THE BEST SPORTABLE SPEAKER OF 2021
Review of Sonos Roam
The best portable speaker for 2021
The Sonos Roam is our world's best portable speaker, with powerful sound, rough construction, excellent connectivity features and smart home controls. The heavy sound performance makes it ideal for outdoor use, while the Smart Automatic switching feature means it's easy to use indoors, too - although audiophiles don't like very low waves and rhythmic handling.
Powerful audio performance
Easily portable design
Excellent connection
Google Assistant and Alexa
By contrast
It costs well
Bass can be powerful
AMAZON
The Sonos Roam is the latest wireless speaker from the multinational company, and the product's CEO Patrick Spence calls it "the smartest speaker we've ever built."
Should I buy it?
Following in the footsteps of Sonos Move, Roam comes with all Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, which means it can serve as a portable speaker and part of your extensive Sonos multi-room system - and with Google and Alexa on board, doubling the smart speaker.
At $ 169 / £ 159 / AU $ 279, it's the cheapest and cheapest Sonos speaker so far, which is why it's the least expensive entry point in the multi-room audio system.
Apart from the (low) price you get a lot of your money here. Its sleek design means that Sonos Roam will never look out of place, while the rugged, waterproof, dusty, and decent battery life makes it easy to listen to music outside.
To make this transition from home to the outside as seamless as possible, Sonos Roam comes with a lot of cool features. The first of these new features is Sound Swap - just hold the play button and Sonos Roam will 'drop' your sound to the nearest Sonos speaker available.
Also, the automatic switch between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection, means you can simply enter your home and Sonos Roam, which was paired with your Bluetooth device, will connect to your Wi-Fi, without the need to stop it and reconnect manually.
Finally, the original Auto TruePlay feature introduced by Sonos Move has been upgraded here, so Roam will automatically tun its audio to your environment, whether it's on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Of course, all these glorious things would be in vain if Sonos Roam did not sound good - but we are happy to report that, even though it has a small stem, Roam delivers powerful sonic performance, with outstanding instruments, even if it lacks the precision rhythm you can expect from an audiophile speaker. If you count yourself among the audios of the world, you may find that the bass is relatively low - although those low levels are very effective outside, where no sound walls will come out.
The combination of Sonos Roam's classy advanced features, powerful sound, and excellent design means our selection of the best 2021 speaker, though not to beat the best wireless speaker, the Sonos One, in terms of sound quality.
In any case we think Sonos has achieved his goals of building the most intelligent Sonos speaker so far, and for this reason, we would totally recommend buying it if you want a portable speaker that can fit into your home audio system as easily as it can deliver songs around campfire or sea.
Price of Sonos Roam and availability
Available for purchase on April 20
$ 169 / £ 159 / OR $ 279
The cheapest Sonos speaker so far
Sonos Roam will be available for purchase on April 20, but you can order it in advance now on the Sonos website for $ 169 / £ 159 / AU $ 279.
That price tag makes Sonos the cheapest speaker to date in the US and UK, replacing Sonos One SL, which costs $ 179 / £ 179 (in Australia One SL costs AU $ 269). It's cheaper and there's Sonos' first smart portable speaker, the Sonos Move, which costs $ 399 / £ 399 / AU $ 649 - a price that puts that speaker firmly at the top end of the Bluetooth speakers market, even though it gets that price thanks to its smart Sonos and powerful sound.
It’s still not expensive in any way though; one of our favorite Bluetooth speakers, the UE Boom 3, costs $ 129.99 / £ 129.99 / AU $ 199.95, though it doesn't even include the compatibility of the smart assistant of the latest Sonos device.
Design
IP67 water and dust resistance rating
0.95lbs / 0.43kg
Rough construction
While Sonos Roam retains the minimal beauty of the original devices of this brand, its design is still from the sound company, with a focus on design and management.
It is longer and thinner than the S Sonos Move compared to the time, and is about the same size as a water bottle. It is much lighter than the Move too, weighing 0.95lbs / 0.43kg, and you can easily hold it in your hand or toss it in a bag when traveling.
That bright light, combined with the IP67 water and dust resistance rating, makes it more accessible than ever, and is amazingly durable. In fact, Sonos claims that it can survive up to ten feet [3 m] underwater for 30 minutes.
On the front of the speaker is a Sonos sign in white; in addition to this, there is an LED indicating the status of the speaker connector, while the LED on the other hand indicates the battery life.
The control buttons are on the left side of the speaker where it is placed horizontally - and you can zoom the speaker up, with the buttons on top. There are volume up and down volume buttons, play / pause button, and a microphone switch on and off. The play / pause button can be pressed twice to skip to the next track, or tripled to return to the previous track.
To pair Roam with other Sonos products, you need to press and hold the play / pause button; keeping the button long pressed will activate the aforementioned 'throw' feature
to transfer your sound to another nearby Sonos speaker. Slightly written, the buttons feel soft and easy to use compared to the buttons that touch the top of the Sonos Move - and are easily accessible to those with visual impairments.
Online speaker back is a power button - you need to press and hold this until you hear a pairing tone to connect Sonos Roam to a Bluetooth device. Below the button is a USB-C charging port - you get a USB-A connector that goes to the USB-C in the box, but you'll have to use your adapter.
The edges of the speaker are slightly concave, Sonos says it increases its resistance to drop, and helps prevent accidental pressing of the buttons, so you don't have to increase the volume to 11 every time you pass it.
The buttons themselves are described by Sonos as “tactile and slightly raised”, with a raised design that makes it easy to hit play or change the volume. They are very responsive, and we did not find any shortcomings between the button and the action that occurred; Sonos Move buttons are sensitive, so the ability to hear the buttons will probably be acceptable for anyone with a visual impairment.
Coming in black with 'Shadow' and 'Lunar' white, Sonos Roam has a "masterpiece" - it's not a mixed grille yet, so don't expect a real 360-degree sound.
It has some flexibility with regard to the position of the speaker - Roam can be placed horizontally to stabilize the uneven ground, or face upwards with a small foot, with its triangular shape felt at the top. If you place the Roam horizontally on a flat surface like a table, small feet on what is in this position, under the speaker helps to keep it stable.
If you wish, you can purchase the $ 49 / £ 44 / AU $ 79 wireless charging stand. Just put the speaker on the stand and it will automatically move into place, giving Roam a home that stays inside you.
All in all, we think Sonos Roam's design is really impressive. While many waterproof portable speakers are finished with bright colors and functional materials, Roam retains the beautiful nature of the brand's home speakers, and its bright and compact design makes it easy to listen to music on the go.
If Sonos' goal was to make the speaker work inside and out of the house as it works outside, it would be successful.
Audio performance
Powerful sound
The bass can be amazing on the inside
Full support for streaming services
Despite its small size, the Sonos Roam delivers powerful sonic performance with brightly lit buses. Inside the speaker are two H-class amplifiers, with a highly efficient car that Sonos claims to increase the power and width of the audio output, as well as a custom racetrack in the middle of the woofer, and a tweeter.
While the sound does not fill rooms like the one provided by the big Sonos Move, Roam is very close, thanks to some smart design options when it comes to transducer.
The transducer converts an electrical signal into a wave-like change in air pressure - the sound you hear - and that requires space to move, as well as space inside the speaker to pack as much air as possible.
As Sara Morris, Senior Product Manager at Sonos explains, the team was able to keep the size down by making the vendor part of the house itself, allowing Sonos Roam to be "smaller, simpler, and have a much better sound."
Sonos has definitely succeeded in that. Listening to Childish Gambino’s Feels Like Summer, bus blasts drive smooth synths, while clear and rich falsetto sounds rise above the mix.
If we choose nit, we would like to hear more from the middle of the small movement, as some details are lost in the midst of that strong bass; in fact, if you use Roam internally, you may want to adjust the EQ settings to increase treble waves. Those low-frequency frequencies work well on the outside, where there are no cracked sound walls, but on the inside, they can be slightly stronger.
Listening to Gorillaz ’Glitter Freeze, with glittering synths sounds clear without being too harsh, while the bus driver’s lines are powerful. Sonos Roam does not have the kind of rhythm and sound quality of the audiophile speakers, but for a speaker of such size, we were not disappointed with the full presentation of our music.
In terms of music services support, there is AirPlay 2 support for Apple devices with iOS 11.4 and later, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, YouTube Music, 7Digital, Sonos Radio, and more with the Sonos S2 app.
Sound Changes
Drives sound from your Roam to another Sonos speaker
It works by going backwards
Audio Switch is one of the best features of Sonos Roam, allowing you to ‘throw’ music from your Sonos Roam to the nearest Sonos Roam speaker available, and vice versa.
All you have to do is hold the play / pause button until you hear a third tone (one more than you pair two speakers), while holding Sonos Roam next to another speaker. Your music should start playing from a second speaker - or if you stream to the Sonos system, full speaker setting.
We tried Switch Swap with our home movie program, which included Sonos Arc, two background speakers for Sonos One SL, and Sonos Sub, and it worked freely. Being able to bring Sonos Roam in from the kitchen to our living room and keep listening to our music on the surrounding sound system without having to indulge in our phone was fantastic.
As mentioned this feature also works in reverse, so holding the play / pause button will cause Roam to pick up sound playing from another speaker or set - it helps if you take Roam out to the garden for example.
Communication
Easy setup
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection
Auto switch
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