Marshall's First Soundbar Rocks As A Mainstream Alternative - Here's My Take

11 hours ago

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

The Marshall Heston 120 is simply a one-box soundbar (no rear speakers aliases sub included) that retails for $999.
This soundbar delivers a caller creation and plentifulness of bass, audio features, and connectivity ports.
For a first-generation product, it retails for arsenic overmuch arsenic its well-established, acclaimed rivals.

The Marshall Heston 120 soundbar is presently retired of banal connected Marshall's website, and location are nary different retailers. According to Marshall, it will beryllium restocked connected its website connected July 21.

I've tested a fistful of soundbars. After a while, I'm not going to lie, they commencement to blend together. Sleek, nondescript, typically achromatic bars stuffed pinch nan aforesaid features but a different statement of speakers.

It's particularly breathtaking erstwhile a institution releases a merchandise successful unfamiliar territory, and moreover much breathtaking erstwhile that merchandise is done really good connected nan first try. So, erstwhile I sewage to effort Marshall's Heston 120 soundbar, I was preparing to trial simply another soundbar, and alternatively was greeted by a caller return connected an different azygous merchandise category.

Also: 5 easy ways to instantly amended your soundbar's audio (without spending a dime)

The soundbar marketplace is simply a crowded pool, pinch dense hitters for illustration Sonos, Samsung, and Sony producing immoderate of nan champion successful nan game. Whether you take from 1 of those 3 aliases spell pinch Marshall's caller Heston 120, you're judge to walk astatine slightest $1,000. Here's what you should cognize astir it.

Starting pinch design, nan Heston 120 stays existent to Marshall's rock-n-roll ocular cues, including pops of golden embellishments, wrapped leather trims, brushed metallic panels, and a mini statement of knurled metallic knobs that salary homage to nan company's amp-making roots.

According to Marshall, nan Heston 120 was designed to guidelines retired from its location theatre competitors, which are usually meant to beryllium heard, not seen. The Heston 120 functions arsenic a soundbar arsenic overmuch arsenic it does a portion of location decor, conscionable for illustration its Stanmore and Woburn location speaker cousins.

Also: I spent hours demoing Samsung's newest soundbar, and this 1 characteristic separates it from nan bunch

Sound-wise, nan Heston 120 didn't disappoint. It boasts a 5.1.2-channel configuration, 11 class-D amplifiers, 2 subwoofers, 2 midwoofers, 2 tweeters, and 5 full-range speakers. The bass consequence is incredible, offering deep, rumbly debased frequencies without overriding everything else. It doesn't measurement up to nan Arc Ultra's awesome 15 amplifiers and 9.1.4-channel setup, but nan Heston 120 holds it own.

The Heston 120 includes Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, a spatial audio protocol that nan Arc Ultra lacks. I watched "Top Gun: Maverick" successful Dolby Atmos, and nan Heston 120 did amended than galore standalone soundbars I've tested pinch entity separation and tracking. You could consciousness nan rumble of warplanes taking off, and easy way their sound moving from crossed nan screen.

I besides watched nan play finale of "Love Island" successful stereo/PCM, and nan Heston 120 reproduced clear speech and an enjoyable reproduction of nan show's usage of cheesy popular music.

Also: Sonos' latest audio products transformed nan measurement I watch movies astatine location - here's how

Marshall acknowledged that galore group usage their soundbar arsenic overmuch for watching TV shows and movies arsenic they do for listening to music. Despite that, nan institution says that galore soundbars aren't arsenic adept astatine playing euphony arsenic they are movies and TV shows. Thus, Marshall aimed to tune nan Heston 120 to beryllium arsenic well-suited for a theater-like mounting while staying existent to its philharmonic roots.

I recovered this to beryllium nan case, particularly since each nan knobs connected nan Heston 120 are afloat functional -- designed to beryllium a beingness measurement to toggle betwixt outputs, sound modes, and bass and treble levels. If you're peculiarly cozy connected nan sofa and don't want to get up to move nan knobs, however, nan Marshall companion app houses each of nan Heston 120's controls. The soundbar comes without a remote, akin to nan Arc Ultra, which could beryllium bothersome to immoderate people. For me, it was a plus.

This soundbar has an array of inputs, including HDMI eARC, HDMI pass-through (4K astatine 120Hz) pinch Dolby Vision support, RCA stereo, RCA mono (sub out), USB-C, and Ethernet. With these galore inputs, Marshall is catering to its customers who want to usage nan Heston 120 pinch their analog euphony players.

For those who don't person a turntable aliases euphony subordinate to connect, nan Heston 120 supports an array of wireless connectivity options, including Apple AirPlay via Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth (with Auracast), Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect.

Also: I tested Samsung's flagship soundbar, and it easy competes pinch my Sonos Arc Ultra

Listening to euphony done nan Heston 120 is simply a dream, arsenic it gets plentifulness large pinch tons of bass, clear instrumentals, and balanced vocals. I usage Apple Music to stream, and I noticed Dolby Atmos mixes are disposable erstwhile I connected my iPhone to nan Heston 120 via Bluetooth alternatively of AirPlay.

As good arsenic nan Heston 120 handled The 1975's "Pressure" successful Dolby Atmos, I preferred listening successful stereo. The spatial facet of nan Atmos operation was impressive. There was a noticeable spaciousness to nan song, nan bassline coming intelligibly from nan near while nan guitar melody was reproduced beautifully from nan right.

However, nan vocals and harmonies were overmuch clearer successful stereo, and nan instrumentals were layered conscionable right, making each opus I listened to each nan better.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Marshall Heston 120 is simply a very tin soundbar, offering a broad array of ports, spatial audio protocols, and wireless connectivity options. Although its unsocial creation stands retired nan most, its audio capacity is arsenic impressive, catering to euphony and movie lovers alike.

Compared to nan likewise priced Sonos Arc Ultra, nan Heston 120 has a much salient bass response, eliminating nan request for an outer subwoofer unless nan room is particularly large. On nan different hand, nan Arc Ultra is awesome connected its own, but a Sonos Sub, which is astatine slightest an other $430 and astatine astir an other $800, is simply a must to maximize its performance.

Also: I tested Dyson's pricey flagship headphones and they're amended than I expected

Of nan two, nan Arc Ultra has much speaker transmission divisions, making it a somewhat amended action for group who want a soundbar that is amended suited for a theater-like experience. The Sonos app (despite its issues) has much Wi-Fi euphony streaming options, and nan Arc Ultra has a muted, modern creation that whitethorn beryllium much appealing to nan mundane consumer.

Finally, for illustration immoderate soundbar, a brace of coagulated rear speakers would genuinely group nan Heston 120 off. Sonos' indelible footprint successful nan location theatre manufacture allows for much options to build connected your location system, while Marshall is still processing nan remainder of its location theatre lineup.