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Sonos’ premium battery-powered Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker has received a comprehensive update with twice the battery life, impressive stereo sound, and new touch controls.
The Move 2 isn’t just any portable speaker. It costs £449 (€499/$449/AU$799) and aims to be the only sound system you need for indoor and outdoor use, weighing in at 3kg and a similar size to a traditional bookshelf speaker.
Essentially, it’s the same as its Era 100 stablemate, but with a battery on the bottom so you can move it from room to room, out into the garden or take it with you in a car. Like the 2020 original, the Sonos outperforms virtually all rivals other than a giant stereo once you crank up the music volume – and even outpaces its mains-powered sibling.
The Move 2’s exterior is similar to its predecessor and is equally resistant to drops, water, dust, sun and cold. It connects to a router via Wi-Fi 6 to stream music from over 100 different services, including Spotify and BBC Sounds, all controlled from the Sonos app on a phone.
The speaker automatically goes to sleep when it’s not on the charging base; press the power button on the back to wake it. Another button on the back activates Bluetooth for use away from home or for streaming music from guests’ phones. Sonos sells plug-in Ethernet or analog line-in adapters for the USB-C port for added flexibility, if Wi-Fi or Bluetooth aren’t enough. A physical switch can disable microphones for the voice assistant and auto-tune, too.
Budget
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Dimensions: 241 x 160 x 127 mm
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Weigh: 3 kilos
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Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, USB-C, AirPlay 2, Spotify connection
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Battery: 44Wh (24 hours playback), 120 hours standby, three hours to charge
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Charging: Includes 45W USB-C dock
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Water resistance: IP56 (dust and high pressure water jets)
High-fidelity sound quality you can take with you
The curved grille hides a set of stereo tweeters and a large central woofer that give it real power and thumping bass. The Move 2 produces a really good, wide sound with a decent stereo effect when looking directly at it and which quickly coalesces when moved away from the centre. It has plenty of bass and power when needed, backed up by detailed highs and well-defined mids. Vocal clarity is particularly good, even when the track has a powerful bass line, balancing power and nuance excellently.
Nothing is too shrill or high-pitched, which can’t be said for most portable speakers. An equalizer in the Sonos app lets you adjust bass, treble, and volume to your liking, though the speaker automatically adapts to the space as you move it around.
It sounds best at 40-50% volume, with the bass starting to roll off a bit when you crank it above 70-80%, which is loud enough for most rooms. Two speakers can be linked together as a stereo pair for even bigger sound, while the Move 2 can become part of a multi-room audio system for music throughout your home if you have other Sonos or Ikea speakers.
The Move 2 is compatible with both Amazon’s Alexa and the Sonos voice assistant, the latter of which can control the speaker and process your requests on the device rather than having to go to a cloud server for fast responses and improved privacy.
The battery lasts up to 24 hours of playback, more than double the life of the previous speaker. Plus, it consumes 47% less power when idle, 39% less when actively playing, and 33% less when in sleep mode, all of which helps extend its life and save electricity.
Sustainability
Sonos is usually able to repair the Move 2. The company is committed to offering a minimum of five years of support for feature updates after it stops selling a product, but it has a much longer track record, including bug and security fixes for its older products. The battery should last for 900 full charge cycles and can be replaced at home, for a price of £79.
The speaker contains recycled plastic and is designed to be disassembled for repair, refurbishment, and recycling. Sonos offers product trade-in and recycling, and breaks down the speaker’s environmental emissions. impact on your report.
Price
The Sonos Move 2 costs £449 (€499/$449/A$799).
For comparison, the Sonos Move costs £299, the Roam costs £179, the Era 100 costs £249, the Era 300 costs £449, the Bose Portable Smart Speaker costs £380 and the Ultimate Ears Epicboom costs £330.
Verdict
The Move 2 is a complete upgrade of one of the best full-size portable speakers you can buy, improving every aspect of the original with only one drawback: a higher price.
It sounds better with stereo audio and more bass, has much longer battery life, and has more modern Wi-Fi 6 and good controls, while maintaining the smart design and durability of its predecessor. It feels right at home playing music loudly on its dock as you move it from room to room or out into the garden, and it sounds good enough to be the only speaker you need.
That makes it very different to most portable speakers that don’t sound or perform well enough to use at home. Plus, you’ll get many years of software support and the battery can be replaced for a reasonable sum at home, so it won’t end up in a landfill when it wears out, unlike your average Bluetooth speaker.
Still, £449 is a lot for a speaker when the equally excellent Era 100 costs around half as much. But if you want a single, high-quality, durable speaker for anywhere in your home, the Sonos Move 2 is hard to beat.
Advantages: Wifi and Bluetooth, excellent sound, long battery life, IP56 weather resistance, durable, wide support for music services, long life, can be paired, good optional voice control, support for Alexa, replaceable battery.
Cons: very expensive, does not support Google Assistant, does not support spatial audio/Dolby Atmos, cannot be used as part of a home theater setup, is large and heavy for a portable speaker.
