I put the Bluesound Pulse Flex and Sonos Era 100 wireless speakers against each other — and it was hard to choose between ‘in-your-face bass’ or ‘richer mid-range textures’

Wireless speakers are like buses. It can feel like you spend ages waiting for one, then a bunch of them turn up in quick succession. Not only have we recently seen the launch of WiiM’s long awaited Sound and Sound Lite speakers but in the closing days of 2025, we also saw the launch of the Bluesound Pulse Flex — the brand’s new mid-range hi-res wireless speaker.

Given this glut of exciting new releases, I’ve been curious as to how some of the best wireless speakers hold up against these fresh upstarts. As both devices are distinctly mid-range, the obvious comparison is with the Sonos Era 100, so I resolved to test them side-by-side to see which comes out on top.

Now it is worth noting that not only is the Pulse Flex newer but it’s also got a chunkier price tag attached, costing $349 / £279 / (around AU$570) compared to the Era 100’s $219 / £199 / AU$399. In light of that, you’d expect the younger, more well-heeled speaker to have a few more tricks up its sleeve than its older rival. And as you can see from my Bluesound Pulse Flex review, it certainly has moves that the Sonos Era 100 doesn’t: it boasts beefier high-res audio credentials, allowing you to stream hi-res audio at up to 24-bit/192kHz over Wi-Fi, you can also connect via Bluetooth aptX HD for near lossless quality sound from any compatible device.

But does that mean it can earn itself a spot as one of the best wireless speakers ahead of the Sonos Era 100? Well, read on to find out what happened when I compared these two speakers head-to-head.

Bluesound Pulse Flex vs Sonos Era 100: features

The Sonos Era 100 rocks a mid-woofer for mids and bass, plus dual-angled tweeters covered with a waveguide to help eliminate any dead spots in its listening angles. Conversely, the Pulse Flex only has a 40W woofer and a single 10W tweeter, meaning it’s strictly mono — many similarly priced wireless speakers now offer a stereo pair of drivers so I feel it wouldn’t have been asking too much of Bluesound to include a pair here.

One of the Sonos Era 100’s smartest features is its room calibration options. All you need to do is whirl your phone round in circles like you’re operating an old-timey movie camera while the speaker makes a noise and it will tune its sound to dimensions and acoustic properties of the room. On its website, Bluesound touts the Pulse Flex as having ‘flexible placements options’. Rather naively, I was hoping that this meant it had similar room calibration features but, instead, it just means it’s also compatible with wall- or stand-mounting.

This would be less of an issue if the Pulse Flex offered a powerful range of EQ options, so you could at least tweak the acoustics yourself. But neither speaker is particularly capable here: both of them only offer options to boost or duck bass or treble by several decibels. I can forgive the Sonos for this, as its room calibration is generally on point and its biggest failing, slightly over-exuberant bass, can be fixed with that kind of simple frequency nip / tuck. However, the Pulse Flex really would benefit from more comprehensive EQ options.

So far, it’s safe to say that the Pulse Flex is lagging behind in this race. But don’t count it out just yet, because it’s about to experience a second wind, thanks to its staggering array of connectivity options…

The Sonos Era 100 offers both Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3, as well as multi-room capabilities. You can also use the solitary USB-C port on its rear but you’ll need to buy an extra adaptor to plug anything into it.

Conversely, the Pulse Flex is positively jam-packed with connection options. You can stream hi-res audio to your multi-room setup at up to 24-bit/192kHz via Wi-Fi or near losslessly over Bluetooth aptX HD. It also features an absurd number of ports: you can hook up an external drive via USB, connect directly to a digital source like a laptop with USB-C and even plug in a wide range of audio gadgets using its combined optical / analog 3.5mm jack. Compared to other non-premium wireless speakers, Bluesound has crammed in loads of options here.

So the Bluesound Pulse Flex definitely rallies when connectivity is concerned and this is a massive plus in its corner. But with its stereo tweeters and truly invaluable room calibration, Sonos maintains its lead here.

Bluesound Pulse Flex vs Sonos Era 100: sound quality

If you’ve ever read any of our coverage of the Sonos Era 100, you won’t be remotely surprised to hear that it has more in-your-face bass than the Bluesound Pulse Flex. When I played Listen by Pola & Bryson & goddard., the Pulse Flex did a good job of catching details like the arpeggiated synths and the snarling edge to the bassline. Conversely, the Sonos serves up far more generous helpings of sub, catching the delicious burbling bass running under the surface.

Step up to the mids, though, and this picture is almost completely reversed. Playing Nervous Tics by Maribou State on the Sonos Era 100, the guitar had a lot of heft and the bass was substantial but the mix as a whole felt lugubrious and a little sludgy. Whereas the Bluesound Pulse Flex beautifully shone a light on Holly Walker’s gorgeous vocal, as well as those pads and arpeggiated synths. It just conveys a richer sense of some of those mid-range textures than the Sonos can muster.

Neither speaker can quite land a knockout blow when it comes to treble though. Listening to The Gloaming by Radiohead, I found that on the Pulse Flex all of that staticky percussion gets seriously overwhelmed by the vocals and pad noise. It’s only when they cut away to leave the glitchy synth that those high frequencies really feel like they have room to breathe. And it’s the same story with the Era 100 — while the bassline is playing, it swamps those fragile upper frequencies and they only really regain their cut glass precision once the bass cuts out.

For the most part though, I found the Bluesound Pulse Flex had a very decent separation of different elements. When I listened to Wasting My Young Years by London Grammar, it felt spacious enough that the timbre of each instrument had its own pocket of space to operate in. The Sonos also does a great job of projecting the vocals forward and conveying the subtler instrumentation. But by contrast it feels like it’s molded into one coherent point of sound, rather than multiple discrete elements acting in symphony, as is the case with the Pulse Flex.

So setting aside its slightly insipid bass, I’m marginally more of a fan of the Pulse Flex’s presentation than the Era 100’s. However, there are areas outside frequency balance where the Sonos is the undisputed champ.

One of those is the soundstage. Don’t get me wrong: the Bluesound Pulse Flex has great listening angles, only losing a skosh of treble when you depart the 20-degree cone right in front of it and still sounding great outside it. But the Era 100 doesn’t have this noticeable step off at all. Meanwhile, the Bluesound is audibly a mono speaker, without the hint of stereo field that the Sonos gives you.

And there’s an even more pronounced difference between the two speakers. Listening to them side by side I was also immediately struck by how much quieter the Pulse Flex is than the Era 100. I rarely ever listen to a speaker at louder than 50% volume, yet I had to crank it up to 65% or 70% just to reach the same subjective loudness as the Sonos. I’ve genuinely never experienced this across any of the wireless speakers I’ve tested so I do wonder why Bluesound has calibrated its speaker’s output so low.

I genuinely find this one quite tough to call. In terms of presence and sheer audacity, you’ve got to hand it to Sonos – the Era 100 louder, covers a much broader frequency range and has a better soundstage. But the Pulse Flex definitely has better mid-range control and much more precision in the areas it does cover… I just wish it was capable of a bit more bass presence. Ultimately though, I think the best fit for you is going to depend on which sonic properties you most prioritize.

Bluesound Pulse Flex vs Sonos Era 100: design

It’s not really fair to accuse Sonos of being unoriginal. In some ways it’s a victim of its own success: its designs are so iconic that they’ve become much-mimicked by a lot of other multi-room speaker brands. But I do find that I’ve become a little bored of monochrome columns in this space, meaning I have to give any brand not immediately defaulting to that standard some bonus points.

The Bluesound Pulse Flex falls into this camp. OK, it definitely has a cylindrical cross-section but its flattened front face helps to differentiate it from the crowd. Covering its drivers, its acoustically transparent fabric grille feels pleasant to the touch and seems to be sturdily made. Meanwhile, its options of three colorways give it a bit more character too, allowing you to pick either Black / Charcoal, the White / Pebble Grey reviewed here or the classy as all get-out White / Tan.

The Sonos Era 100 also looks incredibly polished, even if it’s not the most adventurous design. The metal grille that covers its drivers is combined with a smooth matte plastic on its top surface. A few more colorways might be nice as your choices here are pure white or pure black — but aside from the portable Roam 2, which also comes in blue red and green, all of Sonos’s devices come with this monochrome aesthetic.

Neither of these devices are particularly bulky but the Pulse Flex manages to be even svelter than the Era 100, weighing in at just 3.55lbs / 1.61kg compared to the latter’s 4.45 lbs / 2.02kg. While both speakers are roughly the same size, the Bluesound’s lighter weight makes it even easier to relocate — it’s genuinely a bit of a shame it doesn’t have a built-in battery, as its slight frame and portability would make it a great speaker to move around the house and garden depending on your current needs.

However, while I think the size and style of the Pulse Flex edges out the Era 100, Sonos has definitely got Bluesound beat when it comes to controls. Both have buttons on top that allow you to trigger basic functions like play / pause, skipping between tracks and changing volume, while the latter also offers three programmable preset buttons. But while the Sonos’s controls are wonderfully tactile touch-capacitive controls, I find the Bluesound buttons shaped like each symbol a little less pleasant to press. It’s not a deal breaker by any means but it does slightly undermine the otherwise refined-feeling design.

Another area that the Era 100 takes the win is its provision of other control methods. Although both speakers can be operated using their physical buttons or their app controls, only the Era 100 offers voice control, providing both Sonos Voice Control or Amazon Alexa. That adds a lot more utility to Sonos’s speaker and its absence from the Pulse Flex feels like a bit of an oversight, particularly given its spendier price.

When it comes to control options and the user experience, the Sonos Era 100 is still the undisputed champ. But once I factor in aesthetic appeal, the Bluesound Pulse Flex takes the prize for me — it has just enough of its own distinctive identity that it stands out from the crowd and looks more like a desirable item of furniture in its own right.

Bluesound Pulse Flex vs Sonos Era 100: verdict

The Bluesound Pulse Flex definitely comes out on top when it comes to looks. And, realistically, sound quality is a photo finish, given each speaker has sonic strengths that help them stay roughly even pegging overall. But the Sonos Era 100 is very close to the Pulse Flex in both of these categories, while the latter’s feature set falls some way behind the former for me.

There’s also a factor I’ve not explored in full above: price. Even before Sonos announced the upgraded Era 100 SL, its speaker was far more affordably priced than Bluesound’s, costing $219 / £199 compared to the latter’s $349 / £279. But with a new, even cheaper version hovering on the horizon, the Pulse Flex feels like a lot of money to lay down given it offers neither an improvement in features nor in overall sound.

Much though I like the Pulse Flex in many aspects, these factors mean I just can’t give it the win over the Era 100. Sonos’s speaker may not reach the heights of some of the brand’s other devices but the Era 100 is still a strong offering with ample talent — and ultimately will be very hard to beat, at this price point.