Unique Style & Performance - Marshall Motif II ANC Earbuds Review
/So listen, hear carefully.
These are the Marshall Motif II earbuds. If you’re watching this, there’s a chance you’re a fan of the brand Marshall, or maybe Marshall is new to you.
If it is, here’s a quick summary for you. Marshall started in the audio business in London in the ’60s, and we’re hugely successful, with artists like Jimmi Hendrix being well known for using their speakers and amps. They started making headphones in 2010…thirteen years later, we have the Motif 2 ANC true wireless HiRes earbuds.
The name that Marshall has chosen for these is interesting and entirely accurate. You see, the French word Motif is used when describing a recurring pattern or idea… and in this case, it’s both.
DESIGN Case
The case design immediately identifies itself as a Marshall product with the iconic signature on the front & black vinyl covering….which is indeed a motif, a recurring pattern seen on Marshall speakers and amps.
However, times they are a changing…for the better, I hope, and the materials used on the Outer shell are constructed from 70% recycled materials. Despite the new composition, the case feels premium & relatively compact. And yes, It easily passes the cowboy pocket watch pocket test.
The pairing button is front and centre & easy to find. Some cases do such an excellent job of hiding this that it makes it hard to find when you need it.
Something I like about the case design is the back is flat, which stops it from rocking & rolling around on an aeroplane flip-down table. See what I did there, rocking and rolling. At the base is a USB C port, which does support quick charge with 15, giving you 1hr of sound vibrations in the earbuds.
Overall, it’s a solid case. The size of the matter is quite similar to the Apple AirPods, but one distinct advantage over the AirPods case is it won’t slip out of your pockets on hands quite so quickly, thanks to that classic Marshall design motif, the texture.
Design Buds
No, let’s move on to the Motif bud design. There are quite a few things I love about the design of these buds.
It’s the textured grip on the stems & gold cap around the directional voice pick-u pmic. This is Another motif, I believe, as the design looks to be inspired by premium Marshall audio connectors and dials on their amps.
The bud has a kind of two-tone finish with a slight texture on the outside and a smoother finish inside with the L & R stamped…just in case you need to look.
The inner side of the buds has a rippled texture, which presumably can help create a more secure fit and improve passive noise cancelling.
At the centre is an ANC mic and wear detect sensor that can detect when they’re not in your ear. Helping them save power…and these have interesting power-saving features you need to know about. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
There’s an Exterior feed-forward mic under the grill on the top. This mic is designed to pick up the ambient noise for ANC use and ambient passthrough.
The silicon tips are different from most, with a slightly larger than usual opening for the drivers, which I believe will help the audio flow in a wider formation. Three sizes of ear-tips are available & I can't emphasise enough the importance of getting a good seal. The Sound quality significantly improves when you get it right. Trust me, if you get these, don’t just guess your size. Test them and listen for the differences.
UPGRADES
So, that’s visible refinements of the design motifs out the way. Here are some upgrades beneath the surface. The battery is bigger than version one of the Marshall Motif.
Each bud has an additional 1.5 hours of power, and combined with the case, you can get up to 30 hours now. There is a Qi Wireless charging coil built in, just like before.
And now, thanks to a new BT chip with BTLE support. Latency, signal stability, and range are all improved. It sounds like some sound upgrades to me. Also, Marshall says that the active noise cancelling has levelled up, and this takes me nicely into the app.
Marshall Bluetooth App Features
Here's the software you'll be working with if you decide to pick these up.
The app's home screen shows you the current Battery life in the case and the buds. There’s a simple selector switch for noise control.
Now, if you’re wondering about the quality of the ANC, well, I can tell you. I took these on a plane, and of course, there was a crying baby in the seat behind me… so it’s safe to say I’ve tested these thoroughly.
Voice frequencies can pass through. However, plane noise & air conditioning sounds are nicely blocked. The ANC isn’t quite as aggressive as some. It seems that Marshall has intentionally set it to the point where you might begin to feel cabin pressure in the ears, but they give you the option to dial it back. Overall, it’s pretty good.
Marshall's signature EQ is dialled in by default & it’s excellent. But it is good that Marshall gives you the option to select from some other popular presets & there is a basic five-band equaliser available if you want to get creative with your custom.
The controls on the earbuds are laid out here with your usual taps, tap tap and long holds. Whilst you can’t customise these entirely, you can simplify them, which is a nice touch. One input you can customise is the push and hold. Both toggle through Noise control modes by default, but you can remap them for an AI assistant if needed.
Spotify Connect is bundled into the Marshall software. I’m a fan of the Joe Rogan experience on Spotify & it’s nice to have a specific input gesture to fire up a podcast without even having to look at my phone.
You got to get used to this one. It’s a tap followed by a tap and hold. But once you know, you know. Theres some other self explanatory options here & here are those Interesting power saving features I mentioned earlier.
I’ve not seem this amount of battery protection control before. And this says to me, that Marshall have been built the Motif II to last.
SOUND QUALITY
As always I tested this with my usual play list. Starting with an orchestral track with male and female vocals & vocal heavy track.
Signature sound seems focused on clarity, nice a detailed with just enough bass so that mids don’t become muddy. The result is vocals sound beautiful & instruments crisp.
I also listened to one of Idris Elba’s favourite Reggae track. This is a great test for higher frequencies, percussion instruments and bass. The highs aren’t too sharp but I’d go into the EQ and boost the bass for this genre.
And the same goes for dance tracks. It sounds good with the signature sound but it’s nice that there’s quite a bit of headroom for extra bass in the EQ. And when you do this you won’t get overwhelmed by heavy bass instead you get a nice a punchy bass line.
However doing this for rock or live recorded tracks can mute the vocals a little bit.
Overall the sound performance is very good & the loudness is more than enough. When testing a classical track at times I found myself dialling down the sound, because the highs are truly hi and don’t get it twisted. That’s a good thing.
