Sonos Move 2 with stereo sound, better battery life unveiled

Sonos has finally taken the wraps off a revamped version of its largest portable speaker, with the Sonos Move 2 packing stereo sound plus a massive boost in battery life, among other new and improved features.

Slated to go on sale on September 20 for $449, a $50 premium over the original, the Sonos Move 2 was the subject of numerous leaks over the past few months, meaning Sonos’s announcement of the portable speaker comes as little surprise.

Among the biggest changes to the Sonos Move 2 involves its sound, with the speaker now delivering stereo audio rather than mono for the first-gen Move.

This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers.

Specifically, Move 2 has a pair of angled tweeters, while a midwoofer brings the bass and bolsters mid-range vocal frequencies. Each of the three drivers is powered by its own Class D digital amplifier. The original Move had just a single tweeter and woofer.

Also new for the Move 2 is the ability to connect to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 simultaneously, allowing you to seamlessly group the new Move to your other Wi-Fi Sonos speakers even when the Move 2 is streaming via Bluetooth. The original Move had completely separate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modes, which you could toggle by pressing a rear button. (It’s worth noting that the Sonos Roam, the Move’s smaller sibling, also supports simultaneous Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections.)

Perhaps best of all, the Sonos Move 2 arrives with more than twice the battery life of the first Move. Sonos rates the revamped Move for up to 24 hours of battery life, compared to just 11 hours for the first-gen Move. (At launch, the original Move was only rated for 10 hours of battery life, but Sonos upped it to 11 with a subsequent firmware update.)

Besides the improved battery life, the Sonos Move 2 now offers USB-C charging in addition to its wireless charging base, with the USB-C charging port doubling as a line-in port for audio (provided you have required the $19 Sonos Line-In Adapter.) The Move 2 can even act as a power bank, good for charging a USB-C device like a phone.

Sonos

In a smaller but still notable change, the Move 2 makes its swiping gestures a little easier by adding a thin horizontal groove to the top of the speaker. The groove sits next to other capacitive touch buttons that, when used together, let you play, pause, and adjust the volume of your tunes, as well as group the Move 2 with other Sonos speakers. 

On the back of the speaker sits the power button and a mic mute switch, as well as a Bluetooth pairing button.

Measuring 9.5 x 6.5 x 5 inches (HxWxD) and weighing a hefty 6.61 pounds, the Sonos Move 2 is roughly the same size and weight as the first Move–which is to say, it’s more of a luggable speaker than a portable one. At just under a pound, the much smaller and lighter Sonos Roam is better suited for tossing in a backpack. 

Besides being about the same size and weight, the Sonos Move 2 shares the original Move’s IP65-level protection, making it totally resistant to dust ingress as well as resistant to low-pressure water jets sprayed from any angle. In practical terms, that means the Move 2 should be fine in the sandy, splashy environment of a beach, but you wouldn’t want to drop it in a pool. 

Sonos

Audio features carried over from the first-gen Move include the ability to use two Move 2 speakers as a stereo pair when connected to Wi-Fi, while Sonos’s Automatic Trueplay feature automatically tunes the Move 2’s audio depending on the nearby acoustics. Unlike the standard Trueplay feature on other Sonos speakers, Automatic Trueplay on the Sonos Move 2 doesn’t rely on an iPhone’s built-in microphone for calibration purposes.

Finally, the Sonos Move 2 supports your choice of built-in Alexa or Google Assistant, as well as Sonos Voice Control, Sonos’s own voice assistant. You can have both Alexa and Sonos Voice Control installed on the Move 2 at once, while Google Assistant can only be installed by itself. Naturally, full voice control will only work when the Move 2 is connected to Wi-Fi, although “essential” Sonos Voice Control commands will work when the speaker is connected via Bluetooth.

We’re expecting a Sonos Move 2 review unit soon, and we’ll have a full review of the speaker once we’ve given it a thorough test drive. Stay tuned.

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