The Sonos Move 2 has finally been announced after months of leaks, and now we have a clearer idea of what it aims to do and what it is bringing to the market.
The original Move was an outdoor speaker that we liked, awarding 4.5 in our review for what was then Sonos’ first foray into Bluetooth speakers.
Since then it has launched more in the form of the Roam portable speaker, with these speakers supporting both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity to get the best out of these speakers in the home or the great outdoors.
So with the Move 2 heading the stores and online retailers in September 2023, what’s differences are there between the Sonos Move 2 versus the Move?
It’s more expensive
We’re not sure if we’re surprised or unsurprised by this (ahem) move, but the Move 2 is $50 / £50 / €50 / AUD$100 more expensive than its predecessor.
Just to illustrate that difference more clearly, the original Move cost $399 / £399 / €449 / AUD$699. The new speaker will cost $449 / £449 / €499 / AUD$799.
That’s a sizeable hike, especially for a speaker that’s not as portable as the Roam. You do get a number of new and enhanced features, so the jump in price may be warranted.
The Move 2’s battery has double the capacity
The Move’s 11 hours was decent for an outdoor speaker, but for speakers of its size, 20 hours+ is now around the average. So in response, Sonos has upped the battery length so you can draw up to 24 hours from the new speaker.
There is a slight caveat to that battery runtime though. Sonos estimates this is the battery life for “continuous playback at moderate volume”, connected to Wi-Fi with the voice assistant enabled. And battery life also depends on other factors too, such as the connection and where it is placed.
It suggests you have room to manoeuvre with battery life but at the same time, perhaps not as much room as you might like if you like to play music loud.
The Sonos Move 2 can play in stereo
The original Move could only play music through a mono channel. The Move 2 upgrades that to a stereo performance.
Given it’s still effectively the same form factor and size, it’ll be interesting how this works in practice. Sonos says it’s “completely overhauled” its dual-tweeter acoustic architecture, with the tweeters angled to disperse sound wider and separate it into two channels. It’ll be the first Sonos portable speaker to offer stereo sound, too.
There’s a new USB-C physical connection
While Sonos is all about living that wireless life, its recent speakers such as the Era 100 and Era 300 have supported physical connections too. The Move incorporates a USB-C line-in for either charging a mobile device (turning it into a power bank) or for connection another source device with an auxiliary cable and the Sonos Line-in adapter.
Annoyingly, the adapter is available separately, so you will have to fork out more cash.
The Move 2 is more sustainable
For this final point, we could have highlighted the new colours, with the fetching olive green now part of the range. But we feel energy consumption is more important.
Sonos has reduced the energy consumption of the Move in its idle mode by more than 40%, so ideally there should be less need to charge this speaker as often. The packaging has been sustainably sourced with “zero virgin plastic” included and if you want to get rid of the packaging, it can put into the local recycling collection.
