The first real difference in the Move is how you plug it in. Instead of using a traditional adapter, you drop it in a charging “ring” that powers up the Move’s battery via two contacts in the back of the speaker. This makes it a breeze to designate a home for the speaker, but keeps it easy to pick up and bring anywhere you want without having to fiddle with a power cord.
Setup is largely identical to other Sonos products — a few steps in the Sonos app for Android and iOS will get your speaker hooked up to your WiFi network. If you haven’t used Sonos before, you’ll also need to log in to your preferred music streaming services. Like other newer Sonos speakers, the Move works with Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can set up both of those voice assistants in the app as well.
Usually, the Sonos app will prompt you to run Trueplay, its speaker-tuning software, at least if you’re using an iPhone. But the Move is the first Sonos speaker with Auto Trueplay, which you can turn on or off through the app. Ordinarily, the Trueplay process involves waving your phone up and down around the room where your speaker is located for 45 seconds, so auto tuning is much easier. Trueplay has always made the Sonos speakers I’ve tested sound better,so getting its benefits without the awkward setup is a big win.
As best as my ears can tell, Auto Trueplay does its job well. The adjustments that I’ve noticed are subtle, but it does tighten and cleans up the sound, removing a “muddy” quality that seems to come from strong bass reflections. There’s no reason not to leave it turned on, even if you don’t always notice the changes it makes. One note, though: make sure the mics are turned on when you move your speaker, otherwise it won’t be able to tune itself.
Inside the house
When connected to your home’s WiFi network, the Sonos Move works exactly like the company’s other speakers. It can stream music and other audio from dozens of services, and you can also send tunes to it directly through Spotify Connect, Apple Music (via AirPlay 2), Pandora and YouTube Music. If you own other Sonos speakers, you can group them to play music all over your house, or play different songs on each speaker at the same time. And if you have a pair of Moves (which I did not), you can use them to create a stereo setup.
I currently have several other speakers to pit the Move against, including the Sonos One, Apple HomePod and Google Home Max. The Move unsurprisingly sounds closest to the One. It has similar components: two Class-D amplifiers, one mid-woofer and one tweeter. Both the HomePod and Home Max have multiple tweeters (the Home Max also has multiple woofers), and both provide slightly clearer and more defined highs as well as more distinct bass.
Note that this doesn’t mean the Move sounds bad — not by a long shot. It’s an exceedingly well-balanced speaker that comes very close to matching sound quality of bigger speakers with more components. But the Move isn’t quite as good as those speakers. And they cost less too — both the HomePod and Home Max cost $299. Honestly, the Move isn’t even significantly better than the $199 Sonos One. Though, is is much louder than the One and HomePod, something Sonos says is essential for outdoor usage, where sound dissipates much more readily.
As I’ve already noted, though, the Move is far more versatile than the average speaker. I gave it a “home base” in my office where I do most of my listening, but I moved it around multiple times a day. I’d use it in the bedroom while doing laundry, or in the basement to accompany some gaming — two rooms where I otherwise don’t need a speaker all the time. I picked it up and lugged it all over the house with me for a week and the connection never dropped when I moved it around. If you’re not the kind of person who needs a speaker in every room of your house, the Move makes a ton of sense. It’s not cheap, but it’s definitely less money than getting five or six Sonos Ones.
