8.3
Sonos Move 2
Like
- Improved sound and battery life
- Water-resistant and dustproof
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Links with other Sonos speaker for multi-room audio
- Autotuning system calibrates to any environment
- Battery is replaceable
Don’t like
- Fairly pricey
- Despite having a durable design, it could get damaged if you drop it
Read more: Best Bluetooth speakers of 2023
Design
The Move 2 comes in three color options — white, black and a new olive color that I requested for my review sample (it’s a smart-looking color). From the front, the speaker looks essentially the same as its predecessor. However, like Sonos’ new wired Era 100 and Era 300 speakers that were released in June, the Move 2 features the same new touch control system on its topside. You can use the touch controls to play, pause or skip a track, and swipe your finger along the volume slider to adjust the volume levels. As before, you can control the speaker with your voice, with both Amazon Alexa or Sonos Voice Control supported, though not Google Voice Assistant. The built-in microphone array is also used when setting up the speaker with Sonos’ TruePlay sound calibration system that customizes the sound for a particular space, whether it’s indoors or outside.
In some ways, the Move 2 looks too nice to be used as an outdoor speaker. But an integrated handle on the back lets you tote the Move 2 around the house, out to the patio or even to the beach. (It weighs in at 6.61 pounds, or 3 kg, so it’s got some heft it and feels like a premium-priced speaker should.)
There’s a Bluetooth pairing button on back for when you’re away from your home Wi-Fi network.
Big battery life improvements
As I said, the other big improvement is to its battery life. The speaker is now rated for up to 24 hours of use at moderate volume levels, according to Sonos. That’s up from the original Move’s 11-hour battery life rating.
Like its predecessor, the Move 2’s built-in rechargeable battery is user replaceable. Sonos said the original Move’s battery was good for about 900 charges or about three years of use. It will probably last longer than that unless you use the speaker constantly, but it is reassuring that you can replace the battery — the replacement costs $79.
While the speaker comes with a wireless charging dock, you can also charge via the USB-C port, which doubles as charge-out port for charging your devices. On top of that, Sonos confirmed that you use the USB-C port as an audio input using Sonos’ Line-In Adapter accessory, which it sells separately for $19.
Improved sound
As noted in the intro, Sonos says the Move 2 is equipped with a new dual-tweeter acoustic architecture that allows for more spacious stereo sound. And yes, the soundstage is more spacious, but the thing you really notice is that sound has more depth and clarity. The original Move was on on the warmer side, but the Move 2’s sound feels tightened up and more detailed. You do get a bit of stereo separation, but there’s only so much you can get from a pair of tweeters spaced a few inches apart. The new driver design is more about creating wider, broader sound — if you’re really looking for stereo separation, wirelessly linking a pair of Move 2s in stereo mode is the move, excuse the pun.
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