ANC earbuds Marshall MOTIF II A.N.C. hands-on Gritty Marshall sound and a hot design?

Amp look. The established manufacturer Marshall has released its Motif II A.N.C. earbuds for stylish rock enthusiasts. According to the manufacturer, their ANC has been improved in particular. Can these earbuds really deliver the sound Marshall is known for? We have put them to the test!

Christian Hintze, 👁 Christian Hintze (translated by Daisy Dickson), Published 10/18/2023 🇩🇪

These days, earbuds are a dime a dozen, however, high-quality earbuds that also dare to do something different design-wise are always welcome. Now, the long-established manufacturer Marshall – known for many decades for giving guitarists a characteristic sound experience with its amps – has brought out its Motif II A.N.C. earbuds with a unique design. Instead of light, smooth plastic, its case has a dark leather look featuring the famous white cursive Marshall lettering.

Aside from their unique visual appearance, the in-ear headphones also claim to boast good technical features. Their battery life is longer than their predecessors, the case and earbuds are both IPX certified, you can charge the case wirelessly and, of course, the earbuds’ Active Noise Cancellation has been improved and optimized.

Type
In-Ear

Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.3 LE

Reach
up to 10 meters

Speakers
6 mm dynamic, 20–20,000 Hz

Audio codecs
SBC + MPEG-2 AAC + LC3

Charging port
USB-C

Wireless charging
yes

Weight
4.53 grams (per earbud), 47 grams (charging case)

Scope of delivery
headphones, charging case, ear tips (sizes: S, M, L), USB-C cable

Price (MRSP)
199 Euro

Marshall presents its earbuds in a design typical for the cult manufacturer; it is similar to its guitar amps and Bluetooth speakers. The charging case and the earbuds themselves are black — the former features an artificial leather look and structure, meaning it stands out from all the other earbuds (as long as you like that sort of design).

White, cursive Marshall lettering adorns the front and above this, you can find a mini LED which temporarily shows the battery status or when it is searching for devices when you open and close the case. Under the lettering, there is a black button to control the Bluetooth mode.

A USB-C port sits right on the bottom of the case which can be used to charge it — alternatively, you can do this wirelessly with the help of Qi.

The white “M” stands out on the buds, and the pen-like holds have a grooved diamond structure, giving them good grip. The bottom is coated with a gold color. The manufacturer states that a total of 70 per cent of the plastic used during production is recycled plastic. The earbuds are IPX5-certified, whereas the charging case is IPX4-certified.

The buds come delivered with three different ear tips in the sizes S, M and L. The size M tips which came pre-installed just about fit the author, but switching to the smaller size improved the fit and sound slightly more.

The buds are ready to be used straight out of the box via Bluetooth 5.3 LE and can be paired with your phone, for example. You can connect the earbuds to a total of two devices simultaneously (multipoint connectivity). We connected the buds to our phone and PC at the same time. By the way, we noted quite the latency between image and sound when watching a video on YouTube. The extent of this latency fluctuated and was quite annoying. If you take one earbud out of your ear, the media is automatically paused. You can deactivate this function via the app.

You can control the buds via their touch-sensitive surfaces. A variety of touch commands control what you are listening to: Pause and play (tap once), fast forward (double-tap), accept and end calls (also double-tap), switch ANC to transparent mode and back (long touch, two different confirmation sounds), and you can even launch Spotify (double-tap and hold). It takes a bit for the touch inputs to be acted on — especially when it comes to changing the volume (see below).

When inserting the buds, it’s a little annoying that actions are triggered by accident; especially switching between ANC and transparency mode by touching them for longer. It isn’t as easy to insert the Motif II buds using their long, non-touch grips — you inevitably end up accidentally touching their touch-sensitive surfaces.

Unfortunately, the buds are missing the option to change the volume without having to take out your phone to do this — this is pretty standard for in-ear headphones. However, this is where Marshall’s Bluetooth app comes into play. It is available on iOS and Android and features a plethora of settings. One annoying thing is that the app requires GPS to be activated if you want to use it in order to achieve more precise locating via UWB. But why have the power-saving Bluetooth Low Energy available if your phone’s battery is going to get drained anyway by having GPS activated all the time? Not to mention the potential questionable privacy issues that arise from the app having access to do what it pleases with your location data.

The app itself is structured very clearly and functionally. ANC and transparency mode can be adjusted in three steps (Low, Mid, High). Furthermore, you have access to an equalizer which, alongside the set Marshall sound and various other presets, allows you to make manual adjustments. Here, you can also at least set one of the custom touch actions to suit your needs. Subsequently, you have the option to control the volume through touch prompts, after all. Unfortunately, doing this will mean that you lose the function to be able to switch between ANC and transparency mode. The developers really should’ve used the Spotify touch command for this instead, as we would much rather forgo this function.

Last but not least, you can set the battery’s behavior. In order to ensure a longer battery lifetime, it is recommended to only let the battery be charged from 30 to 80 per cent or to forgo fast-charging.

The Marshall Motif II earbuds support a variety of codecs for high-quality sound, including the LC3 codec which is supported by Windows 11, for example. LDAC is unfortunately missing, but AAC and SBC are on board.

The Marshall earbuds deliver good sound for them being in-ear models — after all, they want to keep up with Apple’s AirPods Pro, as they have a comparable price. Bass comes across well, is emphasized enough and thanks to the equalizer, you can adjust the sound relatively well to your liking. In comparison to other in-ears, they achieve very good bass that is also well-graduated instead of just thumping.

They sit nicely in your ears

The trebles are also present on the 6-mm buds, but overall we found them lacking in some detail, and especially lacking that final punch. The relatively present bass makes the sound seem punchy but is not sufficiently supported toward the highs. Especially for a rock-oriented Marshall sound, the Motif II A.N.C. buds seem a bit too muffled. If you switch off ANC, the sound feels a bit more open, but you have to do without a lot of bass. We get the feeling that the ANC also filters out some details.

Marshall has done quite a bit of work on its Active Noise Cancellation. Some noise may still be able to pierce through, but at least only a small amount. Even so, stepping noises and rubbing noises are transmitted much too clearly, for example when you are wearing a hat in the colder weather. If you aren’t playing any sound, then you can hear weak to medium levels of ambient noise when ANC mode is activated. Of course, the sound is much louder with Transparency Mode activated. Outside noise then sounds a bit artificial.

Compared to other in-ear headphones, the Motif II earbuds hold up well — however, their sound simply cannot compete with over-ear headphones like the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro. This may not be a benchmark, but it is what the author of this review is used to in everyday headphone use. The Motif IIs sound a bit muffled and less high-res in comparison. In addition, the Marshall buds are relatively quiet, so you have to turn up the volume quite a bit.

When making a call, voices are transmitted particularly well using ANC mode and ambient noise such as wind and traffic is suppressed well. In part, the sound is like in other in-ears — a bit artificial and suppressed, but everything can still be understood well.

dB(A)
0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2028.529.328.52530.82530.83131.927.131.94021.81821.85023.822.623.86321.716.421.78018.11518.110018.415.618.412516.810.516.816018.69.918.620022.51422.525024.810.624.831526.57.926.540029.46.629.450033.18.133.163037.67.537.680041.37.741.3100045.18.345.1125049.28.649.2160054.59.454.5200060.49.660.4250066.610.166.6315070.210.870.2400069.51169.5500066.911.266.9630064.411.564.4800068.511.568.51000071.311.471.31250067.811.467.81600061.310.461.3SPL77.922.277.9N31.20.431.2median 49.2median 10.4median 49.2Delta18.91.418.930.746.120.838.51944.917.146.433.452.120.951.916.651.620.55116.552.314.754.21454.214.353.313.154.613.655.113.253.812.355.312.556.711.958.312.661.712.966.913.372.512.576.413.478.213.979.413.978.913.57513.773.913.977.913.573.413.765.325.3870.760.7median 13.5median 61.70.710.4hearing rangehide median Pink NoiseMarshall MOTIF II A.N.C.Huawei FreeBuds 5

Frequency diagram (checkboxes can be checked and unchecked to compare devices)

Marshall MOTIF II A.N.C. audio analysis

(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (77.86 dB)
Bass 100 – 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass – on average 28% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (5% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 – 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids – on average 9.5% lower than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (10.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 – 16 kHz
(-) | very high highs – on average 19% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (8.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 – 16.000 Hz
(-) | overall sound is not linear (46.7% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 95% of all tested devices in this class were better, 0% similar, 5% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 26%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 95% of all tested devices were better, 0% similar, 5% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 26%, worst was 134%

Huawei FreeBuds 5 audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (87 dB)
Bass 100 – 315 Hz
(±) | reduced bass – on average 8.4% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (2.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 – 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids – on average 5.7% lower than median
(+) | mids are linear (5.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 – 16 kHz
(-) | very high highs – on average 15.4% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (4.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 – 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (20.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 47% of all tested devices in this class were better, 8% similar, 45% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 26%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 47% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 45% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 26%, worst was 134%

Marshall indicates that the buds have runtimes of 6 hours and up to 30 hours in combination with the case. In our test, the Marshall earbuds even held out a bit longer with activated ANC and a music volume of about 65 dB (measured from about 1 cm away).

The case can be charged using the supplied (short) USB-C cable or wirelessly via Qi. Moreover, the manufacturer has installed a fast-charging function which lets you listen to an hour of music after only 15 minutes of charging. 

Pros

+ sleek design

+ case and buds water-resistant

+ good, defined bass

+ good runtimes, Qi support

+ clear, well-designed app, but…

Cons

– …GPS requirement when using app

– noticeable latency

The Marshall Motif II A.N.C., provided by Marshall

Of course, the Marshall Motif II A.N.C. earbuds look great — their case does much more than the usual shiny plastic eggs you can find with its competitors. The Marshall buds produce a powerful and dynamic sound, but it lacks a bit of detail. The sound is overall a bit duller than we would have liked. Especially for gritty guitar sound, the Marshall buds seem to be less suitable than generally advertized.

Even so, this is all critique on a very high level. The rest of the author’s wired earbuds clearly can’t keep up with the Motif II’s sound. All-in-all, they could just do with being a bit louder. 

The Marshall Motif II A.N.C. earbuds look great and produce a powerful and dynamic sound. Their ANC is good but by no means perfect, losing a few sound details in the process.

The Marshall Motif II can currently be found on Amazon for US$199.99.

Transparency

The present review sample was made available to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or a shop for the purposes of review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review.

A C64 marked my entry into the world of PCs. I spent my student internship in the repair department of a computer shop and at the end of the day I was allowed to assemble my own 486 PC from “workshop remnants”. As a result of this, I later studied computer science at the Humboldt University in Berlin, with psychology also being added to my studies. After my first job as a research assistant at the university, I went to London for a year and worked for Sega in computer game translation quality assurance. This included working on games such as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Company of Heroes. I have been writing for Notebookcheck since 2017.

Translator: Daisy Dickson – Translator – 112 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2023

Originally from Scotland, I grew up and lived in Germany until I completed my high school qualifications before moving back to Scotland to complete my university studies. Growing up bilingual led me to form a close relationship with the English and German languages, often working in the fields of teaching and translation. Most of my childhood was shaped by playing around on new consoles, computers and gadgets and getting to grips with the new craze of the internet and smartphones. This interest has stayed with me well into adulthood. Nowadays, I live in Glasgow and work as a freelance translator and digital media coordinator. I have been translating for Notebookcheck since early 2023.

Christian Hintze, 2023-10-18 (Update: 2023-10-18)

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