The market for the best Bluetooth speakers isn’t exactly left short of options. All budgets are catered for and, as we’ve found, you don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money to get a great-sounding portable speaker to accompany you at a party, at the beach or on your summer holiday.
Spending more can have its benefits, though, and the latest to join the more premium-end of the Bluetooth speaker market are the Beats Pill and Sonos Roam 2. Both have substantial brand appeal and plenty of style points, but as I found out when using them side by side, they’re in many ways two very different propositions. One is a ‘back to basics’ speaker that focuses on ease of use, while the other is feature-packed and offers more in the way of daisy-chaining.
I found myself in ownership of both speakers at the same time and, even before I began to use them, I had already made up my mind on which one I’d like best… perhaps naively.
Style? Substance? How about both
Both the Sonos Roam 2 and Beats Pill are arguably great-looking Bluetooth speakers – the Pill, in particular, has a strong case for being dubbed ‘iconic’. I’d never really put much consideration into a speaker’s looks before – in fact, the only Bluetooth speaker I can recall owning is the JBL Charge 3, and that’s no looker. So when I had access to these two newcomers, I had to admire the attention that had gone into making them look as un-Bluetooth-speaker like as possible.
As with art, their looks will be subjective. One is a three-dimensional triangle… thing, and the other is an especially large pill that really would be hard to swallow. Truth be told, I actually thought the Sonos Roam 2 was going to be physically larger, so there was a brief “is that it?” murmur when I unboxed it. The Beats Pill meanwhile had an extra sense of grandeur to it and it felt like a truly special product – I think this can be attributed to the Pill’s extra weight, which makes it feel like a much more solid product. In my opinion, solid equals premium.
But the Pill’s extra weight – 680g vs 430g for the Roam 2 – did mean it was less portable-friendly. It’s obviously not going to be the same as carrying the 2kg Bose SoundLink Max around, but because of its larger size and weight, it did mean I had to put the Beats Pill into a bag whenever I took it outside with me. The Sonos Roam 2 meanwhile was small and light enough to slip into a jacket pocket.
I’m not someone who needs to take a speaker anywhere and everywhere, so ultimately I would choose the Beats Pill just based on the design.
First (audio) impressions, matter
Looks are one thing, but how a Bluetooth speaker sounds is usually going to be what generates sales. I was going into my comparison a little ear-blind, since I’ve never heard the original Pill nor had I gone ears-on with the first Sonos Roam – which currently tops our list of the best Bluetooth speakers.
Straight out of the box, I was actually a little underwhelmed by the performance of the Sonos Roam 2, which took me by surprise. I thought it sounded a little flat and lacking bass, especially when pitted against the Beats Pill which, conversely, was a lot more powerful upon first listen.
This is due to the fact that Beats completely redesigned the driver array behind the front-facing grille. A re-engineered racetrack woofer takes center stage, complete with extra bracing to keep it composed at higher volumes, and a stronger neodymium magnet, which helps the driver vibrate with improved strength.
A newly designed tweeter sits to the side, and this also gets added structural bracing to ensure it doesn’t falter when you turn the volume up. The whole driver array is angled upwards by 20º, since Beats assumes you’re unlikely to position the Pill at exactly ear level. Instead, you’re more likely to have it on a shelf or table lower than ear height, and so it wants the sound to be directed more towards your listening position.
The result is really very good indeed. As a no-frills Bluetooth speaker that delivers crisp, detailed audio with a healthy dose of low-end punch, it’s hard to fault. And this surprised me even more than the Sonos’ comparatively lackluster performance. I did go into my listening thinking the Pill may have been all style and no substance, riding the coattails of the Beats name and the multiple celebrity endorsements but, ob boy, was I proven wrong from the very first play of music from my phone.
I wasn’t going to call it there, however. The Sonos Roam 2 has not only the Roam as its very successful predecessor, but a number of its family members that can easily be considered some of the best wireless speakers. Surely it had more to give than the audio performance I experienced straight out of the box?
Fortunately, it did. Unlike with the Beats Pill, I was able to adjust the EQ settings of the Sonos Roam 2 from within the (questionable) Sonos app, and so I tinkered with bass and treble levels to a point where I was satisfied. I won’t tell you what I chose, as all ears are different – all I will advise is for you to just play around with them. If you like what you hear, stick with it.
With these levels adjusted, there was much less of a difference in the audio output of both speakers. I would say the Beats Pill still has the Sonos beat in terms of bass power, but the Roam 2 was certainly more detailed and handled vocals and higher frequencies with greater panache.
When it comes to any extra features a Bluetooth speaker has, I’m a pretty easy man to please. I just want to be able to connect my phone without hassle and if there is an option to adjust equalizer settings, then I’m sold.
Both speakers offer simple connectivity – the Beats Pill slightly more so because it plays especially nicely with iOS devices (I’m an iPhone user) – but only the Roam 2 offers EQ customization. So, which would I choose? In this particular speaker square up, I’d choose the Pill.
Yes, I can adjust bass and treble levels of the Roam 2, but the fact I felt I had to use them (rather than having the option to use them) to tailor the default sound to my personal preference was a bit disappointing. Would I like to be able to tinker with the sound of the Pill? Of course, but I didn’t feel it was totally necessary, so it’s ready to go right out of the box.
The other potential deal breaker for most prospective Bluetooth speaker buyers is battery life. With the very premise of a Bluetooth speaker being that it’s portable, and therefore unlikely to be near mains power during its use, stamina is everything. The Beats Pill boasts an applaudable 24 hours, while the Roam 2 musters up only 10. That’s a considerable difference, and while I haven’t yet run into any battery woes of my own with either speaker, I can understand how others might.
Plus, the Pill can use some of that extra juice to charge my phone – which is far more likely to run out of power – thereby giving it even greater appeal.
I did appreciate being able to connect the Sonos Roam 2 to my wider Sonos speaker system and to move my indoor party outside, but this is a niche use case and not one that would ultimately convince me to part with a wad of cash.
Not a bitter pill to swallow
I went into my comparison expecting to fall in love with the Sonos Roam 2. The company has been at the forefront of wireless audio for years and even introduced its first pair of the headphones, Sonos Ace, earlier this year. I own a pair of those and they’ve become my new daily pair, which is saying something because I’ve previously hated using over-ears. But while the Roam 2 does have the benefit of EQ customization, is lighter and has the ability to connect to my complete Sonos speaker system, I feel the sound quality of the Beats Pill is more to my personal liking.
The Pill also trumps the Roam 2 in the battery stakes, and it can double up as a charger for USB-C devices, resulting in an impressive resume. And, to top it off, the Pill is cheaper than the Roam 2. Prices for the Beats Pill come in at $149.99 / £149.99 / AU$249 compared to the $179 / £179 / AU$299 for the Sonos Roam 2.
I know which one I’d rather spend my money on.
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max.langridge@futurenet.com (Max Langridge)
