Recording - March 2021 - 57

Getting Deep

What struck me first about the Pulsar
is its three-dimensional soundstage.
Everything I played sounded ultra-clear,
detailed and expansive, and the sweet
spot is very generous. As you move
around the room, the imaging and tone
remain consistent and engulfing. They do
not lose their clarity, depth or presence at
low volume. The lows are deep and clear,
and while they will rattle the room with
a subwoofer-like fullness when the music
presents as such, the Pulsar does not exaggerate the low end. I couldn't find any
bass signal to stress or 'fart out' the Pulsar,
and I was quite pleased by how they handled the full modern low end from Bruno
Mars one minute, and then highlighted the
deep upright bass from the Aga Zaryan
track 'Throw It Away' the next. I was also
impressed by the in-the-room clarity of the
cajón on the same track. Again, the lows
extended down deep, but nothing was
pushed or hyped.
The highs are ultra-clear and airy. If
you like to employ an 'air-band' style
EQ on your mixes, you will hear it here.
The flip side is that bright, brittle, and

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Magnitude Linearity:.................................................... +/- 1dB 40 Hz - 30 kHz
Low Frequency Cutoff:................................................................ -6dB at 31 Hz
Phase Linearity:.............................................................. +/- 15° 50 Hz - 30 kHz
Maximum Continuous SPL (100 Hz - 30 kHz at 1m):............................106dB
Maximum Continuous SPL (40 Hz at 1m):.............................................102dB
THD+N (94dB at 1m):..................................................... < .5% 100 Hz - 30kHz

toppy recordings will have nowhere to
hide. The Pulsar was more open in the
highs than my Trio 11 Be and especially
my One18 monitors, which were more
rounded and smoother by comparison.
Nothing is clouded or crowded in the
midrange, and sources sit back nicely
seated in the sound field. Unlike some
competing monitors, the mids are not designed for a pushed forward presence.
Despite their high-fidelity signature, I
would classify the Pulsar as a mix tool
more so than a pleasantly voiced listening monitor. The fuller the source's
range, and the better the recording, the
better it will shine on the Pulsar.
Listening back to some of my mixes, I became quickly aware of some mid-heavy
11:19 AM

mud and also sibilance and harshness in
the vocals and cymbals in some spots. In
other words, they helped me do my job
by doing their job.

Wrap-up

These are monitors that I very much
enjoyed working on; they sounded
great and helped me make better mix
decisions. Just note that all this impressive tech comes with an equally impressive price tag. Regardless, the Pulsar
is a stellar-sounding, three-dimensional
and detailed mix tool of the highest
galactic order.
Price: $7,999 (pair)
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Recording - March 2021

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