Use Cases for Roam?

  • 24 January 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 221 views

Hello,

This is my first Sonos product, which I received as a gift.

The network setup requirements were mildly frustrating since we were traveling for the holidays (which I mention only because I’d seen another thread about this and thought I’d chime in), but it set up easily enough when we returned home.  

Reading on the functionality, I thought it could be a wireless smart speaker, but enabling Google Assistant drains the battery faster than the charger it came with can keep it going.  After discussing with Support, I disabled the assistant since it seemed to be to blame for the power drain.  Otherwise, between the assistant drain and it refusing to stay off, it would have had to be on a direct USB-C power supply permanently.  

After getting it set up on WiFi, I can get my Synology music to play to it directly most of the time, and found it could integrate with SiriusXM.  Other web sources e.g. Youtube Music required upgraded accounts vs ‘just working’ on Google smart speakers, but I imagine that is Google’s fault more than Sonos.  

As a bluetooth speaker, it is comparable to my Anker Soundcore, but suffers from less standby time, less usage time, and that you can’t take calls on it.  Documentation indicates the microphone is primarily for the autotune, although I’ve disabled this as it created some sort of feedback sine wave where the speaker would increase and decrease volume.

So for the use cases I’ve discovered, it can play from some WiFi sources to save my phone’s battery vs pushing bluetooth, and it can be used as a limited bluetooth speaker.  I feel like I’m missing out on this thing’s killer feature since everything I’ve tried to do with it so far has had caveats.  What do you like to use yours for?  


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4 replies

Userlevel 7

I mainly use my Roam when I go to the park or go for a walk with my family and play music over Bluetooth from Apple Music, Amazon Music, and music stored on my iPhone.

I also use the Roam throughout my house over WiFi while grouped with other speakers to fill a room with more audio. I stream music from the Sonos app using Apple Music, Amazon Music, and my personal music library stored on my Mac. I sometimes take it out to my backyard too while I am grilling and group it with an outdoor speaker wired to a Sonos Amp mostly to widen the soundstage on my back porch but also to have Alexa voice control outside.

My wife likes to connect to the Roam over AirPlay to play her music from her iPhone while she is cooking dinner.

I don’t use this feature, but I can connect my Sony turntable to the Roam over Bluetooth and use it as a “Bluetooth gateway” for the rest of my Sonos speakers.

The Roam’s Sound Swap feature comes in handy every now and then too:
https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4990?language=en_US

Userlevel 2
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Mine lives in the bedroom.  I use the alarm as my main way to wake up each morning.  It plays my favorite playlist and it gets to follow me as I get ready.  It is humidity tolerant so that includes the bathroom as I shower.  I bet that little speaker is my most used Sonos product.

The Sonos wireless charger is well worth it IMHO too.  You can use a wireless phone changer but you do need to set it down centered.  The Sonos charger has a magnet in it that does that for you.

If you are using it as just a bluetooth speaker, I think you will be underwhelmed.  Many bluetooth only speakers have comparable sound and longer battery life.  As an extension to your Sonos ecosystem, I think it is fantastic.  Now I just need a Move for when I need a bit more in the shop.

I totally agree with the general theme of the posts so far, i.e. the Roam needs to be judged for what it can do as part of a Sonos multiroom system, not just as a Bluetooth speaker.  

OK thanks for the ideas!  It makes sense to me that the benefit of interaction with other Sonos devices is what I’m missing.  For Alexa was it more gentle on the battery than the Google Assistant?  The wireless charger couldn’t keep up with the latter but if that bug was just for Google then I’m sure I can find things for the other to do.