Sonos Roam 2 review

Perhaps Sonos would have been better off naming its latest Bluetooth speaker the Roam 1.5 rather than the Roam 2. While a few alterations make the US brand’s latest portable unit stand apart from its predecessor, they’re more minor tweaks than the sort of monumental overhauls that can make a sophomore effort significantly unrecognisable or substantially improved from the model that preceded it. 

Calling it the Roam 2, then, could be a decision that comes back to haunt Sonos. It is hardly a bargain basement option, setting you back more than the original version and going up against some of the market’s best-loved rivals. Will Sonos live to regret not giving its slimline sequel a little more firepower before sending it out to bat?

Price

Officially priced at £179 / $179 / AU$299, the Sonos Roam 2 debuts at an increased price over the original 2021 Roam (tested at £159 / $169 / AU$279) – and it's a price that puts the Roam 2 up against stiff competition in the current market.

The superb, five-star JBL Flip 6 can be nabbed for around £90 / $90 / AU$150 these days, while the larger, Award-winning JBL Charge 5 often sinks to around the £140 / $150 / AU$199 mark. The fully refreshed Beats Pill also made a strong comeback and is a key rival at £150 / $150 / AU$249.95.

It's particularly tough competition for a new speaker that hasn’t exactly enjoyed the most revolutionary overhaul. 

Build & design

The Sonos Roam 2’s looks and build can best be described as ‘simple but effective’. Putting us in mind of a smaller, less tasty Toblerone, the second-gen Roam retains the same size and shape as the original model thanks to its slender frame, lightweight form and rounded-off triangular aspect when viewed end-on. That makes it perfect for slipping down the side of a backpack or even into an accomodatingly deep coat pocket, though a carry strap, loop or lanyard wouldn’t have gone amiss for clipping the portable Roam to available pieces of luggage, items of clothing or similar.

The top end of the speaker hosts four major buttons – two volume controls, play/pause and your microphone toggle – whereas the spine is adorned with a long rectangular power button and, new to the Roam 2, a dedicated Bluetooth pairing button. That last modification is a welcome addition, as we found the single button for power and pairing sometimes fiddly to use on the old Roam. The dedicated pairing button on Roam 2 works well, though we can’t help but wonder whether pairing and control of the Sonos would be made a little easier if the on-unit display lights were a little larger and easier to see. A graded battery life indicator would be a nice addition, too.

Sonos’ latest is still a nicely made product, even if the likes of the JBL Flip 6 and JBL Charge 5 offer a greater sense of durability, hardiness against weather and dirt, and, dare we say it, visual flair. That isn’t to say the Roam 2 isn’t tough – frequent splashes from a garden hose have little effect, nor does a substantial submersion in a freshly-run bath. Far from fizzing or smoking at the edges, the Roam 2 works just fine after a short dip.

Features

We understand that many users, especially Sonos devotees, will be eyeing the Roam 2 as much for its feature set as for its potential sonic capabilities. Access to the Sonos app, with its vast streaming features and multiroom ecosystem, is always a big incentive, and despite the recent controversies concerning the platform’s divisive revamp, the Roam 2’s accompanying app is clear, comprehensive and easy to use once you get it up and running. 

Through the Sonos app, you can tether two Roam 2s together or, if you happen to own the older model, hook up your original Roam to its second-gen successor to create an inter-generational stereo pair. In fact, you can tie the second-gen Roam to pretty much any other Sonos product, although you might end up with an odd sonic mismatch if you combine the new Roam 2 with, say, a burly Sonos Move 2. 

The Roam 2 has been designed to sound its best no matter where it goes thanks to the implementation of Automatic Trueplay – Sonos’ clever audio calibration tech which automatically assesses your speaker's environment and optimises the sound accordingly. That certainly adds to the speaker’s roaming credentials, though we would’ve liked a bit more battery life this time around. The Roam 2's 10 hours of playback from a single charge isn’t enough to challenge the Flip 6’s 12 hours or the impressively mighty 24 hours offered by the Beats Pill.

Not that you’ll only be using the Roam 2 outdoors. Thanks to its wi-fi streaming capabilities, the second-gen Roam grants a choice of Bluetooth playback as well as AirPlay 2. You’ll probably spend more time taking your speaker out and about than relying on your wi-fi network during listening sessions, but it’s nice to have AirPlay available all the same, especially considering that the Roam 2 sounds marginally better when playing music over wi-fi than via Bluetooth.

If you’re feeling lonely, you can talk to your new Roam, even if the conversation might end up being slightly one-sided. Like many of the brand’s recent products, you’ve got a choice of two voice assistants, Sonos’ baked-in personal assistant or Amazon’s ever-helpful Alexa AI. Both can inhabit the Roam simultaneously and are easy to summon, meaning you can use Sonos’ smooth-voiced helper to control playback from a variety of streaming services while Alexa answers questions about the weather, traffic on the M25 and how to make the perfect risotto.

Sound

Like its predecessor, the Roam 2 houses two main drive units – a tweeter and a mid/woofer – powered by two Class-H digital amplifiers which Sonos claims have been “perfectly tuned to the speaker's unique acoustic architecture”. If you’re getting a sense of déjà vu, that might be because that’s the exact same array as found in the 2021 model. Nothing much else has changed on the inside and, once you get listening, not much has changed soundwise, either.

That’s not entirely a bad thing. The Roam 2’s robust, assertive sound is reasonably impressive for the compact size, giving tracks the oomph and intent that can make certain genres feel powerful and muscular. Rock and hip-hop are where the Roam 2 most feels at home – the slim portable makes Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake’s Holy Grail feel heavier and more assertive than its slender frame might superficially suggest, and while it’s not the most subtle sound you’ll ever hear, the amount of controlled aggression you receive from such a small unit is impressive.

There’s cohesion and fullness to the Roam 2’s sound, especially from its taut, reactive bass. Holy Grail’s tricky bass rhythm is brought out nicely, but what strikes us is how tight and snappy it remains amidst all that heft. Lesser speakers would pump out dollops of undulating, messy clout, whereas the Sonos has enough precision and restraint to maintain a firm grip on the reins and keep the lower-end firmly in check. 

It’s conceivable that you’ll use the Roam 2 to enjoy podcasts, audiobooks and other spoken-word offerings, something that the Sonos speaker manages ably. Stephen Fry’s incomparably rich and reassuring tones benefit from substantial body and warmth, though our test unit is nimble enough to bend and flex accordingly whenever the world’s finest narrator chooses to pull a shrill shriek or crazed cackle from his bag of vocal tricks.

It’s frustrating, then, that when switching back to our music, we can’t help but wish the Sonos could add in some more detail to round out its full-bodied character. Waxahatchee’s Right Back To It has richness and depth, but it lacks the insightful flourishes and minutiae that make a track feel personal. Listened to through the JBL Charge 5 or even the much cheaper Flip 6, we get far more of a sense of Katie Crutchfield’s vocal idiosyncrasies and quirks, be they her slightly drawled Southern accent or the whispers and breathy tones that appear on certain words and syllables. The JBLs fill in the gap and reveal more, making her performance feel more genuine and authentic.

Clarity and space are also beatable. The Roam’s rich yet compact presentation can make things feel a little squashed and boxed-in, leaving us feeling as though there isn’t quite enough room for our favourite tunes to breathe and flourish. Listen to Paolo Nutini’s Through The Echoes through the Roam 2 and you’ll hear what we mean: instruments remain robust and hearty, but a lack of space between each guitar strum robs the track of its gentle, airy nature. Using AirPlay playback rather than Bluetooth gives the Roam a little more space and clarity, but it’s not enough to rectify its issues or elevate it to the level of its five-star rivals. 

Verdict

Judged in isolation and on its own merits, the Roam 2 has its charms. Its build and feature set have a certain appeal, especially to those users who can’t get enough of Sonos’ way of doing things. If you’re a committed Sonos acolyte, the company’s new portable makes a degree of sense.

Yet it’s odd that, in an ocean teeming with predatory competitors, Sonos has chosen to stay comparatively still, leaving the Roam 2 vulnerable to the circling sharks of JBL, Beats and others. Given the JBLs' superior sonic performance and ever-plummeting price tags, it’s hard to escape the fact that most users would be better off with the brilliant JBL Flip 6 or Charge 5 (or Charge 5 Wi-Fi) than with Sonos’ halfway house of a sequel. If it were our money, we’d definitely spend it on a JBL.

First reviewed: September 2024

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the JBL Charge 5 

Also consider the JBL Flip 6

Read our Beats Pill review

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