Following last year’s launch of the Roam portable smart speaker, Sonos announced the Roam SL. The speaker will end up costing $20 less than the original Sonos Roam , which has risen in price by $10 in the fall due to a global shortage of chips. And the only difference is in the microphone: the Roam SL does not have one.
Otherwise, everything is the same: a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor, IP67 waterproof certification and Apple AirPlay 2 compatibility. The battery is capable of providing 10 hours of continuous playback, you can charge the speaker with any Qi-compatible wireless charger, and a proprietary .
In the absence of a microphone, the future owner of the Sonos Roam SL will lose not only the capabilities of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The Roam SL also does not have Trueplay automatic sound settings and the Sound Swap function, an analogue of an intercom that broadcasts sound from Roam to the nearest Sonos system if you hold down the play button.
But Roam SL can still be organized into a stereo pair with another of the same, or with the original Roam column. Although Roam speakers do not support Bluetooth pairing, they do use Wi-Fi. Sonos is already accepting pre-orders for the Roam SL and will be available physically from mid-March.
In the US, the price of the Sonos Roam SL smart speaker was $ 160, an additional branded wireless charger will cost another $ 50.