The Sonos Roam is a standout portable speaker that delivers what Sonos customers expect – excellent sound and brilliant connectivity – but with the added benefit of being able to take it anywhere.
- VERDICT
The new Sonos Roam go-anywhere speaker is the missing piece of the Sonos portfolio – a rugged speaker that can connect anywhere via Bluetooth and then take its place back on your network with your other Sonos speakers when you’re home.
And it’s built to go anywhere thanks to the IP67 rating which seals it from dust and makes it fully waterproof.
The appropriately named Roam is also small enough to take anywhere. It’s just 16.8cm tall and weighs a mere 0.43kg.
It is made of durable material and can take your everyday knocks and scrapes.
The speaker can be positioned upright on its end or flat on its side.
And don’t let its small size force you to underestimate its ability to produce a big sound.
At full volume the Sonos Roam will easily fill a room – or your camp site, or your spot by the pool and at the beach.
Users can link the speaker to their existing Sonos system via their home network through the Sonos S2 app.
From here it’s also easy to link your music services including Apple Music and Spotify and even choose between Google Assistant or Alexa so you can control the speaker with your voice.
You can also stream Sonos Radio to access live broadcast radio stations along with original content curated by Sonos.
But you also have the choice of linking directly to your device via Bluetooth like you would with a regular speaker.
And of course this is your option when you’re out and about with the Sonos Roam and away from your home network.
But when you come home and turn the Sonos Roam speaker on again it will connect to your home wi-fi network.
Users can control the volume and playback through the controls on top of the speaker.
Roam also has a new Sound Swap feature that lets you move the sound to and from nearby speakers.
All you need to do is press and hold the Roam’s play/pause button.
Now let’s talk about the audio quality – it’s excellent.
We were pleasantly surprised by the power and the quality.
This comes courtesy of the two class H amplifiers which are tuned to the drivers and the speaker’s acoustic architecture.
And the custom racetrack mid-woofer come into play to handle the mid-range frequencies and maximise low-end output with another tweeter taking are of the high frequencies.
What you end up with is a clear and crisp sound with a nice level of bass.
It sounds just as good no matter how it sits – on its end or on its side – thanks to the Automatic Trueplay feature which uses spatial awareness to adjust the sound based on the speaker’s orientation and the content its playing over Bluetooth or wi-fi.
It certainly lives up the high expectations of a discerning Sonos customer.
On the battery side, the Sonos Roam can run for up to 10 hours on a single charge.
And it can hold the charge too thanks to the sleep mode which can save power for up to 10 days between plays.
Sonos Roam can also be charged wirelessly with the Qi charging mat that can charge your smartphone.
Or you can buy, at an extra cost ($79), a Roam wireless charger that magnetically attach to the speaker and charge it.
The Sonos Roam is priced at $279 and is more expensive than similar sized Bluetooth speakers but Sonos does offer the additional ability of wi-fi connectivity.
Sonos Roam is available in Shadow Black or Lunar White and goes on sale on April 20. Pre-orders are now open.
VERDICT
The Sonos Roam is a standout portable speaker that delivers what Sonos customers expect – excellent sound and brilliant connectivity – but with the added benefit of being able to take it anywhere.
