Sonos announces Move 2 speaker with stereo sound and 24-hour battery life

The company announced this morning that the Sonos Move 2 will be released on September 20 for $449. I've already reported in detail on the new product, which is Sonos' third portable speaker after the original Move and the much smaller Roam. The second-generation Move has several worthwhile improvements: it will output stereo audio (the original was only capable of mono), offer more than double the battery life of its predecessor, and the speaker has redesigned controls that recently Have come in. The controls correspond to Epoch 300 and Epoch 100.

The exterior design is similar to the original Move. It's still a heavy "portable" speaker, but at least it still has a built-in handle for carrying it around (and out of) your home. Inside the Move 2 there are two tweeters – this is where the stereo separation comes from – and a single woofer, with the latter focused on "mid-range vocal frequencies and deep bass". Battery life has increased from 10 hours to an advertised 24 hours of continuous playback, so the Move 2's endurance is more than double that of the previous model.

Sonos has made the Move 2 even more versatile: You can now play something on the speaker over Bluetooth and sync that audio with your other speakers at home; This is something that was disappointingly not capable of natively. And like the Era lineup, the Move 2 supports line-in as long as you buy Sonos' USB-C dongle, which acts as an analog-to-digital converter. The rear USB-C port can also be used to charge other devices like your smartphone using the Move 2's 44Wh battery.

The Move 2 will come in Sonos' standard black or white, and as I reported last month, the company is also introducing a new olive green color option. The capacitive touch controls match those of the Era speakers, with Sonos adding dedicated track controls and a separate volume slider bar. Like its predecessor, the new Move is rated IP56 for dust and water resistance, and Sonos says it's built to withstand everyday drops.

Another feature carried over from the original Move is automatic TruePlay, whereby the speaker uses its built-in microphone to optimize sound output based on your unique environment. Those mics can also be used for hands-free voice control with Amazon Alexa or Sonos Voice Control; I'm hoping that JBL's recent speakers, which run Alexa and Google Assistant simultaneously, might mean that Google's digital assistant might return to Sonos products - but it will at least be on the Move 2. . Short launch time. not there. When asked about Google Assistant, Sonos spokesperson Erin Pategas said the company had nothing to share.

There are some minor changes too: the Move 2's charging base has become smaller and now has a detachable power adapter. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are on board, and Sonos says the new speaker "reduces idle energy consumption by more than 40 percent compared to its predecessor."

Like last time, the company will sell a replacement battery that can be replaced when the original gets to the point where it can't keep your music playing for as long as you'd like. I like this commitment to device longevity – especially as the non-replaceable Sonos Roam battery has proven to be a problem for some owners over time.

Stay tuned for my full review of the Sonos Move 2 in the near future. I think the stereo upgrade would be noticeable, though not game-changing since we're still looking at single-unit speakers. But extended battery life and the ability to send Bluetooth audio to your other Sonos speakers are upgrades that may prove more valuable in the end. The original has become my favorite Sonos product to date, so I'm curious to see how the sequel will be.