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The Sonos Roam SL makes excellent portable audio more affordable than ever

Sonos is making Roam more accessible than ever! It seems almost impossible to make it a more attractive buy. Almost. And yet, the Sonos Roam SL is here to make missing a purchase completely unthinkable.

How? By offering solid audio, featuring depth, clarity, and fullness you’d demand from a far larger speaker. The same audio found inside the Sonos Roam lives inside this portable part. But you can expect to pay even less for a Sonos Roam SL. How is this possible?

Meet the Sonos Roam SL

You can expect many of the same features you’d encounter in the Sonos Roam inside the Roam SL. The bigger-on-the-inside soundscape is just the beginning. There’s also the ability to seamlessly connect the SL to your existing Sonos ecosystem via WiFi. As ever, the speaker will intelligently switch over to a Bluetooth source when you move out of range of less mobile speakers.

When out and about, the Roam SL can be paired with another SL, or even an existing Roam speaker via WiFi for truly portable stereo sound on the move. There’s hasn’t been a party starter this good since the invention of the tequila shooter.

The party continues

And the party doesn’t have to stop just because there’s no power chord. The Roam SL’s skill-set extends to up to ten hours of continuous playback, thanks to its 18Wh battery. The 430-gram speaker can save battery life thanks to a Battery Saver setting that’ll automatically power it down when there’s no sound piping through it.

The lengthy uptime pairs extremely well with the IP67 rating. It’ll shrug off dust and water, meaning it’s not just a portable party. It’s a portable beach party (though you do have to bring your own sand). The top section includes properly tactile buttons, preventing unintentional button presses.

The shape is designed to do… several things. It a) looks good, no matter where you put it but also b) won’t roll off any surface that’s even vaguely horizontal. It’ll also c) work equally well whether you’re standing it vertically or horizontally.

Answer the question

The Roam SL offers buyers all of the highlights of what made the Sonos Roam so great. Expect excellent audio, the sort of build quality only Sonos can provide, and a light, portable footprint that can go with you anywhere. Product interoperability, smart connections, durability, and water resistance have all made the jump. So has the ability to pair with other speakers while out in the world, be it a second SL or a standard Roam. But speakers don’t just get cheaper, do they?

Affordability was enabled by ditching the in-speaker microphones — so if you simply cannot do without voice assistants and taking calls on your speaker, the Sonos Roam is still your best option. If, like many, you prefer quality audio at an affordable price point over a device that’s also going to be used for remote meetings, the Roam SL has everything you could possibly need from a portable speaker. Roam SL offers the same great sound as Roam.

The Sonos Roam SL portable Bluetooth speaker launches in South Africa on 15 March. At launch, expect to pay R3,499 to get your hands on this affordable, high-end audio gear.

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