Rumors of a new Sonos speaker have been circulating for a while now, and it looks like every detail of the new Sonos Roam has been leaked before it was announced.
The edge images and specs obtained for the $ 169 Roam, which is a waterproof portable speaker that looks like a UE Boom 3, but, you know, Sonos. The price, if accurate, places the Roam between the $ 150 Boom 3 and $ 200 Megaboom 3.
The speaker weighs about 1 pound and measures 6.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches, making it smaller than the Tree 3. And like the Tree 3, it can be charged wirelessly via a $ 49 drawer that is separate will be sold. As you can see below in the image of the Verge, the Roam looks pretty Tree-like (though a bit more triangular in shape and minus the absolutely giant volume buttons).
However, according to the leaked details, there are some differences between Sonos’ new speaker and the popular Boom 3. First, the Sonos Roam will apparently use both Bluetooth and wifi, so you can connect to your home network while you are at home and on the go with Bluetooth can couple. And the Boom 3’s microUSB charging port is inconvenient for those of us who are fully USB-C, so I’m delighted at what appears to be a USB-C cable in one of the leaked images. The Verge reports that the Roam will last about 10 hours at a charge, which is significantly less than the Boom 3’s 15-hour battery life – though reasonable, the demands of the speaker’s battery life depend on a number of factors. , including the volume.
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And according to the Verge, the Roam has built-in microphones for activating voice assistants (Alexa and Google Assistant), support for AirPlay 2, and can be connected to another Roam via wifi for stereo sound. Those advanced features suddenly make the Boom 3 look a bit basic.
Since someone has invested in the Sonos ecosystem, which also owns a Boom 3 for outbuildings, I’m curious to see how the Sonos Roam stacks up. I considered a Sonos Move, which is currently the company’s only portable offering, but the speaker is much larger and freakin ‘expensive. I would like to stream music across my Playbase and then bring the party outside (if we are having parties again) with a smaller, more robust speaker.
Sonos had earlier announced that it would hold an event on March 9, presumably to launch this speaker. According to The Verge, the Sonos Roam will ship on April 20th.