Sonos’ Move, the company’s first portable speaker, filled a big hole in the Sonos ecosystem by finally letting you extend your tunes outside. Its update, the Move 2, improves on the concept in every way.
The Move was among the best Bluetooth speakers you could buy. The Move 2 sounds better, has longer battery life and enhances its features. With the improvements, the Move 2 shoots to the top of portable speakers to consider.
But it costs a lot, which means the Move 2 is only the right choice in specific situations.
With wide stereo sound, better bass and crisp treble, the Move 2 sounds better than the Move — and most portable speakers. It also has much better battery life and some handy new features. But for $449, you’ll want to have a strong reason to buy it.
What we liked about it
Sound quality is much better
The original Move sounded very good for a portable speaker. The Move 2 beats it in every way.
The Move 2 borrows heavily from the internal design of the Era 100, which Sonos released in the spring. It now has two tweeters instead of one, which allows it to produce stereo sound. The wider sound makes a big difference. Sonos also improved the woofer to deliver more bass. Combined, the speaker delivers a well-balanced, full sound.
The distorted guitars, driving bass and crashing cymbals on Foo Fighters’ “Under You” filled the room, while Mitski’s ethereal vocals sounded warm above the natural-sounding piano on “My Love Mine All Mine.” The thumping bass on Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” resonated deeply thanks to the improved bass, while her voice was clear in the mix.
It’s hard to find comparable speakers to the Move 2. It sounds better than most portable speakers, including the $200 UE Megaboom 3, but the Megaboom is much smaller. The $500 JBL Boombox 3 creates a bigger sound but in a much bigger package.
Compared to non-portable speakers, the Move 2 produces less bass than the $249 Era 100, despite being larger. The $299 Apple HomePod (2nd Gen) also has more bass and can play Atmos music — something the Move 2 lacks. But you can’t take either of those speakers with you, which is the whole point of the Move 2.
Battery life lasts much longer
Battery life was a knock against the original Move, and Sonos has addressed that with the new model. It claims it can play for 24 hours on a full charge, much better than the Move’s 11 hours.
In real life, the claims mostly hold up. After about 10 hours of listening at low and moderate volume, the Move 2 still had 55% charge left.
Sonos updated the design of the charging base to make it smaller and you can now disconnect the power brick. As with the original Move, you can also charge it via USB-C.
You can replace the battery, which makes the Move 2 a long-term investment, and may make the price more palatable.
It improves the controls and adds features
The Move 2 also inherited the redesigned controls and additional features of the Era 100. It has improved Bluetooth integration, making for a smoother transition when you leave the range of your Wi-Fi network. You control the volume with a touch-sensitive slider, which allows finer control of the sound level. You can now add an external source through the $19 Line-In Adapter, a USB-C dongle.
The Move 2 includes voice control via Amazon Alexa or Sonos Voice Control, and also uses its microphone for Adaptive Trueplay, which adjusts the sound to the environment the speaker is in. You can mute the mic with a switch on the back of the unit (but that also kills Trueplay).
What we didn’t like about it
It’s pretty big
The Move 2 has the same dimensions and weight as the Move — I guess you don’t mess with a winning design. But that makes it fairly large for a portable speaker; you won’t want to lug the Move 2 on a hike.
It’s portable in the sense that you can easily change its location within your house and take it outside with you. If you want a speaker to throw in your backpack, the Sonos Roam is a better choice.
But that size is also what allows it to sound as good as it does, and is a trade-off worth making if sound quality is supreme for you.
It costs a lot
The Move 2 costs $50 more than the Move — and the Move was already plenty expensive. You can get two Roams or two UE Megabooms for less than the Move 2. To make it worth the expense, the Move 2 has to fit your exact needs.
How it compares
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Size and weight | 9.5 x 6.3 x 5.0 inches, 6.6 pounds |
6.6 x 2.4 x 2.4 inches, 1 pound |
| Drivers | Two tweeters, one midwoofer |
One tweeter, one midwoofer |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Line-in (with adapter), Ethernet (with adapter) |
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Colors | White, black, olive |
White, black, olive, Sunset, Wave |
| Smart assistant options | Alexa, Sonos Voice Control |
Alexa, Sonos Voice Control |
| Price | $449 | $179 |
Bottom line
The Sonos Move 2 is everything you want in a next-generation speaker. It sounds better, adding stereo and more bass; it fixes the mediocre battery life, now lasting up to 24 hours; and it adds a few new features.
But the price tag has to make you think twice. The Move 2 can make sense if you already have a Sonos system and want a speaker that can extend your system outside — and two Roams don’t sound good enough for you.
If that sounds like you, then you’ll be very happy with the sound you hear from the Move 2. But if you don’t fit that profile, you can probably find a better use for your $450.
