Sonos has just officially announced Roam, its second portable — sorry, ultraportable — speaker, will be available globally on April 20 for $279. Preorders start today at the Sonos website.
Roam comes at a time when we’re starting to get out of our homes and … roam … a little, anyway. It’s a speaker that the company hopes you’ll want to take to the park, the beach, or on a road trip with you.
It’s designed for pick-up-and-go versatility, with a triangular shape that can stand on its end or lay flat on one side to angle sound upward. Roam weighs under half a kilogram, and the company says it’s light enough that you’ll pick it up even if you’re already carrying a lot. It looks exactly as you would expect a Sonos product would, in the company’s now-familiar Black or White finishes with the wrap-around grille design.
The end caps have a slight concave shape to them to help the speaker withstand drops, and the controls have an embossed, feel so that you can control them with touch while you’re on the go. It’s also IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, so it’ll survive the places we like to take our speakers.
The company says that despite its diminutive nature (it’s about the size of a water bottle), Roam packs a punch and can fill a room with sound. It’s a good way to start a Sonos system if you’ve not already got one in the home, and it has 10 hours of battery life.
On the inside, Roam has some considerable smarts as well – like Move before it, it’s got automatic TruePlay (so it will adjust its output to the acoustics of the environment its in) and it’ll automatically switch between Wifi and Bluetooth connections when appropriate (you would imagine this means that when it can’t see your Wifi network, it switches to Bluetooth and back) and Sound Swap allows you to move your music to the nearest Sonos speaker. Google Assistant and Alexa voice assistants are available, along with AirPlay 2.
Roam charges on USB-C, and can also charge wirelessly with any Qi-compatible charger. Sonos will also happily sell you their own triangular-shaped pad with magnets inside for $79 in White or Black.
Preorders for Roam are available at Sonos.com, shipping from April 20.
