Author: Slick Choad

Description

• Stream music and more over WiFi, and enjoy easy control with the Sonos app, Apple AirPlay 2, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant.
• Use Bluetooth when you take this waterproof, lightweight, and durable speaker on the go.
• Experience astonishingly clear and perfectly balanced...

  User reviews

  ★★★★★ I am an owner of two Sonos home speakers: the One and the One SL. These are amazing sounding speakers that are easy to use. While I love these speakers, they are not portable as they must stay plugged into an outlet in order to work. I looked at the Sonos Move but was turned off by the size of the speaker and the high price. Needless to say, when Sonos introduced the Roam, I was intrigued. I got it as a father's day gift and what follows are my thoughts on the new Sonos Roam.SoundMy main concern with the Roam was that I noticed it was rather small and how that would effect the sound quality and loudness of the speaker. I was foolish for thinking this however. Sonos is known for having excellent sounding speakers and they would not jeopardize that reputation by putting out a new product that didn't adhere to their high audio standards. This speaker sounds amazing! Music sounds rich and full of depth. The clarity of the highs is excellent and the bass is surprisingly rich and full. Further to the point, the Sonos app allows you to tailor the sound to your liking, adding more of less treble and/or bass. I cannot overstate how pleased I am with the audio quality of this diminutive speaker.As a secondary point under sound, I was also concerned about how loud the speaker could get. Indoors, this little gem can get plenty loud and fill a large space with amazing sound. Outdoors, the Roam does a better than adequate job of projecting great music. I have taken it in my backyard while doing some yard work and it gets loud enough to hear and enjoy the music. However, I don't think Sonos designed this speaker to pump out the tunes at the pool party or at the beach like the EU Boom 3 or other larger bluetooth speakers. It can function adequately in that role but excels in smaller spaces and in overall sound quality.FunctionalityThe speaker works seamlessly with my other two Sonos speakers via WiFi using the Sonos app. The ability to move the speaker all over the house is a major plus. I can configure the Roam to play alone or with either one or both of my other speakers. I love that versatility. The buttons have some straight forward uses and also are multi-functional, which can take some getting used to. For example, I have issues sometimes with the power button and how long to push it. Five seconds to turn it off, a quick push to put it in sleep mode to save power. Same with the play/pause button: once to pause music, twice to advance to the next song, three times to go back to previous song, press and hold for a second to put the speaker in bluetooth pairing mode, and press and hold and listen for a sound in order to be able to swap your music from the Roam to the closest Sonos speaker or vice versa. It has taken some getting used to initially but I'm getting the hang of it.The battery life is good but I wish it were better. I get about 8 hours of play time per charge. Charging is another small issue. Sonos includes a USB-C (plugs into speaker) to USB-A (plugs into charger) charging cable with the speaker, but they do not include a charging adapter to plug into the wall. Luckily, I have an Apple iPad USB-C to USB-C cable with a large 20w charging adapter that charges the Roam very quickly. I highly recommend the larger charging adapter to greatly reduce charging time. As a side note, the speaker can function fully while being charged.Airplay and bluetooth connectivity are straightforward and work well. I have not had any issues connecting the speaker via bluetooth to my phone, laptop and various other devices around my home.FormThe speaker works in either a horizontal or vertical position with some claiming there is a difference in the sound. That is a matter of preference as I like both positions for different reasons. Horizontally, the speaker is designed to project the sound up and it seems to use the surface the speaker is sitting on to amplify the sound. Vertically it sounds great and it is much easier to access the control buttons on top. Ultimately, I love the design of the Roam because it is small, clean and elegant looking.In my opinion, the Sonos Roam is an excellent speaker because of its portability, convenience of use within my existing Sonos system, and its superb audio performance.

  ★★☆☆☆ - In the past, I have been a Sonos evangelist and spend approx. $15k on Sonos products over the years.- I was excited to see that Sonos releases a truly portable speaker and pre-ordered a pair on the Sonos website.- Now I give a review after using the pair of speakers for a couple of months.- The sound is good (as one could expect) but this is also true for many other similar products on the market.- The integration in my home Sonos system is good but as others already mentioned, the standby time is disappointing low.- The use as a portable Bluetooth speaker that is directly connected to your phone is ok but 1) you cannot create a stereo pair, and 2) the coupling process is annoying, and 3) some of my devices (e. g. Google Pixel 5a 5G, Lenovo laptop, OnePlus 8) cannot "see" the Sonos speaker.For me, the reason why I bother to write a review is that one of my two Roams just died completely. In the official Sonos forum, I saw threads where people explained the same experience. I just called the Sonos support hotline and gave up after talking to a support person for about 20 min.The official Sonos charger supplies 5 V at 2.1 A and the charger that I use at home supplies 5 V at 3.1 A (so it is good enough) but the support person insisted that I have to use a 2.1 A charger. At this point, I ended the phone call. I am sure that the support person just followed the internal rules but from a customer and engineer point of view, this is frustrating. Please keep in mind that everything was working fine for several months.

  ★☆☆☆☆ I received my ROAM yesterday. After plugging the USB-c cord in all night my ROAM didnt charge. They fail to tell you the USB end of the charger cord can't be plugged in anywhere. There are Max amp/voltage requirements. for $180, include a charger..... Sonos should be embarrassed.

  
  View all reviews

Description

• A revolutionary whole-home amplifier that delivers clear, powerful sound to wired speakers throughout homes/buildings
• Stream from any app using Airplay (e.g. from iPhone, iPads, iPods and Macs) or using Spotify Connect
• Can be connected to surround-sound amplifiers (or...

  User reviews

  ★★★★★ Works exactly as described - reliable, easy to use with Spotify connect directly or other services over AirPlay. Overall I am very happy and would highly recommend it over much more expensive modular systems by other five letter wireless audio companies. Electricity consumption is lower as well. I purchased a 6 zone system and immediately updated to 8. Now if only there were a ten zone option without purchasing a second 6 zone system :)On that note I do have some suggestions for improvement or considerations, but no deal breakers:Amplification - 20w RMS is sufficient to drive 6.5" B&W architectural speakers at low to moderate volume. Any audiophile will argue it's not nearly enough to extract the intended sound, and while that may be true, in practical terms it sounds fine. The only challenge I have noticed is with my outdoor landscape speakers. Longer wiring runs and zero room amplification makes for low volume only. Still fine 95% of the time.Inputs - Spotify connect is great. AirPlay works as well, but I have noticed a drift in synchronization when streaming from my apple TV. Switching to 2.0 audio vs. auto helped, but still drifts over 15-30 minutes by a second or so. Not sure if that's an AirPlay 1 vs. 2 issue or something that could be addressed, but just something to keep in mind if you intend to frequently utilize in-wall speakers in a living room for 2.0 tv audio.Analog input - While there is an input adapter offered from a third party (I haven't gotten it to work...yet), it's a low end adapter this won't be a solution to play your records from a high end player... even if it will work, I would just stick to streaming.Volume Control - This works great for Spotify Connect and Airplay. Unlike the other five letter company, you cannot adjust volume control for each zone (only relative volumes, and those settings aren't on the fly adjustments) when playing the same source, but multiple sources works great.Future Feature / Hardware requests:Any chance we could see increased amplification without relying on clumsy integration with third party receivers? A small box with 50 or 80 watts RMS and two additional zones at a reasonable price would be great! Of course profitability would be lower on something like this than the main unit, but it's an add on so it should work out.EQ settings? the base EQ is good, boosted lows, but architectural speakers are far from perfect and could use some helpAirPlay 2 or other wireless integration support? Perhaps in form of a hardware upgrade or trade up in the future. Not sure if that would help with inconsistent latency.All in all very happy and highly recommend!

  ★★★★★ Tremendously easy to set up and start listening! The most time consuming part was stripping wires. Customer service at Juke is phenomenal! It’s nice that a few companies still value service. They were very helpful providing recommendations for my unique setup.

  ★★★★★ I moved into a house pre-wired for in ceiling speakers in 6 rooms about a year ago and have been looking for a system to utilize them. My observation is that almost everything out there is catered to professional installers and/or doesn't have easy to use mechanisms to connect and play from your audio sources. The juke system is a fraction of the price of the professional options and was easy to set up and use. I installed the system in about 45 minutes and had sound to the whole house immediately. I've only had the system for a few weeks, so I can't speak to longevity yet, but the product worked exactly as advertised and is a great solution for people looking to set up pre-wired speakers on their own.

  
  View all reviews

Features

Description

• Innovative Bose technology packs bold sound into a small, water resistant speaker
• Built-in mic for speakerphone to take clear conference or personal calls out loud with a wireless range of approximately 30 feet.
• Rugged, with a soft touch silicone exterior that makes it...

  User reviews

  ★★★★★ Ok, even though I had read the product reviews and knew that people had trouble getting and keeping this speaker charged, I thought that I would be the exception. Turns out I wasn’t. The speaker comes with a cable for charging, but not a plug. So I used whatever I had around.I charged this speaker overnight, sometimes for days, and still when I turned it on it would say, ‘ Low battery.’By chance, I was in my local AT&T store and bought a ‘cube’ and a cable to charge my phone.Turns out the cube I bought has ENOUGH AMPS and that seems to be the difference.So I used any ole cord that fit in the speaker plug and used my new, higher amp cube- lo and behold, speaker fully charged in no time.I am attaching a pic so you know what model I bought and as I said, I found it at AT & T, but if you found one with the same specs, I bet it would work just fine!Loving my speaker again!

  ★★★☆☆ I purchased the speaker in March 2017, and here 4 months later it has stopped working. I used the below method to reset the speaker and it's working fine again. strange bug for a product line that I've always enjoyed.Plug soundlink in to wall charger- Hold down the play/pause button for 15 seconds.- Then, BEFORE releasing the play/pause button, unplug the charge cord from the unit.- Release the button,- Plug the unit back into the wall charger.- Press the power button, and your unit should power on.

  ★★☆☆☆ I was surprised in every way upon the Sound Link Color II's arrival, connection and playback of music.To start with, the instructions were so poor, it made us wonder if we bought a fake from China. We later found an online manual, and wondered why it was not included with our speaker. Not to worry though, we had a lengthy set of safety precautions in twenty-one, I kid you not - twenty-one, different languages.Bose is a great name, right? Every Bose product we have ever listened to exceeded expectations and most of the time left us in awe. My wife and I listened to the Sound Touch 10 (cousin of Sound Link?) in Sam's and were thinking the Sound Link Color II would be just as amazing. It's not - the Sound Link Color II sound is just average. It is a little better than our four year old Phillips speaker, but comes no where near matching the sound of our two year old Harmon Kardon Onyx speaker. The speaker's bass is nearly non-existent, and it will not play as loud as either of the two other speakers we compared it with. The absence of the Bose "wow!" left us very disappointed. Looking through the manual we found online, Bose indicates the speaker works best when backed up close to, but not against, a wall. An odd piece of guidance given Bose's advertisement of the speaker as an on the go, outside, camping/swimming/party speaker. We did try the guidance though, and it did seem to add a little more bass. But not nearly enough to overcome the speaker's sound shortcomings.The rubbery speaker exterior is nice - some reviewers indicated it was a lint/dust trap, but we did not find it such. It felt good, provided a solid feel and seemed consistent with the speaker's water resistant claim.The speaker has a VERY annoying feature when charging - it beeps every 15-20 seconds or so. We could not find a way to turn the beep off anywhere in the Bose literature. Online, we found this irritant was very common and can be fixed by using a non-Bose micro USB cable. And indeed, the online fix eliminated the problem. Not a big deal cost-wise, but the flippin' cable has Bose's name on it! This is Bose for Pete's sake, you expect better.The app was a non factor. Not useful, not a problem. It was much easier to go Settings/Bluetooth, connect to the Bose Sound Link Color II and then play music from your music library. The app has no features, other than perhaps it's stereo/party mode where you need two Sound Link Color II speakers. Yeah right, like that's gonna happen.This was a VERY disappointing buy. I spent an embarrassing amount of Black Friday and Cyber Monday time looking for any kind of deal on the Sound Link Color II - to no avail. I reasoned it was Bose, and the sound would more than compensate for a few dollars. Bad call on my part. I bought our Harmon Kardon Onyx a couple of years ago via a Black Friday deal. It cost less than the Sound Link Color II and yet dramatically outperforms the Bose.A disappointing speaker, and not worth the Bose premium in my opinion.

  
  View all reviews