Look out, Sonos: I heard Marshall’s new soundbars, and they rock

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Key takeaways of zdnet

• Marshal Haston 60 and sub -200 are $ 700 and $ 600 respectively.
• Both products maintain marshal’s vintage rock-rol-rol-inspired design.
• As the company releases more modular home audio products, it pushes Sonos’ legs.

exposure: The cost of traveling to Jada Jones for New York City was covered by Marshal, a common industry practice for long distance trips. The decisions and opinions of the authors and editors of ZDNET are always independent of companies we cover.

After announcing its forest in the home audio market with a well -obtained Heston 120, Marshall clarifies his message: it has sits on offering a modular system to consumers. Shortly after Heston 120, Marshall announced Heston 60 and Sub 200, respectively, a small, more compact version of Heston 120 and an external subworker, respectively.

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I spent one afternoon with Marshall, Heston 60 and Sub 200, and it is infallible Sonos Is considered a close contestant. Smart speakers, sub -ofers, and soundbars, sonos’ user interfaces, software ecosystem and physical design language are well known for their array of language, which varies from martial.

Nevertheless, glasses and customer appeals are the same, although each brand excellence in different categories. Marshal’s new products win here, and where they can challenge loyalists to switch to them.

A familiar design

Marshall’s home audio products borrow the same design language as their portable and home speaker, paying tribute to the company’s long-term connections to AMP-making. Heston 120, Heston 60, and sub -200 feature touch control, polyurethane leather finish, and brush metal panels.

Staying right for your design principles opens the door in search of something different for consumers. The Heston lineup distributes home audio products to seekers, which should be seen as much as they should be heard. Conversely, the design language of the sonos includes clean lines, soft matte finish and modern elements, which create products mixing in your home decoration.

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The sub -200 looks like a home speaker of Marshall as compared to a traditional black box subworm, and Haston 60 is similar to Heston 120, but lacks the same touch control. Instead of KNOBS, its small forms are buttons to adjust the factor and allow the location for internal audio components.

A more curate lineup

Sonos provides more home audio products than marshals, although new arrival can occur on the horizon. Although Marshall’s home audio lineup is much smaller than Sonos, it gives consumers less alternatives, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The size and impressive sound of Heston 60 can make it suitable for small to medium-sized rooms, and the sub-200 Haston 60s does a job well to rally the bass reaction of the Heston 60 or add an additional layer to a low-ointment performance on a powerful ship of Heston 120.

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Marshal’s lineup consists of two soundbar and a subwoofer. Sonos Beam (General 2) can be considered equivalent to Heston 60, as they are the size and number of amplifiers and inactive radiators.

Heston 60 has two three-inch internal woofers, four passive radiaters, seven square D amplifiers and five one-quarter-inch full-range speakers. It handles the bass without a sub 200, which was stunning for its small cabin.

During my briefing, we saw a “top gun: Mavric” clip in Dolby Atmos with Heston 60 and Sub 200. The sub -200 Heston adds very deep bass reaction to 60, and compact soundbar dialogues, song lyrics, and appropriate isolation and impressive imaging. However, like Sonos’ beam (General 2), Haston 60 does not have an aprichy speaker, which limits it from providing it a fully immersive spatial audio experience.

Also: I did not expect this martial speaker for such rivals Bose and Sonos models like this in this way.

Sub-200 and Heston 60 are simultaneously a qualified tag-team contestant for Sonos’ midrange soundbar and subwofer options. The glasses of sub-200 are more closely similar to Sonos’s sub mini instead of their major sub-4. With two-and-fourth inch woofer, you can feel the rumble of sub-200, and Marshall claims that it can reach depth as 30 Hz.

Traditional connectivity

One of the main sales points of Sonos is that its home audio products communicate with each other through the Wi-Fi network of your home. This connectivity allows for wireless communication and integration of its speakers in product categories and rooms in your home. For this reason it is ideal to use Wi-Fi connectivity, unless you have a penchet for liga audio products.

Marshall’s Soundbar is equipped with Wi-Fi 6, but they do not use it to communicate with each other, and cannot communicate with Marshall’s house or portable speaker. Through the sub-200 Bluetooth le, Heston combines 60 and 120 wirelessly-it is not compatible with Wi-Fi.

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Once I test the Heston 60 and Deputy 200, I will have a concrete opinion about the connection stability of sub -200 with Heston 60, although Bluetooth takes about 100 feet range indoors.

However, unlike Sonos’s products, Marshall’s Heston Sound Jabars Sport Ox in and Sub out input, and all 200 is a sub in input to connect your analog players. Soundbar also supports an array of audio codec including FLAC, ALAC, LC3 and WMA as compared to Sonos’s AAC and SBC.

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Overall, Marshall is proving himself to be a contender in the modular home audio market, which wants to expand its existing consumer base. The company’s commitment to enthusiasts and analog lovers of music may attract Sonos fans who are not happy with the company’s app and software changes. Additionally, marshal products have a specific form that challenges the market status quo aesthetics, and it does very well.

But as I always say, a pair of rear speakers completes Marshall’s home audio offerings. Till then, I will still consider Marshall as a terrible contender.