An important upcoming {hardware} product for Sonos is undoubtedly its long-anticipated Sonos Ace headphones. They’ll mark the corporate’s debut in an enormous (and extremely aggressive) new class. However spring and summer time are all the time the seasons of recent transportable audio system, and Sonos hasn’t forgotten about that a part of its enterprise.
The corporate has been creating a sequel to the Sonos Roam, the tiny transportable speaker it launched three years in the past. I’ve obtained photos of a prerelease Sonos Roam 2 and may share slightly extra in regards to the variations between it and the unique mannequin, which has been criticized by some house owners for unreliable battery efficiency and different points.
When it comes to design, the Roam 2 is mainly a carbon copy of the first-gen speaker. The primary telltale distinction between them is that the “Sonos” emblem now matches the speaker’s shade, as you possibly can see on this black unit; it was white on the unique.
The opposite distinctive facet of the sequel is that there are actually two buttons on the rear of the product. A type of is a devoted Bluetooth pairing button. Sure, you’ll have the ability to pair the Roam 2 with any telephone or different audio supply with out first needing to undergo an preliminary setup on your own home Wi-Fi utilizing the Sonos app. Sonos is fortunately removing that pesky requirement, which isn’t an impediment that customers need to cope with on the overwhelming majority of different Bluetooth audio system.
Bloomberg first reported on the Roam 2 a couple of months in the past, indicating that the brand new Roam would have a capacitive quantity slider much like the Period 100, Period 300, and Transfer 2. However I can verify that the ultimate design has the identical bodily controls as earlier than, with no slider. It’s attainable a revamped management format was examined early on and deserted throughout the gadget’s improvement course of. Some individuals use the Roam as a bathe speaker, and capacitive buttons wouldn’t be splendid for that.
As for any inside driver enhancements or adjustments Sonos has made to enhance total {hardware} reliability, I can’t communicate to these simply but. However I’m anticipating the Roam 2 to return in across the identical worth as its predecessor and embrace lots of the identical key advantages: a kind of is the power to share Bluetooth audio throughout the remainder of your whole-home Sonos speaker system.
I’m nonetheless very a lot having fun with the bigger (in each dimension and sound) Transfer 2, which has given me no hassle in any respect over a number of months of utilization. However at any time when the Roam 2 does arrive, I’ll be aware of the adverse suggestions that has constructed up in regards to the first-gen speaker as I evaluation it.
Sonos is saying its second quarter monetary earnings this afternoon and can host a name with analysts afterward. I’ll be listening alongside for any fascinating tidbits from CEO Patrick Spence and the corporate’s different executives.