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

Product Information

Sound quality, on the other hand, is a different matter with bass and mid and high-frequencies all presented in a lively, clean fashion. The Marshal Monitor II eschew the bass-heavy presentation of the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 and don’t sound as warm and punchy as the Sony WH-1000XM3, but there’s still a spaciousness and crispness to the sound that’s rather appealing. The fourth-generation Major IV possess all of the style we’ve come to expect from Marshall, while more than doubling the battery life of their predecessor. They’ve also undergone a few smart design tweaks, making them an attractive option for those seeking eye-catching, on-ear cans. Marshall claims these headphones offer battery life up to 30 hours with active noise cancellation activated, which puts them among units such as the Sony WH-1000XM3 and B&W PX7. Turn ANC off and it’s 45 hours. A 15-minute top-up is enough for five hours, and charging to full battery takes two hours. 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 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.

We pushed our selection of Marshall headphones through a range of music genres - from bass-heavy bruisers, riff-filled wonders and gentle acoustic pieces to get a proper feel for what they can deliver. 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. 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. READ NEXT: The best headphones for every budget Marshall Major IV review: What do you get for the money?So, going wire free is great from a design standpoint but how does it actually work when using the Marshall Monitors? 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. 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. If you're looking for reasonably priced over-ear headphones with a long battery life and genuinely great portability the Marshall Monitors are a solid choice. We wouldn't, however, call them the only choice. Marshall and Zound first collaborated in 2010 in a deal that resulted in Marshall’s range of headphones and Bluetooth speakers.

When it comes to testing the best Marshall headphones, we first and foremost took a dive into their audio delivery. As you'd expect with a product carrying the Marshall name, we have high expectations due to their legendary status in the music world and it was the obvious place to start. Controls are equally simple to navigate. Marshall has taken a “less is more” approach, and I can’t fault the execution. A single multidirectional knob on the right earpad handles all of your key commands. Pressing and holding the knob powers the Major IV on or off, with a single press playing or pausing audio. 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. 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 GuardianUnlike some headphones at this price, the Monitor II ANC don’t have sensors that pause the music when you take them off your ears. Marshall doesn’t provide a hard or semi-hard case with the headphones, either. You only get a soft, canvas bag in the box along with a USB Type-C charging cable and a coiled 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable for analogue connections. In short, you’ll need to be careful when slinging them in a bag or suitcase.

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.The ANC doesn't seem to affect the sound signature when audio was playing, which is a common pitfall of wireless ANC. Generally speaking, the noise cancellation here is useful, but it's not as effective as what you get from Apple or Bose.

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. 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. That said, I can’t say that I haven’t enjoyed listening to them. Vocals are conveyed with clarity, with mids engaged slightly higher with ANC turned on, making for an involving listen. Plus, there’s a good amount of flow to their energy.Victoria Marshall added: “With Marshall Group, the potential to further impact an ever-modernising music industry is a highly genuine one. Together, we will preserve the Marshall legacy and shape the future of ‘Live Loud’. Having worked alongside my father during his later years, I know he would be excited at this direction and the potential to reach a larger worldwide audience with innovation and passion which he always had in spades.” How we test Marshall waded into the noise-cancelling arena with the MID ANC on-ears, but the Monitor II ANC are its most expensive headphones. The mic offers solid intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded clearly. There wasn't much in the way of Bluetooth distortion, and the audio was crisp. Our only complaint is that the mic signal seems a little faint. Conclusions