t you be), it’s not as compelling an option as the alternatives, but for some customers, the Pulse Cinema Mini continues accordingly.