Sonos has a new speaker that starts shipping later this month and is a significant departure from the company’s usual offers in a variety of ways.
The all-new Sonos ROM is a compact, portable speaker with a built-in battery and Bluetooth connection – but still a Sonos system team player with wifi streaming, multi-room features, voice assistant support and surprisingly great sound quality. Priced at $169, the Sonos Rome is about 2.5 inches for both height and depth, just over 6 inches, really small it weighs under a pound, and is available in matte white or black finishes, the same as the course for the Sonos in the colorways. Rome is IP-67-rated, meaning it is effectively waterproof, with a resistance rating of up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1 m (3.3 ft).
Sons have placed a speaker control surface on one end of the device, including a microphone button, volume control and a play / pause button. These are the actual touch buttons on the touch-sensitive surfaces and the water on the touch-sensitive surfaces. There is also a power button on the back of the side of a USB-C port for charging. It also provides wireless charging via a receiver found at the base of the speaker, which you can use with Sonos own incoming magnetic charging adapter (sold separately), or with any standard Q-powered wireless charger.
In addition to wifi streaming, the Sonos ROM can connect to any device via Bluetooth 5.0. It features AirPlay 2 to connect to Apple devices while it has wifi, and it works out of the box with Spotify Connect. According to Sonos, the built-in battery is rate for up to 10 hours of playback on a full charge and it can deliver up to 10 days of standby mode like its sleep.
It is still the youngest speaker published by Sonos, and it is definitely a big and when it comes to the device section. The dimensions make it feel like a slightly longer cane than the Red Bull; you feel how portable it should. Made and will bring you wherever you need. Despite its small size, the Sonos Rome delivers impressive sound – perhaps the best face I have ever encountered for any portable speaker in this size class. Inside, it is able to pack a dual amplifier, a twitter and a separate custom racetrack mid-offer, which helps the Sonos deliver the two-eyed and mid-fidelity faithfully, usually without the hands of a low speaker.
While keeping the audio quality clean and at the same time free from distortion, you probably get the ROM louder than you expected. One of the keys to Rome’s great sound quality is Sonos automatic Trueplay technology, which enables audio to actively, consistently optimize its surroundings. The mic needs to be able to work for this feature but it is better to keep it in most settings and makes a big difference when streaming in both Bluetooth and wifi modes.
This helps to adjust the speaker when switching from horizontal to vertical orientation and this is one of the reasons why Rome puts more pressure on Rome’s own weight than other speakers in this size and price category. The ROM will be the winner based on the audio quality for the price but the extra Sonos system-specific features that it is proud of really boosts the department leader.
This includes a standby mode that saves batteries while keeping the ROM available on your system for wifi streaming via the Sonos app (Handy and also alright since you can hold the power button for five seconds to turn off real power and even save your charge) , Which is great for travel.
