Sonos is set to reveal its all-new Roam portable speaker next week, with an expected Australian release date in late April at around $250.
The Sonos Roam looks to be far more portable than the bulky Sonos Move, which was essentially a very beefed-up Sonos One with a whopping great battery pack to boot.
In comparison, the Roam is said to hew closer to the dimensions and weight of other portable speakers such as the Ultimate Ears Boom — but with the ability to become part of your Sonos multi-room WiFi system at home, while relaxing on the deck or by the pool, doing some gardening or even while giving your car that overdue wash and polish.
While you’re out and about, the Sonos Roam will fall back on Bluetooth for streaming music from your smartphone.
That WiFi+Bluetooth combo could make the triangular Sonos Roam the perfect travel speaker, with plenty of ways to use it at home when you’re not travelling.
(We’re curious to see if the Sonos Roam leverages the small footprint speaker technology of Ikea’s Sonos-designed Symfonisk bookshelf speaker to achieve its compact form factor.)
According to a report by tech site The Verge, which also snared what it claims to be pre-release PR photos, the Sonos Roam will land at US$169, parking it just under the US$179 Sonos One SL — which in turn sells for $269 in Australia, hence why we expect the Sonos Roam to retail here at around the $250 mark.
However, unlike the Sonos One SL, the Sonos Roam will sport built-in microphones for hands-free voice control using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
Also on the Roam’s rumoured feature list: 10 hours of battery life, a waterproof casing and 500 gram weight, support for Apple AirPlay 2 and an optional battery-charging dock.
Sonos has sent out invitations for a launch event for Tuesday March 9 (US time) with the promise that “Something not so big is coming”, so by the middle of next week we’ll know how this shakes out…
This will be prefect for the bathroom, a small space which rarely deserves its own speaker as you’re only in there a short while to shower and bathe. I’ll definitely get a Sonos Roam to use there and on the back verandah for everything from G&T hour to a BBQ, plus take it overseas as a Bluetooth speaker, bonus!
