US audio manufacturer Sonos has announced its latest speaker, the Roam, will launch in New Zealand on April 20 for an initial price of $319.
The Roam is described as an "ultra-portable" smart speaker and is the smallest yet from Sonos, weighing less than 500g and measuring 6.61 x 2.44 x 2.36 inches.
Sonos has developed a reputation for premium audio quality, so music lovers should be interested how the Roam delivers considering its small size - and how it compares to competitor products from the likes of Sony, Bose, UE Boom and JBL Charge.
In addition to playing audio, the Roam has microphones that make it smart speaker compatible with the likes of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Apple's AirPlay 2 is also supported.
The mics also enable a function called Automatic Trueplay, which tunes the audio for best results based on whatever room or environment the speaker is in at the time.
The Sonos Roam will offer both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and promises to automatically switch between the two as you move it about.
"When you're listening at home, Roam connects to your system and streams on Wi-Fi, and when you leave it intuitively switches to Bluetooth and automatically re-pairs with your mobile device," says Sonos.
"With an all-new feature called Sound Swap, you can press and hold the play/pause button on the speaker to switch the music to the nearest speaker in your system, making it easy to move music from room-to-room."
The speaker has silicone at both ends to protect it if it's dropped onto a hard surface and also IP67 rated in terms of being dust and waterproof.
Battery-wise, the Roam is said to provide up to 10 hours of continuous playback before having to be recharged.
It'll support wireless charging but ships with a USB-C cable that can also recharge it.
When it launches on April 20, the Roam will be exclusively available in New Zealand from Noel Leeming stores for a few months before it'll also be sold at other retailers.
