If you’re in the market for a decent portable Bluetooth speaker that won’t break the bank or absolutely destroy your back-to-school budget… the newest Sonos product is probably not right for you. Of course, the same more or less goes for the original Move, which normally costs $399 and can sometimes be found at a discount of up to $100 at major retailers like Amazon, so the $449 price tag of that bad boy’s sequel shouldn’t exactly come as a shock.
If anything, we’re actually pleasantly surprised that the hot new
Sonos Move 2 is only 50 bucks costlier than its predecessor given the massive list of substantial upgrades brought to the table by this second-gen powerhouse.
What have we here?
First and foremost, we’re talking about a huge jump in battery life from a respectable 11 hours to a bonkers 24 hours, which will allow the vastly improved speaker to, well, move around more easily without constantly having to hug a wall. If you’re wondering how that number compares with some of the competition, the short answer is pretty darn well.
The extremely durable and popular JBL Xtreme 3, for instance, can only promise to keep the party going for up to 15 hours between charges despite being almost as expensive as the Sonos Move 2, although there’s also the Boombox 3 to consider from the same brand at a slightly higher retail price of $500 with an identical 24-hour battery life rating.
In the audio department, by far the most important enhancement of the Move 2 enables “heart-pumping” stereo sound without the need to buy two different units and pair them together. That’s made possible by a “completely overhauled acoustic architecture” that includes dual tweeters, and we cannot wait to see (or rather hear) if the real-life experience is as “heart-pumping” as it sounds in theory.
The OG Sonos Move, mind you, is only capable of delivering mono audio, and a “precision-tuned” woofer should also help the second edition produce deeper and more dynamic bass in any and all environments (including or especially outdoors).
But wait, there’s more
More Move 2 changes and upgrades, that is, from an “elevated” design and simpler controls to a sleek new color and improved connectivity.
In addition to its forerunner’s white and black options, the second-gen Sonos Move will also be available in a third Olive hue around the world starting September 20. That’s apparently designed to “complement neutral indoor and outdoor aesthetics”, which seems to go for the portable speaker as a whole too.
Not exactly radically redesigned compared to the first edition, the Move 2 is meant to keep a relatively low profile in your house, garden, at the local pool, beach, or during your travels while gaining the handy capacitive volume slider of the Sonos Era 100 and 300 and retaining the Move 1’s respectable IP56 rating for (moderate) water and dust resistance.
Sonos claims that this bad boy can even survive the occasional accidental drop and extended exposure to the sun apart from dirt and splashes of water, although it’s probably wise not to push your luck in that department too far and risk your $449 “investment.”
Not when the Sonos Move 2 comes with native support for modern Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 technologies, as well as “increased flexibility” as far as its connectivity is concerned. That means you can now use your Wi-Fi to play your favorite tunes on multiple Sonos speakers at the same time, thus enveloping your entire home in (the same) music without having to resort to workarounds or manual solutions to that problem.
We know, that’s something many of the world’s best smart speakers have been able to do for a long time, but better late than never and with everything else the Move 2 has going for it, it’s going to be mighty hard to resist buying this puppy when it sees daylight. Unless, of course, you want to go the smart route, in which case Amazon and Google have you covered with so many great alternatives.
