Marshall’s 4th Generation Headphones The Marshall Major IV offer 80 hours of battery life & Wireless charging but do they sound as good as their battery life?
The headphone market is stacked with many brands offering the latest technology but I have found finding a good pair of on-ear headphones a little more tricky. In this review, we have been sent the latest pair by Marshall the Major IV which costs £129 and comes in the more traditional black but is also available in an eye-catching brown.
First Impressions
Considering they are the brand’s 4th Generation it won’t come as a surprise to see a few changes especially when it comes to the comfort area as so many on-ear headphones struggle in this area. The Major IV is also lightweight, easy to use and does not clamp too hard on your head.
The branding of these headphones keeps to its roots as this brand is known for its guitar heritage. The model name Major is in recognition of its guitar amplifier from 1967. The style of these headphones keeps to that original black design with closed ear cups made of textured vinyl and rectangular in shape and have that signature lettering just like the Marshall amp of old.
The Marshall Major IV provides extra comfort by offering padded ear cups hang in metal clamps articulated around the x-axis and clamped in a retractable folding clip to create a step-less and non-locking extender. The flexible bracket is made of two layers of padded imitation leather.
The right cup is the control centre of the headphones with the charging the battery either by wireless charging or via the USB-C port. Also on the right cup is a gold multi-directional control button that can be pressed and also tilted in all directions.
There is also a small LED that indicates battery level as well as indicating when in pairing mode when being connected via Bluetooth. The Major IV can also be turned into a wired connection with a provided audio cable.
Design
The Marshall Major IV weighs in at 165 grams and offers the use of that on-ear design instead of the over-ear design many brands go for. The earcups measure 65mm and rest against your ears.
I have been wearing these for long periods of us and was surprised by just how comfortable they are for example they come with a light but loose clamping force with a padded headband and plush cushioning ear pads.
The headphones can be compact as they can fold down which allows you to pop them in your bag when not in use. The cups do not offer much lateral adjustment but can move on a vertical plane to allow you to adjust the headphones to provide the ideal fit.
Controls
The Marshall Major IV have avoided using touch controls or having dedicated functions buttons instead they have decided to use a single gold multi-function button on the right cup.
This button can be pressed or you can use a directional push like a joystick. The tactile feedback of pressing the button is actually quite satisfying. The controls allow you to do the following:
- Play/Pause
- Voice Assistant
- Power on/off
- Track controls
- Volume Controls
- Call Management – Answering/Finish/Reject call
| Action | Playback/Call |
| One Press | Play/Pause or Call Answer/End Call |
| Press 2x | Voice Assistant or Reject incoming call |
| Press & Hold for 2 seconds | Power On |
| Press & Hold for 4 Seconds | Bluetooth Pairing |
| Push Right or Left | Track Control -Skip Track |
| Push Forwards or Backwards | Increase or decrease the volume |
When using the directional control button it does take some time to get used to for example to decrease the volume you push the button towards the front of the headphone. If you are increasing volume you push the button towards the back of the headphone. The reason it takes some getting used to as with other headphones that have similar controls doing this with the control button actually relates to track control instead of volume.
Battery life
The star of the show is the battery life you get a whopping 80 hours of battery life I have been using these for about a week and a half now every day and I still have battery life am very impressed. You will also notice that the Major IV are also QI-compatible. So all you need to do is rest the right ear cup’s outer housing on a wireless charging pad and it will start to charge and look great on your desk.
Do not have a wireless charging set up no issues as also on the right cup is a USB-C port that you can charge the headphones with the provided charging cable. If you are in a hurry or forgot to give these a full charge they also come with fast charging, so a 15-minute charge will give you 15 hours of audio playback.
Features
There are not many features on the Marshall Major IV and this is done to keep things simple. What you do have is you can connect the included headphone cable and link it to a second pair of headphones with a 3.5mm audio jack to share audio.
How does this work?
You will continue to receive your music by the Bluetooth audio signal but you will also be sending an analogue signal via the connected cable to the other pair of headphones providing them with audio also.
Connectivity
It will come as no surprise that these headphones come with Bluetooth 5.0 which is fairly standard in headphones we have reviewed recently. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack for those who want that wired connection. The audio cable provided is coiled which is a nod to the past and also has the benefit that it’s unlikely to be a tangled mess the next time you use the cable.
Jumping back to Bluetooth 5.0 it also comes with just the SBC codec which is a little disappointing as iOS users expect AAC and Android users to get higher quality from the likes of aptX. It would have been nice to have had these additional codecs included but it does not affect the overall experience.
Sound Quality
The most important aspect when buying headphones is how they sound and on first inspection the Major IV over amplifies the bass and treble. This gives you an added extra in the low end but depending on the song you might miss some of the instruments. For the average listener, they would be happy with the sound. However, let’s take a closer look.
I have tested these with a wide range of music such as RnB, HipHop, Pop and Rock and when listening to some Red Hot Chilli Peppers I found the over-amplified bass and treble made the bass guitar and kick drum rather loud. This is not a bad thing for Rock music but for other genres of music, it could be problematic.
For example, if you have a track with repeating parts you can hear the build-up and how the introduction of layered parts will show some volume issues present in the frequency response. To one side the overall sound quality gives both the highs and mids enough room to breathe although, at the uppermost highs, it slightly impairs its transparency.
Isolation
The Marshall Major IV & Isolation is not a match made in heaven and this is mainly due to the on-ear design. In most passive isolating headphones you will find low-frequency noises will reach your ears. In testing when listening to music I could still hear unwanted background noise yes it was slightly muffled which I guess is expected when the clamping force is quite light.
Call Quality
The Marshall Major IV is not the best when it comes to call quality down to the fact a lot of outside noise seems to be captured and in an office, the person you are speaking to will hear all that unwanted noise.
However, at the same time, your voice still sounds quite clear to the other person. In windy conditions, you can still be heard but the wind does a good job of muffling your voice.
Verdict
The Marshall Major IV is built to last and is very comfy to wear. They also tick the stylish box and are easy to use, especially with the single-button interface. The main benefit has to be the 80-hour battery with Qi compatibility allowing you to wireless charge the headphones.
Moving on to the sound unfortunately the Major IV overamplifies the bass and treble which if you are a bass-heavy fan you wont have an issue with. However, the mids and highs give you enough room to breathe until you reach the upper highs then impairs its transparency. There is definitely room for improvement in this department.
The Major IV also has no app so you can’t adjust the EQ which might have helped and the lack of firmware means you won’t benefit from any software update. The Major IV could also be improved when it comes to codecs yes it comes with SBC but the lack of aptX or AAC for me is a deal breaker.
The on-ear build was never going to block too much noise and the lack of ANC means you will hear a lot of unwanted noise. It’s also a shame the isolation and call quality are below par as they look really nice and that practical folding mechanism makes these compact. However, the sound quality and lack of codecs are big letdowns for me. At £129 I just feel there are much better options on the market.
Product Rating
Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Controls: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Battery Life: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Features: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Connectivity: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Sound Quality: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Value for Money: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Overall ranking: 3.4 out of 5.0 stars – 3.4 stars
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