An important upcoming {hardware} product for Sonos is undoubtedly its long-anticipated Sonos Ace headphones. They are going to mark the corporate’s debut in an enormous (and extremely aggressive) new class. However spring and summer season are at all times the seasons of recent moveable audio system, and Sonos hasn’t forgotten about that a part of its enterprise.
The corporate has been growing a sequel to the Sonos Roam, the tiny moveable speaker it launched three years in the past. I’ve obtained pictures of a prerelease Sonos Roam 2 and might share just a little extra in regards to the variations between it and the unique mannequin, which has been criticized by some homeowners 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 principle telltale distinction between them is that the “Sonos” emblem now matches the speaker’s shade, as you’ll be able to see on this black unit; it was white on the unique.
The opposite distinctive side 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 be capable of 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 taking away that pesky requirement, which isn’t an impediment that customers should take care of 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 just like the Period 100, Period 300, and Transfer 2. However I can affirm that the ultimate design has the identical bodily controls as earlier than, with no slider. It’s potential a revamped management structure was examined early on and deserted through the machine’s improvement course of. Some folks use the Roam as a bathe speaker, and capacitive buttons wouldn’t be ideally suited for that.
As for any inner driver enhancements or modifications Sonos has made to enhance total {hardware} reliability, I can’t converse to these simply but. However I’m anticipating the Roam 2 to return in across the identical worth as its predecessor and embrace most of the identical key advantages: a type 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) Move 2, which has given me no hassle in any respect over a number of months of utilization. However every time the Roam 2 does arrive, I’ll be aware of the damaging suggestions that has constructed up in regards to the first-gen speaker as I evaluation it.
Sonos is asserting its second quarter monetary earnings this afternoon and can host a name with analysts afterward. I’ll be listening alongside for any attention-grabbing tidbits from CEO Patrick Spence and the corporate’s different executives.