Sonos Roam 2: two-minute review

The Sonos Roam 2 is the brand's latest speaker, and while much of the attention on Sonos lately has been on its app and new Ace headphones, speakers are at the heart of its lineup. These all seamlessly connect with each other for a great listening experience with easy access to plenty of services either in the home or outside. 

The Sonos Roam 2 replaces one of the best Bluetooth speakers, and launched alongside the Sonos Ace headphones with little fanfare and only a handful of changes that were mostly under the hood. The main changes here are an extra button to make setup easier and a slight redesign in terms of colors. 

At $179 / £179 / AU$299, the Roam 2 is certainly not a cheap or an ultra-affordable speaker, but it does get you a Sonos product for that price, and that's what really adds up to a winning device here. Adding a dedicated button on the back lets you more effortlessly switch between using this lightweight speaker on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Furthermore, with either, you'll get a stable, drop-free experience – at least I did during my over two months of testing.

The Roam 2 also fits right in with other Sonos products, offering a rich, clear, and balanced experience that doesn't come across as flat, especially the soundstage. Whether it was Bruce Springsteen, Olivia Rodrigo, The Rolling Stones, or Taylor Swift, the Roam 2 sounded great. Thanks to the Automatic Trueplay feature, it also adjusts the mix on its own to make sure it sounds at the same level wherever you are.

It's also very lightweight and easily movable, with a pretty minimalist design that puts the focus on the music versus some fancy party tricks. The let-down, though, is the battery life and that limits how travel-ready the Roam 2 truly is. At 10 hours it falls behind both more expensive and more affordable speakers, which means you'll want to bring a power bank with you.

I’ve spent about three months with the Roam 2, using it at home, on trips to the Jersey Shore, and even on weekend trips, and it's a great speaker. While it isn't an immediate upgrade if you already have a Roam, unless the single button on the back is driving you crazy, the Roam 2 is an excellent option for someone who wants a terrific-sounding Bluetooth speaker that offers a premium build and a higher-end feature list.

Sonos Roam 2 Review: Price and release date

• $179 / £179 / AU$299
• Available in Black, White, Olive, Sunset, or Wave
• Released in May 2024

If you're already sold, the good news is that the Sonos Roam 2 is readily available. Regardless of color, the Roam 2 is priced at $179 / £179 / AU$299 and comes in either Black, White, Olive, Sunset, or Wave. 

This isn't cheap by small portable speaker standards – you can get the likes of the JBL Flip 6 for a lot less, which still sound great. However, you won't get Wi-Fi connectivity too there, so the Sonos brings its own value.

In the box, you'll get some documentation and a USB-C to USB-C cable for charging. You can, of course, bring your own cable or use another, but the Roam 2 can also recharge wirelessly. You're not required to invest in the one that Sonos makes, but it does offer a wireless charger that matches perfectly with the design of the Roam 2 for $49.99.

Sonos Roam 2 review: Specs

Sonos Roam 2 review: Features

• The Roam 2 is both a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker
• Automatic Trueplay ensures great playback in any environment
• 10 hours of battery life will leave you wanting more

While Sonos is declaring this the Roam 2, it could probably pass for a Roam 1.5, given the minute changes here. Then again, considering how stellar a wireless speaker the original Roam was – with excellent playback and connectivity – it allowed the brand to fix its shortcomings. 

The biggest advantage over the sea of other Bluetooth speakers available at, above, or below the price is that Roam 2 is a full-throttle Sonos speaker in every sense. For one, it boasts Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, and thanks to the latter, it fully integrates with the Sonos ecosystem. 

Bluetooth makes the Roam 2 easy to use while on a trip, whether it be to another state, country, or simply to a park. As I’ll discuss in the Design section later, Sonos fixed the biggest gripe with the original by adding a dedicated Bluetooth button – above the one for power – on the back. You can easily connect by just holding the Bluetooth button on the back, seeing the light on the front switch to a glowing blue, and connecting from your phone to play easily from your service or library of choice. 

It also eliminates the requirement of using the Sonos app to use the Roam, and even in Bluetooth, it delivers a rich playback experience. Furthermore, both indoors and outdoors, I had zero Bluetooth connectivity issues or dropouts. 

Wi-Fi connectivity is the key to the integration of the Roam 2 with other Sonos products you may already have in your home. I’ve used the ultra-portable speaker with a Beam 2nd Gen, Era 100, Era 300, and Move 2, and it fits right in. I can easily add it to the mix or first start playing on the Roam 2 and then add the other speakers. It’s also a great speaker to carry around in the home to bring music elsewhere… for me, that was to the bathroom, and it serves excellently as a shower speaker. 

While the Sonos app has had its ups and downs, I still like it because it makes it easy to group speakers together succinctly and places most streaming services – be it the big-hitters like Spotify, Apple Music or Tidal, or hundreds of others – under one roof, and lets you get to streaming pretty easily. It’s still a main selling point here and is different from competing Bluetooth speakers. I also really appreciate the integration of "Automatic Trueplay," which lets the Roam 2 automatically adjust the EQ on the fly through onboard microphones for the best playback possible.

It's a major disappointment that Sonos didn’t expand the battery size or the overall runtime. just like the first-generation, the Roam 2 is rated for 10 hours of playback, and that’s exactly what I’ve been hitting with either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth streaming. 

In two tests, I streamed a long playlist of songs and found that Roam 2 streamed playback with the volume at 60% for 10 hours. I was able to use it for most of the day on the beach and several hours at a time during a BBQ function. For both of these, it was on Bluetooth connectivity, but at home, I tend to move the Roam 2 around, but I generally find myself plugging it in; it’s not perfect, but it is a pretty seamless way to solve the maximum 10 hours of playback. Sonos does include a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box, but you won’t find a power brick or a wireless charger.

Simply, that’s a bit low for a Bluetooth speaker that costs this much, but it’s not a dealbreaker when you consider the other features here, especially if you want something to play within the broader Sonos ecosystem. 

In a similar vein to battery life here, the microphone situation on the Roam 2 is an interesting one. When on Wi-Fi, you can use the built-in voice microphone with Amazon Alexa or Sonos Voice Control. Through this, it acts like an Echo with the former, and with the latter, you can ask Giancarlo Esposito to play your favorite songs. But when on Bluetooth, you can’t use the Roam 2 as a speakerphone or for conference calls. A little strange, but in line with the first-generation.

Even with battery shortcomings and microphone oddities on the Roam 2, these features largely support excellent audio quality and minimalist design quite well. This makes Roam 2 an excellent choice for someone who’s already in or brand-new to the Sonos ecosystem. 

While this is more expensive than smaller Bluetooth speakers and even similarly sized ones like the Beats Pill, the Roam 2 feels higher-end, with excellent sound in a simple build. 

• Features score: 4/5

Sonos Roam 2 review: Sound Quality

• Delivers excellent sound that punches far above its size
• Produces a wide soundstage that doesn't over emphasize bass
• Great sound quality over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi

And simply, that’s an excellent sound that punches far above the sheer size. The Roam 2, like the original Sonos Roam, is powered by a tweeter, mid-woofer, and two class-H digital amplifiers that are all controlled by Sonos’ sound engineering. That’s a lot of tech jargon, but the Roam 2 produces an excellent sound that works for a broad range of artists, and presents low, mid, and high frequencies quite well.

When just paired over Bluetooth, skipping the Sonos app experience, I think most will be happy with the balanced sound. It’s not necessarily heavy on bass, especially with pop tracks, but it does let that element of a song be heard. 

While playing Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, the speaker mimics the wall of sound effects quite nicely, letting you hear the various elements of the mix, including guitars, drums, piano, and saxophone. A live cut of Racing In The Street by the same boss lets the piano opening riff and closing interlude flow across various frequency ranges with zero distortion. That’s powerful on its own, but it sounds great when paired with Springtseen’s vocals and the rest of the band kicking in – saxophone, bass, backing guitars, and drums – all at once. 

For most tracks at moderate volumes reaching, say, 80%, the audio experience is both rich and crisp with a wide soundstage that doesn’t feel like it’s compressing any element. You also have the ability to hop into the Sonos app for Android or iOS to adjust the EQ to your liking. Remember, another benefit here is Automatic Trueplay. Like on other Sonos speakers, it will tap the onboard microphones to help tune the mix in real time – for instance, if it needs to lower or up the bass, depending on where you are using it.

I also really enjoyed pop tracks on the Roam 2, like Apple by Charli XCX, which delivered thumping bass with smooth vocals and EDM sounds layered on top, to bad idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo, which showed how the speaker could handle vocals at varying frequencies. 

• Sound quality score: 4.5/5

Sonos Roam 2 review: Design

• The Roam 2 doesn't call much attention to itself with a minimalistic build
• The addition of a Bluetooth button on the back fixes a major issue with the original
• It's ready for a trip to the beach or a tumble in a park with a IP67 resistance rating

The Roam 2 largely looks like the original Roam. It’s still super portable, either held in hand or tossed into a backpack at just 0.95 lbs and it stands at about the size of a water bottle. It comes in a few shades, and I’m particularly fond of the “Wave” shade, which is essentially a light blue. It’s easy to spot and a bit more fun without popping too much. 

Compared to the original Roam, the second generation is hard to tell apart. One way is that the Sonos logo on the front is now color-matched to the rest of the speaker. It still sits on top of the front grille, which is where the sound gets pushed out. Unlike competing options from, say, Ultimate Ears, the Roam 2 simply pushes sound out the front. That’s something to keep in mind when placing it.

The Roam 2's top and bottom, or end caps, are rubberized, which makes it easy to stand vertically. However, you can also place it horizontally, and four pegs let it rest easily and not shake too much when you’re playing a rock-roll classic or a pop hit at full blast. 

On the top of the Roam 2, you’ll find four physical buttons – microphone on or off, volume down, play or pause, and volume up. They're all easy to find, and unlike on the Sonos Era 100, they aren’t capacitive. Considering you can take this speaker to the beach and toss it in the sand or use it in the rain, this is probably a good design call. I also successfully used it in those two environments and dunked the Roam 2 a few times. It held up just fine, and that’s thanks to its IP67 resistance rating. 

Sonos’ best design decision with the Roam 2 can be witnessed on the back, though. You might recall that the original only had one physical button on the rear that had to be used to turn the Roam on or off, as well as for connectivity. It was a bit of a pain to use, and as someone who’s had an original Roam since launch, I never really forgot the oddity of it. That is rectified here as there are two buttons on the back – a power button and a Bluetooth pairing one. Rejoice! 

This not only makes it easy to turn the Roam on or off, but you can also power it on and immediately use it without having to connect or pair it with the Sonos app on your Android or iOS device. You can immediately start streaming music from an iPhone or any Bluetooth-enabled device.

Lastly, the Roam 2 has a USB-C port on the back that can be used to charge the speaker. Unlike other options, there is no reverse charging here. Thanks to a Qi unit on the bottom, you can also wirelessly charge the Roam 2. 

On the whole, I was already pretty fond of the Roam 2's design. As we said in our first generation review, it is a “really attractive” Bluetooth speaker that sticks with Sonos’ minimalist focus. It might not be as vibrant or LED light-filled as competing options, but that also lets the focus be on the sound it produces.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Sonos Roam 2 review: Value

• Sonos fixed most of the issues with the original here
• For the price, you get an excellent piece of hardware with rich sound that's on par with other speakers
• You can spend less for a great sounding longer-lasting speaker

Whether you have a home-filled with Sonos speakers or are brand new to the connected audio brand, the Roam 2 should be on your sort list for an ultra-portable speaker. It fixes one of the biggest pain points with the original, while still delivering excellent sound in a strong build that comes in some fun shades.

Thanks to the Bluetooth button on the back, you can easily unbox it and get right to playing music if you're away from home. You'll just power the Roam 2 on, hold it in, and connect from your Bluetooth-enabled device to start streaming. The onboard tweeter and woofer deliver a rich, balanced audio experience that can get surprisingly loud for the sheer size, and it outpaces competing Bluetooth speakers.

The Roam 2 also has an edge when it comes to Wi-Fi connectivity, letting it integrate with other Sonos speakers for multi-room audio and, in fact, works with the Sonos app for easy music streaming from a plethora of sources. You can also use the onboard microphone with Amazon Alexa for other smart controls. 

It's not all perfect, though; at $179 / £179 / AU$299, the Roam 2 should last longer than just 10 hours, and you can get more mileage for a lot less. You might also be looking for a more fun design or integration with other platforms that Roam 2 doesn't offer. 

Still, even with a battery life shortcoming, the Roam 2 offers improvements to an already excellent Bluetooth (and Wi-Fi) speaker. While it's not an immediate upgrade for folks with the original – unless you're frustrated by the lack of a Bluetooth button – the Roam 2 is an excellent option for someone who wants excellent sound in an ultra-portable build with simple aesthetics. 

• Value score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Sonos Roam 2?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Sonos Roam 2 review: Also consider

How I tested the Sonos Roam 2

• Tested over two months on its own and in conjunction with other Sonos speakers
• Listened to a range of music over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections
• Tested in a variety of spaces, both inside and outside

I tested the Sonos Roam 2 for over two months with a long list of my favorite tracks across genres like rock, pop, hip-hop, and jazz, as well as the TechRadar testing playlist, which has a wide range of songs. I tried to throw a broad range of tracks at the Roam 2, from Bruce Springsteen and The Beatles to Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, and Charli XCX. 

Since it works over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, I tried the former with several devices, including an iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad Mini, Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel Fold, Google Pixel 8, and the Galaxy Z Flip 6. On Wi-Fi, I used it on my pre-existing Sonos system that consists of an Era 100, Roam 1st Gen, Sonos Beam 2nd Gen, Sonos Sub Mini, Sonos Move 2nd Gen, and a Sonos Era 300.

I tested the battery qualitatively in a broad range of places and a formal test to see what it netted out at. I ran it through a long playlist twice with the volume set to 60%.

• First reviewed: August 2024
• Read TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee

The Pill is back! Beats' 2012 capsule creation was long overdue an update, wasn't it? Yes, Apple's Beats-branded Bluetooth speaker has been through several iterations in the 12 years since its debut, but even the most recent of those was back in 2015 (and was discontinued by Apple in January 2022). This left a gaping hole in the Bluetooth speaker space. Cut to June 25, 2024, and, following a few careful and thoroughly on-brand celeb leaks, a 2024 Beats Pill finally dropped. And it's cheaper than it was in 2012! But let's not get ahead of ourselves – pricing comes later.

Is the new Beats Pill worthy of a spot in our best Bluetooth speakers buying guide? In so many ways, yes. Right off the bat: the glow-up has worked – it looks great. It's rounder and more tactile: there's a sense of pride in carrying it around. It feels as if it should have a Bang & Olufsen plate on its metal grille and be far more expensive than it is. 

It sounds really good for its size too. This is thanks in no small part to the reworked acoustic architecture under the hood: there's a new single and totally reengineered racetrack woofer (the 2015 Beats Pill+ featured a dual woofer design), helped by stronger neodymium magnets. Apple says the 2024 Beats Pill can drive 28% more motor force to "displace 90% more air volume" and while I don't have a Pill+ to hand to test that claim, I can tell you that the Pill sounds much bigger and more spacious that it's hotdog-esque dimensions would lead you to imagine. It easily provided the tunes for a gathering of six people. 

The high notes are handled by a redesigned solo tweeter (again, just the one, not the two you'd find in the older Plus model) secured in its own housing and the entire array – and metallic grille surrounding it – is now angled up by 20 degrees, so its improved output hits you in the right way. This Pill is also 10% lighter than the last one since Beats has managed to knock 68g / 2.4oz off the weight.

Let's get to the sound first: it's good. The Beats Pill's enviable sonic chops are the reason it gets four stars. The bongo drums at the start of Shed Seven's Dolphin (from a nice Flac file on my laptop via USB-C for better-than-Bluetooth audio – more on this later) start off every bit as quiet as they should, building to Rick Witter's crisp, energetic and nuanced vocal. Jangly guitars, driving bassline and Alan Leach's uncompromising drum fills are all given due diligence in a cohesive mix that still lets those bongos shine as the track intensifies. 

John Frusciante's Omission, from Shadows Collide with People celebrates every supplementary musical passage with zeal and finesse even over Bluetooth 5.3 (and even though only SBC and AAC are supported, so no higher-res codecs). The track's tambourine, female backing vocals, synth, keys and percussion are not only revealed but expertly showcased with texture, in a soundstage that I can only describe as reverent. The album continues to Shift Sync and I'm happy to note a healthy and head-noddingly accurate bass thump from the Beats Pill, too. 

OK, if you're prepared to pay about $30 more for the JBL Charge 5 (and prepared to cart around something that's 332g heavier, or slightly more than a bag of flour) you'll get a sound that's a touch meatier, broader and dynamically agile through the rise and fall of each note. However, the 2021-release JBL is neither as premium-looking nor as perfectly portable, and the Charge 5's 20 hours of playtime is beaten by the Pill's 24-hour stamina. Also, the Pill can be used as a speakerphone during calls, which is a feature I really like and one that seems to be dying out – the JBL Charge 5, for one, has no built-in mic so can't do it. 

Where the JBL model has the upper hand, though, is when it comes to daisy-chaining multiple speakers from its family via the PartyBoost function. Your options for beefing up the Beats Pill's audio is to pair two of them, in either 'Amplify' or 'Stereo' modes – ie. mono or stereo. So if you had visions of purchasing eight or so perfectly paired Pills to dot around your home, you'll be disappointed. 

The Pill supports super-snappy one-touch pairing on both Android and iOS now, plus Find My (on iOS) or Find My Device (Android). Instructions on setting this up can be found by scanning the QR code supplied in the packaging, but a dedicated app might have been an idea on iOS. This is an Apple product in a Beats jacket, so certain Apple ecosystem perks (iCloud pairing to any device within your iCloud account, audio hand-off to your Apple Watch if your iPhone dips out of range) are here.

The thing is, there's no dedicated EQ tab or way to check for remaining juice in the Pill other than by pressing the power button quickly (more on this incoming), which makes a picture of the Pill pop up on my iPhone with a battery life percentage. That said, I like that once paired, my iPhone's volume slider becomes Beats-branded. 

For extra usability bits and pieces on Android, you're directed to the Beats app (requires Android 8.0 or later). For iPhone and iPad users, Beats clearly feels its integration with iOS gets the job done. I'm not sure it's a great decision, though I accept that AirPods don't have a dedicated app on your iPhone either, and, let's face it, they're rather popular. 

The big ace up the Pill's sleeve is that you can use the included USB-C charging cable to charge other portable devices from the Pill, or to enjoy lossless audio from your laptop, phone, or other digital music sources. It's a great USP if you value audio quality. However, it leads me on to my main gripe with the Beats Pill. Look at its top plate and you'll see just four buttons: two for volume, a power/pairing button and a central button. That's simply not enough buttons – especially when you remember there's no iOS app to speak of. 

Let me explain. The power button alone has no fewer than six functions, three of which involve holding it down for a different number of seconds, to make the Pill take effect (as it were). A fourth involves holding it down while simultaneously plugging it into another device quickly (!) so it doesn't think you mean something else. You need to hold the power button down for 0.8 seconds or less to check the battery; more than 0.8 seconds but less than 3 seconds to turn it on or off; more than 3 seconds to initiate pairing. Holding the button down while simultaneously plugging its USB-C port into a source device (which, again, you must do quickly and decisively) should initiate USB-C audio. 

You know what I'm going to say. I often initiated Bluetooth pairing when I meant to turn it off. This is because, after a few presses that didn't register for more than 0.8 seconds, I got a little more heavy-handed and overcooked it. And USB-C audio was only achieved after several attempts where once again, the Pill thought I wanted to initiate pairing rather than hook up a wired connection to my laptop. There's no dedicated 3.5mm port on the Pill and I couldn't get the USB-C cable to work with a 3.5mm dongle to a set of headphones, or a Lightning dongle to my iPhone 12 Pro on the other end of the cable, so it really is true USB-C to USB-C only. 

The Pill's central button handles playback in the usual way (one press for play/pause, two to skip, three to go back) but also can be long-pressed at the same time as the central button on another Pill, to pair them. I didn't test this since I only had one review sample, but again, an app where you see the paired speaker (and what, in which mode, it's connected to) would have helped here. 

For the money, which is $149.99 / £149.99 / AU$249 (ie. $50 less than the 2012 original) I need you to know that this is a great-sounding, great-looking, well-featured Bluetooth speaker that, thanks to its IP67 rating, is also one of the best waterproof speakers I've tested for sound.

For me, its dimensions and aesthetic (available in Red, Black, or this gorgeous beach-ready 'Champagne Gold' hue) are quite beautiful and I took greater pride in producing it from my bag than I did many of the similarly-priced, 'rugged' and fabric-jacketed rival speakers I've tested to date. If you're a fan of the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) or slightly newer Beosound Explore for looks and sound, you'll love the Beats Pill. 

Beats Pill review: Price and availability

• Priced $149.99 / £149.99 / AU$249
• Released June 25, 2024

The Beats Pill officially arrived on June 25, having been artfully teased in the weeks beforehand. That price pleasantly surprised me since, well, this is still Apple and the 2012 inaugural model cost $50 more. 

Competition is the key driver there, obviously – there's a lot of it about in 2024. For looks, its closest rival is the excellent – but older and significantly more expensive – May 2020-issue Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1. For size and relative newness, you might look to the May 2024-release Sonos Roam 2, which costs $30 / £30 / AU$50 more. That speaker will also hook up to your Sonos system, but it only has a battery life of 10 hours compared to the Beats' 24 hours. Lastly, the JBL Flip 6 can now be yours for around $109 / £99 / AU$169 because it's a 2022 product – and we like it a lot. The downside is that although the Flip offers multiple-speaker PartyBoost connectivity, it's 'just' a Bluetooth speaker otherwise. You don't get the speakerphone capability, ability to charge other devices, or USB-C audio passthrough you get with the Beats Pill. 

Beats Pill review: Specs

Should I buy the Beats Pill?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Beats Pill review: Also consider

How I tested the Beats Pill

• Tested the speaker for over two weeks
• Listened over a wired USB-C connection to a Mac and via Bluetooth to iPhone 
• Tested in a variety of spaces and over calls, to test the speakerphone chops

I tested the Beats Pill for over two weeks. As is our way at TechRadar, I listened to the TechRadar testing playlist, which includes various hi-fi certified testing tracks (think complex instrumentals, thumping basslines and ethereal vocals), plus my own ever-changing playlists. These span everything from tried-and-tested Joni Mitchell favorites to Eminem's new album because why not? Music, too, is ever-evolving – as are we. 

The bulk of my testing was done using my iPhone 12 Pro (yes, I'm still using a Lightning port – but so many of us are!) and my MacBook Pro, which helped me better test it for the iOS ecosystem user. 

Oh, and because I'm committed to the cause, I tested that 24-hour battery life claim at 50% battery. How did I sleep? Intermittently, although I had placed the Beats Pill in a cupboard in my apartment, as far from my bed as possible. I even lined said cupboard with a few pillows. It was still playing 23 hours after my battery test began. I was impressed… a little tired, but impressed. 

• First reviewed: July 2024
• Read TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee