While I love listening to music and believe it can totally set a scene, I’ve never been big on music tech. As in, interested in bettering the experience of listening to music.
Aside from finally springing for Spotify Premium, my music listening experience was as simple as can be. I’d play a jazz playlist while cooking in the kitchen or having a dinner party, some top 40 when getting ready for a night out and some Petit Biscuit-style chill tunes for while I worked. I played all of my music through my iPhone’s speakers. Which, at the time, I thought sounded fine.
Until I was started using a Sonos Roam. Introduced to the Sonos speakers‘ line-up last year (it’s the cheapest on offer), and to my home a month ago, the portable speakers have completely changed my music experience. Clarity and fullness — words I’d probably roll my eyes at if someone used them to describe sound, I’d now use myself to describe the audio from the speakers. I felt completely immersed in its sound, which, having recently moved into my first solo apartment and therefore spending more time alone, is a very welcome feeling.
Here’s why else I’m loving the Sonos Roam.
Its Design Is Super Sleek
I’m all for minimalist designs and muted colours so naturally, I love the lunar white model (there’s a shadow black version too). Both versions have a sleek triangular shape, so they don’t roll around and damage, and despite their powerful sound, weigh less than a can of Coke.
While the Sonos Roam comes with a UBCS charger cable, you can buy a separate magnetic wireless charger that’ll let you charge the speakers simply by placing them on the charger. One charge promises 10 hours of playback time. Helpfully, the speakers also have an automatic sleep mode so you can save power when you’re not using them.
Its Setup Is Super Simple
Setup-wise, I downloaded the Sonos app and then followed a few prompts, including the speakers asking to connect to my Wifi. The speakers themselves I charged by placing on their wireless charger (sold separately) and then used the app’s instructions to pair it with Bluetooth to my phone. Mostly, I’ve been using them to play music from Spotify, connecting to them from the Spotify app.
It’s Got Three Different Ways to Control
You can control the speakers on the device itself (on its rubbarised top), from your phone, if that’s where you’re playing audio from, via Spotify Connect or Apple Airplay or with your voice if you use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
It’s Seamless
Using Automatic Trueplay, the speakers automatically adjust their sound if they’re in a vertical or horizontal position or, in fact, to any environment they’re in. And in terms of connecting to the device you’re playing audio from, the speakers will use Wifi it’s available and when it’s not, Bluetooth. But again, the connection swap is seamless.
It’s Sturdy
Like, seriously sturdy. So much so that you can drop the speakers in water up to 1m deep and they’ll still work. And while I probably won’t test that out, it’s good to know in case they happen to fall in my bath anytime.
There’s a bunch of other cool features, too, which I have yet to test out, including easily letting other people connect to the speakers via Bluetooth and grouping all your Sonos speakers together so they play the same audio or sound swapping them so you can push audio from one to another. This is, of course, if you’ve got several Sonos products.
Sonos Roam, $299, is in-stores and online now.
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