Moto Sound Flow Review

Design

• Vertical orientation
• IP67
• Touch controls

The Moto Sound Flow is tubular in shape, though not necessarily in vibe, because in terms of aesthetics, it’s quite a fetching-looking speaker. It doesn’t have the rugged looks of the JBL Flip 7 that dare you to give them a roll in the mud – in fact, I’d be disappointed to get this portable speaker dirty.

The Sound Flow is very minimalist and chic, although the lack of a carry loop or handle means that you’ll be holding this in the hand a lot.

It does risk taking itself a little too seriously – the colour choices are Warm Taupe and Carbon pantones, which is a fancy way of saying beige and black.

Another aspect I’m not too fond of is the disappearing capacitive buttons on the speaker’s top surface – you have to tap the Sound Flow for them to make an appearance. I get the minimalist vibe but I also don’t want to have to tap the top just to see where the controls are.

In the centre of the top surface is playback, and multiple taps enable skipping tracks. There’s a ring of blue light around the top surface which suggests Alexa, but is more of a status light. Another aspect I’m not fond of is the placement of the power button, which took me a while to figure out is on the bottom of the speaker. The Sound Flow looks great but usability could be better.

Weighing 580g, it feels hefty and well-built – the fabric is a nice touch (literally), the speaker feels robust with few joints and revealing parts. Rated to IP67, which means it’s dust-proof but not waterproof – it’ll survive submersion in 1 m of water for thirty minutes. All that suggests the Sound Flow is actually tougher than it looks.

Features

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• UWB support
• Moto Sound app

Like the Sonos Roam 2, Move 2, and JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi, the Moto Sound Flow supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Bluetooth 5.0 only translates to SBC streaming, which is rather disappointing that Motorola couldn’t spring for at least AAC (or more).

That said, the wireless performance is strong – playing music and walking away from the speaker towards the other end of a garden and the Sound Flow’s connection held up without splintering.

Wi-Fi brings with it Google Cast, AirPlay and Spotify Connect – so you can stream directly from the source on Android and iOS platforms. Neat. With Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) you can connect and stream music to the speaker by being in close proximity to it.

Setup is a doddle in the Moto Sound app – you should start with the app first instead of connecting over Bluetooth since setting up the Bluetooth is a part of the process anyway. There’s not much to go over in terms of app features – if you’ve got two Sound Flows, there’s the ability to stereo pair. You can adjust the EQ either through three modes or a custom job with a three-band EQ.

There’s a Do Not Disturb mode, in-app playback controls – although strangely that doesn’t extend to track skipping – and you can monitor battery life.

A four-mic set-up allows you to receive calls and, hopefully, be heard clearly through the speaker.

Battery Life

• 12 hours stated battery
• No mention of fast charging

It’s a shame that a plug isn’t included, but that seems to be consistent at this price point, where all that’s provided is a USB-C cable connected to a dock. The 6000maH battery inside is rated to be up 12 hours, but I found the performance to be better than that.

Playing a Spotify playlist at 50% volume and the Moto Sound Flow fell by 6% in an hour – that actually registers to about 16+ hours in a single charge, so I reckon you can nudge the volume up and get a decent 12 hours from it.

It’s not the same battery life as the Marshall Emberton III’s 30+, but it’s in the same ballpark as the JBL Flip 7 and better than the Sonos Roam 2.

There’s no mention of fast-charging and wireless charging isn’t an option with the provided dock. There’s a USB-C cable for charging but Motorola doesn’t include an in-box charger. If you want the plug, that’s available separately.

Sound Quality

• Rich, clear bass
• Well-balanced approach
• Sounds spacious

What’s interesting here is that the Moto Sound Flow is another in an increasingly long of products that feature Sound by Bose tuning. I’d have assumed that Bose wouldn’t be the type of company to lend its sonic talents to competing speakers, but it’s here, in other headphones and in projectors. Bose’s sound is here to spread the love.

And what a good-sounding speaker the Sound Flow is.

With a 10W powered tweeter, 20W powered woofer and a passive radiator to help give the bass some oomph, the Sound Flow is one of the best-sounding speakers at this price that I’ve heard.

Over Wi-Fi vocals sound clear and natural – vocals get the priority, but the Sound Flow still provides good detail to instruments in a track and a tight, firm, punchy bassline in Bobby Caldwell’s What You Won’t Do for Love – the overall tone it strikes is one that’s natural.

With GoGo Penguin’s Ascent, the highs come across as bright, varied and clear – featuring levels of detail and definition that the similarly priced Marshall Stockwell III doesn’t bring to bear with its smoother sound. I do hear what could be some distortion with the bass in this track – the bass tones don’t quite sound right – but the mids and highs are provided with clarity and detail.

There’s a good sense of flow and dynamism communicated with Rhapsody in Blue, solidly dipping between quiet and loud, but I do find it’s not as lively or as energetic as Bose’s own SoundLink series. For a portable with its cylindrical shape, the soundstage doesn’t come across as compact or hemmed in – it manages to communicate the spaciousness of tracks well.

Vocals ring out with clarity and naturalism; the lows alternate between punchy and weighty, rich tone, while the highs can be bright and crisp – I like the approach and balance Motorola/Bose have gone for here – it’s a revealing and at times rich sound, and one that’s capable of dancing to a range of music genres.

It can struggle when big bass is demanded of it. It isn’t able to reproduce the weight and depth of Hard Life’s Skeletons, sounding on the hollow side in the process, but its bass presence is certainly good for a portable speaker, with more power and thud than the Sonos Roam 2 is capable of.

It’s Bluetooth performance doesn’t seem as big on the bass, which may be a good thing overall, but vocal clarity is similar, as is the tone the Moto Sound Flow strikes, though it doesn’t sound quite as energetic, and treble doesn’t stand out as much. That said, I wouldn’t have thought this was SBC streaming – it sounds better than that level of quality would suggest.

Should you buy it?