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.

That said, I can’t say that I haven’t enjoyed listening to them. Vocals are conveyed with clarity, with mids engaged slightly higher with ANC turned on, making for an involving listen. Plus, there’s a good amount of flow to their energy. Battery life is so long you may forget you ever have to charge them. The Monitor II headphones are designed to last up to 30 hours with noise cancelling active and 45 hours with it off, which seemed a little conservative in my testing.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). We pushed our selection of Marshall headphones through a range of music genres - from bass-heavy bruisers, riff-filled wonders and gentle acoustic pieces to get a proper feel for what they can deliver.

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. You cannot use the USB-C port for audio but you can charge them and listen to them at the same time. The Marshall app for Android and iOS has a settings section that allows you to assign a control to the M button—it can either toggle between EQ presets or summon your phone's voice assistant. The ANC section allows you to adjust adjust the level of the noise cancellation with a slider, or turn it off. You can also switch over to Monitor mode, and there's a slider for that, as well. A timer setting lets you choose when the headphones, rather than the length of time the headphones can remain inactive before powering off.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. 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 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 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

They are certainly not cheap, and you can get a similar Marshall experience from the brand’s excellent Major III series of headphones for about half the price, but the Monitor II ANC are a warm, inviting listen that’s hard to put down.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.