Close Menu
stereoguide.com
  • Home
  • Bluetooth Speakers
    • Home/Indoor
    • Mobile/Outdoor
    • Stereo Speaker Sets
    • Bluetooth Speaker Ranking
  • Headphones
    • In-Ears
    • On-Ear/Over-Ear
    • Noise-Cancelling
    • True Wireless
    • Gaming Headsets
    • Mobile headphone DACs
    • Home headphone amplifiers
    • Mobile digital audio players
    • Headphones Ranking
  • Hi-Fi
    • WIFI Onebox
    • WIFI Stereo
    • Soundbars
    • Subwoofers
    • Turntables
    • Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Car-Hi-Fi
    • Car Hi-Fi reviews
    • Car-Hi-Fi reports
    • Car Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Guides
    • News
    • Buying Guides
    • Technology
    • Acoustics
    • Streaming
  • About us
    • Our approach
    • About us
  • English
    • German
Facebook Instagram RSS YouTube TikTok
YouTube Facebook Instagram TikTok LinkedIn
stereoguide.com
  • Home
  • Bluetooth Speakers
    • Home/Indoor
    • Mobile/Outdoor
    • Stereo Speaker Sets
    • Bluetooth Speaker Ranking
  • Headphones
    • In-Ears
    • On-Ear/Over-Ear
    • Noise-Cancelling
    • True Wireless
    • Gaming Headsets
    • Mobile headphone DACs
    • Home headphone amplifiers
    • Mobile digital audio players
    • Headphones Ranking
  • Hi-Fi
    • WIFI Onebox
    • WIFI Stereo
    • Soundbars
    • Subwoofers
    • Turntables
    • Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Car-Hi-Fi
    • Car Hi-Fi reviews
    • Car-Hi-Fi reports
    • Car Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Guides
    • News
    • Buying Guides
    • Technology
    • Acoustics
    • Streaming
  • About us
    • Our approach
    • About us
  • English
    • German
stereoguide.com
Home » Bluetooth Speakers » Home/Indoor » Sonos Move review
Home/Indoor WIFI Onebox

Sonos Move review

Enter the age of hybrid - a speaker for home and garden!
Stefan SchickedanzStefan Schickedanz13. February 2023
Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Email
Reviewed by STEREO GUIDE: Sonos Move outdoor
With the Move, Sonos made its first multi-room speaker suitable for outdoor use. (Photo: Stefan Schickedanz)

STEREO GUIDE verdict

83%
83%

+ natural to warm, pleasing sound
+ powerful, rich bass
+ ultimately flexible and versatile
- Ambience and imaging require 2 units
- somewhat heavy for outdoor use

  • Sound: Tonal balance / transparency
    7
  • Tone: Bass / Dynamics
    7.8
  • Eas of use / Connectivity
    9.7
  • Price/Performance
    8.5

It is just slightly bigger and heavier than the best-selling Sonos One, has similar specs, and yet is almost twice as expensive. So what speaks for the Sonos Move?

A lot, as it is a hybrid between multiroom zone speaker in your home and a battery-powered mobile bluetooth speaker. It might really fill a gap in the market for all those who want to use one and the same speaker sometimes in their home network with the Sonos app, sometimes on the beach or in the garden. And as it is easily replacing two speakers at once, it also offers adequate added value and is in best price company in its class with the similarly designed Bose Portable Smart Speaker.

At 3 kilograms, the Move is slightly exceeding the limits of what one might be wanting to carrying around in a handbag. It offers either Bluetooth connection as well as home Wi-Fi network integration with full multiroom functionality. And it remains self-sufficient for a correspondingly long period of time thanks to its battery offering a reasonable 11 hours of runtime. Outdoor operation is absolutely possible. Sonos specifies water and dust protection as meeting ingress protection class IP56. In addition, the manufacturer promises that the Move is also shock-resistant. As a precaution, we refrained from doing some field testing so you have to believe them or not.

Plenty of features and applications

At 14 x 24 centimetres, it’s still subtle enough for placing it into a luxurious living room, and its compact depth of 12.5 cm does not require too much space on a shelf either. Thanks to a rubber base it is standing pretty solidly.

Sonos does not even try to squeeze a full stereo arrangement into this narrow encolure. The Move, like its little brother Roam, is a monaural concept offering a 2way crossover. So we expect to find a bass-midrange driver plus a tweeter dome inside. The latter being equipped with some kind of horn-like waveguide, which should be of particular advantage when being placed in sparsely furnished and correspondingly reverberant rooms.

It might even be the best-in-class for such environment as the excellent acoustic (self-)calibration called Trueplay is built in. In this case, you don’t even need an Apple smartphone (as it is mandatory for most Sonos products). The Move offers an automatic self-calibration taking advantage of its built-in mic. It is kind of permanently monitoring and comparing input and acoustic output signals as soon as the speaker notices a change in position. Fidgeting with the smartphone in the surrounding air is no longer necessary. This gives it an advantage over other Sonos speakers for Android users. They could not use Trueplay on their smart devices.

In normal WiFi operation, the Move is part of a home multi-room environment together with other Sonos components. However, it can also be put into standalone Bluetooth mode with just pressing a button on the back. In this case connection to the Sonos S2 app is abandoned automatically. A battery runtime of 11 hours should be more than enough for a barbecue or a garden party.

No analogue inputs on the Sonos Move

You won’t find an analogue or classic wired digital input. Google Chromecast is also not included, but Airplay 2 is. And so is roon! As usual with Sonos, the Move only accepts data streams up to a resolution of PCM 48/24. Connected to your local network, the most important streaming services from Spotify to Amazon to Apple Music are all available.

Back of the Sonos Move in the test
The standby button is not the only thing on the back of the Sonos Move. There is also a button to switch to outdoor operation with Bluetooth. (Photo: Stefan Schickedanz)
Test: Sonos Move from above
On the top is the touch control panel as well as the far-field microphone array for voice commands to the integrated assistants Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. (Photo: Stefan Schickedanz)

However, the integrated mic array in the hexagon on the top is not just serving self-calibration purposes. It also enables voice assistant control. Those who use Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa can command it directly.

Setup and integration of a Sonos Move

The Sonos system including the S2 app is sophisticated and, as always, quite easy to connect to your local WiFi. This is solely possible wirelessly via a temporary Bluetooth connection; there is no Ethernet connection on the Move.

Sonos Move sound quality

The Move showed managed to gain considerable advantage of its weight and volume in the listening test: we found its bass to be juicy to fatm extremely confident and seemed to only loose some dynamic power at significantly unhealthy SPL.

Voices and acoustic instruments sounded a bit on the rather warm side offering subtle timbres, but without lacking any transparency or fine detail. With recordings of classical music or jazz offering fat bass, this could be too much of a good thing, especially in smaller rooms, despite the acoustic calibration. In this case, it is recommended to deactivate the loudness mode that is activated by default. However, this might result in loosing some refinement and treble brilliance. The loudness can otherwise remain activated. We found the Move to play pretty confidently offering a somewhat dominant foundation, never leading to any bloated bass on the other hand but being really fun to listen to even at lower levels.

In rooms, the sound image focused quite noticeably on the point where the Move was located, which in turn resulted in a good clarity and relaxed dynamics at larger listening distances.

Alternatives to the Sonos Move

Those who already use the Sonos system at home because of the exemplary app might anyways stay with Sonos and care little about alternatives. They are also practically non-existent if you are looking for a battery-powered WiFi zone speaker plus an additional Bluetooth connectivity for mobile use. Few might count the Bose Portable smart speaker as an alternative but in terms of sound quality it is not, sounding rather diffuse. Those who only value the flexibility, not the richness of sound nor higher SPLs, might consider the ultra-compact Sonos Roam an alternative.

Specifications Sonos Move

  • Retail price: approx. 400 dollars/pounds/euros
  • Dimensions (W x H x D): 14 x 24 x 12.5 cm
  • Weight: 3 kg
  • Features: 2-way, Stereo Pairing, Bluetooth, WiFi, Airplay 2, Roon, Sonos 2 app compatible, standalone Trueplay room calibration, Alexa and Google Assistant voice control .
  • More at www.sonos.com
Advertising
Mountson Premium Wall Mount for Sonos Move - Black-Pair
Mountson Premium Wall Mount for Sonos Move - Black-Pair
Mountson Premium Wall Mount for Sonos Move - Black-Pair
Auf Lager
as of 22. June 2025 07:39
Amazon.com
Monzlteck Wall Mount for SONOS Move
Monzlteck Wall Mount for SONOS Move
Monzlteck Wall Mount for SONOS Move
23,99 €
Auf Lager
as of 22. June 2025 07:39
Amazon.com
Sonos Move - Battery-Powered Smart Speaker, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Alexa Built-in - Black​​​​​​​
Sonos Move - Battery-Powered Smart Speaker, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Alexa Built-in - Black​​​​​​​
Sonos Move - Battery-Powered Smart Speaker, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Alexa Built-in - Black​​​​​​​
453,88 €
Auf Lager
as of 22. June 2025 07:39
Amazon.com
Sonos Move - Battery-powered Smart Speaker, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Alexa built-in - Black​​​​​​​ (Renewed)
Sonos Move - Battery-powered Smart Speaker, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Alexa built-in - Black​​​​​​​ (Renewed)
Sonos Move - Battery-powered Smart Speaker, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Alexa built-in - Black​​​​​​​ (Renewed)
399,00 €
Auf Lager
as of 22. June 2025 07:39
Amazon.com
For links on this page, STEREO GUIDE may receive a commission from the merchant. This applies, for example, to those marked with *.
  • Sonos Roam review
  • Sonos Move 2 review
  • Sonos Five review
  • Marshall Acton 3 review
  • Sonos Sub Mini review
  • Sonos S1 vs S2 App
Amazon Alexa App Control Battery mode Black Bluetooth Google Assistant Microphone Sonos Sonos Stereo Pairing Stereo-Pairing Weiß White Wi-Fi
Stefan Schickedanz, STEREO GUIDE
Stefan Schickedanz
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)
  • LinkedIn

The founder and editor in chief of STEREO GUIDE has been testing for over three decades as a hi-fi expert for print and online magazines such as AUDIO, stereoplay, LowBeats or FAZ Kaufkompass. In addition to cultivated music playback, he likes fast cars - including classic cars - with rich sound. He also reports regularly on this topic, not least on this platform.

Related Posts

Panasonic SC-TMAX45 review: Party only at the socket

House music: The party speaker that needs a power socket

Panasonic SC-TMAX45 review: Party only at the socket

Panasonic SC-BMAX10: Amazing performance

Better bass is hardly possible in this class

Panasonic SC-BMAX10: Amazing performance

Panasonic SC-BMAX5 review: Inexpensive but good party speaker

Amazing performance in the class up to 300 euros

Panasonic SC-BMAX5 review: Inexpensive but good party speaker

Marshall launches Kilburn III: Bluetooth speaker gets an update

50 hours of battery life and 360° sound

Marshall launches Kilburn III: Bluetooth speaker gets an update

Advertisement
Werbebanner Audio Reference Velodyne
Most viewed Articles

Tribit StormBox 2 review: Legacy obliges

That's why the new generation is even better in all key respects

Tribit StormBox 2 review: Legacy obliges

In the review, the Tribit StormBox 2 delivered a powerful performance with comparatively rich bass and clear, natural voice reproduction.

Edifier M60 review: desktop speaker with Bluetooth

Small wonder: tiny sound sensation for the desk

Edifier M60 review: desktop speaker with Bluetooth

Despite their tiny size, the Edifier M60s offer a great sound. However, one small flaw prevents them from being used as a hi-fi system.

Klipsch The One Plus review

Retro speaker with PC connection

Klipsch The One Plus review

The Klipsch The One Plus is aimed at the small, select circle of retro Bluetooth speakers. It is technically at the forefront with a USB socket for PCs.

Harman Kardon Luna review

Counterpart to the JBL Flip 6 in fine twine

Harman Kardon Luna review

The Harman Kardon Luna is a successful combination of stylish design and outstanding sound quality. It is a JBL Flip in elegant.

Edifier MR3 studio monitors review

What can you expect from a stereo set in the 150 euro class?

Edifier MR3 studio monitors review

The Edifier MR3 is aimed at hobby musicians and offers real stereo sound for a small budget. And it comes with many analog inputs.

Qobuz Playlists by STEREO GUIDE
Latest Articles

Panasonic SC-TMAX45 review: Party only at the socket

House music: The party speaker that needs a power socket

Panasonic SC-TMAX45 review: Party only at the socket

Panasonic SC-BMAX10: Amazing performance

Better bass is hardly possible in this class

Panasonic SC-BMAX10: Amazing performance

Panasonic SC-BMAX5 review: Inexpensive but good party speaker

Amazing performance in the class up to 300 euros

Panasonic SC-BMAX5 review: Inexpensive but good party speaker

Sonos Ace: What the software update brings

Practical test of the new functions

Sonos Ace: What the software update brings

Teufel ROCKSTER NEO presented: Mobile Bluetooth speaker achieves 130 dB

Party until the police arrive

Teufel ROCKSTER NEO presented: Mobile Bluetooth speaker achieves 130 dB

STEREO GUIDE – The Hi-Fi Magazine
STEREO GUIDE – The Hi-Fi Magazine

Here on STEREO GUIDE – the online hi-fi-magazine – you will find profound and independent coverage on bluetooth speakers, headphones, home-hifi gear and in-car entertainment reviewed by experienced journalists. Our authors have one thing in common: expertise and a lot of listening experience both in terms of live concerts and state-of-the-art audio systems.

  • Home
  • Data protection
  • Imprint
© 2025 Stereo Guide

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Manage cookie consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and service.
Functional Always active
Technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the lawful purpose of enabling the use of a particular service expressly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a message over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access used solely for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, the voluntary consent of your Internet service provider, or additional records from third parties, the information stored or accessed for this purpose alone generally cannot be used to identify you.
Marketing
Technical storage or access is necessary to create user profiles, to send advertisements, or to track the user on a website or across multiple websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Settings
{title} {title} {title}