We're big fans of the Sonos Roam, we rate it as the best Bluetooth speaker for most people, and now it looks like its replacement is imminent. According to Mark Gurman's latest newsletter on Bloomberg, Sonos is preparing to launch the Sonos Roam 2 in June alongside the long-rumored Sonos headphones.
Although Gurman doesn't go into much detail beyond saying that the Roam 2 could come with a similar touch-panel control system to the Sonos Era 100 and Sonos Era 300, it sounds like this new speaker could be the rumored "party speaker" that Bloomberg previously reported on.
We said at the time that a full-blown party speaker would be an odd move for the company, but if its new speaker turns out to be an improved Roam rather than a completely new speaker product that would make a lot more sense.
What do we know about the Sonos Roam 2?
According to Gurman, Sonos has tweaked the hardware slightly to solve some Bluetooth issues and it's working on a brand new Sonos app too. That app won't be for the entire Sonos family just yet, though. Gurman says that the focus is on the Roam 2 and on the Sonos headphones, with compatibility for existing devices – like its best wireless speakers – coming later. That's apparently because Sonos has been encountering problems getting the software right.
When we reviewed the original Sonos Roam we gave it four and a half stars out of five. Battery life was good but not class-leading – we achieved about nine hours in our tests – and we found the bass a little overwhelming. The lack of stereo pairing was another omission. So it'll be interesting to see how Sonos' new speaker compares to the existing ones in those departments. With better battery life, improved Bluetooth pairing and a slightly less bass-heavy sound, it could well be one of the best Sonos speakers we've ever reviewed.
The Roam 2 and Sonos headphones aren't the only releases we're expecting this year. Sonos is also expected to launch a TV set-top box this year, and alongside the Roam some of its other key products – the Arc soundbar, Sonos Sub Mini and Sonos Era 100 speaker – are also expected to be refreshed in 2024.
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