Marshall Major III Bluetooth Foldable Headphones – Brown

Product Information

Listening to music for 30 minutes was enough to induce that clamping feeling that’s all too common with on-ear headphones – an hour spent with the headphones on left our ears feeling quite sore. If you also experience this problem with on-ear headphones, we’d recommend opting for over-ear headphones, which are usually more comfy, surrounding your ears rather than being placed on top of them – or, for ultimate ear-breathability, try some in-ear headphones. 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. The look of the Major IV differs little from the Major III in a wider sense – but that hasn’t stopped Marshall from claiming a few tweaks. Such guitars sound more pronounced through these headphones than rivals such as the AKG Y50BT or Urbanista Seattle Wireless. The Bluetooth Major III are almost twice the cost. However, in return you get solid Bluetooth stability, high-quality aptX streaming, and up to 30 hours of battery life.

They look less blingy and the faux-leather look is less evident than the previous model. The cushy headband is both sturdy and springy, with some flexibility to fit bigger shaped heads too. READ NEXT: The best headphones for every budget Marshall Major IV review: What do you get for the money? Clarity is good, but the Marshall Major III don’t offer quite the sound scale of the very best at the price. They only connect to one device at any one time, but can be paired with multiple phones, tablets and computers

What should you get instead of the Marshall Major IV?

Battery life is exceptional, with 60 hours of wireless playtime on a single charge; that should be more than enough to get you through your weekly commute, and it leaves many of the best wireless headphones in the dust.

The Major IV deliver few surprises if you’ve ever listened to a pair of Marshall headphones before. Outputting through their 40mm dynamic drivers, the mid-range is fairly crisp in tone, high notes are well defined and sharp, while bass is surprisingly big for an on-ear pair.New to this generation of the Marshall Major III headphones is support for Google Assistant – simply press a dedicated button on the outer right earcup to summon the voice assistant on your device.

First, there’s a lot of synthetic leather. Marshall amps use a vinyl wrap rather than real leather, but it has a distinct rough texture. These headphones use a much softer style, but the leather sections do have a much more defined, chunky grain than rivals. There’s a detachable wire included, so you can connect your headphones to your device when you run out of battery. This wire comes with a single button remote control that you can use to adapt the functionality of the headphones. Another great thing about the Marshal Major III Bluetooth headphones is that they have a very decent battery life. You can enjoy up to 30 hours of audio without recharging. The Bluetooth mic offers decent intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every word we recorded, though the mic sounded slightly distant and there were some minor audio artifacts, which is typical with Bluetooth headphone mics. The cable's inline mic delivers excellent clarity, with even a little added bass response.

Usage

Based on Marshall’s iconic amps, these wireless headphones make use of the brand’s signature leather look (although this material is actually made of lookalike vinyl, vegans will be pleased to know), with gold accents, sturdy metallic hardware, and the Marshall script proudly displayed on the outer housings. The included micro USB charging cable is refreshingly long, making it easier to use. Marshall estimates battery life to be around 30 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels. Performance The headband produces enough pressure for the Major IV headphones to stay glued to the head. Once a good fit has been found, the Major IV’s natural noise isolation is decent enough to at least mask the footsteps of someone behind you while keeping the wearer aware of what’s around such as traffic. In environments where there’s lots of noise, there is a struggle to hear audio.