With
over 30 hours battery life, great controls and a compact design,
Marshall’s first wireless headphones carry on the good work of the
vintage amplifier company.
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
British audio brand Marshall has taken
its first steps into the wireless headphone world with a brand new
version of its Major II, which is claims has over 30 hours of battery
life.
Classic Marshall styling
Classic Marshall styling
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
Marshall headphones have a
pretty distinctive style, referencing the amplifier stacks for which the
company is famed: square, black ear cups with Marshall’s textured
pattern, white logo and a basic, retro look. I think they’re quite
attractive as headphones go, and are much more slim and subtle than most
others, but the vintage feel won’t suit everyone.
The ear cups are held in place by thin wire arms and a flexible padded headband, covered with more fake leather texture. There are a few nice brass accents here and there.
They are on-ear, rather than over-ear headphones. The small square pads press on your ear rather than cover them, sitting quite tightly on your head. The phones feel relatively light when on and don’t move around when you go about your day.
Like any on-ear headphone they start to pinch a little for extended listening sessions, but they’re more comfortable than many I have tried. The band is also much more comfortable than some on-ear competitors, with a nice soft-touch covered foam padded strip sitting on your head.
When not in use they can fold up to be quite compact, but don’t fold flat for travel. They feel pretty robust too, which means they should last well. Some lighter headphones feel a bit flimsy.
Controls and connectivity
The ear cups are held in place by thin wire arms and a flexible padded headband, covered with more fake leather texture. There are a few nice brass accents here and there.
They are on-ear, rather than over-ear headphones. The small square pads press on your ear rather than cover them, sitting quite tightly on your head. The phones feel relatively light when on and don’t move around when you go about your day.
Like any on-ear headphone they start to pinch a little for extended listening sessions, but they’re more comfortable than many I have tried. The band is also much more comfortable than some on-ear competitors, with a nice soft-touch covered foam padded strip sitting on your head.
When not in use they can fold up to be quite compact, but don’t fold flat for travel. They feel pretty robust too, which means they should last well. Some lighter headphones feel a bit flimsy.
Controls and connectivity
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
There
are only two buttons on the headphones. One is the power button on the
right ear cup that also puts the headphones into pairing mode when
pressed twice while on. The other is a button-cum-joystick on the corner
of the left ear cup.
The small metal nub can be pressed in to pause or play a track, up or down to adjust volume or side to side for skipping tracks. It’s a very satisfying way to control your music with a reassuring click and works better than most other single-button controls I’ve seen on Bluetooth headphones.
Like most other Bluetooth headphones, the Major IIs also take a standard headphones cable, should the battery run out or you want to easily listen to something on a computer. But more interestingly, you can use that cable to play music to something else, using the headphones as a Bluetooth receiver.
It means you can share whatever you’re listening to with a friend using a standard headphones cable, as you might want to on a plane, train or in the office.
The headphones support apt-X for higher quality Bluetooth connections, if your smartphone supports it, but the standard Bluetooth connection was solid throughout my testing.
Isolation and sound
The small metal nub can be pressed in to pause or play a track, up or down to adjust volume or side to side for skipping tracks. It’s a very satisfying way to control your music with a reassuring click and works better than most other single-button controls I’ve seen on Bluetooth headphones.
Like most other Bluetooth headphones, the Major IIs also take a standard headphones cable, should the battery run out or you want to easily listen to something on a computer. But more interestingly, you can use that cable to play music to something else, using the headphones as a Bluetooth receiver.
It means you can share whatever you’re listening to with a friend using a standard headphones cable, as you might want to on a plane, train or in the office.
The headphones support apt-X for higher quality Bluetooth connections, if your smartphone supports it, but the standard Bluetooth connection was solid throughout my testing.
Isolation and sound
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
The closed cups manage to
block out a reasonable amount of background noise, despite being on-ear,
and keep it from leaking out for all but the loudest listening, which
is good because the Marshalls are tuned to be loud. They focus on bass
and the mid-range, with quite a deep and direct sound for relatively
small on-ear headphones.
They suit rock music best, making listening quite a heavy experience, perfectly suited to tracks such as Eric Clapton’s Layla, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit or Deep Purple’s Smoke on the water. On something like Alicia Keys Fallin’ they tend to accentuate the double bass and drums to the detriment of the vocals. Having said that, they take a good stab at something like Blue Sky Black Death’s Can’t Take it With Me or even Luciano Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma, making them decent all-rounders for their size.
Battery
They suit rock music best, making listening quite a heavy experience, perfectly suited to tracks such as Eric Clapton’s Layla, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit or Deep Purple’s Smoke on the water. On something like Alicia Keys Fallin’ they tend to accentuate the double bass and drums to the detriment of the vocals. Having said that, they take a good stab at something like Blue Sky Black Death’s Can’t Take it With Me or even Luciano Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma, making them decent all-rounders for their size.
Battery
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
Marshall
reckons the Major IIs will last 30 hours between charges, and I think
they might be slightly underestimating that. I charged them and ran them
for at least three hours in a working day for three weeks and they’re
still going, which I reckon puts it well over 30 hours.
That makes them a set of wireless headphones you can simply charge and forget. If the battery does run out you have the cable to connect with as a backup.
That makes them a set of wireless headphones you can simply charge and forget. If the battery does run out you have the cable to connect with as a backup.
Price
The Marshall Major II Bluetooth headphones cost £130, which puts them at the low end of premium wireless headphones. Plantronic’s BackBeat Sense on-ear headphones cost £130, while other headphones with similar battery life and sound quality cost upwards of £150. Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless cost £330, for instance.
Verdict
Marshall’s first attempt at Bluetooth headphones are very good. They’ve got a loud and proud sound signature, which won’t suit every musical taste, but they sound great when fed driving music and even sound pretty good with ambient music.
The battery life is truly great too, with well over 30 hours between charges making them very easy to live with. Most Bluetooth headphones that sound as good and last as long as these usually cost a lot more, making the Major IIs excellent. The only downside is they pinch a bit for long listening, which pretty much all on-ear headphones do.
Pros: great sound, very loud, good isolation, excellent battery life, easy to connect, great controls, fold up for transport, relatively compact, sturdy
Cons: won’t suit all music genres, on-ear design pinches after a couple of hours, vintage design with fake leather texture won’t be for everyone.
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| Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/the Guardian |
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