Marshall Monitor II A.N.C. Headphone - Black

Product Information

There’s a Marshall Bluetooth app, although the newer version will coincide with the Monitor II ANC release. Since it was still in test mode, I did experience some issues, such as not recognising the headphones. I wore them for a few journeys on a particularly raucous stretch of the Central Line on the London Underground and was immediately clear to me that the Marshall, while reasonably effective, struggle to deaden as much of the roar and rattle of the carriages as its rivals. Even the older Bose QuietComfort 35 II are better than the Marshall Monitor II ANC.

Marshall and Zound first collaborated in 2010 in a deal that resulted in Marshall’s range of headphones and Bluetooth speakers. The big problem with the inline controls is that there’s no volume control. This is an essential feature of inline controls and it just seems like careless oversight that it’s not available, especially considering the cable is so otherwise thoughtfully designed. A single knob on the main headset is able to perform multiple functions which makes this limited functionality stand out even more. Marshall Amplification was was formed in 1962 and remained under family ownership for more than 60 years until March 2023, when they were sold to Swedish speaker manufacturer Zound Industries. Marshall still own a 24% stake in the company, making them the largest shareholders in the newly-titled Marshall Group. The takeover deal covers Marshall Amplification and its subsidiaries Marshall Records, Marshall Live Agency and Natal Drums They performed just as well in office environments and around London, with distractions dimmed so I could focus on whatever I was listening to. The ANC button on the Monitor IIMarshall waded into the noise-cancelling arena with the MID ANC on-ears, but the Monitor II ANC are its most expensive headphones. The Marshall headphones have a special feature called F.T.F. system (Felt Treble Filter). Basically, there are F.T.F. inserts between your earpads and the earcups and what they do is to create a warm sound like mentioned earlier. After removing those filters, I can see some changes here. The sound is still not as bright as I expected but the highs are slightly improved and you absolutely will be able to enjoy music longer. Marshall’s most obvious competitor in the headphone market is JBL, a brand which also comes with considerable live music credibility. JBL offers a comparable mix of headphone styles, but somehow the Marshall design just feels a little more granular – they get you closer to the stage. Who owns Marshall Amplification? They lean slightly heavily on the bass which is great for electronic music and when we were listening to The Weeknd's The Hills, the bass was exceptional while the vocals remained crisp and clear. The Marshall Monitor headphones are probably the most compact over-ear headphones I’ve ever seen in my life. They are particularly small when you collapse them by folding the two earcups inwards, I can easily hold the headphones in one hand then. This is extremely helpful when you need to carry full-size headphones around and don’t have much space inside your bag. Collapsible earcups

When working it’s an app (on iOS at least) that’s easy to use and swift to navigate. It offers the option to tweak to ANC and passthrough levels, customise the M-button function (Equaliser, Google Assistant and Siri), a choice between the Equaliser presets (or create your own) and an Auto-off timer. Battery life status can be viewed and the app will push updates over-the-air. Comfort and battery life (where applicable) have also been taken into consideration. We like listening to expended periods of music and these two factors remain important to take on board. While some of the Marshall headphones in our list have an average battery life from a full charge, their out-of-doors battery usage can be enhanced with chargers. It’s a similar tale in busy transport terminals – and while not unexpected, it makes the signal strength of the Cleer FLOW II even more miraculous. Sound quality Though they're not the best headphones on the market by any means the Bluetooth Marshall Monitors are a conveniently compact over-ear option. As you'd expect they look good thanks to the iconic Marshall design and with 30 hours of battery life it's nice to have a piece of tech that won't require charging every evening.The headphones default to Marshall’s sound signature but there’s a full equaliser should you wish to tweak the audio profile. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The low-end gets a workout with Hudson Mohawke x Lunice’s Higher Ground from the TNGHT album. Bass flexes its muscles, but it isn’t as deep or as muscular as the Sony WH-1000XM3. The Monitor II ANC also leave the impression they could sift out more detail in the treble, with a soundstage that’s less spacious than competing sets. Fire up Kraftwerk’s The Robots and there’s still plenty of rich, liquid bass, it just doesn’t hit with quite the strength or authority of the Sony WH-1000XM3 or the Bowers & Wilkins PX7.

Marshall hasn’t stayed in the sound business for this long based on a good looks alone. As you’d expect, the sound quality you get from these headphones is strong. It’s not the best or most balanced, certainly, but they give a solid performance worthy of their price range. Usability is good – one touch controls Play/Pause, two touches will skip you forward. The buds will Auto Pause when you take them from your ears. Another attractive feature is the ability to share your audio using the included 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable. Plug the cable into the Major IV, connect it to any pair of headphones with a 3.5mm port and whatever you’re listening to will be played through the other device as well. A section of the cable stretches so you don’t have to worry about pulling the headphones off your head if one of you moves, which is a nice touch. Opportunities to take advantage of such a feature may not present themselves too often – particularly at the moment – but it’s a thoughtful and useful inclusion nonetheless. Battery life is so long you may forget you ever have to charge them. The Monitor II headphones are designed to last up to 30 hours with noise cancelling active and 45 hours with it off, which seemed a little conservative in my testing. The first thing to get out of the way is that the noise cancellation isn’t as good as it is on close rivals from Sony, Bose and Bowers & Wilkins.The battery life on these headphones is another particularly strong point in their favor. At around 30 hours you won’t find yourself charging them up a lot which is great considering the growing number of devices we find ourselves having to plug in night after night. The arms of the headphones are adjustable but the mechanism behind this feature is neatly hidden by the headband. Adjusting them is as simple as pulling the earcup down from the headband and there’s a good size range available. We tried the headphones on a group of people of varying head size and none of them had any trouble getting the cups to fit comfortably over their ears.

It’s been ten years since Marshall released its first pair of headphones, the Marshall Major. Over the course of the decade, the Major series has dropped its 3.5mm cable in favour of a Bluetooth connection, but the basic premise remains unchanged: on-ear headphones created to reflect the renowned guitar amp manufacturer’s heritage. Bluetooth is 5.0 and wireless connectivity is the one feature that struggles. Walking through busy areas such as Canada Place in Canary Wharf, the Marshall’s signal strength became increasingly stuttery. Fans of Marshall's stageside equipment will likely appreciate the design of the Monitor from the get-go. But what about everyone else? The brass and metal touches combined with textured plastic and leathery features are, altogether, more than enough to construct an appealing product. If you do ever run out of battery you can always rely on the cable that comes with the headphones. This cable as we said previously is well-designed and it features a button for pausing and playing your music as well as taking and rejecting calls.So, going wire free is great from a design standpoint but how does it actually work when using the Marshall Monitors? A convenient additional function of the cable is that when you’re listening to music via Bluetooth, someone else can plug their headphone into your the Monitor’s 3.5 mm input and share the music you’re listening to. This built-in splitter functionality is a nice way to make up for the fact that the headphones don’t have multiple-device connection via Bluetooth.