Sonos used to only be a speaker company for those that could afford to spend hundreds on a new speaker or speaker system. But in recent years, Sonos has
Sonos used to only be a speaker company for those that could afford to spend hundreds on a new speaker or speaker system. But in recent years, Sonos has released some really great speakers that are relatively cheap, without watering down their brand. The Sonos Move was their first portable speaker, which impressed a lot of people, myself included, at $399. Now we have the Sonos Roam. Which is a much smaller portable speaker, that comes in at $169. That’s the cheapest speaker in its lineup. So why did Sonos opt for a much cheaper price tag? Well, to get more people into the ecosystem. Because once you get in, you will want to buy more Sonos speakers to take advantage of the multi-room audio – all of which can be controlled in the app. Now just because the is the cheapest speaker the company has made, doesn’t mean it’s a bad speaker. In fact, quite the contrary. I was surprised by just how good this speaker is. When Fedex dropped off the Sonos Roam, I was very surprised at how small the box was. I knew the Roam was going to be small, but I honestly did not expect it to be this small. Of course, part of the reason the packaging was so small was due to the fact that there is no charger in the box. But we’ll talk a bit more about that in a minute. The Roam is a triangle shaped speaker. It’s a tiny bit taller than a smartphone. So that gives you a good idea of just how short it is, and how small. It fits quite nicely under my monitor, and packs a punch in terms of audio quality. Which is another area that surprised me. The build quality of the Sonos Roam is exactly what you’d expect from Sonos. It is plastic, but it’s more like polycarbonate. So it feels nice in the hand. Which is not something we’d normally talk about with a speaker, but since this is portable, you can move it around the house and take it to the beach. On the back, there is the USB-C port as well as a power button. The USB-C port is definitely a good send. But not the first time Sonos has used USB-C, as it is also available on the Move. Though the Move also comes with a base for charging, so I never used the USB-C port myself. On the left triangle side of the speaker, you’ll find a microphone button with an LED above it. This is where you can opt to turn on or off the microphone. I usually keep it off, since I have many other Google Assistant devices around my desk. Below that is the play/pause button with the volume buttons on either side. The opposite end is the wireless charging base.
