Improved comfort, battery life and new features come to the Marshall Monitor III ANC . At $329 are these iconic rugged folding headphones worth the money?
The Marshall Monitor IIIs are marketed as rock and roll over the ear headphones that are instantly recognizable for their black textured ear cups. This year’s model focuses on making the headphones lighter, more comfortable, and nearly doubles its battery life. Their styling might not be for everyone and they still fall behind in a few areas, but for what they offer, they have lots of character and won’t disappoint… except for its lack of a 3.5mm jack.
The Marshall Monitor IIIs are marketed as rock and roll over the ear headphones that are instantly recognizable for their black textured ear cups. This year’s model focuses on making the headphones lighter, more comfortable, and nearly doubles its battery life. Their styling might not be for everyone and they still fall behind in a few areas, but for what they offer, they have lots of character and won’t disappoint… except for its lack of a 3.5mm jack.
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TechTranscript
00:00All right, audio recording.
00:02Should you buy or skip the Marshall Monitor 3s?
00:05These were a big surprise for me,
00:06and although they look basically the same
00:07as their predecessors, as soon as you try them on,
00:09you instantly notice some pretty big improvements
00:11to their comfort and features,
00:13but also one big downgrade, at least for me.
00:17Out of the box, these $329 headphones sound pretty neutral,
00:20but with a quick EQ change,
00:21you'll get that more signature punchy or bright sound
00:24that you may prefer, depending on what you're listening to.
00:27I'm actually using these way more than their predecessor,
00:29but here's everything you need to know
00:31before considering getting them.
00:33The first reason you're gonna wanna buy the Monitor 3s
00:35is that Billy Joe Armstrong wears them.
00:37Well, okay, maybe.
00:39But the other big one is the improved design and comfort.
00:42A downside with the predecessor, the Monitor 2s,
00:45which have actually been rocking for the past year,
00:47is that they felt quite heavy and tight,
00:49especially after a few hours of wearing them.
00:51This year's Monitor 3s fixes that.
00:53They're lighter at just 8.8 ounces versus 11.3,
00:56and they have a redesigned headband
00:58that distributes that weight a lot better.
01:00They also have some of the plushiest ear cups.
01:02I mean, look at that.
01:03They're like pillows.
01:04These aren't just super comfy to wear.
01:06They actually help conform to the shape of your head
01:08and ears to improve the seal,
01:10which minimizes the amount of noise leak,
01:12both from the outside world
01:14and spilling out from your headphones.
01:16The Monitor 2 already had very impressive battery life,
01:19but taking things even further,
01:20the Monitor 3s have more than double,
01:22double the battery life.
01:24It now gets up to 70 hours with ANC or 100 hours without,
01:27and that's up from 30 hours with ANC
01:29and 45 hours without on the Monitor 2s.
01:31To make this possible, Marshall made a few changes.
01:33First, the audio drivers are a little bit smaller.
01:35They're now 32 millimeters instead of 40.
01:38Smaller would suggest worse performance,
01:40but I haven't noticed it even in the low end.
01:42Marshall actually tries to point out
01:44that with the improved fit and positioning,
01:46along with better adaptive audio,
01:48it actually might be a little bit better sounding,
01:50but again, I can't tell the difference.
01:52But importantly, they're less power hungry.
01:54So tied in with those smaller drivers,
01:56some other simplified internals,
01:58including one that I'm not happy with,
01:59they now have more space to add in a second battery
02:02into the other ear cup.
02:03And besides extending the runtime,
02:05it also gives it a more balanced feel on your head.
02:07You could argue that no one needs battery life this long,
02:10especially when you can charge them overnight
02:11or the next day, sure.
02:13But have you ever taken a pair of headphones
02:15on a week-long trip
02:16and never had to charge them the entire time?
02:18Now, when you eventually do need to recharge though,
02:20these smaller batteries actually charge faster
02:22with a 50-minute charge,
02:23giving you 12 hours of play with A and C.
02:26So that's what, like 40 minutes of playback
02:28within a 60-second emergency charge.
02:30It's pretty clutch, right?
02:32While the Monitor 3s look mostly unchanged from last year,
02:34that's a good thing in my book.
02:35Something that continues to be
02:37one of its biggest selling features,
02:38setting itself apart from almost every other
02:40high-end consumer wireless headphone,
02:42is how rock solid these are.
02:44You've got that retro rock and roll influence
02:46that's carried over from Marshall's AMP DNA,
02:49which we see in this basically scratch-proof design.
02:53These are built like a tank.
02:54You can toss them around.
02:55They're not gonna really show anywhere,
02:56except for maybe the ear cups if you cut them.
02:58Carried over as well, we see the joystick controls
03:00for playback and volume control making a return,
03:02as well as dedicated buttons for A and C,
03:04as well as an M button that lets you quickly launch
03:07Spotify or your voice assistant,
03:08as well as its new soundstage.
03:10This is their take on spatial audio,
03:12which widens your tracks.
03:13It does an all right job,
03:14but it probably won't blow you away
03:16if you've tried some of the best.
03:17Anyways, I think physical controls
03:18work a lot better than touch controls
03:20like you'll find on my Sony 1000W XM4s,
03:24and these headphones focus on being practical
03:26rather than gimmicky.
03:27New for this year,
03:28they're also including a hard shell case
03:30with this nice red velvet interior
03:32and a pocket at the top for your cables.
03:34But at least for me,
03:35I think it kind of takes away from the whole point
03:37of these headphones being super compact
03:39and just easy to throw in a bag on their own.
03:41I don't really need a case,
03:42but it's cool that they did include one
03:44without jacking up the price.
03:47As I've been hinting at,
03:48as great as the Monitor 3's improved design
03:51and performance is,
03:51it actually introduces one pretty big downgrade.
03:54It ditches the 3.5 millimeter headphone jack.
03:58The 3.5 millimeter jack
03:59is becoming increasingly more niche every year,
04:02and there's a good chance
04:02this entire section doesn't even apply to you,
04:04but I mean,
04:05there's still a real need for it in certain situations.
04:08Off the top of my head,
04:08I can think of three.
04:10Using these to play instruments
04:11without Bluetooth latency,
04:13monitoring audio from like this camera here,
04:15which doesn't have Bluetooth,
04:16or the classic using it on a plane,
04:18which, how else are you gonna play your audio?
04:20And sure, yeah,
04:21they've included this 3.5 millimeter to USB-C adapter,
04:24which at times gets the job done.
04:25Whether you're like me
04:26and you're constantly losing this
04:27or you're encountering audio interference,
04:30it's just not as convenient
04:31as having a dedicated 3.5 millimeter jack
04:34built into your headphones.
04:35But even if you've managed not to forget this cable,
04:37it's worth mentioning
04:38that it's still going to drain your Monitor 3's battery
04:40as the headphones need to be powered on.
04:42Even though these charge super fast
04:44and last for a long time,
04:45I can't count the amount of times
04:47where being able to use my other wireless headphones
04:49with their 3.5 millimeter jack,
04:52even while they were dead,
04:53has come in super handy.
04:55The Monitor 3's design is pretty timeless if you ask me,
04:57but I know a lot of people
04:58who personally just won't vibe with this as much as I do.
05:01This one's kind of minor,
05:02but you can only get this in the one color
05:04and the combination of retro and black
05:06isn't everyone's thing.
05:07I get that.
05:08Maybe you prefer something
05:09that's a little bit more modern or shiny,
05:11like say the AirPods Max or even the Sony XM5s,
05:14rather than the ruggedness of the Monitor 3's.
05:17That said, the...
05:19Really, the Marshalls.
05:20The Marshalls.
05:21That said, the Marshall headphones have their own following
05:23and when I see strangers rocking these out in the wild,
05:26no, we give each other a nod of approval
05:28because we're cool like that.
05:29Okay, maybe that's just me.
05:31Finally, while the Monitor 3's have improved significantly
05:33with their ANC and their pass-through modes,
05:36I think they're still trailing behind Sony and Bose,
05:38which have been doing it better for longer.
05:40Other high-end models usually can also auto-adjust
05:43the level of noise cancellation
05:44depending on your environment
05:46and can also detect when you're speaking
05:48to auto-pause the music
05:49or lower the volumes of your headphones.
05:51As of now, these are features
05:52that are completely missing from the Monitor 3's.
05:55It's only once you try and get to use these conveniences
05:58on other headphones that you'll miss them here,
06:00but considering that there are a number of other headphones
06:02at a similar price point that also have them built in,
06:05the Monitors still have room to improve.
06:08So, buy or skip, the Marshall Monitor 3's is a buy for me.
06:11I already used the Monitor 2's almost every day
06:14for making content in one way or another,
06:16and now their successor is about better
06:18in every single way except, yeah,
06:20that 3.5 millimeter jack, which does suck.
06:23But aside from that, they are way more comfy,
06:25and I think they're one of the most comfy headphones
06:27that I've tried.
06:28They've also got some of the best battery life in the class,
06:30not to mention they have more effective ANC and pass-through,
06:32which I think is actually worth using now.
06:35But let me know what you think.
06:36You can find us everywhere at Tom's Guide,
06:37and you can follow me to see what other cool tech I'm testing.
06:40Until the next one, catch you later.
06:42♪