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

Product Information

Unlike 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. 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. 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 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. 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.

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 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. 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

One of our favorite features by far is the multi-purpose control knob on the left ear cup which neatly offers a variety of controls meaning you truly get to take advantage of the wire free Bluetooth technology by leaving your device in your bag. We Disliked 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 fair question, seeing as Marshall’s focus for decades was guitar amps. The answer is, at least for some models (the ones featured in this guide, basically), very. The brand channels a formidable live music legacy, and that plays a part in how they’re tuned and their distinctive style look. The same goes for Marshall speakers, too. You cannot use the USB-C port for audio but you can charge them and listen to them at the same time. 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

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. 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 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. I also love that the headphones come with a detachable coiled cord as the length is flexible without creating a mess of tangled cable, you can also find an in-line remote and microphone on the cable. Besides, the earpads are very easy to replace, there seem to be magnets inside and I just need to snap the earpads into place. Audio Quality Which is why it’s pleasing to note that noise cancellation is impressive. Wearing them on a flight, the Monitor II ANC significantly reduced the hum of the plane and passenger noise. With a baby wailing in the seat behind, the headphones nullified the sound to the point where I forgot the baby was even there. The Monitor II ANC couldn’t have been treated to a better audition. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. ConclusionsControls 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. 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.