Sonos owns as much as “restricted” studies of overheating Roam audio system

Curiosity in Sonos’s smallest transportable speaker is heating up—actually—following phrase that not less than one of many items got here near catching hearth. 

A Sonos consumer on Reddit posted photos of the “singed” and “bulging” USB port on the again of his Roam, a transportable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker that doubles as a wise speaker. 

Sonos has acknowledged the issue, admitting to a “very low” variety of complaints about overheating Roam items, in keeping with Bloomberg (by means of 9to5Google).  

The problem seems centered on the first-generation Roam, though Bloomberg notes that some second-gen Roam items may have suffered from the glitch. 

The Sonos proprietor found the simmering Roam scenario after noticing a “humorous odor” within the room the place the speaker was sitting.  

“After a couple of hours, the odor was getting worse, and I might then acknowledge the odor as burning plastic,” the consumer wrote. 

Sonos advised Bloomberg that it has “intently tracked a restricted variety of studies involving the USB-C charging connection on some first-generation Sonos Roam audio system,” and added that the corporate has “taken a number of proactive steps to even additional cut back the chance of this difficulty, together with software program updates and {hardware} enhancements.” 

We’ve reached out to Sonos for extra remark.

First launched again in 2021, the Sonos Roam is a nifty little speaker, when it really works.  

Able to connecting to Wi-Fi networks in addition to Bluetooth, the Sonos Roam is roughly the scale of a water bottle and weighs simply six ounces, making it ultimate for tossing right into a knapsack for a visit to the park. I additionally thought the Roam sounded distinctive given its diminutive kind issue. 

However within the months following the Roam’s launch, studies started cropping up of charging points with the speaker, notably if the unit was left on its charger. (The Roam helps wi-fi charging from its base in addition to USB-C charging through its rear charging port.)  

My very own Roam by no means caught hearth, however it did cease responding at some point after I’d left it sitting on its wi-fi charging station for (apparently) too lengthy. The unit’s orange charging mild would activate and it felt noticeably heat to the contact, however it by no means labored once more. 

Sonos changed the defective Roam with a second unit, however a number of months later, it too stopped working after exhibiting the identical signs. I wound up switching to an Anker-made Soundcore speaker, which has proved far more resilient.

This text is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the very best sensible audio system.