Roam - another catastrophic strategic mistake

Connect: Amp and Connect (post 2015), Play:1, Play:3, Playbar.

And yes, Bluetooth to Roam, grouped with any other S2 Sonos speakers. Think of it as no longer needing to connect a Bluetooth receiver to a Sonos line in. It’s now built in to the Roam’s hardware.  

Right. But with any non Sonos Roam type speaker, I can play from my phone just as well. What I cannot do is get other Sonos speakers to also play the same music. 

So, if I want a portable for use outside the home/on the road, there is nothing particularly unique about Roam.

Understood, thanks!

Just one more: can a Roam stereo pair well placed inside the home approach budget hifi sound quality? Does it do Trueplay tuning?

Trueplay: Yes

Budget Hifi: No (IMO) 

I would agree with @Bumper 's assessment, although 'budget hifi' can mean very different things to different people. I think if you spent £320 on a hifi you would probably get better sound but much less functionality. 

The speakers autotrueplay. No waving iPhones around.

But they only TruePlay themselves, not any connected Sonos devices.

I wonder if that would change if the pair could bond to a Sub - it does not, I know. I say this because my experience suggests that the combination of small but good satellite speakers with a Sub can do very good HiFi.

But because Sub does not bond with Roam, one can’t even test for this set up. It would actually be very cool - with the roam units kept on their charger all the time in their designated place in the home. Anytime one want to leave the home, just pick up a Roam and..roam. Or, as I do with my mini rig portables, carry both if they can stereo pair via bluetooth in a non WiFi environment.

Maybe if Sonos ever releases a smaller Sub, they will make sure it bonds with Roam as well...

This is a very interesting conversation. It started with complaints about the Roam supposedly recking the OP’s S1/S2 setup. I’m not going to open that can of worms again as everyone has already tried to explain that to the OP.  However, now the conversation has morphed into a discussion about “budget” stereo with two Roams.

How do you even qualify a comparison of two Roams as a budget stereo? Are you speaking price, sound, portability or a Frankenstein combo of all the above?

As I recall one might call a 100 watt AVR with two bookshelf speakers as budget. How about those AIO systems (AM/FM radio, CD player, tape cassette and AUX input) with wired or RCA speaker inputs. Oh...let’s not forget those mini systems one may see on a credenza in an executive office. There are probably some other iterations of so-called budget stereo I’ve missed.

Bottomline the Roams are portable speakers. The target market IMO are those that enjoy outdoor activities and not just setting outside on one’s deck or patio. Although, I must admit mine will probably be used on my deck .

But if we must talk about “budget stereo” two Sonos Moves hit that category comparison far better than the Roams, IMO.