The Anker Soundcore Motion is a portable speaker with an advertised 24-hour battery life and a built-in carrying handle, making it a great fit for camping trips and weekend excursions. It's rated IPX7 for protection against water and dust, meaning it's waterproof and can even float if dropped in water. It also features Anker's proprietary BassUp technology, which promises to bring plenty of rumble and thump to your audio when enabled.
Our Verdict
The Anker Motion Boom is adequate for music. When placed horizontally and with its BassUp feature enabled, it has a balanced mid-range, so vocals and lead instruments sound present in the mix, though they can also sound a bit dull and veiled. It struggles to reproduce low bass, so you can't feel the thump and rumble in bass-heavy music like EDM. Fortunately, there's a graphic EQ and presets to customize its sound to your liking.
- Graphic EQ and presets.
- Gets loud.
Lacks low-bass.
Poor directivity.
The Anker Motion Boom is disappointing for videos and movies. It gets loud enough to fill a medium-sized room with sound, though there's a fair bit of compression in the bass at max volume, which can rob effects like explosions of some punch. With BassUp enabled, it struggles to produce low bass, so you can't feel the thump and rumble in action-packed scenes. Also, it has high AV synchronization error with iOS and Android devices, so the sound you hear may not sync with the video you see. Some apps compensate for latency differently, and your experience may differ.
- Graphic EQ and presets.
- Gets loud.
Lacks low-bass.
- Low latency with iOS and Android devices.
Poor directivity.
The Anker Motion Boom is decent for podcasts. This portable speaker has a balanced mid-range that ensures voices are clearly reproduced with its BassUp feature enabled. However, higher-pitched voices can sound dull and veiled. Fortunately, thanks to the graphic EQ and presets in its companion app, you can tweak its sound to your liking. It can also get quite loud.
- Graphic EQ and presets.
- Incredibly portable.
Poor directivity.
- Some compression present at max volume.
The Anker Motion Boom is poor for voice assistants. It doesn't have any built-in voice assistants, so it uses the ones on your smartphone and struggles to understand your commands from a distance and in noisy environments.
- Gets loud.
Poor directivity.
- Bad far-field and ambient noise performances.
The Anker Motion Boom is decent for outdoor use. It's decently built and rated IPX7, meaning it's certified for immersion in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes. It gets reasonably loud, though there's a fair bit of compression in the bass at max volume, which can rob kick drums of some punch. It's also remarkably portable and has an incredibly long battery life, making it suitable for long days spent outdoors. Battery performance varies depending on usage, and your experience may differ. Unfortunately, it struggles to reproduce a thumpy and rumbling low bass, even with its BassUp feature enabled. You can customize its sound thanks to its graphic EQ and presets.
- IPX7 rating.
- Incredibly portable.
- Fantastic Bluetooth range.
Lacks low-bass.
Poor directivity.
- Some compression present at max volume.
Changelog
- Updated Aug 28, 2026: This review has been updated to Test Bench 1.0.1. This includes the Test Bench 1.0 updates to all of our Sound tests: Frequency Response Accuracy, Raw Frequency Response, Directivity, and Loudness, as well as the revised Low-Frequency Extension calculation and related DRC updates introduced in Test Bench 1.0.1. There have also been text changes throughout the review, including to the usages and product comparisons, where applicable, to match these results. You can read more about these changes in our Test Bench 1.0 changelog and Test Bench 1.0.1 changelog.
- Updated Aug 11, 2026: This review has been updated to Test Bench 1.0, which includes new results for all of our Sound tests: Frequency Response Accuracy, Raw Frequency Response, Directivity, and Loudness. There have also been text changes made throughout the review, including to the usages and product comparisons, to match these results. You can read more about these changes in our changelog.
- Updated Feb 14, 2024: We've updated this review to ensure it remains accurate and consistent. We've also added relevant comparisons to other similar speakers.
- Updated Sep 12, 2023: Retested the speaker's Battery with BassUP turned on to match our Frequency Response tests. The battery life dropped from 39.9 hours with BassUP off to 22 hours with it on.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Anker Motion Boom comes in one color: Black. You can find the label for the model we tested here.
If you encounter any other variants of this speaker, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Speaker Comparisons
The Anker Motion Boom is a decently built portable Bluetooth speaker with a built-in carrying handle. While it's smaller and more portable than its more premium cousin, the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom Plus, it has slightly lower build quality and a sound profile that isn't quite as balanced. It also lacks Bluetooth multi-device pairing, a feature present in the more compact Anker Soundcore Motion 300, but it compensates with a long 22-hour continuous battery life.
See also our recommendations for the best Bluetooth speakers, the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers, and the loudest Bluetooth speakers.
The JBL Charge 5 and the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom are similar speakers. The JBL has a more balanced mid-range out of the box that's suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content, although it produces less mid-bass than the Anker. Still, the JBL is smaller, making it a bit more portable. You can also pair it to up to two devices at once, so you can easily switch between audio sources. However, the Anker supports voice assistants through your smartphone, though its performance isn't great.
The JBL Flip 6 is better for most uses than the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom. While both speakers are similarly portable, the JBL is better built, has more intuitive controls, and features Bluetooth multi-device pairing. That said, the Anker can get louder and has some voice assistant support, though you'll still need to rely on your smartphone's voice assistant, which often struggles to pick up your voice. The Anker does have a longer continuous battery life, though, so it's better suited to weekend camping trips, where you won't be able to charge for a few days.
Overall, the Anker Soundcore Motion+ is a better speaker than the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom. The Motion+ has better directivity, so it sounds similar regardless of your listening angle. You can also pair it to up to two devices at once, so you can easily switch between audio sources. Also, it has lower Bluetooth latency with Android devices, making it better-suited for watching videos over this connection. That said, the Motion Boom puts out a bit more low-bass.
The Anker Soundcore Motion Boom is a better speaker than the Anker Soundcore 2. With its BassUp feature enabled, the Boom can produce a more extended low-bass. You can tweak its sound profile to your liking, thanks to the graphic EQ and presets featured in its companion app. It can also get louder. That said, the Soundcore 2 is smaller, making it more portable.
Test Results
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