The heavily rumoured Sonos Roam is here. After months of speculation, the Californian firm today announced its second foray into the world of portable Bluetooth speakers. The Roam promises a typically impressive audio experience in the sleekest, most durable form factor the firm has ever created; Sonos claims the new speaker is its most versatile yet and, based on the specs sheet, we’re inclined to agree.
Fundamentally a Bluetooth speaker with added smarts – like the excellent Sonos Move – the Sonos Roam can simultaneously connect to and slip between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth seamlessly depending on where you take it, with no interruption to playback. This is one of two noteworthy new features: the other is Sound Swap, where holding the play/pause button on the Roam “passes” the audio along to the closest Sonos speaker on your network, meaning your tunes can follow you around your home.
Weighing 430g and measuring 168mm from end to end, the Roam is small enough to carry with you in a jacket pocket, unlike its beefy sibling the Sonos Move. In spite of their physical differences, however, the Sonos Move and Sonos Roam share a few key features, chief among which is Automatic TruePlay. The Roam will take stock of its surroundings after you’ve moved it using the built-in microphone and adjust its EQ settings to best suit say, a smaller room or a garden patio.
Auto TruePlay was introduced with the Sonos Move, so it’s not new technology, but it was initially unavailable while connected to the Move via Bluetooth. Thankfully, this is no longer the case with the Roam – and the limitation will be removed from the Move in a software update in the near future.
Both the Roam and the Move run for around ten hours on a single charge. The Roam can be charged via a magnetic charging dock (sold separately), a Qi charging pad or the USB-C port and bundled cable.
Like the Move, the Roam is dust- and water-resistant; unlike the Move, however, the Roam achieves a more effective IP67 rating against dust and water, meaning it can be submerged in water up to 1m deep for up to 30 minutes. A pair of concave silicone end caps provide further protection against accidental drops.
The Roam will of course work in perfect harmony with your existing Sonos setup and can be twinned with another identical speaker to produce stereo audio, although it can’t be configured to work as a surround-sound speaker, a shortcoming shared by the Move. The Roam supports AirPlay 2, Alexa and Google Assistant, and will play music from over 100 streaming services via the Sonos app.
With a features list this impressive, we’re very keen to see how the Roam performs in its most crucial duty: playing music. We’re going to have to wait a little while longer for that, though, as the Sonos Roam is available from 20 April 2021. It’ll set you back £159 ($169) and will be available in black or white colourways.
You can find out more about the Roam here.
The post Sonos Roam: Sonos announces new waterproof portable speaker appeared first on abangtech.
source https://abangtech.com/sonos-roam-sonos-announces-new-waterproof-portable-speaker/
No comments:
Post a Comment