Here's What We Like
- Excellent spatial audio reproduction (wide soundstage)
- Portable and water resistant
- Big, full sound for a decently compact speaker
And What We Don't
- Ridgid handle adds bulk
- Battery life was okay but could be better
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Spatial audio music—more specifically, Dolby Atmos music—isn’t a gimmick, but not a lot of people have really experienced it out loud. Sonos Era 300 is one option, but now the Soundcore Motion X600 Bluetooth speaker is another spatial audio speaker, and it’s highly impressive and portable.
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I’ll try not to crib too much from my review of the Sonos Era 300 Wi-Fi speaker, but a huge part of that speaker is buying into and playing spatial audio music. Because the Motion X600 retails for a fraction of the Era 300, completely going all in on listening to spatial audio is less important to its success, but it’s still key.
The Motion X600 speaker uses a 5-driver speaker array to play back Dolby Atmos songs and give the allusion that sound is coming from a much larger speaker than it actually is. One of those drivers is up-firing, which is important for a more convincing spatial experience.
RELATED: Sonos Era 300 Review: A Speaker Made for Dolby Atmos
One of the things I really liked about this Soundcore speaker is that there’s a button to turn off the spatial audio speaker array, right on the top. Personally, I didn’t find myself reaching for it often except to demo the differences between stereo sound and spatial audio. That on-and-off button was super helpful for that purpose.
Personally, I’m all in on Dolby Atmos music. I don’t need music to swirl around me, and most won’t, but there is much more depth and clarity in songs mixed for Dolby Atmos. This speaker opens even more places to have that better listening experience.
Apple Music on iPhone and Android supports streaming its Dolby Atmos songs over Bluetooth. This is true of wireless headphones as well as this Motion X600 speaker. Amazon Music and Tidal also have spatial audio mixes available, if you subscribe to one of those services.
If you don’t subscribe to one of those streaming services or listen to non-spatially mixed songs, the music still sounded great from the speaker. I found stereo-mixed songs didn’t sound weird, either. The speaker handled the different formats with a lot of grace.
Overall, music sounded full, crisp, and accurate on the speaker. Across all genres, music was pleasant to listen to. Of course, there were reasonable limitations to what the Soundcore Motion X600 speaker could do. If needed, it could get loud enough with 50W of power to fill a common living room. I found it sounded the best when it was closer to a 30-50% volume level inside. The drivers didn’t sound stressed at that level, but it was still able to push out plenty of low-end ambiance.
RELATED: What is Dolby Atmos?
Throughout it all, the mid-range was clean and clear. Singing vocals were audible and strumming guitars were distinct. There was generally enough low-end bass to provide a thump, especially compared to the speaker’s size.
With a permanent handle and an IPX7 waterproof rating, the Motion X600 speaker is fine to travel outside. Listening to music outside still sounded great too. Without walls to bounce off of, there was much less distinction between spatially mixed songs than stereo-mixed ones. The depth was still present and sounded good.
Turning the volume up to around 60% in my backyard yielded a solid sound. Pumping up the volume past 80% really stressed the drivers, and the music suffered, but the Motion X600 could do it if I really needed it.
At the time of testing, the Motion X600 speaker was supported in the Soundcore app (available for iPhone/iPad and Android) but did not support turning on or off the spatial setting remotely. EQ for the speaker could be adjusted through the app, the Bass Up button could be toggled remotely, and the speaker could even be shut off through the app, but there was no awareness of the speaker’s spatial sound.
It would be great if the app were updated to engage spatial audio remotely. Even better, it would be great if there were EQ settings for spatial audio aimed at different-sized rooms. The app was only fine, but it was about on par with a bulk of other Bluetooth speakers. The software wasn’t a deal breaker.
On the back of the Motion X600 is an aux input to connect a non-wireless device. I connected an Audio Technica turntable as an experiment, and it worked. It’s not how I would recommend using the speaker or the turntable, but it did work without any hiss or distortion.
If you’re in the market for a small to mid-sized portable Bluetooth speaker, the Anker Soundcore Motion X600 is the one to buy, unequivocally. It gets loud enough, and the music sounds good enough to justify its $200 retail price. But even better, the spatial audio reproduction sounds great, it’s essentially waterproof, and has an aux input.
Of course, there are plenty of needs that might fall outside of those considerations, and so it might not be the perfect speaker for everyone. But after spending some time with the Motion X600, it’s hard to beat for a lot of uses.