Sonos just announced the follow-up to its portable Roam speaker, but how do the two devices compare? Let’s take a look.
It’s been quite the day for Sonos. Not only has the company just unveiled its first-ever pair of headphones in the form of the Sonos Ace, it also quietly released a successor to the Sonos Roam, simply titled the Sonos Roam 2.
Even though the Sonos Roam is still one of the best Bluetooth speakers currently available, it has been over three years since it hit the market, and with more competition than ever, it only makes sense for Sonos to unveil a refresh that packs along a few improvements. To know how the Sonos Roam 2 and the original Sonos Roam compare, keep on reading.
There’s now a dedicated Bluetooth button
As much as we loved the Sonos Roam at launch (it scored a rare five-star rating after all), the device was definitely contrarian in having a single button for not just turning it on and off but also switching between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modes.
This time around Sonos has sought to simplify the whole process by having a separate, dedicated button for Bluetooth, hopefully making it a much easier process to jump from one device to the next, depending on where you want to beam your music from.
The Sonos Roam 2 can work straight out of the box
One of the needlessly convoluted aspects of the original Sonos Roam was that you couldn’t simply connect it to a device via Bluetooth right away. To get to that part you first needed to connect the Sonos Roam to your Wi-Fi hotspot and follow the set-up process (the last thing anyone wants on a camping trip).
This time around, Sonos has done away with all that as you can connect to the Sonos Roam 2 via Bluetooth from the jump, making it more accessible in the way that you would want a Bluetooth speaker to be.
The design and sound quality are almost completely unchanged
To anyone hoping for a massive uptick in sound quality for the Roam 2, I’m afraid that you’re going to be disappointed. With the same core components under the hood, Sonos has avoided any declaration about improved audio for the Roam 2, meaning that the Roam’s successor probably isn’t an essential upgrade for anyone who owns the first-gen speaker.
The design has also remained almost completely untouched, except for one minor change. Unlike last time, the Sonos logo now adheres to the same colour as the rest of the device (with five options available). From a visual perspective, it’s the only thing that lets you know if you’re looking at a Sonos Roam 2 or an original Sonos Roam.
The price has stayed the same
Probably knowing that a few minor tweaks aren’t really enough to justify a major price increase, Sonos has wisely decided to keep the price of the Sonos Roam 2 the same as the original Sonos Roam, retailing at £179/$179.
In this context, the Sonos Roam 2 is best seen as a minor refresh of Sonos’ portable speaker range as opposed to a full-on successor, although it is worth mentioning that you can find original Sonos Roam at a discounted rate at certain retailers, potentially making it a better buy for those on a budget.
