For all music lovers out there, it can be somewhat hard to find a smart speaker that’s perfectly suited for any of your typical daily activities. That goes especially for those that love to explore and enjoy the outdoors, as there are still many smart speakers on the market that are solely designed for Smart Home setups, and not to be taken outdoors. Moreover, for smart speaker models that are designed for outdoors use, many of those can still lack on some crucial features, whether that’s having a long-lasting battery-life, or even convenient quality-of-life features like support to the most common Voice Assistants. Still, if you’re looking for a portable smart speaker packing all those features that you can take with you in any of your outdoors adventures, then the Sonos Roam is definitely worth your money.
The Sonos Roam is a lightweight portable smart speaker that features a durable and waterproof-construction, great sound quality, both Bluetooth and WiFi Connectivity, support to Apple AirPlay 2, Voice Assistant Support and up to 10 hours of battery life.
Boasting an unbelievable sound quality both for at home and on-the-go listening, this lightweight and outdoor-ready portable smart speaker was designed to let you appreciate your favorite tunes anywhere and at any time.
With it, you can enjoy countless hours of listening to music, radio, audiobooks, and more, all while the Roam’s long-lasting rechargeable battery ensures an all-day listening experience.
Now, let’s have a more detailed look at the Sonos Roam and check out everything that makes it such an outstanding portable smart speaker for daily use.
DESIGN & SPECS
Starting with the smart speaker’s size, the Sonos Roam comes at a very compact size, measuring just 2.44 inches long by 2.36 inches wide by 6.61 inches tall (62 x 60 x 168 mm). In addition, this smart speaker is also quite lightweight, weighing just 0.95 lbs (0.43 kg).
It’s ultra-compact size ultimately ensures that you can always bring the speaker with you when you’re on-the-go, no matter if you’re simply planning on going to a picnic or to the beach, or even if you’re traveling for a business journey, for a camping trip, for a vacation abroad, or anything else in between.
For its design, the speaker features a simple and minimalist design that’s accompanied by a smooth Matte finish, which not only gives it an ultra-modern look, but also allows it to easily blend in into every corner of your home.
Furthermore, the Roam also features an ultra-durable construction that ultimately makes this smart speaker Drop-Resistant.
In fact, this smart speaker is also rated to have a IP67 Waterproof-Rating that makes it both dust-proof as well as waterproof, meaning that the speaker can be submerged up to 3 ft. (1 m) of water for up to 30 minutes at most.
Thanks to all of that, you can ultimately take this smart speaker with you pretty much anywhere, whether that’s to a camping adventure, to the beach, or even to a pool-party, all without having to worry if it gets accidentally dropped onto dirt, sand, or even inside a body of water.
Moving on to its main internal components. For processing information, the speaker boasts a 1.4 GHz A-53 Quad Core CPU, as well as 4GB NV and a 1GB SDRAM Memories.
AUDIO SPECS & AUDIO QUALITY
As said before, this portable smart speaker is also capable of producing an outstanding sound quality. That’s because the Roam integrates a precision-engineered acoustic system that ultimately allows it to deliver an incredible clarity and depth when playing audio / music.
On that note, know that the speaker’s internal acoustic system is composed of Two Class-H Digital Amplifiers that are perfectly tuned to the speaker’s unique acoustic architecture, which are then combined with one high-end Tweeter that’s responsible for creating a crisp high-frequency response and also with a Midwoofer that not only ensures a faithful playback of any mid-range frequencies, but also helps to maximize low-end output.
In addition, this smart speaker also integrates a Far-Field Microphone Array that uses advanced beamforming and multi-channel echo cancellation for quick and accurate Voice Controls when using the speaker together with a Voice Assistant (more on that at the end of the article).
What’s even more impressive is that the Roam’s Far-Field Microphone Array is powered by a proprietary Automatic Trueplay Tuning technology, which allows the Roam to automatically tune / adapt its sound settings both for your surroundings as well as for your choice of content.
Thanks to that, the speaker’s sound will even be adapted according to the speaker’s orientation, which ultimately ensures for the best listening experience.
INTERFACE / CONTROL PANEL
At the top-side of the speaker, we also have a fairly simple built-in Control Panel that features a very straightforward interface, which basically makes it very intuitive for users to use the smart speaker’s different controls.
The speaker’s Control Panel only consists of a small array of Button Controls, which can be used for performing simple functions such as Play, Pause, Skip, Repeat, Mute and Unmute the speaker’s Microphone, and manually switch to Bluetooth.
Above the speaker’s Mute/Unmute Microphone Button, there’s also a MIC Status LED that lets you know when you have the Roam’s internal Microphone Array muted (when the LED is ON).
At the center of the speaker’s body, sitting just above its SONOS Logo, we also have one other Default Status LED that lights up to inform users about the speaker’s connection-status, charge-status, and errors.
CONNECTIVITY
For its connectivity capabilities, the Roam features Bluetooth 5.0 Connectivity for streaming audio directly from your smartphone, tablet, or computer, and also features WiFi Connectivity for using it together with its Smartphone Companion App (as well as for Apple AirPlay 2), with support to the most common wireless standards (802.11a/b/g/n/ac at both 2.4GHz or 5 GHz).
BATTERY & BATTERY LIFE
For its power-source, the Roam utilizes a built-in 18Wh rechargeable battery that can offer you up to 10 hours of battery life / continuous playback (note that this is only for when having the speaker set to play your audio at moderate volumes).
For recharging the speaker’s battery, all you have to do is connect its included USB-A to USB-C Charging Cable between the speaker’s USB-C Charging Port (found at the back-side of the device) and any standard 5V/1.5A USB Power Adapter (7.5W or higher).
In addition, this smart speaker also supports Qi Wireless Charging, so you can also recharge it via Wireless Charging by using either the Sonos Roam Wireless Charger or any standard Qi-certified wireless charger.
THE SMARTPHONE COMPANION APP – The Sonos App
The Sonos Roam Smart Speaker can also be used together with the Sonos App for even more functionalities. The Sonos App is available to download for free for both iOS and Android devices.
Via the Sonos App, users can personalize the speaker’s sound settings via an Adjustable EQ, which basically allows you to adjust the speaker’s bass, treble, and overall loudness (meaning its standard volume-level).
Moreover, the App also allows users to connect the Roam to all of their favorite services for streaming and controlling the speaker, with options ranging from browsing all your music, podcasts, radio, and audiobooks in one place, as well as including connecting the speaker with a Voice Assistant for using its dedicated voice-controls.
Lastly, the App even allows users to discover new music on Sonos Radio.
OTHER NOTABLE SMART FEATURES
Dual Pairing
Thanks to its Bluetooth Connectivity, the Sonos Roam can also be set to work in Dual Pairing, meaning that you can get it to work in synchrony with more Sonos Speakers around your home for a multiroom listening experience.
In fact, those extra Sonos Speakers can even be smart speaker models that are different from the Sonos Roam, which is quite cool. That said, the Roam’s Dual Pairing functionality ultimately allows you to build a customized smart speaker system over time within your home.
For enabling the Roam’s Dual Pairing function, all that you have to do is to hold the Play/Pause Button for a few seconds, which will then send sound between the Roam and the nearest Sonos product in your system.
Apple AirPlay 2
It’s also worth noting that this smart speaker also features support to Apple AirPlay 2, which basically allows users to send sound to the Sonos Roam Smart Speaker directly from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Once that’s done, users can then also ask Siri to adjust the volume level (up or down) directly from their device.
Voice Assistant Support
Last but not least, this sleek smart speaker also features Voice Assistant support, working both with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant, which you can enable to interact with the speaker via easy-to-use voice-controls for setting timers, checking the news, controlling other Smart Home devices within your home, and more.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Sonos Roam is a lightweight portable smart speaker that features a durable and waterproof-construction, great sound quality, both Bluetooth and WiFi Connectivity, support to Apple AirPlay 2, Voice Assistant Support and up to 10 hours of battery life.
Boasting an unbelievable sound quality both for at home and on-the-go listening, this lightweight and outdoor-ready portable smart speaker was designed to let you appreciate your favorite tunes anywhere and at any time.
With it, you can enjoy countless hours of listening to music, radio, audiobooks, and more, all while the Roam’s long-lasting rechargeable battery ensures an all-day listening experience.
If you’re interested in buying it, each unit is currently going for $179. You can order the Roam Smart Speaker online, directly from Sono’s official shopping page.
