More details about Sonos’ Roam portable speaker are coming up, and they suggest that there will be more to attract you beyond size and price. The Verge states that Roam will include some advantages over the larger Move, most notably “Sound Exchange”. The feature can stream music from Roam to a nearby Sonos speaker when you hold the play / pause button. You can start playing an album on Roam in your backyard, for example, and finish listening to a more powerful Five when you’re ready to enter.
Roam also allows you to use Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time, unlike Move. You can play music from your phone across the Sonos configuration using Bluetooth. You will also have the same automatic sound adjustment (ie Trueplay) as Move, according to the leak. And yes, there is IP67 resistance to water and dust for those times when you are caught in the rain.
Sonos is due to present Roam at a virtual event on March 9 and send it on April 20 for $ 169. That would still make it one of the most expensive portable speakers on the market, but sound exchange and tuning can tip the balance if you are more interested in convenience and fidelity than in gross volume.