The Marshall Monitor III are underrated midrange headphones

It’s no secret that Marshall has mastered classic retro design. What’s a secret is the quality of its noise-canceling headphones, the Marshall Monitor III.

I have a few theories as to why these headphones go unnoticed. Marshall is above all best known for its speakers. Then there’s the fact that other noise-canceling brands like Sony, Bose, and Apple usually occupy the top spots on best lists (including ours). Finally, as mid-range headphones – neither the best nor the most affordable on the market – the Monitor III headphones are simply overlooked by reviewers and consumers. In short, their lack of obvious superlative power makes them the middle child of the headphone world (no offense to the middle children).

There’s more to these headphones than just their looks.
Credit: Béthanie Allard / Mashable

Despite all this, the Monitor III headphones are among the best I’ve tried. After using them regularly for a few weeks, I’m impressed with how well the Marshall succeeds (where the aforementioned Bose and Sony headphones fail). Better yet, as a mid-range option, they’re in the flagship $450-and-up price range that’s become normal, retailing at a more affordable $379.99 at full price, or $279.99 if you can pick them up on sale.

To be completely honest, at the beginning of the testing process I was sure that the appearance of these headphones would be their best feature – but let’s see why they are so much more than that and how they changed my view of the world of headphones.

The best over-ear controls I’ve ever tried

It doesn’t matter that it’s an unexciting starting point; I have to talk about the Monitor III on-ear controls, which are the new Platonic ideal for all headphones from now on.

Placement! Tactility! The perfection of these over-ear controls!
Credit: Béthanie Allard / Mashable

Marshall keeps it simple with three touch controls: a multi-directional control knob, the M button, and the ANC button. The latter two are located at the hinge end of the right and left earcups respectively, making them easy to locate without looking. The M button can be programmed to perform a multitude of tasks, from activating Spotify Tap to switching between the two equalizer settings. The ANC button, as the name suggests, toggles between noise cancellation and transparency modes. Perfect, simple, without notes.

The app allows many customizations on the M button.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

And even with the ANC button.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

The multi-directional button, however, is the real star of the show, serving as a power button, volume control, and forward/back button for music. After encountering buttons on headphones that try to do too much (if we long and triple press, we’ve officially lost the plot), the button accomplishes versatility by moving entirely up and down, or side to side. No touch controls or finicky sliders, no triple taps, just audio playback working the way it’s supposed to.

Although I liked it, I wasn’t too surprised to encounter this button mechanism – I had seen it before when testing a Marshall speaker.

Incredibly customizable, from ANC to spatial audio

As you may have gleaned from my ode to touch controls, the Marshall companion app lets you customize a lot of these headphones.

In addition to the knob adjustment, there are standard features like an equalizer and turning autoplay on and off (for the latter, I chose to turn it off – wear detection is admittedly a bit slow on these headphones).

The Marshall companion app allows for many customizations.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

However, the Marshall app offers even more: there’s a sleep timeout option, both when the headphones aren’t playing and when they’re not connected. The time can be set from zero to seven hours in one-hour increments and from zero to 55 minutes in five-minute increments, providing great flexibility.

Then there are the battery preservation settings, adjustable ANC, and soundstage option. (As an aside, the ANC is solid – certainly not the best on the market, but it gets the job done). Last on this list is Marshall’s spatial audio setting: rather than offering options for listening while you’re standing still or on the move, Marshall’s app lets you set the size of the “room” the sound will occupy, as well as the amount of soundstage you want, from 10 to 100 percent. In all the headphones I’ve tested, I’ve never encountered this level of customization of spatial audio features.

The sleep and soundstage settings are where the Monitor III headphones really start to stand out.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

As an added bonus, the app is easy to navigate, matches the look of the headphones, and has just the right amount of detail. For example, when you select the EQ setting as the M button preset, the app clearly displays the two EQ settings currently in place. Likewise, in the battery preservation screen, toggling the slider from none to maximum clearly shows which features are enabled at each preservation level.

Customization feels intuitive, with settings showing up where you’d expect them.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

You’d be surprised how many companion apps aren’t that simple.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

A sound balance that doesn’t lean too much towards the bass (finally)

I test a lot of headphones, and in general I find that audio products tend to confuse “balanced” sound with sound that has mostly bass. As someone who prefers a more mid-heavy mix, the Monitor III headphones seemed like the audio solution I was looking for.

Although the custom EQ lets you filter between the five presets or opt for a custom mix, I was often happier with the out-of-the-box Marshall preset. Korean pop-rock group Day6’s hit “You Were Beautiful” seemed made for these headphones, with particularly notable wide vocals, electric guitar and bass guitar (plus a touch of piano in the verses). Likewise, the end of Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” sounded angsty and crunchy in the best possible way (where a distorted guitar underlines the anger of the song). Given Marshall’s brand image, it’s no surprise that the rockier songs sound particularly good.

That said, the softer strings sounded just as good. The finger plucking of the acoustic guitar in Liana Flores’ “Recently” sounded crystal clear, making me feel like I was listening to an intimate performance in a coffee shop. In a similar vein, Ebony Loren’s version of the bossa nova classic “O Pato” sounded particularly bouncy and playful in its fast guitar pattern, clean vocals and trumpet solo.

This does not mean that these are the best headphones I’ve ever used. While they do a decent job, these aren’t the headphones to best enjoy house music or EDM. More generally speaking, they can also lean a little flat, lacking the depth of those high-end Bose or Sony options – but for the price gap, the difference is justified.

Wear it comfortably while looking stylish

Finally, let’s talk about the design of these headphones. Marshall has created a beautiful product with the Monitor III, from the pebble earpiece, the gold accents of the name (Dyson could take some notes on how to do the branding right), and the feel of the exposed wiring.

In my humble opinion, these headphones are simply better than most!
Credit: Béthanie Allard / Mashable

This won’t appeal to everyone, but I much preferred this unique design to the recently released Nothing headphones. Additionally, although the Marshall earbuds are more discreet, I found the elasticity of their headband and ear cushion padding to be much more comfortable than the Nothing earbuds, and closer to something like the Bose QuietComfort earbuds. The result? Headphones that feel as good as they look.

The comfort of these headphones makes them perfect for longer wear time, which is great news considering they offer 70 hours of battery life. with ANCfar outperforming most other models by at least 30 hours, and our current favorite headset for battery life, the Sennheiser Momentum 4, by 10 hours.

A mid-range competitor to be reckoned with

Are these perfect headphones? No, but if you don’t need top-notch sound and ANC and can get by with these two pretty good items, the Monitor III headphones pick up the slack in the areas where the most popular headphones neglect.

Their design is unique, but truly functional, their touch controls are the best I’ve tried, and their customization is hard to beat. Even though they’re priced on the high end of the mid-range, they’re worth buying – but especially if you can snag them on sale.