Sonos Move Gen 2 Battery Powered Portable Smart Speaker

The Sonos Move 2 is the most powerful portable speaker they’ve ever built! In 2019, Sonos launched the Move, and it quickly became extremely popular in the world of portable sound. And for good reason, as it seemed to check all the boxes regarding what you would want in the ultimate portable speaker. Well, it’s been four years, and Sonos has been working feverishly to make what was an already excellent portable speaker even better.

Introducing the Sonos Move 2 – the sequel to the original Sonos Move. Although it may look similar, Sonos has added many new features and improvements to make the Move 2 a very tempting upgrade.

Design & Build Quality

The Sonos Move 2 comes in at the exact same weight and dimensions as the original Move at roughly 9.5 inches tall, 6.3 inches wide, 5 inches deep, and weighing 6.6 pounds. It has the exact same rubber base used to grip whatever it is sitting on and has shock-absorbent properties to protect the interior acoustics from any accidental drops. It has the same IP56 rating as the original Move, allowing it to withstand some light rain, dust, dirt, or snow, so you don’t have to worry too much about it when you take it outdoors.

The logo on the front stays in the same place but is now the same color as the speaker, making it more discrete. And speaking of speaker colors, the Move 2 has changed up its colors to match better with the rest of its lineup. The colors have changed from Shadow Black to Black, which is slightly darker with less gray undertones than the original Move. You also move from Lunar White to White, which is also a more pure and bright white color.

The USB-C and charging base connection points stay in the same location on the back. The provided charging base is a bit more robust and premium feeling than the original Move’s base and has a slightly more squared-off look. It also has a much smaller power brick, which lets you remove the cable and lets you plug in the USB-C to any power source or brick, so you aren’t stuck with a traditional 2-prong plug as the old Move base has. This allows you to fit the smaller brick behind a couch or table much more easily.

The power button is still in the middle of the back inside the same recessed handle area. However, the buttons below have been changed to a Bluetooth pairing button and a physical switch to turn off the microphone inside. The speaker’s top has also been updated to match the technology we saw in the new Era 100 and 300 speakers. You’ll get the same indented capacitive touch slider to control your volume, which we much prefer compared to the old models, where you have to tap multiple times and have way less control. Instead of swiping to change the song, there are dedicated touch-sensitive buttons for next/previous and play/pause. You’ll still have the voice services button to turn voice controls on or off, but as we mentioned earlier, you also get the physical switch on the back to disconnect the mics completely.

Next, the status light has been moved behind the grille on the Move 2, which indicates if you’re connected to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or if the speaker is muted. And the battery light stays at the bottom of the front grille with four indicator lights to tell you your current battery status.

Features & Technology

You get some significant upgrades when you look inside the Sonos Move 2. First and foremost, Sonos has added a second tweeter. This is the same thing they’ve done in the Sonos Era 100 to make it have stereo sound instead of mono, and it worked pretty well. Two angled tweeters with custom waveguides in the Move 2 allow it to create a wider, more balanced soundstage with excellent stereo separation – a welcomed feature. One midwoofer sits below the tweeters that handle the midrange vocals and bass. These drivers are now powered by three, instead of two, class-D digital amplifiers tuned for their unique acoustic architecture.

To further increase the sound quality, the far-field microphone array sits on the top of the speaker and is used for the automatic Trueplay feature. This will continually optimize the speaker’s sound based on the environment and the audio content that is playing. So whether you are inside a small room or outside at the beach, Move 2 will detect that and change its settings automatically (about every 60 seconds) for you to enjoy the best sound. You can also adjust the EQ inside the Sonos app for even more customization.

And those mics on top are also incredible at picking up your voice to use voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Sonos Voice, thanks to the advanced beamforming and multichannel echo cancellation technology. In addition, you also get control from the Sonos app, Apple Airplay 2, and Spotify Connect, but no Google Assistant.

Another vast improvement is the battery life. The original Move had a battery life rated at 11 hours, and the new Move 2 has a whopping 24 hours of playback from just one single charge. That is certainly a significant difference and allows you to take the Move 2 with you on a trip or to the beach without worrying about it dying on you. It also allows you to plug your phone into the Move 2 and use it as a power bank since the battery is so much more efficient.

Next, WiFi and Bluetooth are still built-in, but they’ve stepped up to WiFi 6, which will give you faster and more stable connectivity. They’ve also upgraded from Bluetooth 4.1 to Bluetooth 5.0. This is a huge improvement as you can now watch videos on your phone while connected via Bluetooth with minimal latency from the speaker’s sound. Bluetooth 5.0 also unlocks the ability to sync your music with other Bluetooth speakers in different rooms.

You can use the USB-C port to charge the Move 2 or your phone or other devices. In addition, you can also purchase a Sonos Combo Adapter to plug your Move 2 directly into ethernet if you have unstable WiFi. But the final use of the USB-C port is a feature we loved seeing incorporated in the Era 100 and Era 300. It is the ability to use it as a Line-In with a Sonos Line-In Adapter to connect a turntable, CD player, or other device. We love this feature as it unlocks many more possibilities of what you can connect to your Move 2.

And you know the saying “Two is better than one?” Well, you can easily pair a second Move 2 when on WiFi for a true stereo setup that will really envelop you in a wider, more detailed soundstage. We were a bit disappointed that Sonos hasn’t enabled the stereo pairing over Bluetooth yet. This would have been a great feature to see so that you could pair two of these up for a stereo setup when you’re outdoors and not within range of a WiFi signal.

You can also pair the Move 2 with any other Sonos device, including the original Move, to simultaneously make your listening experience fill your house, patio, and backyard. But remember, it will not be a stereo setup unless you have two Move 2’s.

For those of you who already have a Move, you can pair up a second Move 2 on the same WiFi network, but you cannot use it as a stereo pair. They will both simply play the same thing at once.

You also cannot use the Move 2 in any other theater setups, such as using two as your rears with an Arc or Beam Gen 2. This would have been a really cool opportunity to have a truly wireless speaker as your rear, whereas the Era 100 and Era 300 need to be plugged into power to act as your rear. For someone who doesn’t have outlets nearby, it would have enabled them to add a Sonos Move Wall Hook on their wall or just a pair of stands and easily get rear speakers into their home theater setup and also use them as their portable speakers when they need them on the go.

While we understand that Sonos wants you to utilize the Era 100 and Era 300 as rears for the best performance, we’d really like to see them open up the capabilities for people to make more home theater setups that match their needs. And maybe we are nitpicking here, but we would love to see an ethernet and line in port on the back so you don’t have to worry about purchasing and carrying around extra dongles.

Performance

How does the Move 2 sound? First, the overall presentation of every song we played was much clearer and more defined than the original Move. The soundstage also was much wider, mimicking the sound of two separate speakers, thanks to the dual tweeters.

We connected our Sonos app, one of our favorite product apps of all time, and were quickly up and running after pairing with our original Move and Move 2 on our WiFi. This made it super easy to do some A/B comparisons by simply sliding the volume up and down for each speaker while listening to the same song.

We started with Chris Stapleton’s “I Was Wrong.” Immediately, we noticed the separation of guitar, drums, and his voice on the Move 2. The dual tweeters played a huge role here, making the soundstage much bigger than the original Move, and Chris’ voice sat dead center. It felt much more like we had a true stereo setup with a left and right dedicated speaker. When you listen to this on the original Move, it sounds good, but there is less separation, and all the instruments blend together, giving it a more muddy sound. Chris’ voice is still in the center, but so are all the instruments competing with each other. Overall, the Move 2 had a more pleasing sound with defined midrange vocals, good bass, and a wider soundstage.

Pairing two of the Move 2’s together into a stereo pair was also a step up in sound improvement compared to using two original Move’s. This was the same result we had when comparing the Era 100 stereo pair to the Sonos One stereo pair. The two tweeters help separate the instruments and make small details in the song easier to hear instead of mixed in with the rest of the instruments.

Overall Recommendation

To us, Move 2 has stepped it up in many departments. And one of the most important aspects is that it does actually sounds better than the original Move. The big question that many people will be asking is if it is worth upgrading from the original Move. If you have the original Sonos Move and are happy with its performance, upgrading is probably unnecessary. However, if you find your Move constantly dying, want improved battery life, and care about the best possible sound, the Move 2 is for you. And if you don’t have a Move, we definitely recommend getting the Move 2 instead of the original.

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