New Sonos Roam is the firm’s most affordable and portable speaker ever

Sonos has long been known for getting the party started inside your house, but now the audio firm is bringing the sound outdoors too. The US firm has bolstered its range of portable speakers with the arrival of the new Sonos Roam, which lets you boom out playlists in the park, play podcasts by the sea, or shuffle songs at the side of the pool.

Back in 2019, Sonos released its first battery-powered device, the Sonos Move, but this wasn’t exactly light to carry and, with a price of £379, certainly not easy on the wallet. That all changes with the all-new Sonos Roam speaker, which enjoys an ultra-portable design and a £159 price tag – that makes it the most affordable way to your hands on a Sonos product.

And don’t think that this bargain price makes it sound substandard. Sonos is pretty confident that owners will be surprised with what they hear when they touch the power button.

“For a small, portable speaker, Roam sounds big and genuine. It doesn’t sound forced or artificial and that’s a testament to its technical design. It’s unique in its class because it actually performs like a finely tuned speaker as opposed to a megaphone,” said Emily Lazar, Grammy award-winning mastering engineer.

To help create that sound, Sonos has tucked two class-H amplifiers, one tweeter and one custom racetrack mid-woofer inside its shell. There are also fully adjustable EQ settings so you can add more bass, treble, or loudness to your tunes and Sonos’ clever Trueplay tuning technology will smartly adjust the sound for the speaker’s orientation and location.

It’s worth noting that Sonos is following Apple by not shipping a plug in the box, so you’ll need to dig out an old charger to give it a refill if you don’t opt to buy the wireless dock.

“We built Roam to give customers a way to bring the Sonos experience with them wherever they go,” said Patrick Spence, Sonos CEO. “It’s not only our smartest and most versatile speaker, it’s also our most affordable. Roam provides the opportunity for millions of new customers to get started with Sonos, and is the right product at the right time as we begin to gather again with friends and family.”

The Roam will be available starting April 20 in shadow black or lunar white.