The Sonos Move 2 is the successor to the first portable and excellent Sonos speaker with WiFi and Bluetooth. Read the review of the Sonos Move 2 here and what the improvements are and what could be improved.
In 2019, Sonos launched the Move, a portable speaker that many Sonos enthusiasts had been waiting for for years. With the Move you can stream music via both WiFi and Bluetooth and thanks to the battery you can take it anywhere, even to the beach. Now 4 years later, Sonos has released its successor, yes, the Sonos Move 2. Read in our review what the improvements are compared to the first Sonos Move and whether the Sonos Move 2 gets just as good a score (4.5 stars) as its predecessor.
Design
The Move 2 has the same slim and oval design as the original Move and the dimensions are almost the same. Once again it is 240 mm high, 160 mm wide and at 127 mm only 1 mm deeper. The weight is the same at 3 kilograms and the handle makes it easier to walk with. However, you won’t take it for a walk and it is not as easy to transport as the Sonos Roam.
The groove at the top to make the sound louder and softer is new, striking and useful, which works fine. There are also capacitive buttons to start and pause a music track, go to the next or previous track and to turn the microphone on or off.
In terms of color, the Move 2 is now available in real black (and not shadow black), white and a nice, trendy olive green color. The robust, durable housing is resistant to drops, impacts, rain and moisture, dust and dirt, UV rays and extreme temperatures and, like the Move 1, has an IP56 rating. It also feels nice and sturdy and can indeed take a beating.
On the left the Move 2, on the right the ‘old’ Move
(Stereo) sound
Sonos of course has a reputation to uphold in the field of sound quality and ease of use. Just look at our reviews of the Sonos Arc, Sonos Ray and the Sonos Era 100. The Sonos Move 2 now has an extra D-class amplifier with 3 D-class amplifiers. These are again well matched to the drivers and acoustics of your speakers; the high and mid frequencies are reproduced beautifully, brightly and clearly and there is a nice, deep bass.
Striking but not visible is the fact that the 2 tweeters both point in different directions, while the mid-range woofer points straight forward. Sonos’ idea behind the two tweeters placed in this way is to approximate a stereo effect, something that can be heard at a short distance.
Operation and ease of use
Installing the Sonos Move 2 is as you would expect from Sonos: the set-up is simple and you are easily guided through the installation thanks to the user-friendly app. Once installed, you can also play your music from the Move 2 on other Sonos speakers.
Automatic Trueplay, WiFi and Bluetooth
Just like the first Move, this Move 2 also has Trueplay tuning technology. With the automatic Trueplay tuning, the speaker adjusts itself to match the sound as best as possible to the environment. Via the built-in microphone (which can be switched on and off at the back of the Move 2) and by switching it on in the Airplay app (found under System), you can clearly hear that the sound is adjusted when you move it.
Naturally, the Move 2 can be controlled via both WiFi and Bluetooth. In principle, you use the WiFi connection at home, so that when you leave the room (with your smartphone), you can continue to hear music. In the garden or elsewhere outside you will soon have less good WiFi, so you can stream your music via Bluetooth. Thanks to the AAC codec, the sound is excellent and you can enjoy it wherever you want, even on the beach.
Music services and voice assistants
The Sonos Move 2 supports more than a hundred streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music, multiple voice assistants including Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa (available in the Netherlands in the future?) and AirPlay2.
Battery
Another major improvement: the battery of the first Move lasted about 10 hours, but the new 44Wh battery now lasts up to 24 hours. Just like with the Move 1, you can easily charge it via the included charging base or via USB-C. The USB connection also works in reverse: you can charge your smartphone with it, which is useful if your phone is almost empty. And while everyone is talking about sustainability these days, we can give Sonos a compliment: a spare battery is also available for this Sonos model for 89 euros (Link).
Price and availability
When you say Sonos, you say not only quality but also price, because Sonos is not known as a cheap brand. The recommended retail price for this portable speaker has increased by 100 euros to 499 euros.
Conclusion
We were already pleasantly surprised with the first Sonos Move, but Sonos has gone one better with the Move 2. They listened carefully and suggested their own points for improvement: the sound is (even) better, partly thanks to the tweeter setup that approximates stereo sound. and the more than doubled battery life is also pleasant. Well, that price does (again) result in half a star deduction, or in other words it gets 4.5 stars. Price wise it could be better…
Sonos Move 2
Recommended retail price 499 euros
+ good sound quality
+ battery life and replaceable battery
+ user-friendly installation and app
– price
