Marshall Monitor III ANC Review: Wireless headphones with balanced sound and great battery backup

Pros: 

Vintage Marshall design that mixes nostalgia with class

Highly comfortable to wear for hours

Balanced and detailed sound output

Outstanding battery backup, fast charging

Functional active noise cancellation

Clean and useful companion app

Dual-pairing support

Cons:

Scant codec support

Transparency performance could have been better

Wear detection is erratic at times

Price: Rs 29,999

Rating: 4.1/5

When one thinks of high quality wireless headphones in India under Rs 30,000, three names come to mind straight away - Sony WH-1000XM5, Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and Bose QuietComfort. We now have a fourth contender and from an equally renowned brand. The brand Marshall needs no introduction, just that it’s better known for its speakers here than headphones. But they now look to challenge the above three with their Monitor III ANC wireless headphones. Let’s see how that goes.

Marshall Monitor III ANC - Build, design and comfort: 8.5/10

The Monitor III ANC unmistakably looks and feels like a Marshall product with that trademark design and finish. The leathery black back with the golden Marshall logo makes it look classy. The same finish extends to the bulk of the headband too.

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The earcups have excellent padding and the headphones can be worn for long with any discomfort or sweating. The inside of the headband could have done with a bit of padding though.

The headphones are made of high quality materials overall and the build is quite solid. Despite that, it doesn’t feel heavy and weighs just about 250 grams. The weight distribution is spot on and you don’t feel any burden when you wear it. The Marshall Monitor III ANC has a pair of 32 mm drivers, and the ear-cups are just large enough to go over the ears, at least in my case. The soft cushions exert minimal pressure to stay in place without a wobble without causing any ear fatigue.

Unlike its Sony and the Sennheiser counterparts, the back of the earcups does not have touch controls. You get a distinct multifunctional joystick on the right earcup for controlling the playback, volume and power among other things. Its golden tinge adds more character to the design.

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A USB-C charging port and an LED indicator are located on the left earcup, and there are two neatly camouflaged buttons on the hinges - one to toggle ANC and the other (denoted with M) can be assigned a task through the companion app. All the buttons are quite tactile.

A headphone jack is missing here, however, the company bundles a USB-C to Aux cable to use this as a wired headphone in case it runs out of battery. A USB-C charging cable is also present in the package along with a stylish carry case that matches the decor of the earcups on the outside and has a posh red velvet interior with a compartment to hold a few cables and cards maybe.

The earcups can be folded before being stored away, occupying less space in your bag.

Marshall Monitor III ANC - Key features: 7.5/10

The Monitor III ANC is Bluetooth 5.3 compliant but only supports SBC and AAC codecs. Strangely, there is no support for higher end codecs like aptX HD, aptX Adaptive or even LDAC, which one expects in this price bracket. There is multi-point support to pair this product with two devices simultaneously. You get wear detection sensors to automatically pause the audio when you take the headphones off, and resume when you put them back on. However, it is a bit temperamental. At times it pauses the audio a good 3 to 5 seconds after taking them off, and on occasions, it doesn’t pause it at all.

The wireless range is good with the headphones retaining a strong connection at 10 metres with a clear line of sight, and does well even with a concrete wall in between. Like most headphones, it does not promise any IP rated ingress protection, so avoid wearing them during a workout or in the rain. One needs to install the Marshall Bluetooth app to access certain settings of this product, update the firmware, tweak the audio and ANC and also play around with the soundstage. As I mentioned earlier, you can also assign a function to the M button through the app.

Marshall Monitor III ANC - Performance: (8/10)

Before we get to the sound quality, let’s talk a bit about the ANC here. When it comes to ANC, Sony has raised the bar significantly in this segment, and this Marshall product doesn’t come close to dethroning the WH-1000XM5. The ANC on the Monitor III ANC is certainly functional and can effectively eliminate some low frequency sounds like the whirr of a fan or that of a vehicle engine. But it isn’t as effective when it comes to anything above lower midrange frequency sounds, even when you set the ANC to maximum from the app.

The passive noise isolation is good, and in combination with the ANC, it does suppress the background buzz to a certain degree in busy areas or public transport. When you need to be aware of your surroundings, switching to Transparency mode lets ambient sounds through. While the ambient sounds feel natural, human voices could have done with a bit of amplification. I really had to strain my ears to have a conversation wearing the headphones when outdoors, and more often than not, I had to take them off.

Moving on to the sound quality, it is comparable to the XM5 and the Sennheiser Momentum 4, though the tuning is a little different from both. You get slightly boosted low frequencies for the extra warmth, though not as much as on its Sony counterpart. The Sennheiser output is a bit more detailed in comparison. Having said that, the Monitor III ANC produces a fairly balanced sound that is thoroughly enjoyable across various genres of music. One can only wonder how much better it would have sounded on a superior codec.

The bass here is tight and punchy and does not overshadow the mids. The mids are reproduced well with crisp vocals and good instrument separation. The highs are largely well-tempered yet sharp and without any sibilance. However, there was a bit of a clash between the upper midrange frequencies and the highs in certain tracks. You can resolve this to an extent through the 5-band equaliser available in the app, but the default tuning generally works well in most cases.

These headphones are loud enough around the 60% volume level and I don’t remember going beyond 75% even outdoors. One good part about the Marshall Monitor III ANC is that there is a good balance between the three frequency ranges even when listening at a lower volume, which is not the case in several headphones. The default soundstage is decently broad for closed back headphones. I said default because you can adjust it from the app by simulating different room sizes. You can certainly try it but I found the results a bit cosmetic.

These headphones are great for music, and can be used for watching movies or webseries too as they offer very good dialogue clarity and a reasonable thump in action sequences. We did not face any latency issues either as there was no perceptible delay between audio and video when streaming content.

Marshall Monitor III ANC - Call quality: (7.5/10)

The call quality here is pretty good for over-the-ear headphones. Your voice is transmitted with sufficient clarity to the person on the line. There were absolutely no complaints when indoors. When outdoors, it doesn’t filter out all the ambient noise but largely keeps it in check without impacting the conversation much. The overall performance in this department is satisfactory.

Marshall Monitor III ANC - Battery life: (9.5/10)

This is an area where the Marshall outshines the competition. The company promises an insane battery backup of 70 hours, and that too with ANC on. The number is pegged at 100 hours without ANC! During my test run, I managed to get upwards of 75 hours on a full charge with intermittent use of ANC, after which I lost track of the time. Even at that point, there was some juice left in the tank, which is incredible. At a couple of hours of daily listening and very little calling, these Marshall cans can go on for a month before the need for a top up.

The next best thing is the 50+ hours I got on the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless with ANC on all the time; not a bad result either. This pair of headphones supports fast charging too with just 15 minutes of charging providing you with close to 12 hours of playtime, which can get you through a working day or most longhaul flights. It can be charged fully in less than three hours using a standard USB-C charger. The app provides you with a handful of charging options to improve battery health.

Marshall Monitor III ANC - Price and verdict

The Marshall Monitor III ANC is priced at Rs 29,999 with a one year warranty. That may be 5K lower than the launch price of the Sony WH-1000XM5 and Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless in India, but those two can now be purchased for well under 30K. That being said, 30K is a fair price for what this Marshall offers, especially its balanced sound output and crazy good battery backup. So should you buy this over the Momentum 4 Wireless or the XM5?

You certainly won’t be disappointed if you do, but let reason dictate your buying decision. All three headphones sound great, though personally I would put the Momentum 4 slightly ahead of the other two in this department. When it comes to ANC, Sony is a clear winner. And you know by now, Marshall takes the battery crown. Choose one depending on the feature that matters to you the most. At their current selling price, Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless at a shade under 25K offers the best balance of features, performance and value.