Marshall - MONITOR II A.N.C. Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-the-Ear Headphones - Black

It's been a while since I got a new gadget that felt like a significant piece of technology that would improve my life in ways I hadn't thought of. These Marshall Active Noise Canceling headphones will do just that, and they've already proven themselves invaluable. This review is going to get long, so here's the short version: The Marshall Monitor II headphones are excellent, merging great noise canceling with top-quality sound, customizable EQ, and premium materials and functionality. They're well worth the money, especially for folks who may be working from home with noisy "co-workers" who have to stay home from school these days. If you love the Marshall brand and the sound of their guitar amps, you won't be disappointed in the least by these excellent phones. They're well worth the money and built to last for years. Let me start off by saying I've never been a raving fan of the Marshall brand. I'm a guitarist and though I like and respect artists that use Marshall amps, I've never found their tone to be to my liking for my own music, which comprises rock, metal, shoegaze, and other loud guitar-driven styles. I'm also not the kind of guy who likes to wear branded equipment on his head. My last set of bluetooth headphones was a handsome all-black over-the-ear set with minimal branding and pretty anonymous styling. And you know what? I'm happy to give up all those predilections for these Marshall Monitor 'phones. They're just excellent. Let me count the ways: 1.) A.N.C. or "Active Noise Canceling" This is a brilliant invention. It listens to the ambient noise around you and produces imperceptible canceling tones within the headphones to block those sounds out. I have an air purifier next to my desk, and the ANC almost completely eliminates the sound, allowing my to hear music much better. We're in the throes of a pandemic here, and I'm now working full-time from home, in a corner of my bedroom at a table with my laptop and a second screen. It's been a big adjustment and I've struggled to get through a workday without distractions. I have two kids, ages 8 and 5, and they're keeping my wife and I busy as heck. It's been incredibly difficult to get work done, even while wearing my old headphones. But since beginning to use these ANC headphones, I've been able to work entire days with almost no distractions. The Marshall A.N.C. implementation is triggered by a button on the left cup, which allows you to switch between ANC and "monitor" mode with a tap. Monitor actually enhances ambient sound, so when you need to have a conversation, you don't have to take your headphones off! You can keep the headphones on and activate monitor mode while you talk. A long press on the ANC button turns the function off to save battery and if you don't particularly need ANC. 2.) Soundstage, separation, and EQ Since getting these headphones, I've put them through their paces with music from The Beatles, Cocteau Twins, Black Sabbath, Aphex Twin, Metallica, Miles Davis, and more. The Marshall Monitors represent a huge improvement over my last bluetooth set, with greatly improved clarity of all instruments in the mix. They do an excellent job, particularly with drums and bass in rock music (ironic since Marshall is a guitar amp company). The details audible on Paul McCartney's bass on "Something" off Abbey Road, or Simon Raymonde's bass on "Road River and Rail" from Heaven or Las Vegas are stunning, each strum of a string is distinct and punchy, sitting perfectly in the mix with other instruments. The pre-set EQ functions are accessible via the Marshall Bluetooth app, and can be assigned to one of three slots triggered by the "M" button on the back of the right cup. The default EQ is called "The original Marshall Sound" and is pretty good in its own right, but, returning back to my earlier statement about not liking the Marshall tone, I found the other EQ modes more to my liking. The "Original" mode does a great job at making Bill Ward's drums sound punchy on "Sweet Leaf," but I found I preferred the "Jazz" EQ setting for the way it gave low-end support to Tony Iommi's guitar tone. The same can be said about the way Jeff Hanneman's guitar sounds on Slayer's "Mandatory Suicide.". Again, if you love the classic Marshall guitar tone, it's there, but I prefer a little more full body to my guitar tones. I found the "Electronic" EQ setting to be very tasteful for Cocteau Twins and Aphex Twin, and the "original Marshall" setting very good on experimental pop like Brain Eno and John Cale's "One Word," which is brimming with crystalline instrumental sounds that benefit from the clean separation provided by the headphones. By the way, the "M" button can also be used as a shortcut to trigger your phone's assistant or Marshall's own built-in assistant. I think I'll keep using it for EQ switching, but I appreciate the availability of the function, should the need arise. 3.) Fit, finish, and functionality These headphones are undoubtedly premium, as the price tag indicates, but the set is definitely worth the outlay. The leather of the band and cups is soft and plush, and the springiness of the head band is just about perfect. I'm a glasses wearer, and just about all headphones press the temples of my glasses a little too hard for my taste, but the Marshall Montiors are more comfortable than most in that regard. The materials are of high quality and should last for years and years. The exposed pieces of the headband and supports are made from cast metal and very nice to touch. The ear cups are covered in a hard plastic that's textured to look like the Tolex covering a guitar amp. The Marshall logos are made of some softer white rubbery material that honestly adds a somewhat unappealing texture to the headphones and seems like it'll be the kind of material that will yellow over time with use. Maybe that will give the headphones a "vintage" look over time. The multi-function switch is excellent and firm to push. It allows you to control power (long press), pairing (extra long press), play/pause (tap), volume (up/down), and track selection (forward/back). It's very intuitive to use and the ergonomics of its placement and usage are excellent. The headphones come with a handsome black denim bag that can be cinched up to keep them safe from scrapes in your bag, as well as a USB-C charging cable and a 4-foot 1/8" headphone cable with a "vintage"-style curly section that recalls the curled guitar cables of yesteryear. Last but not least, the headphones can be paired to two devices at once. I found great enjoyment having it connected to my laptop for playing Spotify and locally stored files, while using the app on my phone to control EQ changes and other settings. I was also able to take a call on the headphones, which sounded excellent. I'm looking forward to many days of Zoom calls using these headphones. All-in-all, this product will be a game changer for me, which enables me to get through long days working from a corner of a bedroom. And when I return to the office, using the "monitor" setting will be invaluable in keeping me aware of what's going on around me, even as I cloister myself away in a world of great-sounding music.

SUMMARY: + Style & Build Quality: Keeping with the Marshall product line aesthetic, these headphones are sturdy, understated, and clearly well-constructed. They are all black, with the exception of a white Marshall logo on each ear cup and a small gold control knob which acts as the power button, volume control, and song skip button. The ear cups and headband have a leather-like texture, with a matte-black spiral cable connecting the headband to each ear cup, allowing great range of motion to the headphones while also keeping with the professional monitor/studio headphone aesthetic. + Size & Portability: The headphones are what I would call a “medium sized” pair of over-the-ear cans. They are large enough to fully cover my ears with ease but are still small enough to be highly portable. In fact, because of the way the headphones are connected to the headband, the ear cups can rotate 90 degrees to either side, while also being able to fully collapse inward towards the headband, effectively halving the size of the headphones compared to when they are fully open. The headphones also come with a carrying bag, which is a nice touch, although I would have preferred a hard case or semi-hard case for a bit more protection when carrying them in my backpack. + Comfort: This might be my favorite feature about these headphones, they are ridiculously comfortable. The earpads and inner headband are very soft, while the pressure of the headband keeps the headphones at just the right balance of firm but not too firm. I have been able to wear these comfortably for hours at a time, which is something I normally struggle with as I have a larger head and I find my ears will generally fatigue after a couple hours of listening. I would be very surprised if anyone has any issue regarding the comfort of these headphones, it is simply excellent in my opinion. + Sound Quality: This is the big one. If you’re going to buy a pair of higher-end headphones, sound quality is likely near the top of your list. Thankfully, these are mostly excellent in this regard as well. As with most headphones, you can adjust EQ presets from the mobile app or with the “M-Button” on the right ear cup, which you can customize to toggle between EQ presets of your choice. By default, the headphones use the “Marshall” EQ preset, which seems to equate to a “neutral” preset. For most cases, this preset was my favorite, with a balanced sound signature that sounded very natural across the audio spectrum. The soundstage is pretty narrow, as one would expect from a pair of closed-back headphones, but it never feels claustrophobic. The one complaint I have hear is that the low-end doesn’t reach that deep. There is certainly a decent bass response, but when I spent some time movie watching with these I could really see where they were lacking. Adjusting the EQ didn’t drastically improve things either. Fortunately, I don’t consider this to be a significant issue, and for most, I think these will be more than satisfactory, especially with music listening. + Connectivity & Battery Life: These headphones connect wirelessly to your output device with Bluetooth, and I have yet to experience any dropouts or connectivity issues of any kind. I had a bit of trouble getting them connected to my phone initially, but a reboot of both devices quickly fixed the issue. Once connected to your phone, you can use the Marshall app to adjust the EQ of the headphones, noise-cancelling strength, set an auto off timer, and map the “M-Button” to different EQ presets or the Google Assistant. The Google Assistant works seamlessly, and if you’d prefer to wire the headphones, there is an included 3.5mm cable for just such an occasion. In terms of battery life, Marshall quotes 30 hours with Bluetooth and ANC, and 45 hours with Bluetooth only. While I haven’t timed this exactly, the battery life is definitely up there and will easily last you a full few days of listening without needing to the charge them with the included charging cable. From dead to full, it takes about 2 hours to charge them, but 15 minutes generally gets you about 5 hours of listening time. + Noise Cancelling: The active noise cancelling does a good job of muffling outside noise, and even with noise cancelling off, the headphones are generally very good at suppressing outside noise. It isn’t the best noise-cancelling I have heard, and I could still pick-up some normal room conversation happening around me, but overall, I was impressed. Do note however that this only applies to when you are playing music or other sound through the headphones. If you use the A.N.C. without additional audio, it doesn’t lockout much sound at all, and won’t work nearly as well at suppressing external sounds. While I can’t test this effectively in public right now, I used the A.N.C. against a noise machine with medium-light volume while I was falling asleep at night, and even with the A.N.C. at 100%, I could still clearly make out the sounds from the noise machine. However, once I added some additional music and ambient sounds through the headphones, everything else disappeared and I was left with pure music bliss. Compared side-by-side with A.N.C. off, I don’t think using A.N.C. is necessarily worth the hit to battery life you’ll incur, but this will likely be down to taste. Thankfully, just taken as a pair of closed-back headphones, these do a very respectable job of shutting out noise with music playing.

The Marshall Monitor II ANC bluetooth headphones are one of the better built options in the active noise cancelling headphone market. It's compact without feeling small, comfortable, folds up well, looks great, sounds good, offers 30+ hours of battery life, and has outstanding build quality. But while it's a solid pair of cans overall, it does have a few flaws.. let's dig in! BUILD QUALITY I like to think of my myself as a person for details and these headphones are impressive. The texture of the materials is top notch, the faux leather band looks good, the ear cushions are comfortable, and the cans themselves have that classic Marshall matte leather look. They're sturdy and should hold up to a lot of abuse. I wasn't sure about the brass joystick at first, but it looks good and has excellent tactile feedback. It's just stiff enough and there's detents for each direction so you can be sure which direction you pressed. Part of me thinks a joystick should be a bad idea, but it works very well and it's yet to give me a wrong command. There's also a nice kind of plastic plaque that's screwed into the band on each side denoting Right and Left. Nothing major, just nice a nice detail overall. APPEARANCE Black on black on black with a hint of brass. Classic Marshall looks that exude cool. Attractive on their own, their compact size ensures you won't look silly with them on. It's kind of remarkable that Marshall made a compact over-the-ear headphone that's this comfortable. The cushions fully overlap my ears without any issue and are comfortable enough to wear for hours. SOUND Marshall has a reputation for making great sounding amps in the rock world and they just about captured it here. The Monitor II does well with most genres of music and sound mostly balanced overall. The app offers a 5 band EQ to fine tune your sound and lets you save up to 3 of them, which you can cycle through with the Marshall button if you set it that way. However, while it sounds good and gets plenty loud, there's a certain restraint in the vocals that I can't pinpoint. It makes the sound stage seem a bit closed and shallow... like if I close my eyes I know I'm listening to headphones vs getting lost in an open aura of sound. Don't get me wrong, the Monitor II sounds good, just not breathtaking, which I kind of hope for in headphones of this caliber. FUNCTION The Active Noise Reduction works well, though won't drown out all the sounds. If you're just trying to drown out the noise of the world and be in silence, this won't do it for you. Play some audio though and the ANC shines keeping the distractions away. It even still works when using the 3.5mm wired input, so you can blissfully lose yourself in your own moment while the world blares around you. And if the world so happens to need your attention, there's a hidden "ANC" button that pauses the music and switches to monitor mode so you can clearly hear what's going on without have to remove your headphones. One more press and it's back to the tunes. On the other side, there's a programmable "M" button that you can set to either cycle through 3 different EQ settings, or function as a Google/Native assistant button. The app even can even sync with your phone's assistant app so it'll literally tell you who just sent you a text or is calling. Nifty. NEGATIVES If there's any negative aspect to these headphones, it's the app. I don't believe you need the Marshall app to connect audio to your phone, but you will need it to set your EQs, program the "M" button, and adjust the noise reduction level. The layout of the app is pretty simple to use, however the app keeps disconnecting from the headphones while you're using it, so it's frustrating to make any changes. This is especially annoying when trying to adjust the EQ or ANC sound levels, only to find out it disconnected and you'll have to try changing it again. I hope it's just a bug that gets fixed in the next app update, because it hampers what's otherwise a great product overall. Thankfully, while the app has connection issues, the headphones still stay connected to the phone so there's no audio playback issues. If you love the Marshall look and style, you'll love the Monitor II ANC headphones. They're not perfect, but sound good and are impressively well made. With 30+ hours of battery life on a single charge, you won't have to worry about them dying on you either.

Summary: + Very comfortable + ANC is great + Volume and Track controls are intuitive + Dedicated ANC button to toggle between enabled and passthrough + You can tweak EQ and ANC in app + Sounds great to me! - No battery life indicator on headphones - Can't replace ear padding, it appears - Bluetooth app connectivity is finicky at times - Some auto features not present while using 3.5mm connection I’ve been enjoying using the Monitor II thus far. I’ve listened to various genres of music as well as watched a couple of films and TV series with them. I typically keep all the sound EQ settings to default, using this as a means to understand what a particular company believes to be the best sound possible. I am impressed. The sound is well balanced; highs and mids are crisp and healthy. There is just a right amount of bass; not too overbearing that you can’t hear anything else. Other brands have been notorious for this. These Monitor IIs are fantastic. One favorite feature of mine is the dedicated ANC button. When the headphones are connected via Bluetooth, the ANC button will not only stop a track from playing, but also disables the ANC momentarily. The use case here is if someone or something interrupts you and you need to hear what’s going on around you. The mics will actually pick up sound and pass it through to the drivers. Very awesome. Press the ANC button again, and ANC is turned back on and your track continues playing where it left off. Awesome awesome awesome. You do pay an extra premium for the ANC, so how do they perform?? I'd say pretty darn well for the purposes of blocking ambient white noise. The kind you hear when you're in a commercial plane or sitting next to a fan, kind of noise. They are by far the best ANC headphones I've owned at this price point. Negatives? If I do have a good Bluetooth connection to the headphones, the app has difficulty connecting; sometimes it says I can't use the 3.5mm while using the app. What?! I'm not. Welp, I haven't owned it long enough to see if this reoccurring, but I'm guessing firmware/software updates in the future.

Alright so, Lets start this review with a little bit of info about what ya get in the box and the build quality of these headphones. These headphones come with a very nice canvas carrying bag with the Marshall logo on it. You also get a 3.5mm aux cable and a usb-C charging cable and a user manual. There is no power adapter, but you can connect the cable to any other usb charger you may already own, The 3.5mm cable is not needed to use these headphones. It is strictly for a wired connection. I believe the headphones do need to have the battery charged in order for the active noise cancelling feature to work. The headphones have 40mm drivers and a frequency range of 20hz to 20 kHz. The headphones are made of premium quality materials. The leather looks, and smells genuine. The foam padding on the headband and ear cups are very squishy and comfortable. I've been sitting here listening to music for a little over three hours and my ears and head have not experienced any fatigue or pain. The material over the foam padding is also very soft and comfortable. The ear cups swivel in either direction for easy storing, and for you DJs out there that want to have an ear open to monitor. I do however, feel like the ear cups are a little too narrow and short for my ears. The padding on the bottom rests on my ear lobe and not over / around my ears. Just a personal grievance, your experience may be better. I have a fairly large head, my ears are probably bigger than average and also I have 0 Gauge tunnel jewelry in my ear lobes. BUT they are still quite comfortable so its not a big deal for me. Pairing these to my iPhone was quick and easy, you can download the Marshall bluetooth app for battery information and to choose between 7 EQ profiles or customize your own. I personally feel the default Marshall EQ profile is the best! It has a nice warm tone yet mids and treble come in nice and clear. I listen to a very broad range of music. Metal, Classical, Blues, Spanish Rock, you name it. It's on my playlist. Guitars come in nice and fuzzy, bass punchy, vocals and cymbals nice and clear. Every song, podcast and video I've listened to with these headphones have all sounded pretty good. There are three buttons on the headphones that you can customize. The "M-Button" which I have chosen to use to activate Siri on my iPhone. Works great, makes asking siri a question a quick easy task. The ANC button allows you to turn on/off the active noise cancelling function and there's a 4 way toggle gold knob. Press to pause, up and down for volume adjustment, left and right for skip or rewind. Also quite convenient, and very easy to use. No accidental presses if you happen to rub your ear cups against your shoulders. You can use the Marshall app to set the M button to either Siri or Google Assistant depending on your preferred device and operating system. Lol oh and the headphones play a little electric guitar strum to let you know they are powering on. I couldn't help but smile. I'm an electric guitar player so I Love the gimmick.Would I recommend these to a friend? Yes! The battery life on these headphones is amazing. Marshall claims upto 30 hours. If my math is right, That sounds about right. Battery life has only dropped 10 % in about 3 hours of use. The headphones sound great , very cool design and made of premium materials.

These Marshall Monitor II headphones are easily the coolest headphones I've ever used. When I travel for work, you see the same headphones so many times that you might think you're required to purchase from the same brands to get noise cancelling headphones. These Marshall cans break the mold and offer great sound quality to go with their iconic Marshall style. Out of the box, I admired the premium feel and great looks of these headphones. I love how the included (optional) cord is partially coiled, both for style and lack of tangles. The headphones have 2 buttons and a joystick for controls and they are all cleverly disguised. The Marshall name is prominent - more than I'd normally like but that's also the appeal of these headphones, they have the classic look of an on stage amp. Extra kudos to Marshall for the carrying bag being denim (or at least feeling that way) instead of some cheap vinyl thing. Even the USB-C charging cable is cool - instead of a generic cable, you get soft touch plastics on the connectors, with a textured finish and stylized Marshall logo down the edge of the connector. With the virus lockdown in full effect, I won't have an opportunity to test the noise canceling on a flight for some time. However, my home is probably the 'next best' environment for testing the ANC: I have 4 year old twins who are full of energy and constant noise, and I have a media rack in my home with multiple servers and an enterprise POE switch. It generates a ton of fan noise. I'm happy to say the ANC on the Monitor II headset was up to the task and almost eerily quiet. The included "social mode" is great - press one button and the ANC switches to amplify ambient noise so you can have a conversation. The social mode also pauses whatever media you're listening to, which is very convenient. For listening purposes, I first listened to my 'go to' track for music demos, "Shame" by the Avett Brothers. The soundstage was surprisingly open for a closed back set of headphones and the sound was warm and mellow. Detail on the bass and banjo through the beginning of the song was tight and clear, and the piano through the end of the song was without any unpleasant distortion. After a few tracks I switched to another common traveling audio source - an audiobook. Specifically "Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card. As an audio performance with multiple narrators, I found the quality again to be as expected for a mid-to-high end set of headphones and was against pleased at the open sound and tight midrange. Here the ANC shines at reducing background distractions. Finally I watched a few minutes of "Rise of Skywalker" to get a feel for the bass and boominess of the Monitor II, and again came away pleased at their performance. Final thoughts: these Marshall Monitor II active noise canceling headphones have earned a place in my carry on, and will be competing with my standard audiophile grade cans for listening time. They just have a really pleasant and warm sound that I am thrilled with. Do yourself a favor and pick them up!

This is my 2nd pair of Marshall headphones! Amazingl clear sound, great canceling noise headphones.

The Marshall Monitor II with ANC is a great headphone. I will be honest... In my search for the perfect over-ear for me, I've returned these to the store only to purchase another pair less than a year later. I believe my first issue with these was the level of sound isolation, which is key in getting the most out of the ANC, as well as the overall volume. I wear glasses, and a lot of baseball caps. These two things alone never help when it comes to sound isolation and ANC of over the ear style cans. But, I've seen other headphones do well in this area so the fact that it was a tad difficult to get the most out of the ANC concerned me a little. The next issue was the overall volume. They just don't get crazy loud. Nothing more nothing less to it. Why did I eventually come back to the Marshall Monitor II... At the end of the day, it's an accessory. I own many Marshall products and for what they are, they are the best for me. I love the durability. The metal that attaches the headband to the drivers is insanely durable. They feel heavy. The accents and attention to detail are very premium. They're extremely low profile, which allows me to move more freely while wearing them. The microphone is excellent. Call quality is amazing. Battery life is phenomenal... I may pick up a pair of Apple Pro's, but until I really need that volume and high level of ANC, these will suit my every day needs.