Marshall’s Major V Headphones Review: Unbelievable Battery Life and Ready to Auracast

Marshall Main V: Design

On-ear, not over-ear.

An important function you want to pay attention to relating to the Main V is its on-ear design. For those who want big oval ear cups to fully envelope your ears and depart some respiratory area, you need to go for over-ear headphones as an alternative. These will press towards your cartilage always which is uncomfortable for some. Judging by on-ear headphone requirements, I discovered these fairly nice owing to the extraordinarily thick layer of cushioning within the cups. Because of their on-ear high quality, they had been cosy by default. The leatherette coating does are likely to warmth up although, which was bothersome once I was outdoors doing chores with these however much less of a problem in my room.

These cans are absolutely collapsible and might get very, very small as soon as folded all the best way. I simply slid them into one of many little pockets in my workplace tote and so they didn’t even result in a bulge. Although I’m not a fan of how the metallic hinges stick out when the headphones are folded all the best way.

At solely 186g, these are a few of the lightest headphones I’ve examined. For context, Sony’s XM5s are praised for his or her mild weight at 249g. In fact, these look loads much less premium than Sony’s flagship headphones however price a pair hundred {dollars} much less. At $150, the Main V provide precisely what you’re paying for. They function some frills when it comes to performance, however design-wise, they’re fairly barebones. They go for a rugged, sturdy look greater than an attention-grabbing, aesthetically pleasing design.

Contemplating all that, it’s a disgrace that the Main V function no resistance to mud or water. These aren’t IP-rated in any respect, so that you’d must tiptoe very rigorously round a pool or on a hike. Taking a look at their ruggedness and moveable type issue, I might’ve guessed (and hoped for) at the least an IP56 on these.

Marshall Main V: Controls

A devoted button for Spotify.

I’ll at all times choose bodily buttons over contact controls; their reliability and suggestions are unmatched by a contact interface. It’s a bonus when bodily controls are designed as intuitively as they’re on the Main V with simply two buttons controlling all the things. One of many two handles playback, quantity, and energy on/off. You press it as soon as to cycle between play and pause, lean it to 1 facet relying on whether or not you need to decrease or increase the amount, and lengthy press it to energy on/off. Quantity is a difficult management to grasp that’s usually finished in an unintuitive method on plenty of headphones, however the Main V couldn’t have used a wiser and less complicated method for it. The opposite management, the M-button, could be custom-made for any of those three actions: launching Spotify, accessing the in-app EQ presets, or enabling voice help.

I set the M-button to set off Spotify. Since I’m a daily consumer of the app, this management was extraordinarily helpful to me. With only one press, it could play a track from one in every of my playlists on Spotify. I cherished that upon urgent the button once more, it could change to a different track from a type of playlists or one primarily based on my listening exercise on the app. I’m at all times plugged into Spotify whereas commuting, and it’s usually a problem to cycle between playlists on the go. With a 3.5mm enter on the headphones and a wire within the bundle, there’s an choice for wired connectivity as nicely.

Marshall Main V: Battery Life

Ridiculously lengthy battery life.

Marshall guarantees greater than 100 hours on the Main V. I aimed to check this out a number of weeks in the past and began to maintain psychological notes of my day by day utilization together with the drop in battery share. After round three weeks and roughly forty hours, it’s nonetheless going sturdy at 63%. Observe that this contains plenty of speak time, which drains the battery quicker than playtime. They take three hours to completely recharge, however that’s not a evident problem when it’s a must to do it about as soon as a month, if not much less. With most headphones lasting someplace between 40 to 60 hours, the 100+ hour battery life on the Main V is extraordinarily spectacular.

At their modest $150 value, in addition they provide wi-fi charging. Fast charging is supported with quarter-hour providing you with 15 hours of playtime. The battery preservation function on the Main V is one other frill I don’t see on plenty of headphones. You may select between Customary, Medium, and Max battery preservation profiles on the app. On Customary, the utmost recharge on the headphones is restricted to 90% to guard the battery from overheating. The Medium mode provides a charging pace limiter to verify recharging is finished at a sluggish and regular tempo. The Max does all the things the opposite two modes do and provides a temperature measure. This slows the charging tempo when the gadget heats up greater than the best vary to delay the battery lifespan. These measures could appear bothersome trying on the already lengthy three-hour recharging time however they’ll do wonders in your headphones’ battery in the long run. It’s also possible to at all times choose out of selecting a battery preservation mode.

Marshall Main V: Efficiency

Underwhelming sound.

The Main V function a balanced sound with probably the most emphasis on mids. The bass is the least emphasised even with the Bass Increase preset enabled within the app. The treble is extra noticeable than the low-end however doesn’t shine sufficient to demand an additional layer. It sounds fairly clustered with the remainder of the weather. Total, the orchestra might use much more area than it at the moment receives. There’s little sound imaging and it’s as if the weather don’t have sufficient room to breathe. I performed round on the in-app EQ settings, however other than the mid-reduction and mid-boost presets, this didn’t actually have an effect on the standard of the audio.

The headphones sport 40mm dynamic drivers and a 20 to twenty KHz frequency vary, commonplace for many headphones on this vary. There isn’t a ANC, however the excessively thick ear cup cushions present first rate passive noise isolation. On 20% quantity, my coworkers’ conversations had been fully muted.

I used to be left feeling underwhelmed by the audio on the Main V just because I anticipated extra out of the Marshall tag. The sound lacked definition and character. It got here off as shallow and leaned in the direction of a tinny profile. The one efficiency function that impressed me was their Bluetooth LE compatibility. They arrive future-proofed with LE which suggests they’re prepared for Auracast in a future firmware replace. That’s a uncommon function for headphones on this value vary. There are numerous examples of significantly costlier headphones that aren’t able to facilitating Auracast.

Talking of future-proofing, there are a number of extra options on the Main V that purpose to increase their lifespan. Marshall claims they’re rugged sufficient to resist put on and tear but when the ear cups ever run into an accident, you possibly can order simply the cups on-line. The Main V are additionally Marshall’s first headphones to be included of their restore program, so the batteries could be modified at any approved restore heart.

Verdict

Marshall’s Main V totally impressed me in some areas however underwhelmed in others. I felt entitled to nice sound on these since they’re Marshall-branded, however didn’t get that. The absence of ANC and an IP score at a midrange $150 value are additionally severe omissions. On the identical time, the ridiculously lengthy battery life is strictly double what you get on most different headphones, and help for Auracast sooner or later is a good rarer function. Being a loyal Spotify consumer, a devoted button for the app made me extraordinarily completely happy. If I didn’t know these had been manufactured by Marshall, I might need given them the next rating. All in all, I can solely advocate these to non-audiophiles who’re searching for an entry-level pair of headphones and prioritize battery life over sound high quality.