Sonos - Move 2

So I’m using a hacked symfonisk with an amp and outdoor speakers- it’s an amazing setup, but I’ve been missing bass. I actually didn’t want loud overpowering bass and I really only wanted to be able to hear it in a certain space so as not to bug my neighbors. Solution has been to add a move 2 to the setup. Very happy with it

No. It’s actually not. The company leadership made a totally idiotic decision over the past year and a half to prematurely release a new app for all users based entirely on their misguided effort to prioritize a pair of headphones they were releasing. That new app removed many features and introduced many problems for long time users. However, the Sonos move and Move 2 are excellent products. Sonos’ hardware has always been top notch and reliable. And still is. The app has gotten a lot better but the truth is, it never really had issues for the Sonos Move products and if you’re using the speakers as Airplay speakers you don’t need to use the Sonos app at all. The Sonos move products are extremely reliable airplay speakers. But you are welcome to spout off all you want.

Move2’s are amazing. Have a pair (and a pair of Roams). Highly recommend. Great sound, battery, bass, well built. You will love it. Strongly recommend a pair if you can manage

This...the Move 2 is a really good portable speaker and can also be used as Bluetooth as well without having to touch the Sonos app. Don't listen to the other person bashing the app. Sure, it had a long rough spell but it's been very stable for a while now. I have more than 2 dozen speakers around the house. Works great!

Generally all of the neutral speakers are well known and documented in the [over 1000 upvotes pinned post at the top of this sub](https://www.reddit.com/r/WirelessSpeakers/comments/16zs2ol/ranking_all_battery_powered_wireless_speakers/) which includes descriptions and sound samples of all of the speakers you mentioned. You'd generally be best off with an Earfun Uboom X, or if contemporary looks matter a lot to you and you're willing to give up waterproofing and battery life then the Harmon Kardon Go+ Play 3. If those are too big, the Soundcore Boom 2 with Oluv's EQ will be the most neutral in the size below. The Diamondboxx and Devialet speakers generally aren't worth your time and are far from neutral. The Move 2 is reasonable but warm tuned, but overly expensive for what it does

I need a portable smart (Wi-Fi) speaker to use while entertaining at my pool and would love your recommendations.  So far, I’ve identified Bose Portable Smart Speaker, Brane X, Sonos Roam 2, and Sonos Move 2 as contenders.  Which of these would be the best choice for my requirements?  Any other waterproof, Wi-Fi, smart speakers I should consider? My requirements for the speaker are: * Waterproof to be near pool (small pool parties) and withstand splashes from people doing “cannonball” jumps into the pool.  (I will store it indoors when not in use.) * Wi-Fi connectivity so that I can connect it to my home/yard WiFi and have it play music without connecting it to a phone * Voice-controlled so I can tell it to play a certain Spotify or Pandora playlist, skip to next song, increase volume, etc.  (Alexa compatible?  Google Assistant?) * Can run on battery for at least 7 hours * Portable so I can move it around the yard and house.  * Easy set-up * Dependable app (iOS iPhone / iPad) and device -- not buggy * I’m not picky about sound quality or max volume; the requirements listed above are more important to me than the sound quality, bass, etc. So far, these are the contenders I’ve heard about: |**Product**|**Waterproof Rating**|**Battery Life (Per Charge)**|**Wi-Fi & Voice Tech**| Bose Portable Smart Speaker   ($350 USD) IPX4 water rating Up to 12 hours battery Wi-Fi, Built-In Alexa, Google Assistant, Chromecast, AirPlay 2, play Spotify, Pandora Sonos Roam 2 ($180 USD) IP67 water rating Up to 10 hours battery Wi-Fi, Built-In Alexa, Sonos Voice Control? Sonos Move 2 ($450 USD) IP56 water rating Up to 24 hours battery Wi-Fi, Built-In Alexa, Sonos Voice Control? Brane X ($450 USD) IP57 water rating Up to 12 hours battery Wi-Fi, Built-In Alexa, play Spotify Connect, Pandora Update: TL;DR … Going with the Sonos Move 2 + Roam 2. Returning the Brane X. See comment below for more details.

I tested both side by side. Sonos move 2 and Bose Soundlink Max both have just as deep of the bass. But the Sonos does have a bass that hits cleaner while the Bose has the “muddy” kind of bass but not in a bad way. Either way, both have impressive and deep bass. I still however like the cleaner bass of the Sonos. Surprisingly the Bose has a wider soundstage even though the Sonos has 2 tweeters which is a huge disappointment for me on the Sonos. The Bose only has 1 tweeter but the music still felt more stereo and wide than the Sonos. Regarding portability, Bose is way more portable and with the handle, makes it a pleasure to carry anywhere. So Sonos for cleaner bass and apple airplay(though I didn’t care about it) and Bose for wider soundstage, 3.5 audio jack and far better portability.

Sonos move 2. Long battery life and loud.

I realize that. Was more so related to the fact that it'll only get 5% better starting from a Move 2.

Same. Move 2 is an excellent product. Great stereo pair anywhere.

Move2’s are amazing. Have a pair (and a pair of Roams). Highly recommend. Great sound, battery, bass, well built. You will love it. Strongly recommend a pair if you can manage

I have two Move 2s set up as a stereo pair, and I find them to be excellent. Absolutely no complaints. Also have a couple of original Move set up the same way and the Move 2s are a step up.

get a used sonos move 2

You can’t pair them using Bluetooth because they are not using the crappy Qualcomm Bluetooth chipset to do the stereo pairing, there is a full computer inside each speaker that runs an embedded Linux based operating system which is responsible for the synchronised playback. It does that over ethernet at high resolution lossless bitrates, not massively compressed Bluetooth. You need a network of some kind, it does not need internet access as you can use airplay off your phone for off-grid playback. You just need a portable wifi of some kind that supports wifi 5/6 and has a decent radio in it so there is good coverage and performance. If you set up your portable network to have the same wifi name and password as your one at home, the speakers roam onto it fairly seamlessly - sometimes you need to go to the add new system and then it picks it up. The point is, the sound quality you get doing high resolution playback over a network vs Bluetooth is not worth debating at all, that is what you paid $450 for :-)

Not cheaper, twice the price, but 3 times the enjoyment ;) (disclaimer: had a friend who worked for Sonos, so got employee discount - half off)

Like others have mentioned if you’re planning on moving it around go with the Move 2. For the money it’s my favorite Sonos speaker. I also have the Era 300 setup in my office and love that one too, but sounds like you’re better suited for a portable option.

Sonos Move 2 is BIFL quality. It lacks speakerphone function.

2 x Move 2 in stereo pair will sound better than 2 x Earfun Uboom X in stereo pair. The Sonos cost more because they don’t rely on another device to play the music. They are the device. 

Move 2 is probably the highest quality speaker in this price range. Brane X might surpass it though. And if you want to save some money, the UBoom X with a decent EQ is a nice and loud budget option.

That’s fair and yeah I do think it’s probably something that should MSRP around the $299 range. So the price was a legitimate gripe, but sound quality is still great compared to what they compared it to in the article (Anker, JBL, etc).  But I agree the whole home audio (and taking it outside now with the move) is the allure.

I’m the OP and wanted to give an update. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and recommendations, especially SVLibertine. I tested the Sonos Roam 2, the Brane X, and the Sonos Move 2. I eliminated the Bose Smart Speaker because I was worried about it having a lower level of water resistance and do not think it could withstand the degree of splashing my speaker will endure poolside. (I have a very aggressive water slide which is a crowd pleaser that creates huge splashes) The Sonos Roam 2 was fairly easy to set up. Once i got my Alexa account signed in and working with the Sonos app, I was able to use voice commands such as “Alexa, play Poolside Lounge Playlist on Spotify”, and it responded well to my voice and played the correct music. Unfortunately, I felt that the sound was pretty weak from the Roam 2. I say that as someone who really isn’t picky about sound. I am definitely not an audiophile. Yet I thought the sound was weak and I am not sure who the target market is for this device. I really wanted to LOVE the Brane X. But I didn’t. Setup was a bit difficult. Walking through the app, it struggled to connect the speaker to my wi-fi. After the 5th try, it finally worked. I don’t know why it failed on the first 4 attempts yet worked on the 5th. The most disappointing discovery was that the Brane X does not seem to support voice commands to control Spotify via Alexa. When I vocally commanded Alexa to “ play jazz on Spotify” or play anything on Spotify, it responded with “I’m sorry. This device does not support that feature.” In this regard, I think that Brane’s marketing messages are deceptive. The words in their website lead me to believe that I could voice-control Alexa to perform functions on Spotify, but apparently it does not do that. I called Brane Audio’s tech support to ask about it. I left a voice mail and have not heard back 3 days later. Also, the Brane X constantly has a very faint noise … it sounds like a very old car’s engine sputtering. The Brane X did indeed sound nice and loud when playing ACDC’s Thunderstruck. But when it was idle not playing music, it sounded faintly like an old jalopy car. And it didn’t support voice control of Spotify, so did not meet my requirements. I then tried the Sonos Move 2. It checks all my requirements but I am a little worried about how it’s water resistance can hold up against big pool splashes. Sounds great. The voice control to play certain Spotify playlists works well, voice control to turn volume up/down, etc works well after I connected Alexa into the Sonos app. I am a little worried about it surviving big water splashes. However, it is really easy to pair the Move 2 (great sound) with the Roam 2 (very weak sound but good waterproofing). So my solution is that I will put the Roam 2 at the edge of my pool (big splash zone), and I will put the Move 2 near my BBQ (not in splash zone but also where party goers are located), and the music plays through both speakers seamlessly for a cohesive party vibe. So I am keeping the Sonos Move 2 and Sonos Roam 2, and will be returning the Brane X.

Brane X or Sonos Move 2. I have the Move 2 and i can say after testing many bluetooth speakers that it sounds very very good in all frequencies.

You’re no audiophile if you’re bitching about a $450 speaker. A true audiophile spends 10x that much and gets maybe 5% better sound quality.

Buy the Move 2. You can take it anywhere, and it's bluetooth compatible. I usually have it in my family room, but it goes outside when we're having a BBQ, or I use it bluetooted with my laptop when we're watching a movie in the spa pool - it sits behind us, and the movie is projected on to a sheet. Surround sound luxury!! We've even used it as a speaker on a body corp meeting on a teams call. It was better sound than the conference centres built in speaker. Very versatile. I DO wish you could bluetooth daisy chain to roams when offline. That would make it perfect

We seem to have the same problem with too much Sonos gear. I’ll see if I can talk you out of the Move 2 anyway! I have 2 Arc Ultras, an Arc, a Beam 2 and every current/recent-model Sonos smart speaker, subwoofer and portable. My absolute favorite of all this gear is the Move 2. I have two and they live in my office in stereo pair, but do double duty in my woodworking shop and travel with us to Air B&Bs. I never tire of listening to them. I had a Beam 2 and a Sub Mini that were “spare parts” from another upgrade so I moved them into my office and grouped them with the M2s. That accidentally became my favorite music listening spot. So if a speaker with a little too much versatility is a setback, M2s probably aren’t for you. I’ve compared M2s head-to-head with era 100s, era 300s, and Fives. They held their own beautifully! I personally think they sound better than the 100s but not quite as good as Fives. They are sort of a robust sounding era 100 with better bass (and a battery). As far as the M2 comparison with Era 300s, the latter have their own thing going on sound wise and I have a love/hate relationship with them depending on how they are configured. If I had to choose between 300s and M2s it would definitely be the M2s. So if you’re looking for something with mediocre soundstage performance there are better choices. Seriously, there are two “annoyances” to Move 2s that keep me from having even more of them in place of 300s and possibly 100s: 1.) Sonos has not enabled them to work as surrounds. It’s such an obvious “pro” that the engineers surely had to think it too. I would almost bet it’s already engineered into them but Sonos hasn’t rolled it out because of overlapping marketing/sales with their smart speaker product line. 2.) You can’t add a subwoofer to stereo paired M2s. If you still want the M2, I tried to talk you out of it. Good luck!

If you’re limited to one speaker to move from room to room, consider the Sonos Move 2. It has both BT to take on the road and WiFi for home use and moving from room to room. You can move from room to room with your phone without disconnecting.

I love my Sonos Move 2 so much

I have a Bose Revolve+ - it's the best I could find in its size. But my Sonos Move 2 has better sound quality.

This! I recently got the [Move 2](https://tr.ee/mmSc4o) on sale for $350. I was very surprised by its sound. And its portable!

Can’t respond on the Marshall but loving my Move 2 so far. I don’t turn up the volume that loud so not sure about bass loss. Overall sound quality is excellent

If it’s ‘decent,’ then I’d love to hear what you consider a top-tier portable speaker under $500. Genuinely. Because in every head-to-head comparison — from reviewers to audiophile forums — the Move 2 outclasses its competition in clarity, stereo image, battery, and build quality. My issue isn’t that someone has critiques. It’s that the critiques chosen are absurdly weak: no Google Assistant (a deprecated platform), not lightweight (because it’s tuned for performance, not portability), not enough accessories (what?), and ‘sound is decent’… These aren’t meaningful knocks. They read like filler complaints in search of a hot take. If you’re going to write a teardown, at least challenge the parts that actually matter. Otherwise, yeah — it looks like someone’s stretching just to justify a contrarian stance

I have KEF Q150 with a 150 euro amp. They sound drastically better than a Sonos Move 2. They're different products but for the same price you have way better sound, it's not even close. - KEF set-up cost me 450 euro - Sonos was 320 euro but they're usually sold for 450 euro around here

Personally I’ve shifted on outdoor sound. I’m finding it less about “filling the room” like we would indoors, and instead think that smaller and portable is better. Less noise pollution for your neighborhood. Keeps costs down and lets you enjoy any spot in the yard with good sound. Two Move2s is great, give it a few months.

Get a Move 2.

Move 2 I reckon? If so.... do it. One of my favorite speakers!

Yup. I just bought 2 Move2s.. well worth it, for the stereo pairing alone. Just do it. I already have the Move1, and was looking to buy another to pair..but was convinced to get the Move2.. i can directly compare.. and I dont regret getting 2 Move2s! I keep my pair of M2 on wifi, and my single M1 on blutooth and take it around pairing to my phone, my computer my bedroom Tv and camping

If you want something that you can take out to the balcony and use with voice commands (via Sonos Voice Control or Alexa) without your phone, look at the Sonos Move 2. You can also use it with Siri, but in that case the commands go through your phone and the audio is Airplayed via your phone, vs direct control and streaming using Sonos Voice Control or Alexa.

Nah, I’m good with my Sonos. I’m not an audiophile, and they’re close enough for my old ears.

> Yep. Not price-to-performance. Not Bluetooth codec limitations. But: > “It’s missing Google Assistant” > “It’s not lightweight” > “There aren’t enough accessories” I promise you 99% of users care way more about the physical size, accessories, and access to their smart home assistant of choice than the Bluetooth codec. I love my Move 2. I think it’s outstanding. But you seem way too bent out of shape about a review you disagree with. Did the author kick your puppy or something? If you love your Move 2 too, this review doesn’t stop you from doing that. So why does it get you so worked up?

B&O Beolit 20. Got it for $499 during BF sale. Currently comparing to Sonos Move 2 ($349) and Bose Soundlink Max ($299). Beolit is the winner overall, followed by Sonos and then Bose. All three are big upgrades from my current Bose Revolve+ and JBL Flip (dont remember the model number of flip). I think Beolit and Sonos are better than Marshall Kilburn 3 as well based on my limited testing

Mine is 11 years old. Still sounds good, and rugged. No idea how long the battery lasts though. Maybe 4 hours? Cost $300 back then. Just got a Sonos Move 2. Sounds much better, connects via WiFi, battery rated for 24 hours, and can charge a phone. Got it on sale for $330.