Roam cannot be heard

  • 29 May 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 852 views

Was excited to receive my Sonos Roam, but wow what a disappointment!  This thing has to be within 6 inches of you and volume at 80-100% to be heard, anything below 50% volume and you might as well just put on headphones. Called customer support did the diagnostic thing, no issue found even with the phone less than 3 inches from the speaker the rep couldn’t hear it if it was below 50%. Of the 8 Sonos products I own this is the one I will be returning.


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3 replies

Userlevel 7

I’m currently listening to my Roam at about 40% volume with it sitting two feet away from me and it is playing at a comfortable and clear listening volume. Your Roam is either defective, you have suffered hearing loss, or something on the Roam is not set up correctly.

Do you have Volume Limit turned off in the Sonos app? Is the volume low when streaming music on both WiFi and Bluetooth? Have you tried rebooting the Roam following these steps?

  1. Disconnect Roam from charging cables and remove it from wireless chargers.
  2. Hold the button on the back of Roam for at least five seconds until you hear the power-off tone and the light above the Sonos logo turns off.
  3. Wait 10 seconds.
  4. Press the button on the back of Roam to turn it back on.

Thanks for the tip @GuitarSuperstar but my hearing is fine, roam is setup correctly, volume limit is off and have the same experience whether on BT or Wifi. Gave your reboot suggestion a try with no luck. I’m going with the device is defective and returning but thanks for the assist. 

There are always disagreements about how a Volume control should function. If a unit becomes ‘loud’ with a very low control setting the unit is perceived as “powerful”, but is difficult to control at low settings. If the control curve is more gentle, the unit is perceived as “weak”, but is easy to control at low Volume. To me the issue is: “does the unit play loud enough” regardless of the control setting?