Sonos Move Speaker Review
Yes, you can now listen to a Sonos speaker not just inside your home, but outside it too. The Sonos Move is the company's first portable speaker that promises the full experience of supreme quality, portability and seamless compatibility that we've come to expect from the brand, but this time from anywhere.
Design
There's an irony in the fact that the Sonos Move is actually larger than their flagship Sonos One speaker. It's a sleek and attractive design which includes a built-in handle that attempts to make it simple to take with you wherever you go, but is really only good for moving short distances due to the speaker's full-bodied 3kg presence. However, if venturing further afield, it is reassuringly shielded by a weather-resistant IP56 rated casing that helps to keep the speaker protected from rain, dust and other elements. But it's not really a portable speaker in the traditional sense, and Sonos sort of admits this in the way the product is engineered with a dock that elegantly recharges and powers the Move without any need for a cable to be inserted into the speaker. It acts and feels like a home speaker that just so happens to have a battery and carry handle. In our many months of usage, we've had little inclination to transport it further than a room or two due to its size. Nevertheless, the inbuilt battery does mean we have more freedom in where we can place the speaker, as it's no longer reliant on a nearby plug socket.
On the back is a power and Bluetooth toggle button. Directly on top rest touch-sensitive buttons, all of which recognise finger inputs with no issue, and we are rather fond of the swipe control style for changing tracks.
Services & Connectivity
The Sonos Move is compatible with a wide range of devices and services; Apple Music, Spotify, and most other major music streaming services. It can also act as a smart speaker with a slightly quirky Sonos version built in by default, but you can also integrate Alexa and Google Assistant. We have it set up with Alexa, and whilst it has no issue hearing us and gives a full Alexa experience, whereby we can easily control the speaker using our voice to change the volume, skip tracks or ask a question, it doesn’t deal with the specialist third party Alexa skills very well, and for whatever reason has been unable to integrate the BBC Sounds service, for instance, which, judging from a cursory Google search, appears to be a widespread problem with the Sonos Move + Alexa integration.
Pleasingly Sonos have improved their software since we last reviewed a speaker from them. The newest iOS & Mac App is a pleasure to use, with a much more visually appealing UI and is a snappier experience too. What's more, the AirPlay 2 integration makes its usability across a network with Apple devices an absolute breeze when streaming and controlling audio playback. You also have Bluetooth connectivity when outside the home through a simple press of a button. Upon setup you're encouraged to enable Truetone, a technology that optimises, via the inbuilt microphones, the sound quality based on the room's unique characteristics, such as the size, shape and furnishings. It's no gimmick and is something we've been using for years with our other Sonos speakers. It always makes a noticeable difference, which is the case here as well, but is admittedly trickier due to the encouragement of the Move to be moved…
Battery Life
10 hours is the Sonos claim, and with volume levels at around 30-40%, is likely obtainable. But we've drained this speaker dozens of times and can reveal that, with our normal usage of listening to podcasts and music, Alexa always enabled and volume levels at nearer to 60% most of the time, we squeeze 6-7hrs out of the battery.
Audio Performance
The Sonos Move delivers rich, clear sound that fills rooms and even open outdoor spaces with casual effort from its three-channel architecture and two Class-D digital amplifiers. Compared to other portable speakers, the larger Sonos Move stands out, even from our recent portable favourites such as the House of Marley Get Together, due to its ability to output raucous volume and create a widish soundstage, allowing you to hear each instrument and vocal element clearly and distinctly. The Move's audio performance is particularly impressive when it comes to vocals, which sound crisp and clear, with excellent separation and depth. It has been our go-to podcast listener for the last few months, and the volume can be turned down to the 10-20% range with full dynamism remaining for background material when working. This focus on control in the internal driver and processing arrangement is also especially evident when listening to musical tracks like “Worth It" by RAYE, where the vocal elements are highlighted, providing an immersive and emotionally charged listening experience even though there’s no true stereo. So, when the Move met our other two Sonos speakers and we used the Sonos app to group them, we could achieve a stereo output, or even a 3-way setup on some occasions, which sounded even better!
The bass response of the Sonos Move is also worth mentioning, as it unwraps the mid-range to be a full affair that then unleashes a sharp high range from this all-enclosed speaker design; something which often makes this harder to pull off. It is powerful and precise, providing a solid foundation for nearly all music, from hip-hop to electronic dance music. Listening to tracks like “Naked Poetry" by SKYLAR, you can hear the bassline pumping, adding a layer of energy to the music. Worth noting is that the Sonos Move has consistent audio quality whether it's using battery or plugged in. However, there are slight differences when using Bluetooth versus Wi-Fi (tested with lossless music). In tests using Apple devices we found that Bluetooth loss in playback is unsurprisingly marginally worse, which is potentially more of a concern for Android users, as the speaker uses the Apple friendly AAC codec instead of the Android Aptx.
Verdict
A slightly strange first portable offering from the company, but it won us over nevertheless. The Move is a full-bodied Sonos speaker, providing intricate details, clear sound, and a surplus of energy to stimulate the ears by itself, but levitated even further with another Sonos companion to play with. It paired with an abundance of easy integration with all our devices and services. Although the Sonos Move is a very good wireless portable Bluetooth soundbox, it is not so practical for outdoor use due to its weight and size which could be restrictive, and, as a result, we have been less inclined to use it in situations where portability is a top priority.
