Sonos Roam: Big Vibes, Small Package
The usual premium build you'd expect from Sonos but w/ a bit more rugged capabilities.
The Sonos Roam is a tall triangle w/ rounded edges which is an entirely different form factor from its larger, oblong oval-shaped Sonos Move. Sonos went for the smaller & lighter footprint for their latest portable Bluetooth speaker. The Roam stands at 6.6inches tall & weighs in at under 1lb which is shorter & lighter than the other popular Bluetooth speakers – which is always a plus. All within a matte finish on the rear + many precision drilled holes as a speaker grille.
It is also Sonos 1st speaker to get an IP67 dust/water-resistant rating (up to 3ft of water for up to 30 minutes) – another welcome addition. Making it ideal for the beach, pool, hiking, and even your shower. You got silicon top/bottom to help handle drops as well but they offer a double feature as well. The bottom is how you access the wireless charging features w/ the $49 Sonos accessory that’s not included or another Qi charger. While the top house all of the physical buttons (Play/Pause, Volume Up, Volume Down, & Voice Control) as well as the far-field mic. On the back, you only got the USB-C port + power button. corper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Now the sound quality of the Roam definitely lives up to the Sonos branding. Especially since it’s the baby brother of the Move portable speaker. Although smaller, it is still armed to produce & compete within the small speaker space. Sonos equipped this w/ 2 Class H digital amps, 1 tweeter, & 1 mid-woofer – powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core ARM CPU + 1GB of RAM.
Although it doesn't offer a 360-degree sound, it's still clear, enough bass, & plenty loud.
Everything Sonos has put on has been great & mostly worth the price. So I wasn’t totally surprised how good the Roam sounded. I tested it by playing plenty of R&B, Rap, and 80s/90s Pop playlists from Spotify + Pandora as well as the latest from Jazmine Sullivan & J. Cole to really hear its ability among different genres & mix qualities throughout the decades. The Roam easily offers really good output, clarity, & a good amount of bass – especially for its size. However, others in its class can output more bass but at the sacrifice of better sounding audio in comparison to the Roam.
It also has the Sonos Trueplay feature which can optimize the room for better sound. Being a smaller speaker this feature comes in handy for those of you who plan on using this in your bathroom. While it is a Sonos product, currently cannot pair w/ other Sonos speakers. It can only pair 2 Roam speakers over Wi-Fi & not Bluetooth BTW. And speaking of the 2 connections, the Roam can only use Wi-Fi at home & Bluetooth outside.
Now the question everyone wants to know is, how does it compare to the likes of the UE Boom 3? It actually loses in most areas save for one. The UE Boom can get louder w/ punchier bass thanks to its 360-degree sound courtesy of 2 drivers & 2 passive radiators. However, the Roam can produce a more clearer sound w/ less distortion at higher volumes. So it will ultimately come down to what’s more important to you: sound quality over the bass + output.
The Roam is equipped w/ an 18W battery capable of 10-hours of juice w/ the option for wireless charging. Which is just OK in the grand scheme of portable speakers as others start off w/ around 15 hours like on the UE Boom 3. It does take over 2 hours to fully charge from being dead but w/ a 15W brick can charge a bit faster.
Sonos quotes it as offering 10-days of standby time as well. However, it doesn’t ship w/ a USB brick as it comes w/ just the cable for charging. They do sell a 10W wireless charging dock for $49 but you can charge the speaker on any QI wireless charging pad up to 15W though. So being a slightly shorter battery life it is more adaptable than the competition for charging.
Sonos did a good job w/ making the Roam an even smaller portable speaker after using what they’ve learned from the Move. Despite being smaller, it does pack a really good punch of bass, clarity, & overall output. If the Roam has any weak points or areas to improve, the battery life area would be it. Some may want more control for connectivity but that might be on a use case basis. As an owner of the Sonos Playbase, the Roam is a great addition to the household – despite not being able to work in tandem w/ it. So w/ its ups & downs, it’s a pretty good buy for $169 for that sweet Sonos sound on the go.
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