More details of Sonos’ portable Roam speaker are dribbling out, and they suggest there will be more to draw you in besides the size and price. The Verge claims the Roam will include a few advantages over the larger Move, most notably “Sound Swap.” The feature can reportedly pass music from the Roam to a nearby Sonos speaker when you hold the play/pause button. You could start playing an album on the Roam in your backyard, for instance, and finish listening on a more powerful Five when you’re ready to head inside.
The Roam will also let you use Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time, unlike the Move. You could play music from your phone across your whole Sonos setup using Bluetooth You’ll also get the same automatic sound tuning (that is, Trueplay) as the Move, according to the leak. And yes, there’s IP67 water and dust resistance for those times you’re caught out in the rain.
Sonos is expected to introduce the Roam at a March 9th virtual event and ship it on April 20th for $169. That would still make it one of the costlier portable speakers on the market, but Sound Swap and automatic tuning could tip the balance if you’re more interested in convenience and fidelity than raw volume.