The Marshall Monitor III are mid-range headphones

It’s no secret that Marshall has mastered retro design. The secret is how good its noise canceling headphones are, the Marshall Monitor III.

I have a few theories as to why these headphones are flying under the radar. First and foremost, Marshall is best known for his speakers. Then there’s the fact that other noise-cancelling brands like Sony, Bose, and Apple often take top spots on the best lists (including ours). Finally, as a mid-range headphone – neither the best in class nor the most affordable headphones out there – the Monitor III headphones have been overlooked by reviewers and consumers alike. In short, their lack of obvious super power makes them the middle child of the headphone world (no offense intended to any middle children out there).

Despite all that, the Monitor III headphones are some of the best I’ve tried. After using them regularly for a few weeks, I’m impressed with how well the Marshall adjusts (where those aforementioned Bose and Sony headphones falter). Best of all, as a mid-range option, they stay under the usual $450+ price range, and retail for $379.99 full price, or $279.99 if you can get them on sale.

To be completely honest, going into the testing process, I was sure that the looks of these headphones would be their best feature – but let’s get into why they are more than that, and how they’ve changed my headphone worldview.

Best controls I’ve ever tried

I don’t care if this is a deeply unpleasant point to begin with; I need to talk about the Monitor III in-ear controls, which are Plato’s new goodies for all headphones from here on out.

Placement! Skill! The perfection of these in-ear controls!
Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

Marshall keeps it simple with three tactile controls: a multi-way control button, an M button, and an ANC button. The last two are located at the end of the right and left ear cup hinge, respectively, making it easy to find without looking. The M button can be programmed to perform many functions, from activating Spotify Tap to switching between two calibration settings. The ANC button, as the name suggests, switches between noise canceling and display modes. Perfect, simple, no notes.

The app allows a lot of customization on the M button.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

Even with the ANC button.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

The multidirectional knob, however, is the real star of the show, serving as the power button, volume control, and music forward/back button. After encountering buttons on headphones that try to do too much (if we press for a long time and press three times, we have officially lost the plot), the knob achieves flexibility by completely changing up and down, or side to side. No hard touch controls or sliders, no triple taps, just audio playback that does as expected.

As much as I enjoyed it, I wasn’t too surprised to encounter this knob mechanism – I had seen it before when reviewing a Marshall speaker.

It’s incredibly customizable, from ANC to surround sound

As you may have gathered from my order to the touch controls, Marshall’s companion app allows you to customize many of these headphones.

In addition to setting buttons, there are standard features such as equalizer and automatic playback on and off (the last one, I chose to remove it – wear detection is admittedly very small for these headphones).

Marshall’s compatible app allows for a lot of customization.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

However, the Marshall app offers more: There is an option to turn off the standby time both when the headphones are not playing and when they are not connected. The time can be set from zero to seven hours in one-hour increments, then zero to 55 minutes, in five-minute increments, providing plenty of flexibility.

Then there are battery saving settings, adjustable ANC, and sound stage option. (Besides, ANC is solid – certainly not the best, but it gets the job done). Last on that list is Marshall’s spatial audio settings – rather than giving you options for listening while you’re on the move or on the go, Marshall’s app lets you set the size of the “room” the sound will take in, and the amount of sound stage you want, from 10 to 100 percent. Of all the headphones I’ve tested, I’ve never experienced this level of customization of surround sound features.

Standby settings and soundstage settings are where the Monitor III headphones start to shine.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

As a bonus, the app is easy to navigate, consistently branded with a headphone look, and includes a fair amount of detail. For example, if you select the equalizer setting as the M button preset, the app clearly shows which of the two equalizer settings are currently available. Similarly, on the battery saver screen, moving the slider from low to high clearly shows which features are activated at each save level.

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

You’d be surprised how many compatibility apps are not straightforward like this.
Credit: Screenshot / Marshall

Sound balance that isn’t too bass-heavy (finally)

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

Although the custom equalizer lets you filter between five presets or choose a custom mix, I was generally happier with Marshall’s out-of-the-box presets. Korean pop-rock group Day6’s hit “You Were Beautiful” sounded tailor-made for these headphones, with sweeping vocals, electric guitar, and bass guitar prominently featured (and a touch of piano in the verses). Similarly, the end of Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” sounded angry and shrill in the best possible way (where the distorted guitar accentuates the song’s anger). Considering Marshall’s marketing, it’s no surprise that heavy rock songs sound so good.

That said, the soft strings sounded just as lovely. The fingerpicking of the acoustic guitar on Liana Flores’ “recently” sounded clear, making me feel like I was listening to an intimate performance in a cafe. In the same way, Ebony Loren’s take on the bossa nova classic “O Pato” sounded fun and playful with its fast guitar pattern, clear vocals, and solo trumpet.

That does not mean that these best headphones I’ve ever used. While they do a decent job, these aren’t the headphones to best enjoy house music or EDM. Strictly speaking, they can be a little lean, lacking the depth of those premium Bose or Sony options – but with the price gap, the difference is guaranteed.

Dress comfortably while looking stylish

Finally, let’s deal with the design of these headphones. Marshall has made a great product with the Monitor III, from the stone ear cup, the gold nameplate (Dyson could take notes on how to do the marketing right), and the touch of the exposed cables.

In my humble opinion, these headphones look way better than most others out there!
Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I much preferred this unique design to the recently released Headphones. Also, although Marshall’s ear cups are on the low-profile side, I found their headband offering and ear cushion packaging to be more comfortable than the Nothing headphones, and more similar to something like the Bose QuietComfort headphones. The result? The headphones are as worn as they look.

The comfort of these headphones makes them great for long periods of wear – which is good news, considering they offer 70 hours of battery life. and the ANCwhich outperforms other models by at least 30 hours, and our current favorite battery life headphones, the Sennheiser Momentum 4, at 10 hours.

A mid-range competitor to be reckoned with

Are they perfect headphones? No. But if you don’t need best-in-class sound and ANC and can do with both, the Monitor III headphones pick up a bit in areas where more popular headphones don’t.

Their design is unique, but it actually works, their touch controls are the best I’ve tried, and their customization is hard to beat. Even if their price is high on the mid-range scale, it’s worth picking up – but especially if you can’t get hold of it on sale.