On-ear (like Major) with ANC
50 hours of ANC playback time
Bluetooth 6.0
Supported codecs - AAC, SBC, LC3, LDAC
USB digital audio support
No mention of LE Audio at all for some reason
No wear detection
$230
Was super skeptical before buying the Marshall Emberton III honestly.
Initially I was comparing:
Bose SoundLink Flex 2,
UE Boom,
JBL stuff,
and even thought maybe Marshall was more style than substance.
My wife was the one who pushed me toward this speaker lol.
First few minutes, I was actually confused because it did not have that exaggerated punchy bass I was expecting from smaller speakers like JBL. I almost felt like something was missing.
Then slowly the magic started happening.
I started noticing vocals first. Like DAMN. The voice clarity on this thing is insane. Then instrument separation, texture, small background details, flute notes, atmospheric layering etc. Songs I had heard 1000 times suddenly started sounding different.
Some tracks that genuinely blew me away:
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac,
Naan Nee,
Vidai Kodu Engal Naade,
Goosebumps intro vocals,
The Life of Ram,
Starboy.
Funny thing is, this speaker kind of changed what I pay attention to in music now. Initially I was chasing punchy bass, but after a few hours with this, I started caring more about warmth, groove, vocal intimacy, layering and detail.
It is not a perfect speaker obviously. If you want aggressive mid bass punch and instant “wow” like JBL style tuning, this may not hit immediately. But if your taste leans atmospheric, textured and musical, this thing grows on you HARD.
Also placement matters WAY more than I expected.
Now I am curious, what speakers/headphones unexpectedly changed your music taste or made you rediscover songs?
For folks who own a JBL Auracast speaker, and also own Marshall Auracast speakers: connecting via bluetooth to the JBL speaker then using it as a Auracast transmitter to Marshall Listen to Broadcast enabled devices works perfect. I'll eventually get a Heddon if it ever goes on sale so I can use Google Cast, but this works fine as well.
Steps
That's it - the Marshall speaker should sync and start playing the JBL speaker's audio stream via Auracast.
Repeat steps 3-5 if you have additional Marshall speakers.
They cost 10000 INR (~100 USD). I’m contemplating on whether I should go for them or opt for something cheaper. I’m also considering Sony