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Contents of delivery

• Headphones
• USB Type C charging cable
• 3.5mm audio cable
• Soft case
• Instructions

TECH SPECS

• Speakers 40 mm
• Frequency response – 20 to 20000 Hz
• Resistance 32 Ohm
• Sensitivity 96 dB
• Bluetooth 5.0, multipoint
• Codec – SBC
• Noise reduction, transparency mode
• Working time up to 45 hours (with noise canceling up to 30 hours), full charging time up to 2 hours
• Weight 320 grams
• Materials – plastic, leather
• Analog joystick
• Dedicated key to customize its functions
• Equalizers (five-band)
• Marshall app for adjusting parameters on a smartphone
• Cost – 320 dollars in the USA, in Russia 24 rubles

The sound from Marshall is often called legendary, but this is more a tribute to history than reality. The perception of the Marshall brand is an association with rock, which is fondly supported as it ensures the sale of all equipment under this brand. Moreover, these associations are not born at all among those who remember the brand and its life path, but among a rather young audience, this is a youth brand. And when a boy or girl chooses Marshall, it is a kind of statement about what kind of music he or she loves and who he is. This is a fashion accessory without any discounts.

Headphones from Marshall are easily recognizable – black cups with embossed leather, in this model it is plastic, but it is impossible to recognize it without touching it, full feeling of expensive leather. The plastic edging of the ear pads is made for metal, it is also a snag, but very high quality.

Marshall has played well with the usual materials, they don’t seem cheap, the headphones look expensive, although there is clearly a saving in cost. The rails are metal, but coated with a plastic-like finish to maintain the same aesthetics and feel.

The leather on the headband is pleasant, the headphones, despite the weight of 320 grams, are very comfortable (for comparison, the Sony WH-1000XM3, which I consider the benchmark in this class, weigh 255 grams). For an hour of listening, the ears do not get tired, the headphones stay firmly on the head, they do not fly off with sudden movements.

There is a USB Type C connector on the left cup, it is intended only for charging the headphones. A full charge will take 2 hours, in fifteen minutes you can charge them for up to 5 hours. This is what the manufacturer says. The maximum operating time in wireless mode is 45 hours, with noise canceling on – up to 30 hours. In practice, it all depends on the volume of the headphones and how many devices are paired with them (multipoint supported). The operating time of the headphones is excellent, there is nothing to complain about, with noise cancellation and a volume of about 70% I got about 25 hours of work, which is not bad. In the curtain of an Android smartphone, you can see the headphone charge level.

If you have come across headphones from Marshall, then you are probably familiar with their proprietary joystick, it serves for control and is located on the right cup, it is easy to find it with your finger.

This is a five-way joystick, it supports pressing. You can start playing music, skip forward or backward to a song, change the volume. The joystick is mechanical and reliable, it can be operated even with gloves. The disadvantage of this particular model is that in third-party applications, the control for some reason may not work, for example, pause does not work in MX Player when playing a video. And this is surprising, I will blame it on the shortcomings of the current software version, this was not the case in other Marshall models.

There is a connector for an audio cable on the left cup, it’s nice that it is separate, the engineers did not combine charging and audio. There is also an LED indicator, when the headphones are turned on, it blinks every five seconds, it is impossible to turn it off. But you will only see it work if the headphones are nearby.

The headphones also have two more physical buttons, but you can skip them unknowingly, they are hidden in the cup holder.

On the left side is the ANC key, it sequentially switches between the noise reduction and sound transparency modes, the latter is called Social here. On the other side is the M key, it can call any voice assistant or select a preset equalizer, it all depends on you how you configure the key in the application.

The app is available for both iOS and Android. It is simple, it has an equalizer (five-band), preset options for all occasions. It’s nice that the application allows you to adjust the level of sound transparency, as well as the level of noise reduction (from 0 to 100). Unfortunately, there are no advanced modes, auto-detection of pressure and the like, as in Sony, here. These are the most basic noise canceling headphones, although, you see, there is an application for them.

The noise canceling function is well implemented, this is not Sony, but external noise is cut off with a bang. There will obviously be a hum of turbines on the plane, but in the car, when the lawn mower is operating, you do not hear extraneous sounds and can enjoy music. As for me, this is a very good level, it will be enough for the eyes for urban conditions, where such headphones will be used most of the time. Perhaps that is why the carrying case is soft, and not a hard case, as in the same Sony.

There are no sound prompts, but the headphones emit catchy sounds when switching modes, a kind of universal language for rock fans. It turned out very atmospheric.

What about the sound? It is typical for Marshall, by default it is very soft, enveloping, high frequencies are slightly damped. Any voice-oriented music will sound very good here. Equalizers are fine tuned so that you can change them to sound good for rock, pop, or other genres. The bass is insinuating, but it is fully present. These headphones, like any others, need to be listened to, I like their sound. I cannot call the sound legendary, but it is excellent and at a very high level. My Sony WH-1000XM3, as for me, sound worse than Marshall, but their noise reduction is higher class. Here you need to choose one thing.

The price of Marshall Monitor II is 24 rubles, which is quite expensive (the same Sony is technically more complicated and cost about the same). Marshall is trying to play in the same league as other manufacturers, but in my opinion this is a mistake. The cost of Marshall headphones changes quite quickly and dynamically, they are becoming more affordable. I don’t dare to guess when this can happen with the Marshall Monitor II, but it is obvious that it will happen. In two years, the price of the first Monitor dropped from 990 thousand rubles by almost half, which says a lot about the dynamics. And for the money, this is just an uncompromising headphone option, they are excellent in all aspects. I think that with Monitor II, everything will come down to cost, as soon as it goes down, their popularity will start to grow.

Another important point that does not allow us to say that headphones can play in this class is the absence of HD codecs, there are only SBCs with maximum settings. That’s not bad, but clearly not enough for a product in this price range. In general, it is rather strange to talk about the sound quality of wireless headphones, everything here depends on the manufacturer’s settings, and for Marshall they are excellent.

On the other hand, I repeat, you need to listen to headphones, for someone they will be very useful in terms of sound, and therefore they will be chosen. I liked these headphones, they turned out to be great. The only question is the cost, there are no other complaints about them.

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