Portable Sonos speaker head-to-head
Sonos introduced its first Bluetooth speaker in 2019 in the form of the Sonos Move. It followed this up with a cheaper, smaller and much more portable option in the Sonos Roam, which was announced in 2021.
But we’re now in 2024, and Sonos now offers the Era 100 and Era 300 wireless speakers with Bluetooth capabilities, as well as a second generations of both the Sonos Move in the aptly named Move 2, and the Roam in the Roam 2.
When it comes to portability from a Sonos speaker however, the Move and the Roam are the ones you’ll want. But how do they differ? We have separate features covering the difference between the Move 2 and the Move, as well as the Roam 2 and Roam, but here we are looking at how Roam and Move compare, with reference to all four models – the first gen and second gen speakers.
Sonos Roam 2 v Sonos Move 2: Design and build
The Sonos Move speakers are much bigger than the Roam speakers. Sure, both speakers are portable in the fact that they can be powered by a battery for wire-free music out and about but, just look at them side by side: there’s only one that’s really going to fit into your bag for a trip to the park, beach, gym… wherever you want.
Both the Roam speakers – the original Roam and the Roam 2 – are curved triangular prism speakers that weighs less than a pound. They measure just 6.61 x 2.44 x 2.36-inches and they are around the size of a water bottle. The design didn’t change much when Sonos launched the Roam 2, there are a coupe of differences but not in terms of size and weight.
In comparison, the Sonos Move and Move 2 are 10-inches tall and weigh more than 6x what the Roam does at 6.6lbs. If you’re looking for a speaker to take out then, the Roam or Roam 2 are the ones to be looking at.
Let’s not write the Move off just yet though. The Move and Move 2 are perfect speakers for the garden where you might want big sound, but don’t necessarily have the wiring in place, for example. Their sizes allow them to pack in that all-important battery and a much better sound than the Roam and Roam 2; although we’ll come to that in more detail in a bit.
Both the Move and Roam speakers are also great options to get a Sonos in the bathroom, where you might not be able to wire in a Sonos Era 100, for example. The Roam speakers are again, the slightly better choice if that’s your objective as they are IP67 rated, which means they are fully dustproof and waterproof in up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes; so splash from a shower shouldn’t do it any harm. The Move duo meanwhile, have a slightly inferior IP56 water and dust resistance, but anything short of a full-on water dunking should pose no problem.
There are a few other differences to consider. The Move speakers have a rubber bottom to give them a sturdier base for standing on whatever surface is available, and that’s particularly useful for outside where it might be placed on grass, mud, or any other dirty or uneven surface. The back button area is recessed into the Move speakers too, creating a handle you can use to pick the Move and Move 2 up and carry them around.
The Roam and Roam 2 can sit vertically when you’ve got a nice even surface for them, but they can also be used horizontally, for when they are going to lie on something a bit less sturdy.
When it comes to controls, the original Move has the familiar Sonos touch buttons up top, giving control over volume and the microphones, as well as play and pause. The Move also has a power button and Bluetooth button on its rear, to let you turn the speaker on and off, or connect it to a new source while on the go. The Move 2 features a capacitive volume slider like the Era 100 and Era 300 – designed to be more intuitive, making it much easier to achieve a precise desired volume.
As well as the volume slider you’ll find the usual array of Sonos touch buttons; play/pause, track skip forward/back and also a button to summon a voice assistant.
In comparison, the Roam and Roam 2 have physical buttons, shaped as per the function they perform; play/pause, volume up and down and microphone muting. On the original Roam, there is one button on the rear for power and switching into Bluetooth mode. For the Roam 2, there is both a power button and Bluetooth button, like Move 2.
Sonos Roam 2 v Sonos Move 2: Playback options
The Sonos Move and Move 2 are both a portable Bluetooth speaker and Wi-Fi smart speaker in one. You can take the original Move speaker out and about, and expect 10 hours of playback use before needing to recharge it. If you opt for the Move 2, this figure is 24 hours.
And now, to repeat ourselves, the Sonos Roam and Roam 2 are also a portable Bluetooth speaker and Wi-Fi smart speaker in one. You can take them out and about, and expect 10 hours of playback use before needing to recharge either. Sonos didn’t improve the battery life of the Roam 2 compared to the Roam, but 10 hours is still a pretty decent garden party or park session.
When it comes to playback, the Roam speakers both trump the original Move on the Bluetooth front as they can use both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi at the same time.
Because of that, they can share a Bluetooth tune around your other Sonos speakers, when you’re in range of them. You can, therefore, use any music app on your phone to send to the Roam or Roam 2, and then group the Roam or Roam 2 with other Sonos speakers. That’s not a feature that’s available for the original Move, where you have to make a choice between Bluetooth or Wi-Fi mode. You can’t have both. But you can with the Move 2, which matches the Roam and Roam 2’s Bluetooth skills.
When using the Wi-Fi, both the Roam and Move speakers become part of your regular Sonos system and will show up in the Sonos S2 app, just as a non-portable Sonos speaker would.
Switching to ‘just’ Bluetooth mode, on any of the Roam or Move speakers, means that some features stop working. The Sonos app will become useless, for example, and Google Assistant/Alexa will go mute. At this point they become, well, just Bluetooth speakers.
Another nifty feature that’s present on the Roam and Roam 2 but not on the Move speakers, is Sound Swap, where you are able to fire the audio from your Roam or Roam 2 to a nearby Sonos speaker by simply holding down the play button. This is a brilliant feature for when you’re taking the party indoors and you want the music to carry on, on your better speakers. Sonos uses the ultrasonic frequency of nearby speakers to work out what the best speaker is to Sound Swap with.
Sonos Roam 2 v Sonos Move 2: Ease of use
The Sonos Move brought an evolution of Sonos’ Trueplay feature to the table when it went live: Automatic Trueplay. If you have ever set up a Sonos speaker before, you’ll recall the somewhat-strange process of walking around the room waving your iPhone around to tune to acoustics, like some sort of audio exorcist.
Sonos built that technology into the original Move, so it adjusts dynamically to its surroundings, registering all of the different reflection patterns of each individual space (this can be turned off if you’d prefer). The good news is that the original Roam, Move 2 and Roam 2 also boast Automatic Trueplay, meaning they will adjust their sound profile on the fly, ensuring they are optimizing the sound at all times.
It’s a great feature, and is a far easier way to get better sound. And the good news is that it works on both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modes now, following a software update towards the end of 2023.
As you can see, there’s a whole lot of common ground between the Move and the Roam speakers. Both feature the gamut of Sonos connectivity – from joining your Wi-Fi network of multi-room speakers to AirPlay 2 and the ability to pair two units for stereo sound (in Wi-Fi mode). You will need two of the same though, so two Roam 2 speakers or two Move 2 speakers, rather than an original Roam and Roam 2 or a Move and Move 2.
Both of the older Sonos portable speakers both have smart assistant functionality built in, with either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant available according to preference, along with Sonos Voice Control. With the Move 2 and Roam 2, your only choice is Amazon’s Alexa and Sonos Voice Control, with Sonos ditching Google Assistant. It’s also worth noting that the smart assistant features are Wi-Fi dependent as they need the data to work.
Sonos Roam 2 v Sonos Move 2: Battery life
As mentioned, the original Roam, Roam 2 and the original Move all have a 10 hour battery life, while the Move 2 has 24 hours.
All speakers are capable of entering a low-power mode, automatically after 30 minutes of non-use. The Move should last for five days in this mode, while it’s up to 10 with the Roam models.
The original Sonos Move comes boxed with a charging dock that juices it up as soon as you place it on top. For the Move 2, it’s USB-C, which can also be used to add a 3.5mm line-in playback option, via a separate adapter that you have to buy separately.
Unlike the original Move, the Sonos Roam or Roam 2 don’t use a proprietary charging input; it’s USB-C that juices both up like the Move 2.
There is an optional charging dock for Roam and Roam 2 that costs £49 – but the good news is that the Roam and Roam 2 are Qi compatible, so you’ll be able to get a much cheaper wireless charger for them. The native one has a magnet though, for optimal stability.
Sonos Roam 2 v Sonos Move 2: Sound quality
You’ve probably guessed this already from just the sizes of the two speaker models but, when it comes to sound quality, there’s a big gap between the Sonos portable brethren.
While the Sonos Roam and Roam 2 punch well above their diminutive form-factors, they just won’t be able to compete in terms of audio hardware with the much more powerful Move models.
The Sonos Move actually has the same mid-woofer driver as the Sonos Five, along with two Class-D digital amplifiers and downward-firing tweeter. On the Move 2, things go even further with stereo sound on offer from a Sonos portable speaker for the first time, thanks to three class-D digital amplifiers and a pair of angled tweeters.
With the Roam and Roam 2, you’re looking at a pair of class-H amplifiers, a custom racetrack mid-woofer and a tweeter all built in.
Sonos Roam 2 v Sonos Move 2: Price
You might be noticing a theme here – there’s also a pretty significant difference when we consider the prices of the Sonos Move and the Sonos Roam.
The original Move launched at $399 / £399, though you should find it cheaper now. The Sonos Move 2 costs $429 / £429.
The new Sonos Roam 2 by contrast is priced at $179 / £179, less than half the price of the Move – so for the price of one Move you could get a paired stereo set of Roams, and be left with some change in your pocket. The original Roam is even cheaper following the launch of the Roam 2, costing £139 in the UK through Sonos. For those in the US, the price through Sonos doesn’t seem to have shifted at time of writing, but be sure to shop around as you shouldn’t pay full price now it has been replaced.
The extra money for Move or Move 2 does, of course, get you a much better Sonos speaker, so it’s totally dependent on your individual use-case.
Sonos Move v Sonos Roam: Which is the best?
The Sonos Move was an early sign of a pretty radical new strategy from Sonos, moving out of the home and into a market that it previously spent a long time ignoring. The Move and Move 2 have superb audio smarts, a great build quality, and plenty of adaptability. Being able to rely on brilliant sound in your home, in parks and on camping trips is great, and the original Move’s arrival a couple of years back opened up a whole new world for Sonos.
If you’re looking for a high-end Sonos speaker that can be used inside and outside the home, then the Move 2 is definitely the top pick, though it is a pricey choice.
The Roam and Roam 2 are the absolute antidote to that price-tag – especially in the case of the original Roam at the moment – although you need to be aware that, for less than half the price, you’re also getting a speaker with less than half the oomph.
The feature set is pretty much identical between both – in fact, the Roam and Roam 2 are a tad more smart thanks to Sound Swap and that dual Bluetooth / Wi-Fi setup. The Roam and Roam 2 are also much, much more portable. They are the only Sonos speakers that can realistically be taken out and about without being a burden.
So, while the speakers have plenty of similarities, it’s very much a horses for courses scenario when it comes to choosing between them; do you want a great sounding, top-tier Sonos speaker or do you want a decent Sonos speaker that’s easy to carry around?
