We’re very much looking forward to the grand unveiling of the Sonos Roam next week on March 9, and we’ve now got some more details on the features and functions to expect when the latest Sonos speaker arrives.
According to sources speaking to The Verge, the Sonos Roam is going to introduce a couple of new tricks. First up is Sound Swap, which will apparently let you pass off music from the Roam to another nearby speaker in your Sonos system.
We aren’t given too many details about how this works, but a press and hold on the speaker’s play button will then send whatever it is you’re listening to across to whichever other Sonos speaker is nearest, perhaps using Bluetooth Low Energy.
We’re presuming Sound Swap will come in handy for those times when you’ve been out at the park or the beach listening to your tunes, and then come home and want to keep the music playing on your standard, wired, Wi-Fi Sonos setup. The Verge has shared a new promotion image for the Move as well, which you can see below:
Another new feature tipped to be introduced with the Sonos Roam is the ability to play songs over an entire Sonos system via Bluetooth, as well as Wi-Fi – it means you could control the music on your Sonos speakers from any Bluetooth-enabled phone, tablet or computer, if you had a Sonos Roam nearby.
The Sonos Move, the first portable speaker that Sonos launched back in 2019, can use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi but only one at a time. It sounds as though the Roam will be able to use both together so it can pass instructions on to your non-portable Sonos speakers.
Like the Move, the Sonos Roam is said to come with an Auto Trueplay tuning feature that uses its built-in microphones to check the acoustics of its surrounding environment, and adjust the audio playback accordingly. Many of the portable speakers and smart speakers already on the market have something similar as well.
The latest report from The Verge also indicates that the Sonos Roam can’t be used as a surround speaker for the Sonos Arc or Sonos Beam, but is IP67 rated for dust and water resistance. The price is rumored to be $169 (about (£120 / AU$220).