Sonos Roam
A mini sound machine you can take on all kinds of adventures.
The Sonos Roam is the first Sonos Bluetooth speaker that’s made for tucking in a pocket or tossing in a backpack for hitting the road. With dust and waterproofing, plus a generally robust frame that will help it survive drops and bumps, can the class of Sonos help it come out on top?
When it comes to what it can do, the Sonos Roam is like a shrunk-down Sonos Move, but it actually has even more smarts going on. Not only is this a
Bluetooth speaker, but it’s also a Wi-Fi multi-room speaker and a smart speaker, using Alexa or Google Assistant (your choice). It also features Sonos’ Auto TruePlay feature, so it’s always listening to and adjusting the audio to compensate for any distortions from its placement.
The Sonos Roam’s triangular design is meant to make it easy to grab and hold securely (which it does). The two ends are rubberised, and though they don’t look or feel like a chunky impact absorber, they make it much more drop-proof than anything else Sonos makes.
The Roam is IP67 rated for waterproofing, which means it can survive a dunk in water up to 1m for up to half an hour. You can drop it in the pool or it can get sprayed without issue as long as you retrieve it quickly, and the water tests we’ve given it were all survived without issue. It’s also dustproof enough to be a good beach companion.
In terms of sound quality, the Roam has no problem with musical punch, which is obvious from the moment you turn it on. It’s especially happy to introduce you to its bass, which is controlled and full – it’s not overpowering, but the Roam would like to let you know that its small size is no impediment to good low-end presence.
Sometimes it has trouble balancing a very midheavy song with treble. It feels like the Roam takes its biggest audio swing at whatever’s currently most prominent in the mix – bass, treble or mid.
Battery life is also a bit meagre compared to some of the competition, though its playing time fairly well matched up to the promised 10 hours. However, we didn’t get anything like the kind of standby time of 10 days – more like five. Despite this, if you want a smartlooking and compact battery-powered portable speaker that acquits itself really well for sound overall, and that has the added bonus of being part of the
Sonos system, then the Roam is an excellent option.