You guys done screwing around? Let's shoot this video. Hi, this is Brian from World
Wide Stereo coming to you from our showroom in Montgomeryville, PA. I'm excited to show you
the latest groundbreaking product from Sonos, the Roam, their brand new portable Bluetooth speaker.
In this video, I'll show you the Roam's functionality, the technology behind it,
its features, and how it fits in Sonos' lineup. So, let me talk about Sonos and World Wide Stereo.
We have a very long and exciting relationship. I remember being introduced to their first product,
the ZP100 back in 2006. Immediately I saw for what it was, a game-changer. Sonos did
what others at the time didn't, and that was they made digital music accessible and easy at home.
Fast forward 15 years and Sonos introduces its newest hit, the Roam. Sonos knows that
where you are shouldn't dictate what you can listen to and how good it should sound.
Sonos created the Roam for you to go beyond your home and listen to music anywhere
in almost any condition. I'm a Sonos enthusiast,
I've owned almost every product they've released. ZP90, ZP120, the Play:1, the Play:3, the Play:5,
the Playbar. And now with a recent S2 update and Sonos' push for higher resolution audio,
I jumped to the Five, the Port, the Amp, the Arc, and the Move. I've been in their beta programs,
both software and hardware. I can't count the number of times I've signed their NDAs,
which I can't tell you about. When I found out about the Roam, I wanted it. Before I even heard
it, I wanted it because it ticked all the boxes. Wi-Fi, check, Bluetooth, check, battery-operated,
check, voice control, check, waterproof, check, Sonos, double-check. The only thing
I needed to do was get my hands on it and start playing. Luckily, World Wide Stereo has a stellar
relationship with Sonos and I got to play with the Roam early. And yes, you should be jealous.
I've had a ton of fun trying it out in all kinds of situations and setups.
The Roam delivers brilliant sound anywhere, at any time. No matter what you're listening to, music,
podcast, books, whatever. The sound is crucial to the experience and the Roam crushed it. Using my
Cobos playlist, I listen for intricacies, details, and bass. Bass hit and played reasonably deep
for its size. There were slight details for the acoustic guitar and vocals were clear and precise.
A lot of sound for a little product. How did they do that? The Roam was engineered from the ground
up. There's a custom-designed mid-range driver which is oval-shaped and it has a carbon fiber
reinforced cone. The grill has 7,500 individual drilled holes on a 180-degree grill. It also,
behind that, has a purpose-built honeycomb grill that is acoustically transparent. So,
it doesn't affect the audio quality and it serves a second purpose of reinforcing the grill
to prevent damage or denting it if it's dropped.
I do love testing the limits of things. I mentioned that I'm a Sonos enthusiast.
So, I took the Pepsi challenge with the Roam against a variety of standalone speakers. So,
I played it against the Play:1, the Play:3, the Play:5, Gen 2, the One and the Five. It's best
against the one series speakers, the Play:1 and the one. The one has a fuller sound but it has
an unfair advantage by having a bigger speaker already. However, I couldn't take my one in the
shower to listen to "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane like I did the Roam. The Roam is Sonos'
second wireless portable speaker. So, let's take a look at how the Roam compares to the Move.
First things first, size comparison. As you can see, the Roam is relatively small in comparison to
the Move. It also weighs 1 pound versus the Move which is larger and weighs about 6.6 pounds. The
Roam is the best choice for when you're looking for portability. Think poolside, the beach,
on your bike, etc. The Roam fit perfectly on my bike in the water holder and it's lightweight,
and really easy to move around. The Move I found is best equipped for a larger outdoor space.
Think your patio, think by your bonfire pit, think when music is for the crowd, not just for you.
I see the Roam as a companion to the Move, not as much as a replacement.
So, it's not about making direct comparisons between speakers because they all have their
own unique qualities. What is important to look at is, do they stand on their own or lay
because the Roam is comfortable, you know, horizontally and vertically. I received two
Roam speakers, a black and a white. This let me test them in multiple locations and allowed me to
set them up as a stereo pair. This worked really well. I walked around my home and listened to them
all over so I can compare them with the other Sonos speakers I have. It was fun.
I set up the Roam to go against the One I have in my kitchen, against my Move that I use on my patio
and my master bathroom. And the final testing position was my home office. Which has got a
lot of use lately by replacing the stereo pair of Play:1s that were on my desk with the Roams.
I could easily move them around and find a good spot for them to sit and get good stereo imaging.
Also, they took up much less room. I kept them powered up with a USB-C cable and my USB power
strip. I listened to music and I was finally able to connect my computer to the speakers
utilizing the Bluetooth out of my computer, which was something that I was lacking in the Play:1s.
The second I powered up the Roam, it was ready to go. I opened up my Sonos app and it popped
up on the screen telling me I had a Roam ready to set up. Installed my wireless information and
automatically transferred it over. It suggested I place my phone behind the unit so it could use NFC
to transfer over the setup pin. And yes, the Roam is the first Sonos speaker to offer NFC pairing.
If the NFC doesn't work, we'll go to the next method, which is sending it
through an auditory tone. And if that doesn't work, it will display the eight-digit PIN.
This is all security measures to ensure that you are the one setting up your product.
The Roam has to be set up on your Wi-Fi. Even though it is a Bluetooth speaker,
it needs to be set up on the Wi-Fi first. So, it has to be connected to your home system
before you can go and take it out into the world. Let's dive deep into the Roam. First,
the basics. The Roam has a triangular form factor that fits easily into your hand.
There's tactile buttons on the top to raise and lower the volume, play and pause music. And the
microphone button for enabling or disabling voice control. Now, one thing to note, voice assistants
are currently unavailable via Bluetooth, so you can only use that at your home on your
Wi-Fi. The Roam has up to 10 hours of continuous playback on battery power. And when not in use, it
goes into a standby mode and could last up to 10 days. It also has rapid charging capability. You
can charge the Roam with the included 90-degree USB-C cable or wirelessly with any Qi charger, or
you can purchase separately the Roam charger which gives it a home. It has a magnetic base which
allows it to fit perfectly with the Roam and its IP54 rated. I'll get into what that means soon.
Let's talk about an important feature of the Roam. The Roam is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth congruent.
What does that mean? It means unlike Sonos' other portable product, the Move where you
must set it to either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, the Roam leaves both active. What does that mean?
It means anyone will be able to connect to your Roam via Bluetooth, and you can play whatever
you want throughout your house on your Sonos system. You can stick the Roam sound to any
other Sonos unit you have in the house as long as the Roam stays connected to its Bluetooth source.
It was described to me as a Bluetooth line-in. I tried this out a couple of different ways. I
connected to my phone and use the Roam to watch YouTube videos in my kitchen
as I perfected my sourdough recipe. I even went as far as to connect my Sony TV to my Roam,
and it barely missed a step. Now, there is a possibility for lag when connecting it this way,
but that can be adjusted per your television. It's the same as when I connect my Bluetooth
headphones. I was even able to control the volume of the Roam with my TV remote and was able to
play/pause my TV through the Sonos app. It's amazing how interconnectivity works these days.
If you're adding the Roam to an existing system, you'll be interested in the new
music swap feature. This allows what you're playing on the Roam to sync to the closest
Sonos unit. How does it choose which one to pick? A high-frequency locator beacon. How cool is that?
To make the music swap is simple. Press and hold the play pause button until you hear a change to
the closest speaker. It's an easy way to bring the Roam home and to get your house rocking.
Some of these things are a stretch of use, but it shows the flexibility that the Roam brings
to your system. And that's just inside your home. Since it's Bluetooth, it means it can go anywhere.
Strap it to your bike, your backpack, your kayak, your fanny pack, anything. The Roam is ready to
bring the party anywhere and in any condition. What do I mean when I say anywhere, any condition?
I'll get tactical and talk about the IP rating that I mentioned earlier.
The Roam is IP67 rated. What does that mean? Don't worry, I googled it for you. The six
of the IP67 means that it's dust-tight. And the seven of IP67 means it is waterproof up to three
feet for 30 minutes. Why is this important? This means the Roam is ready for the beach, the lake,
the desert, the hot tub, the kiddie pool, the beer bucket, the tub, and the kitchen sink. But it
can't swim, so it's not ready for the deep end. I would also suggest the white Roam so it's easy to
find before it disappears. I talked about the Roam charger earlier. The Roam charger is IP54 rated.
The five of the IP54 means it's dust protected, and the four of IP54 means it's protected from
splashing water, which means it's splash and dust resistant, not proof. So, keep it out of the pool,
but don't worry if it gets a little wet. Now, back to the tactile buttons. The tactile buttons that
I mentioned before and as I talked about with the music swap features, they have additional features
depending on how you press them. When double pressed, play/pause will skip a track forward,
when triple pressed, play/pause will track back. Also, in your home Sonos system, if you have the
Roam there not using the music swap feature, but if a speaker is playing music already,
you can grab the Roam and press and hold play/pause and it will sync up with the music
that's already playing in your house as well. So, let's do a sound comparison. In front of me,
I have the Roam, the One, and the Move. Please keep in mind that this sound test will not
sound as accurate as it would in our showroom or your home, but it gives you a little taste.
What else did Sonos pack into the Roam? Let's talk about the microphones.
The Roam has three microphones for three important reasons. Multiple orientation, voice capability,
and Sonos' proprietary Trueplay technology. Multiple orientations mean the Roam can sit
horizontally or vertically, and will be able to hear and react no matter how you positioned it.
This allows for easier voice control, but most importantly, it highlights Roam's ability to
use auto Trueplay functionality. What is auto Trueplay? First, Trueplay Sonos' audio
calibration algorithm and is built into all their standalone speaker products, and the amp when used
for specific in wall or in ceiling speakers. We sell those too. To utilize standard Trueplay, you
must have an Apple i device. iPhone, iPad, iTouch. And you run the calibration to the room that your
speaker is placed in. It takes three to five minutes but it makes a discernible difference.
But don't worry, you won't have to do that with the Roam because of auto Trueplay. Auto Trueplay
is the automatic version of Trueplay. Now, waving your phone around and reading the Roam it's done
automatically utilizing the microphones built into the speaker. This was introduced in the
Move in 2019 and is now implemented in the Roam. You will notice the difference as you move about
with the Move or the Roam. I found the biggest change was when I went from inside my home to my
back patio. Ordinarily, speakers lose their oomph when they go outside. But with auto Trueplay,
the Roam notices its new environment and adjusts the audio so it's perfect for the area it's in.
I hope I gave you enough reasons to fall in love with a Roam. I believe it's a perfect add-on
to any Sonos system because of its sound and flexibility. I'm happily replacing my traveling
Bluetooth speaker with this one. Thank you for joining me for a review of the all-new Sonos Roam
portable Bluetooth speaker. You can learn more about this online at worldwidestereo.com or if
you're in the area, you can stop by our showrooms in Ardmore or Montgomeryville, PA. We offer 60-day
returns, free shipping on all orders, and we're authorized dealers for everything we sell. If you
have any comments or questions, leave them in the comment section below. You can call or email us
at any time. Don't forget to stay updated on our latest videos. Subscribe to our YouTube channel,
and hit that notification bell. This is Brian from World Wide Stereo. I'll see you next time.
Immediately I saw it for what it was, a game-changer. Don't worry,
it doesn't need to work.