- Sonos / Pocket-lint
Sonos Move 2
The Sonos Move 2 succeeds the three-year-old Move and brings a number of improvements, including a refined design, double the battery life and sound enhancements.
- Sonos / Pocket-lint
Sonos Move
The Sonos Move is an exceptional speaker, delivering big sound in a portable package. There's an 11-hour battery life, serious volume and some great features, especially for those with Sonos.
Sonos has announced the Move 2, which succeeds its first ever portable Bluetooth speaker that arrived in the form of the Move in 2019. Since the Move was revealed, the company has embraced both portability and Bluetooth. It launched the smaller Roam and Roam SL in 2021 offering both, and the Era 100 and Era 300 both launched more recently as wired speakers but with Bluetooth on board for the first time.
The Sonos Move 2 features a very similar design to the original Move, though it brings with it a number of improvements, as well as a redesigned sound architecture. Here is how the Sonos Move 2 compares to the Sonos Move. Should you upgrade and if you are considering buying a portable Sonos speaker with big sound, should you opt for the new Move or the old Move?
Price, availability, specs
The Sonos Move launched in 2019 and it costs $399 in the US and £399 in the UK. It is available in Shadow Black and Lunar White colour options and it is available now. It is currently unclear for how long it will remain available following the launch of its successor.
The Sonos Move 2 will go on sale on 20 September, almost exactly three years after the original (four more days and it would have been to the day). It sees a slight price hike, costing $449 in the US and £449 in the UK. For those in Europe, the Sonos Move 2 will cost €499. There are three colour options rather than two however, with Black, White and Olive on offer. It's worth mentioning that the Black option on the Move 2 is richer than the Shadow Black of the original Move with more depth.
We've popped a spec table below comparing the numbers of the two speakers side by side, but there is more to these speakers than just the numbers so read passed the spec table for more information on how these two portable party speakers compare and what has changed.
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Sonos Move 2
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
- Battery
- 24 hours
- Water Resistance
- IP56
- Audio
- Three class-D amplifiers, mid-woofer, two dual-angled tweeters, far-field mics
- Voice assistant
- Amazon Alexa, Sonos Voice Control
- Colors
- Black, White, Olive
- Buttons
- Volume trough slider, capacitive touch controls, Bluetooth button, microphone on/off switch
- Others
- Sonos features, Auto Trueplay tuning, AirPlay 2, USB-C line-in
- Dimensions
- 241 x 160 x 127mm, 3kg
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Sonos Move
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi 4.0, Bluetooth
- Battery
- 11 hours
- Water Resistance
- IP56
- Audio
- Two class-D amplifiers, mid-woofer, tweeter, far-field mics
- Voice assistant
- Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Sonos Voice Control
- Colors
- Shadow Black, Lunar White
- Buttons
- Capacitive touch controls, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth toggle, Pairing button
- Others
- Sonos features, Auto Trueplay tuning, AirPlay 2
- Dimensions
- 240 x 160 x 126mm, 3kg
Design
The Sonos Move 2 and the original Sonos Move share similarities in design. In fact, from a distance, you would be forgiven for not being able to tell the difference. Both speakers are a similar size, and they are both of a similar weight too. They also both have an integrated handle on the back, which is helpful for carrying them around, given they aren't the lightest portable speakers around.
The speaker grille on both extends the majority of the way around the speakers, leaving a strip at the back that features the handle and houses a number of buttons, while the base of both the Sonos Move 2 and Move has a rubber finish and features the USB-C port and the metal charging connectors for when the Move and Move 2 are on their charging base. The two speakers also have the Sonos logo in the same place on the front, and they both come in black and white colour options, though the Sonos Move 2 is also offered in an Olive colourway, as mentioned, and the colours are slightly different. Both the Move 2 and Move have an IP56 water and dust resistance, so they can both handle being outdoors, as well as a few knocks and tumbles.
There are some subtle design differences worth highlighting, despite the similarities between these two speakers. The first is on the top. The Move 2 brings in the same controls as those first introduced on the Era 100 and Era 300 speakers, offering a volume trough, alongside play/pause, forward and back capacitive controls. There is also a microphone capacitive button. The original Move has all capacitive buttons, with volume up and down either side of the play/pause button and skipping and going back a track done by swiping left to right or vice versa across the controls. It too has a microphone on/off button.
The second difference is on the rear of the Move speakers. The Move 2 has a microphone on/off hardware switch, along with a power button and a Bluetooth button. The original Move meanwhile, has a power button, Bluetooth to Wi-Fi button for switching between the two modes (it isn't automatic) and a pairing button. There are therefore a couple of differences in the way you use the Move 2 and Move speakers and the features they offer.
Features
The Sonos Move 2 and the Sonos Move share a number of the same features, though as mentioned, there are a few that are different. The Sonos Move 2 offers more than just charging the speaker itself through the USB-C port on the rear for example. You can also charge other devices through the port or use it as a line-in to connect other audio sources like your computer or turntable. It also comes with Alexa and Sonos Voice Control, with the former allowing you to ask the Move 2 any number of questions or control a smart home, while the latter enables you to control the speaker itself and any grouped with it, with your voice. The Sonos Move offers both these voice assistants too, though it is also compatible with Google Assistant.
Both the Move 2 and the Move have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. This means you can pair a Bluetooth device with either speaker and share audio instantly, and when on Wi-Fi, the two speakers will work as traditional Sonos speakers do, offering the same features, like compatibility with over 100 music services, seamless multiroom audio and the ability to group and ungroup speakers. The Move 2 will automatically switch between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi however, while the original Move requires you to toggle between the two modes.
Elsewhere, you can expect the same experience from the Move 2 and Move. Both can be controlled via the excellent Sonos app that offers a number of features in itself and both can be stereo paired. It is worth mentioning though, that you will need the same speaker so either two Sonos Move speakers or two Sonos Move 2 speakers. It won't work to stereo pair a Sonos Move with a Sonos Move 2. There's also Apple AirPlay 2 support on both Move speakers and Automatic Trueplay tuning that means both speakers will adapt the sound output to the environment they are in.
Sound
When it comes to the internals of the Sonos Move 2 and the Sonos Move, there are some further differences here too. The Sonos Move 2 has been redesigned internally, like the Era 100 was compared to the Sonos One. The biggest difference is that the Move 2 introduces a secondary tweeter. The two tweeters within the Move 2 are angled, like the Era 100, allowing for stereo separation. This means the Move 2 offers stereo sound, while the original Move offers mono. There is also an extra Class-D digital amplifier on board the Move 2 compared to the Move with three Class-D digital amplifiers said to be precision-tuned, and one mid-woofer.
The Move has a downward-firing single tweeter, two Class-D digital amplifiers and one mid-woofer, for comparison. The Move's sound performance is excellent, though the Move 2 should be even better based on its hardware. We still need to listen to it to know for sure, but we aren't expecting to be disappointed.
Both the Move 2 and the Move offer adjustable EQ levels through the Sonos app, so you can adjust the bass, treble and loudness to suit your preferences. You won't find support for Dolby Atmos or Spatial Audio like the Era 300.
Battery
Last but not least is the battery. The original Sonos Move claims to offer an 11-hour battery life on a single charge at moderate volumes, which we found to be not too far off the reality when we tested it. There is also a replacement battery kit that comes with a new battery and the tools needed to swap the battery out yourself that you can buy separately if you notice the battery on the Move deteriorating.
The Move 2 claims to offer a 24-hour battery life, which if this turns out to be accurate, is a pretty substantial improvement on its predecessor. It means tunes all day and all night rather than you having to grab the charging dock or a USB-C cable mid-way through the evening. Like the Move, the Move 2 also has a replaceable battery.
Sonos Move 2 vs Sonos Move: Which should you buy?
The Sonos Move 2 adds some great improvements on the original Sonos Move on paper. The design changes are subtle, but that's not to say they don't make a difference. The controls are clearer and more user friendly, while the microphone hardware switch on the rear of the Move 2 will be welcomed by many. The additional features of the USB-C port are handy too, and you can't argue with double the battery life or stereo sound over mono so there are plenty of upgrades.
Sonos Move 2
The Sonos Move 2 will be available to buy from 20 September and based on its specifications and improvements over the original Move on paper, it's worth waiting for.
If you have the original Move and are considering adding a Move 2, we suspect the new model will perform as brilliantly as the original, though you could also consider buying another Move if you can get a good price, given that would allow for stereo pairing. If you are choosing between the Move 2 and the Move, you will pay a little more for the Move 2, but you get some solid upgrades that will futureproof the device for several years so we recommend the Move 2 over the Move unless you can get a really good deal on the original.
