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

Product Information

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. 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.

Naturally the biggest design advantage that these headphones have is the fact that they’re Bluetooth connected and therefore wireless. However, should you run out of battery,the right ear cup has a 3.5 mm input which you can plug the provided cable into (although unfortunately this means that the volume controls on the headphones themselves won't work). 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 IIA 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. 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? Another annoyance is that despite the fact that it looks great, the cable that you use to connect your phone when the headphones run out of battery doesn't have volume control. This is an inconvenient oversight, particularly as the control knob on the headphones themselves doesn't work when they're out of battery. Final Verdict Marshall waded into the noise-cancelling arena with the MID ANC on-ears, but the Monitor II ANC are its most expensive headphones. 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

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. 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. 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. 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.

Unfortunately, you will have to sacrifice something for the small size. The earcups are not big enough to cover my ears, then the earpads press against parts of my outer ears. Therefore, my ears still get sore and sweaty after just about 30 minutes. Having said that, the Marshall Monitor headphones are much more comfortable than a majority of on-ear headphones, they just can’t compete with other full-size cans.