Sonos Roam Review: Better than a small speaker has any right to be

By Alex Choros

Last updated 06 April 2021

Sonos Roam Review: The Verdict

With the Roam, Sonos finally has a Bluetooth speaker small and light enough to take out of the home. Better yet, it's managed to achieve this without sacrificing sound quality.

What we love

Incredible sound quality for such a small speaker
Tiny and light
Slick design

What could be improved

Can be a bit quiet
10 hours of battery is on the shorter side
Keeps getting The B-52s stuck in my head

90/100

$279

Sonos is known for its premium wireless speakers, but what happens when you try and shrink that formula? Size genuinely matters when it comes to speakers, given larger models can typically go louder and play more bass. The Sonos Roam is the manufacturer's smallest speaker to date; a tiny little thing that's just a bit taller than a tinnie. A Sonos you genuinely want to take out of the home is an alluring concept, but there's always the question of whether it sounds any good.

Bigger on the inside

Fortunately, the Sonos Roam is quite possibly the best sounding, small, battery-powered speaker around. It has a clear, balanced profile that's hard to fault. Even tracks with complex layering like Baroness' sludge metal odyssey "Wanderlust" come through with superb clarity. It's easy to distinguish high, mids, and lows.

You also don't get any of the compressed, tinny audio quality that smaller speakers tend to suffer from, and the Sonos Roam doesn't have any issues with low-end frequencies. For example, sub-bass on bangers like Childish Gambino's "3005" and Billie Eilish's "Bury A Friend" still rings out clearly, and you get a nice meaty chug on Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou's beastly cover of "Hollywood".

Other small speakers like Apple's HomePod mini have a much weaker bass response, and the sub-bass is muted entirely. It's almost like the Roam is a smaller, quieter Sonos One, which is an impressive feat given the diminutive form-factor.

While the Roam is definitely quieter than the plug-in speakers in the Sonos family, it can still pack a punch. Indoors, medium volume is enough to fill a space, and the audio travels reasonably well. Outdoors, the Roam doesn't fare as well. I took the Roam to a 15 or so person picnic the other day, and found it a bit too soft. It was loud enough to be heard with the volume maxed, but it was very much relegated to background tune duty. The Sonos Roam isn't a party speaker.

Roam if you want to

The Roam is Sonos' second crack at a portable speaker, and this time around, it's actually portable. The Sonos Move, the Roam's older sibling could put your back out, with a hefty weight of 3kg. I've never taken it further than my balcony, and certainly I've never taken it travelling with me. My laptop weighs down my backpack enough.

On the other hand, the Roam weighs in at just over 400g. It should comfortable fit in the drink bottle pocket of any backpack. It's basically beginning to be taken on adventures, which make the IP67 water-resistance rating very welcome. In addition, Sonos says the Roam can easily survive drops of up to 1.5m. It can handle a bit of a beating.

On top of being a portable Bluetooth speaker, the Roam also fits into Sonos' wireless multiroom ecosystem. If you have other Sonos speakers, you can connect to the Roam over WiFi and group it with your other devices. It's a Bluetooth speaker on the go, and a wireless speaker at home, which provides a nice bit of extra versatility.

While you needed to manually toggle the Sonos Move between Bluetooth and WiFi modes, the Roam is a little bit smarter. It should automatically switch to being a Bluetooth speaker if you're outside of the home. However, Sometimes I found I needed to manually toggle it by tapping the play button, as it can have a tendency to try and hunt for WiFi first.

Sonos has also introduced a rather interesting new software feature to the Roam: Sound Swap. You can press and hold the play button to beam whatever you're listening to on the Roam to the nearest Sonos speaker in your house or vice versa. It's kind of neat, but also I'm not quite sure in which context I'd use it in. I've never walked into my apartment with a Bluetooth speaker still playing music. It could be more useful if you've got a big backyard and a bringing the Roam back indoors, but Sound Swap seems like it's more so laying the foundations for Sonos' long rumoured headphones.

In terms of battery, Sonos says you can expect up to ten hours of continuous playback at moderate volume. From our testing the that figure sounds about right, but cranking the volume higher can drain the battery a little faster. You can recharge via USB C power brick or a Qi wireless charger.

Ten hours of playback should be enough for most occasions, but it is on the shorter side for a portable speaker. The similarly-sized UE Boom 3 offers up to 15 hours of playback per charge, for example, and the slightly larger JBL Charge 4 can go up to 20 hours.

Lastly, there's the price-tag: $279. That's definitely on the more expensive side for a portable speaker, and just $20 shy of a Sonos One. However, I'd say the pristine sound and versatility make it worth the premium. What's a less sensible buy is the optional wireless charger that will set you back a further $79. While the magnetic base gives you a simple spot to leave the Sonos Roam when you're at home, the price feels too expensive for a charger.

Sonos Roam - Final Thoughts

Even if you're not already in the Sonos ecosystem, the Roam is a fantastic Bluetooth speaker thanks to sound quality alone. It's not going to power a party, but it's an exceptional on-the-go option that you'll also want to use at home. And the fact you can also use it as part of an existing Sonos setup makes it a no brainer for anyone who's already invested in the manufacturer's speakers but is also after a portable option.

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