Sonos Move 2 Portable Speaker Adds Stereo Sound And 24 Hour Battery
Sonos' original portable speaker is getting an upgrade, with a host of audio and performance improvements to make the Move 2 the go-to for music at home and outdoors. Launched in 2019, the original Move was Sonos' first step outside and bucked the usual Bluetooth speaker trends of low cost and cheap-and-cheerful build quality. Now, with the cheaper Sonos Roam taking care of the budget end of the business, the Move 2 nudges things even further upmarket.
You'd be forgiven — unless you bought the new matte olive colorway, which joins the white and black options — for mistaking this Move 2 for its predecessor. At 9.5 x 6.3 x 5 inches and 6.61 pounds, it's the same size and weight as before. There's still a built-in carry handle on the back, and it can be charged on a bundled wireless charging base.
In fact, however, Sonos' changes have been considerable. Probably the two biggest upgrades are to battery life and audio performance. For the former, a new battery — still user-replaceable — now promises up to 24 hours of playback, more than twice the 11 hours of the first-generation Move.
Stereo sound and stereo pairing support
For audio, there's now stereo support rather than mono. Three class-D amplifiers drive two angled tweeters for left/right separation, along with a mid-woofer for midrange and bass. The Sonos app supports adjusting bass, treble, and loudness, but automatic Trueplay can do all that by itself, roughly every minute, depending on the acoustic environment the Move 2 is in.
The controls have been updated, too, with touch-sensitive buttons for play/pause and track skip, while there's a slider for adjusting volume. A far-field microphone array powers both automatic Trueplay and the Move 2's support for voice assistants including Amazon's Alexa and Sonos Voice Control; a physical mic switch on the back promises privacy.
Also on the back is the Bluetooth pairing button, since as before there's support for both Bluetooth and WiFi connections. This time around, though, along with Bluetooth audio streaming and AirPlay 2 to Move 2, there's the ability to stream via Bluetooth to a pair of wirelessly-linked Move 2 speakers for greater stereo separation.
More inputs, more flexibility, more cost
Like Sonos' latest Era 100 and Era 300, a Line-In adapter allows for 3.5mm audio input — and sharing across a Sonos network — through the Move 2's USB-C port. That USB-C port can also be used, with USB-PD adapters, to recharge the Move 2, or to recharge external services like a smartphone when plugged into the speaker.
The USB port can also be used with the Sonos Combo Adapter for those who need a wired ethernet port. As with the first-generation speaker, the Move 2 is IP56 rated against dust and high-pressure water streams. Sonos says power consumption when idle is down by more than 40%, while the Move 2's packaging taps more sustainably sourced content and zero virgin plastic. The wireless charging base now has a smaller, detachable power adapter, too.
In fact, the only real negative change is the price. Where the current Move retails for $399, the new Sonos Move 2 will launch at $449 when it goes on sale on September 20. Budget another $19 for the Sonos Line-In Adapter, or $39 for the Sonos Combo Adapter.