Sonos Move 2 Review: A Big Step Up For Hybrid Speakers

Up to 24 hours of battery life, smoother transition between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection, and slightly better sound. Sonos has taken small steps to arrive at the Sonos Move 2, the inevitable follow-up to the company’s highly successful and first-ever hybrid Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker.

But are those small steps enough? I’ve spent the past week and a bit with the speaker for the purpose of this Sonos Move 2 review and find it’s very much the type of upgrade you’d expect. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as the Sonos Move was a bold move from Sonos in the first place.

Bold because it was something Sonos had never attempted before. Up until the Sonos Move, the company was only known for Wi-Fi speakers that form part of a bigger home ecosystem. The Sonos Move was the first Sonos Bluetooth speaker, but it was smart enough to be able to switch between both forms of connection to be both a home speaker and a portable speaker in one.

But the ‘portable’ part of the brief was offset by its size. Almost confusingly, Sonos persisted with a big, bulky speaker that was hard to fit into a backpack and just lug around. Despite the beautifully designed concaved back, which can be used as a handle, this 2.7 kg speaker was larger and more expensive than popular portable Bluetooth speakers like the UE Megaboom and JBL Xtreme series’. That’s why Sonos quickly followed that up with the smaller, oddly triangular Sonos Roam.

Design

The design has remained virtually untouched between the Sonos Move and its sequel. The Sonos Move 2 is still a curvy little number, slightly weightier at 3 kg and available in a brand new colourway. That’s Olive Green. Because it’s Sonos you can still get the speaker in monochrome white or black, but it’s clear Sonos now recognises the need to offer different looks to evolve from its solid reputation for minimalism.

Aside from the hue, it’s very hard to tell that anything has changed for the exterior. On the top, I noticed the physical controls have been redesigned to favour swipe and tap gestures rather than traditional presses. A neat array of mic openings rings the surface edges while the rear panel still has that deep recess that can be used as a haul handle.

On this rear panel are the power and Bluetooth pairing buttons as well as a switch to turn off mics in case you think your smart assistant is listening in on you. Speaking of which, Sonos and Google are still on the outs, so you’ll find the Move 2 is only compatible with Amazon Alexa as well as Sono Voice Control.

A USB-C socket is included so you can use the Move 2 as a power bank and also charge the device without using the included charging station. The charging station, by the way, is still a neat little ring on which the Move 2 sits. The problem I find here is that the charging indicator light (which also indicates that the speaker is actually on and in pairing mode) is so small and faint that it’s hard to tell what’s actually happening.

Is the charging dock working? I just have to have faith that it is. When the inevitable Sonos Move 3 is released, one thing I’d like to see is a more noticeable LED light.

The internal design is where Sonos has done things a bit differently. The original Sonos Move has a vastly different setup with a bass driver and tweeter sitting behind a waveguide that helped with the mono output, milking a wider soundstage and greater sense of scale despite only using one channel.

The Sonos Move 2 leaves mono behind and finds a way to dial in stereo sound with a pair of tweeters that fire left and right, respectively, and are positioned above a mid-driver. Having multiple channels generally means more natural sonic width, pushing out a more detailed and richer soundstage that sounds closer to 360-degree sound despite the directional output.

Sonos’ design team has managed to maintain an IP56 rating, which means the Sonos Move 2 has a sufficient amount of water and dust-proofing. You need not worry about this bad boy at a pool party or some dusty camping grounds.

Features

The Sonos Move 2 can connect via both Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6 (as well as Apple AirPlay 2) and it has enough smarts to hold both connections at once. This is similar to the Sonos Roam, which means you can basically “fling” your music from one signal to the other with little to no interruption. It works well enough; when I’m using the Sonos Move 2 in conjunction with my Sonos setup at home, I can just as easily switch it over to Bluetooth and take it outside with me.

Sonos’ trademark TruePlay continues to show its value. Place the Sonos Move 2 in any setting, engage TruePlay, and you’ll be walked through an intuitive customisation process where the speaker routinely checks its own position and optimises its frequency response as a result.

It doesn’t seem like Sonos has included any high-end Bluetooth codecs like aptX HD and LDAC for hi-resolution audio so you’ll likely find that this sounds better over Wi-Fi rather than on Bluetooth. You’ve got the standard SBC and AAC codecs but not much more. Given the price tag, I would have expected Sonos to be a bit more proactive with higher-quality Bluetooth connections.

The USB-C port now opens up a wired connection but you’ll need a Sonos-branded line-up adapter that’s sold separately. It seems this company is no different to tech giants like Apple and Samsung when it comes to trying to keep you within the ecosystem.

Sound

I always expect a really elegant, sophisticated sound from Sonos and the Move 2 doesn’t disappoint. In fact, it’s a clear step up over the first generation in every conceivable way. While I liked the Move’s sound signature, the mix was rather dense; quite often I’d find that the low-end and highs sounded like they’ve been squashed into each other.

The first thing I noticed when I started streaming music to the Sonos Move 2 is how separated it all sounds. The sound mix is wider and more detailed, so I’m able to clearly distinguish between the lows, mids and highs.

The result is better balance and clearer instrumentation, making bass-heavy songs like Busta Rhymes’ “What It Is” sound appropriately thick and heavy, while vocal-driven songs like Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues” are so bright it almost sounds like the legendary singer is in the room with me.

While the sound is agile and highly detailed, the most important part is that integrity remains at higher volumes. I couldn’t push my Move past 70% if I didn’t want the bass to take over, but with the Move 2, I’m happy to go to max volume and still expect a clean sound.

Verdict & Value

The Move 2 sounds infinitely better than its predecessor thanks to smart internal architecture and a switch from mono to stereo. Connectivity also works much quicker and is more stable now that the Move 2 is capable of seamlessly holding Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals at once.

Is that enough? The Sonos Move 2 is $799 in Australia while the Sonos Move currently sits at $699. If you are already the owner of a big, powerful hybrid speaker then I’d say the $100 bump is much easier to stomach once you hear just how good the Sonos Move 2 is. Choosing this instead is a no-brainer.

But considered in a vacuum, $800 is just too much for a speaker of this kind. Especially when the Sonos Era 300 is a much more well-rounded and better option if you just need an at-home Wi-Fi speaker. Given the Era 300 is $749 right now, those who don’t really need something portable should be going for that instead.

The author was sent a Sonos Move 2 for the purpose of this review. For more information on how we put together reviews please read our editorial policy.

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