Sonos just announced its first new speaker of the year: the Roam SL. It’s exactly the same as the company’s current ultra-portable speaker, the Roam, but it doesn’t have a built-in microphone and therefore can’t work as a smart speaker with either Alexa or Google Assistant. The good news is that it costs $159 — $20 cheaper than the $179 Roam — making the Roam SL one of the most affordable Sonos speakers you can buy.
Read More
As you might have guessed, the other big caveat of going microphone-less is that the Roam SL doesn’t support Automatic Trueplay, which is Sonos’s proprietary software that allows its Roam to intuitively adjust its EQ settings depending on where it’s placed in your room. Also, the Roam SL doesn’t support Sound Swap, a feature that allows you to quickly and easily transfer music from your Roam (but not the Roam SL) to the closest Sonos speaker without stopping the music.
But other than those two things, the Roam SL has all the same features and abilities as the Roam. It’s the same size. It has the same 10-hour battery life. It has the same ruggedness and IP67 water-resistance. And you can have it play over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, depending on where you are and which you prefer.
The Roam SL will be available for purchase on March 15, but you can pre-order it today from Sonos’s website.
Sonos