Time waits for no one. It’s also quite impatient when it comes to audio technology.
American audio giant Sonos isn’t known for pumping out products at a relentless pace, but it’s not a company of slow-handed sluts either.
With the new Sonos Era 300 and Era 100 recently debuting and the world of wireless speakers seemingly fertile and more popular than ever, now is a good time to turn our attention to a product we first got our hands on at the end of 2019: the hefty but impressive Sonos Move.
We really liked the first Move, and while we felt it was a little on the expensive side and couldn’t quite match the Apple HomePod in the sound department, it held up well as a powerful all-rounder capable of is to provide a full-bodied musical experience in almost any environment.
The Move wasn’t perfect, though, and we expect Sonos to make improvements if and when it announces the follow-up to its first battery-powered Bluetooth/wireless hybrid speaker. Details of the hypothetical sequel are still thin on the ground, but we can make some pretty educated guesses about when and in what form Move 2 will finally be released to the world.
Sonos Move 2: release date rumours
The original Sonos Move made its debut on September 24, 2019. Nearly four years later, we think it’s high time for a Move 2, though Sonos hasn’t provided any information yet.
All we can do at this stage is look at Sonos’ current release patterns in an attempt to discern what the next steps might be. There’s generally a five-year gap between each generation of its standard wireless speakers, such as the Sonos One, while the Sonos Sub tends to see an upgrade every four.
We first heard rumblings about a possible second-generation Move alongside rumors about the new Sonos Era range (via The edge) in February 2023, and now that the Era has officially launched, that certainly gives us confidence that the proposed Move 2 probably isn’t far behind. Summer is usually the logical time to release portable or Bluetooth speakers, thanks to warmer weather and a greater desire by people to roam freely, so if we had to guess, mid-2023 could be a cry for a new Move 2 portable .
Sonos Move 2: price predictions
Pricing is again nothing but pure speculation at this stage, but at least we have some plot points on the Sonos release chart that can help us make predictions about the as-yet hypothetical Move 2.
The original Move launched in 2019 for £399 / $399 / AU$649, a price tag that we felt was a bit expensive for what you actually got, especially when you look at the competitors around price: we tested the original five-star Apple HomePod about the same time for about £80 less.
The newer ones Home Pod 2 (also a five-star winner) costs even less £299 / $299, while leading wireless/Bluetooth speakers in this premium segment of the price range rival the award-winning Audio Pro add-on C10 MkII And Dali Katch G2. Given the competitive market at the moment and the range of features Sonos offers, we’re probably hovering around the £300-350 range again here, although we hope Sonos is a bit more aggressive with pricing. Any more and the Sonos Move 2 will have to work extremely hard to justify its higher price tag.
Sonos Move 2: design
While Sonos may not compete with companies like Bang & Olufsen when it comes to design we were surprised by the rather large, heavy and bulky nature of the original Sonos Move, especially for a speaker that was intended to be ‘portable’.
We’d like to see Sonos push the boat a bit further with its styling and available color options, not to mention making the Move more portable. Sonos would certainly like to offer just a little more choice than black or white, especially because it offers no less than five different shades for the wearable Sonos roam?
In terms of interface, the Move 2 could ultimately take its cues from the newer interface designs of the Sonos Era range, which have neater capacitive touch controls for playback, a ‘trough’ for the volume slider, and buttons to turn voice control on or off. to change gear . We certainly hope (and expect) that similar ergonomic tweaks are considered with the Move 2.
Sonos Move 2: features
The first Sonos Move presented itself well when it came to a host of features and functions: as a wireless Sonos speaker and supported by the S2 platform and app, it had all the features you’d expect from the company. Wi-fi, voice control (Alexa and Google Assistant), and AirPlay streaming were all on board, as was Bluetooth for the first time. The app also gives you direct access to more than 30 music streaming services and internet radio providers. We expect all of these features to return in the sequel.
The Move provided a battery life of 10 hours per charge. Any increase in battery life would work in Sonos’ favor in the sequel, and would seem reasonable considering the device’s pretty massive size.
One of the things we mentioned as a major drawback of the original model was the lack of aptX Bluetooth support. It wasn’t a complete deal breaker at the time, but aptX has become so important in the quest for greater reliability over Bluetooth, so don’t be surprised if this is one area where the Move 2 improves on its predecessor.
We’re also expecting features like Auto Trueplay, Sonos’ automatic sound calibration system for its portable speakers, which is making a comeback for both iOS and Android users. We imagine it won’t have all the bells and whistles delivered by the more high-end Era range, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Move 2 follows the new range of speakers in offering features like Wi-Fi 6 support, Sonos voice control, or even a wired connection via a USB-C line-in.
Sonos Move 2: sound quality
This really should be where Sonos has all bases covered. The original Move impressed us with its open, full sound both indoors and in the back yard. Whatever we threw at it, the Move seemed to have it covered with a nicely even tone.
That said, we didn’t really find the sound quality of the Move class-leading, with the original HomePod offering more drive, momentum and coherence to songs. Given the competition at this end of the market, Sonos should really be pushing to be best-in-class with the future Move 2.
Will Sonos update the drivers and resize the device? Any of these changes would result in a difference in sound quality. If Sonos decides to opt for something more compact for the design, we’d like to see if it could still exude the elaborate “garden party levels” of volume that impressed us in the original model.
Whether it supports aptX Bluetooth or even offers 24-bit audio file support over Wi-Fi is what could give it an edge over similarly priced rivals, though. The promise of CD-quality audio over a Bluetooth connection is appealing, and with so many competitors looking to use the same technology in their products, we wouldn’t be surprised if Sonos jumped firmly on the bandwagon by the time the Move 2 rolls around . .
MORE:
Check out our original Sonos Move review
Apple HomePod vs HomePod 2: what is better?
What exactly is aptX HD?