by To update: Sonos has officially unveiled three new colors for the Sonos Roam portable speaker, confirming the initial leak. The different color options will cost no more than the black or white speaker, meaning it will cost $179 / £179 / AU$299. The original story continues below.
We’ve had our fair share of Sonos leaks lately, from the impending launch of a new affordable Sonos Ray soundbar to the connected audio brand’s voice assistant, and now we can add another to the pile: new colors for the Sonos Roam. . .
As discovered in this Reddit threat, subscribers to the Sonos mailing list were sent a mysterious email with a countdown and a not-so-subtle URL that contained “roamcolors” as well as an image with the name file “Roam_Colors_Launch.png”. What could it be?
The colors themselves have been leaked by Chilean retailer MusicWorld, where all three options were visible on the site at the time of writing, but have since been removed. While we don’t have the official names for the shades, the colors include an olive green, cool gray and orange red option.
life in technicolor
As those familiar with the company will know, the vast majority of Sonos products launch in the super exciting black or white color options, with any additions to the palette coming later as special releases.
This happened with the Sonos One when it received red, green, yellow, pink and gray options, all at a $30/£30 (around AU$50) premium over its monochrome siblings. We suspect that’s how it’ll work with the Sonos Roam, although we hope there won’t be a price difference, or at least not that severe.
Since the audio brand’s products were initially designed exclusively for the home, a monochrome color scheme was a safe and sensible choice; Generally speaking, it is much easier to combine black or white products with interior decoration. But when it expands into the portable Bluetooth speaker market, character becomes more important than ubiquity.
This is something Ultimate Ears is more than familiar with, with the ever-popular UE Boom 3 arriving in a wide range of colours, with more landings throughout the life of the product. Indeed, the company took this to its natural conclusion, allowing customers to fully customize their UE Boom 3 speaker.
In the Sonos Roam vs UE Boom 3 debate, there are compelling cases for either product (price being chief among them), but with Sonos introducing a splash of personality to its Roam range, the gap may be closing.
As mentioned, we suspect these new colors will arrive at around the same price as the existing Sonos Roam at $179 / £179 / AU$299, but with no official word on pricing or regional availability, we’ll have to wait until Wednesday, May 11 to find out. the official revelation.
