More details about Sonos’ portable Roam speaker are dripping out, and they suggest there’s more to pull you in next to the size and price. The edge claims the Roam will have some advantages over the larger Move, especially ‘Sound Swap’. The feature can allegedly transfer music from the Roam to a nearby Sonos speaker when you hold down the play / pause button. For example, you could start playing an album on the Roam in your backyard and be ready to listen to a more powerful Five when you’m ready to go inside.
With the Roam, you can use Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time, unlike the Move. You can play music from your phone through your entire Sonos setup using Bluetooth. You also get the same automatic audio tuning (i.e. Trueplay) as the Move, according to the leak. And yes, there is IP67 resistance to water and dust for the time you get caught in the rain.
Sonos is expected to launch the Roam during a virtual event on March 9 and ship it on April 20 for $ 169. This would still make it one of the more expensive portable speakers on the market, but Sound Swap and automatic tuning can tip the balance if you are more interested in convenience and fidelity than an unusable volume.