Sonos Roam 2 – BT portable speaker with Wi-Fi benefits (AV review)

The Sonos Roam 2 is a mono, battery-operated IP67 speaker with Bluetooth (BT) and Wi-Fi (voice assistant capable) that you can take anywhere. It can also stereo pair.

What differentiates it from BT speakers like those excellent ones from JBL, Sony, Ultimate Ears, et al., is multi-room audio, Apple AirPlay 2, and Auto Trueplay room tuning. The Sonos app has an effective EQ, clear voice, and other features.

How CyberShack tests speakers

• Volume and any evident distortion
• Sound Signature How to tell if you have good music (sound Signature is the key)
• Battery and charging options
• Durability and IP
• App features like EQ and multiroom audio
• Best use cases

It aces all tests (except that as an IP67 speaker, it sinks😊).

Australian Review: Sonos Roam 2

Website	Product page  Manual
Price	$299 with free delivery and a 100-day return policy
Colours	Black, White, Sunset, Wave, Olive
From	Sonos and selected professional audio retailers, including Harvey Norman (Domayne), JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys and pro audio/video stores.
Warranty	1-year ACL If purchased from Sonos online or authorised resellers. Like many other leading global brands, Sonos is a victim of counterfeiting, especially from online marketplaces like Alibaba, Amazon, Kogan, Dick Smith, and eBay.
Made in	China
About	Sonos is an American Audio company based in Santa Barbara, California [Est 2002]. It develops and manufactures smart speakers designed to last for at least five years. Sonos speakers play music simultaneously in multiple rooms.
More	CyberShack Sonos news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100, with extra points added for class-leading and excellence. For 2023 reviews and earlier, deduct 10 points from them for reasonable parity.

First impression – small, solid and sounds great

It is the update of the Sonos Roam – Is this the best BT/Wi-Fi portable speaker ever? Apart from some minor changes and later technology, it is pretty much like the original.

It is a triangle-shaped (Toblerone Bar) 168 x 62 x 60mm x 430g.  It is IP67 (1 metre for 30 minutes), about drink bottle size, and fits can/cup holders, so take it anywhere.

The top has +/- Volume (6 rings), music play/pause/next rack, microphone on/off, and LED.

The front status and battery status LEDs. On the rear are UCB-C power and BT buttons.

The App – almost fixed – Pass+

Sonos replaced the venerable S2 app in May with a 100% new one with more than its share of issues. It has largely been fixed and is no longer a concern. Read Sonos app issues – sorry and a commitment to fix it all real soon. You need to connect to Wi-Fi to get the app’s features

• Sonos multi-room network
• High-res streaming over Wi-Fi (can use stereo pairing over BT is set up earlier in the app)
• Stereo sound or group multiple speakers
• EQ bass and treble sliders to adjust the sound
• Set volume limit
• Set speech enhancement
• Power saving
• Status lights
• Voice control – Alexa or Sonos (not tested)
• BT connection (Auto connect and Idle disconnect)
• Access multiple streaming services (Spotify, Audible and many more – subscriptions may be required)
• Access Sonos Radio (Free advertising-supported audio channels)

Placement – Pass

It sits forward-facing, either horizontally or vertically and projects a mono sound slightly upwards from a carbon fibre Racetrack Mid-Woofer and Tweeter.

Its best placement is at desk height in front of you, as it does not have 360° sound.

When travelling, you can use it as a BT speaker and place it closer to you to avoid annoying others.

Auto Trueplay – Pass+

Sonos Roam 2 can automatically tune itself to the room acoustics. It uses the speaker’s microphone to detect the environment and make periodic tuning adjustments. You can also do this via the app.

Handsfree – Pass

It has a dual far-field mic array, one beamforming for voice and the other assisting in noise cancellation. It is adequate for hands-free use.

Ruggedness – IP67 – Pass

It will withstand drops to waist height and is IP67 (1 meter for 30 minutes), but it sinks like a rock.

 Sound – Exceed

Remember that it is a mono speaker, so the sound stage is as wide as the speaker and forward-firing. Interestingly, Dolby Atmos content does have some 2D ‘spatial’ movement—a limited faux left, right, up, and down!

The maximum volume is 85dB with no perceptible distortion. Sonos claims 80Hz to 19kHz, and that is conservative. We found mid-bass starting at 50Hz and linearly building to 100Hz. Then, high-bass through to high-treble was flat.

The result is almost a perfect neutral signature where the EQ can make a difference by recessing bass, mid or treble.

From a listening perspective, that means just enough bass to satisfy (clean bass – not thump), superb mid (clear vocals), and dynamic (crisp) and airy treble.

We could not test a stereo pair, but this should provide enough for a small apartment. While Roam/2 cannot be paired as rears to a Sonos soundbar, they can be stereo-paired and part of a multi-room group providing help for the hearing impaired. See Sonos Ray and Roam speakers, perfect for the hearing impaired.

Sound Signature – Exceed

For a small speaker, it really punches well above its weight.

	Sonos Roam 2
Deep Bass 20-40Hz	Nil
Middle Bass 40-100Hz	It starts at 50Hz, builds linearly to 100Hz, then flat
High Bass 100-200Hz	Flat
Low Mid 200-400Hz	Flat
Mid 400-1kHz	Flat
High Mid 1-2kHz	Flat
Low Treble 2-4kHz	Flat
Mid Treble 4-6kHz	Flat
High Treble 6-10kHz	Dip to 7kHz to avoid harshness, then recovers and is flat to 10kHz.
Dog Whistle 10-20kHz	Reasonably Flat
Volume	85dB
Sound Signature type	Neutral: The audiophile standard is a flat (good) response that neither adds nor subtracts from the original music! The only issue here is garbage-in and garbage-out – the better the music quality, the better it sounds.
Soundstage stereo	It is mono, so the sound stage is as wide as the speaker.
Left/Right separation	Mono
Soundstage Dolby Atmos/DTS:X	Dolby Atmos or Spatial content gives limited faux 2D height and width.
Read	How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key – guide).

Battery – Pass

The 18Wh battery (similar to a 4000mAh phone battery) charges in approximately two hours. It charges at up to 5V/3A/15W, but our tests found it was 5V/2A/10W most of the time. Use any USB-C PD charger from 5V/1.5A/7.5W, including USB-A 3.0 (Blue) or USB-C ports.

Optionally, you can buy a $79 Sonos wireless charger or use any 10W+ Qi wireless flat pad.

Battery life heavily depends on content, volume and BT or Wi-Fi.

Sonos claims 10 hours, typically at 50% volume. We don’t doubt that can be achieved in a lab but real-world tests are below.

Tests

• BT: 5 hours at 70% volume and 6.5 hours at 50%
• Wi-Fi: 8 hours at 70% and 9 hours at 50%
• Wi-Fi power save: Not tested

Voice – Pass

You can select Alexa (making it an Alexa Smart Speaker) over Wi-Fi (there is No Google Assistant) or Hey Sonos Voice Assistant (which is all about content).

The far-field mics are good to about 5 meters with a normal voice and 10m with a raised voice.

BT 5.2 – Pass

It gets a ‘pass’ because it does not support multi-point and AURACAST, although we do not deduct points for the latter.

The codecs are SBC and AAC, 16-bit/44100Hz, and the latency is within acceptable limits—130ms AAC and 180ms SBC. You can play hi-res music over Wi-Fi.

The practical maximum BT distance is 20-30m inside a home.

Wi-Fi – Pass

It supports Wi-Fi 5 2.4/5Ghz, but it and the phone must be on the same network as other Sonos devices. Stick to 2.4GHz as music does not demand the higher 5GHz bandwidth, and you get a 25-30 metre distance from the router.

It supports AirPlay 2.

Missing

• BT multi-point – this could be a deal breaker for some
• Hi-Res codecs (but can use hi-res over Wi-Fi).
• AUX or USB audio-in.

CyberShack’s view: Is the Sonos Roam 2 still the best BT/Wi-Fi portable speaker ever?

If you focus on Wi-Fi, it is almost unique (apart from Sonos Move 2—portable oomph anywhere) as a small, portable, stereo-pairable speaker with an excellent sound signature. It is a no-brainer for existing Sonos owners who understand the Wi-Fi environment.

If you focus on Bluetooth portable speakers, it has many competitors.

• $199.95 JBL Charge 5 BT, IP-rated portable speaker – seriously good
•  Blueant with its $249 X3i (Review BlueAnt X3i BT speaker – BT, IP67 and loud)), $199 X-3D and $279 X-3D Max. (Review Blueant X-3D MAX – crazy loud 360° sound).
• Ultimate Ears is a contender for the $229.95 Boom 4 mono and $349.95 MegaBoom 4 mono.
• $249 Beats Pill (2024) by Dr Dre – Well, it is all Apple now

Sonos Roam 2 Ratings

We will rate it as a BT/Wi-Fi multi-room capable speaker instead of a portable BT speaker where it is not the class leader.

• Features: 85- BT and Wi-Fi and an app that adds value
• Value: 85 as Wi-Fi and 75 as BT
• Performance: 85 – it meets or exceeds our expectations of a small portable mono speaker.
• Ease of use: 80 – BT is easy and does not require an app. Wi-Fi needs a Sonos account and the app.
• Design: 80 – Lovely Sonos design cues and exceptionally well-made

Brought to you by CyberShack.com.au