Sonos Roam, the perfect portable speaker

Sonos Roam

Sonos has always been able to make products that there is little to complain about. Great build quality, flawless operation and, considering the size of its speakers, top-notch audio quality. Sure, he never gave anything away, but for a price that's not stellar, the relationship between quality, features and price has always been very good.

With Roam, Sonos has learned to take a very important step. The latest addition is in fact the cheapest speaker ever made and is the entry card into the portable Bluetooth speaker market. Actually it had already approached with Move, which is however a solution designed to be moved around the house or garden, while Roam is a 100% portable solution.

If we were to mention the first speaker of this type that comes to mind we would mention the Ultimate Ears Boom 3, one of the most popular, or the JBL Flip 5 or the Charge 4. Sonos Roam, as expected, is at the top of this category with a price of 179 euros, but we say right away, it's the best you can buy. It doesn't excel in every field, but it is the one that offers the best mix of features, even if the price is a little higher than average.

How it's made

It is surprisingly sized contained considering the acoustic performance, in fact it is just over 15 cm high (168mm), while width and depth are respectively 60 and 62 mm. The triangular shape allows it to be positioned horizontally, with the speakers facing slightly upwards, or even vertically thanks to the flat base.

In the upper part (when placed vertically), there are four buttons, one for play / pause, two for volume and the fourth disables the microphone. Two LEDs, one positioned above and the other on the front (when placed horizontally), indicate the status. The power button, together with the USB-C connector for battery charging are positioned behind. The weight is anything but indifferent, in fact 430 grams can be felt in such a compact product.

Roam is IP67 certified, and this means that you can safely take it by the pool or in the rain without any particular problems. Connectivity is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, while the microphone offers access to voice control, Alexa or Google. The battery charges via the USB-C port, but the bottom surface (when vertically) integrates a magnetic induction charging system , which works with any Qi-certified wireless charger.

Battery Life

Sonos talks about 10 hours of battery life. This result mainly depends on the volume and the type of connection (Wi-Fi or Bluetooth). We measured fluctuating results and we can evaluate the autonomy as between 8 and 10 hours according to the different conditions. It is not a result that we can consider phenomenal, since there are other products able to do better from this point of view, in the face of on average larger dimensions. So if we consider the small footprint, we have to consider it a good result.

Audio quality

A mid-woofer and a tweeter, powered by two digital amplifiers, are responsible for the audio quality. We mentioned at the beginning of this article, the audio quality is one of the valuable features of the Roam, and the reason is that the performance is balanced. Other models, even slightly larger, are still capable of reproducing vibrant bass and higher power than Roam, but the control exerted by this Sonos speaker is superior to other speakers. The yield is average, the voices (both male and female) are excellently reproduced and the tweeter does its duty by giving brilliance to the scene. The most lacking part is precisely that of the basses, but that does not mean that there are none; the rendering is simply balanced and this benefits more complex tracks. The speed of the mid-woofer is such that it can manage even in complicated and super-rhythmic tracks (Thundercat - Uh uh). In tracks like Anne Sofie Von Otter's "Baby Plays Around" you want a little more mid-high accuracy, but the yield remains sensational for such a compact product.

Verdict

Sonos Roam has some weapons that allow it to be preferred over other portable speakers, even if it costs a little more. The first is certainly the presence of Wi-Fi that allows it to connect to a home network and enter the Sonos ecosystem, which involves the possibility of taking advantage of the smartphone application, well done, and offering itself as a multi-room solution together. to other speakers.

The audio quality is undoubtedly good, and it becomes very good considering the size. Putting price and size into the equation, we could even say that it is the best Sonos speaker ever produced, not in absolute terms, but in terms of features, quality and price.

Bluetooth allows you to connect it to a smartphone and to take it with us, while the IP67 certification makes it waterproof and resistant. The base compatible with wireless charging amplifies its ergonomics.

So Roam sono is not a great Bluetooth speaker, but also a great chance to create a multi-room audio system with all the Sonos functions, at a price never seen before.

We confer our Award on Roam.