We were able to try Sonos Move for several days shortly after its presentation at IFA 2019 until today to give a quick judgment and to use it in many of the modes that its versatility allows.
Unboxing and details
Obviously, since it is also an outdoor product, we unboxed directly in the garden by extracting the supplied accessories from the strictly recycled cardboard package: a cloth bag for transport protection, a power cable that fits into the base and is easily removable and the elliptical ring that carries the power cable to the power supply that connects it to the mains and recharges it.
As we have seen in the preview, it is a quick connection system with the particular shape of the base that acts as a guide and brings the connectors of the two sides into contact.
The speaker is heavy but easily transportable, the battery (which can be replaced) is placed in the base made of rubbery feeling material dominated by a front grille and, on the back, by a recess that shelters the 3 operating buttons: ignition , wi-fi / Bluetooth selection and synchronization.
The box 
No mention of Alexa or Google on the back: room for future updates? 
Sonos Move arrives already protected 
The very concise manual refers you to the web pages 
the equipment: you don't need much to recharge and power Move 
The upper part with playback controls and microphones 
The uncovered Move 
The three “physical2” buttons 
from top to bottom: power on, choice of Wi-Fi / Bluetooth and Sync 
The “cradle” for mains power supply 
Above the USB-C socket for alternative power supply and under the electrodes for the feeding cradle 
Move seen from below: stable, non-slip and heavy enough
Under the recess is the USB-C socket which can be used for charging and also stable power supply.
Finally, on the upper part we find the 4 microphones in far fied configuration and the touch keys for forward, pause, play back and volume in addition to the central key that activates or deactivates voice recognition and makes a light with the microphone logo illuminate or not.
Installation is a matter of minutes if you already have a Sonos system set up at home: you start the app and add a new device with its belonging room. If you are starting from scratch, we recommend that you follow our guide made with Sonos One and all the step-by-step steps for authorizing use with Alexa.
We said that Move is a multi-faceted speaker …
It's a Sonos
Those who know the history of the company from its origins to today know very well that its main objective has always been to create multi-room systems with an eye to the general public both for costs and for ease of installation, its Zone Player and Controller have been introduced on the market in 2005 and since then the company, now led by Patrick Spence, has only expanded the range of its products from wired solutions to much more versatile wireless solutions that have long been the reference for every home automation installation.
In recent years, Sonos has focused on a progressive renewal of the range by expanding its offer downwards in terms of size and price (from the Playbar soundbar to the Sonos Beam) but at the same time exploiting all the interaction capabilities with the user and with the connected home. available with the technologies of Apple (Airplay and Airplay 2) and Amazon (Alexa) and in the future also of the Google Assistant.
However, Sonos has long since created its own application that can manage its ecosystem through the Wi-Fi or ethernet connection to a home router and include over 100 music services such as Apple Music, Spotify, Prime Music and high-speed streams. resolution beyond accessing media servers locally.
What is worth noting, and we told you about it in our Sonos One review, is that access to music libraries and streaming services works seamlessly even if you switch from an Android smartphone to an iPhone or iPad. : the tracks start from where you left them off and the devices are real direct controllers with physical volume keys that act on the music level of the speakers or groups that are playing.
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In addition to this, you can buy and configure two speakers with the same physical characteristics both individually and as a stereo pair and also as surround speakers of a system with a front Beam, or traditional speakers amplified by an AMP system.
Sonos Move can become part of this system as a single speaker to fill a room with music or in pairs to increase the fullness of the sound and reproduce the sources in stereo.
Thanks to its battery it can literally follow you for 10 hours from room to room or if you prefer a more traditional installation you can place it inside the elliptical ring that carries two contact elements for mains power.
To be part of a multi-room system Sonos Move uses the Wi-Fi connection that allows it (as we will see) also to function as a smart speaker and Airplay 2 speaker.
As we have seen for Sonos One, the company has developed a “Trueplay” technology that allows it to calibrate the overall sound of the system by analyzing the response in the room through the microphones of an iPhone.
Sounds good even from the semi-open drawer
But here TruePlay takes advantage of an additional feature of Move and the power of the processor on board which uses the 4 “far field recognition” microphones capable of listening to user commands. The microphones here, however, also serve to create an evolved TruePlay that does not need a smartphone and its microphones to work: simply the response in the room to the sound emitted is analyzed and, in 30 seconds, Sonos Move self-calibrates to obtain the best balance. possible with active equalization: the goal is consistency with the typical dry, clean “Sonos sound” without distortion with precise round bass and mid-highs.
and how it works on the frequency response in the environment
To conclude the chapter we cannot forget that the expansion of the Sonos ecosystem also includes the Symfonisk models created in collaboration with Ikea and the ability to connect to the Sonance outdoor fixed series through the AMP amplifier: in short, you can connect a Sonos or compatible element. in every room of the house and with Move you can transfer it directly where you want.
It is a Bluetooth speaker
The feature that distinguishes Move from its Sonos brothers is certainly the presence of Bluetooth connectivity which is obtained simply by pushing the central button located in the recess on the back between the power button and the synchronization button. With a simple press we will turn on the blue light on the top and we can directly synchronize the speaker with our smartphone.
But why add a one-to-one wireless connection to a speaker that makes networked sound its strong point? Obviously to multiply its versatility and allow it to be used anywhere, even in the corner of your garden where Wi-Fi does not reach or on your trip to the countryside or even, as we did last Sunday, as a portable PA system. to accompany the visit / walk in the city of a hundred people or the soundproofing of a room of 60 square meters for a small conference.
The speaker – on the left – speaks through an app on the iPhone 
The speaker connected via bluetooth amplifies the voice for the most distant spectators
The TruePlay function is not active outdoors as well as the microphones in this mode are not active.
Among other things, to make the most of the versatility of the system we also connected it directly to an Apple Watch to play a personalized playlist of songs stored in the memory of the smartwatch.
It is a smart speaker with Amazon Alexa (and soon also with Google Assistant)
When we are connected to Wi-Fi The four microphones on the top of Sonos Move represent excellent voice control system for Amazon Alexa and, soon, also for the Google Assistant. This is the proven far field technology we enjoyed on the Sonos One that is able to accurately hear user commands even when the speaker is playing music at high volumes.
The only contraindication is to have Sonos Move listen to a Juve match because when Alexa plays, the system starts with its activation signal and then responds with a sad “not understood” signal.
Apart from homonymy problems, through Amazon Alexa we can ask for information, let us read the news, ask for the meaning and translation of some words and, above all, ask the speaker directly for the music we like. It should be noted that the streaming services with voice request are those we have registered on Alexa and that these do not conflict with the requests coming from the Sonos application: the last request to play is simply fulfilled whether it comes from a voice command. , that from the Sonos app or an iPhone, iPad or Mac with Airplay 2.
Obviously the on-board microphones can be turned off to prevent Alexa from listening and return Move to its pure network player duties.
It is an Airplay 2 speaker
Like its more recent Sonos brothers Move is, thanks to Wi-Fi, an Airplay 2 speaker capable of being included with other compatible speakers or audio systems in a group of speakers that can be managed both together and for single listening level from an iPhone and iPad with iOS 12 or higher or from Mac with iTunes, even if not recent.
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Obviously if the speakers are of different brands you will not have that timbre continuity or musical balance that the combination of all Sonos products can offer you but it allows you to add to your system also different brands that adapt to aesthetic and acoustic characteristics more to the single room than to a global audience.
Is it a speaker that sounds good?
We talked about the enormous versatility of the product in terms of control, the commands it can transfer and the variety of music sources it can reproduce. But how does it sound?
As mentioned in the introduction we tried Move for many days both indoors, in rooms of various sizes, placing it on the floor, on furniture of different sizes and on the classic living room furniture as well as different locations in the garden (on the grass, on a table). metal and one in wood) and finally directly in the square as a tool to help a guided tour.
In home use with Trueplay which works incredibly in 95% of cases we were able to listen to our favorite music with an absolutely constant continuity and quality of reproduction: the system takes times that are not always similar to adapt but in the promised 30 seconds we arrive at a good musical balance.
The bass is as you expect it from the characteristic Sonos sound, indeed, compared to the Sonos One we used for the comparison, the speaker is more “present” and powerful with the right brake on the always round bass: here perhaps the greater weight and dimension help to have a more powerful reproduction while the use of a driving system for the high range front output with a tweeter that is positioned face down finds us pleasantly surprised: the high frequencies are less directional and the listening to the single speaker is comfortable and efficient even from angled positions.
In short, the uncompromising performance of a product that takes Sonos a step ahead of the speakers of previous generations and takes full advantage of its two class D digital amplifiers.
Versatile and with excellent audio performance – what flaw can be found in Sonos Move? The cost that seems slightly high for a single speaker: 399 Euros including VAT may seem high if we take Sonos One as a reference but if we consider the possibility of taking it everywhere, the greater robustness compared to its cousins and the fuller and more defined sound on the whole front. , the long-lasting battery also replaceable in reality we are describing the desire to buy a second one to make a stereo pair.
We hope that Sonos will think as for the ONE e and ONE SL to make a model without microphones (but always with Bluetooth and Airplay 2) to be combined with this and with a slightly lower entry price.
Conclusions
A product of high construction level and excellent sound capabilities. So versatile that we would also like to have a physical audio input to use it even with old audio devices or keyboards to play without latency but this would probably go against the characteristics of waterproofing and durability and the very concept of “shared” music: Move was born for children and large multiroom wireless systems and now also direct via Bluetooth. It integrates very well into the Sonos ecosystem, representing its top in terms of performance and versatility.
For other technical characteristics and resistance to shocks and atmospheric agents and to know the “behind the scenes” of the Sonos Move design, we refer you to our preview made at IFA 2019.
Pro
Versatile, powerful, usable anywhere with a playback consistency hard to find elsewhere. Virtually infinite amount of music services and tracks. Versatile and powerful Sonos app.
Cons
Missing an entry Jack, slightly high price
Retail price
Sonos Move is available on the Sonos website and also on Amazon for 399 Euros including VAT.
