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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Milton ANC is Marshall’s latest pair of on-ear headphones.
- They shouldn’t compromise on sound, durability, or battery life.
- The new Marshall headphones are priced at $229.
Marshall has announced an all-new pair of on-ear headphones, the Milton ANC. They promise to deliver the signature sound experience without compromising battery life, in a portable, durable, and premium-looking design. While the Marshall Milton ANC look similar to the current-generation Marshall Major V on-ear headphones, they boast some crucial design and sound upgrades.
For instance, they have larger ear cushions, which should help keep the sound in to improve passive noise cancellation. This feature is important for on-ear headphones because the earcups don’t cover the ears like over-ear cans, and could result in ambient noise penetration. I haven’t tested the new headphones yet, but I hope the softer memory foam will be more comfortable to wear over longer periods.
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The Milton ANC feature square-shaped TPU molded ear caps, which you might have come to expect from Marshall headphones. They have a textured leather surface, with a brass metal logo and powder-coated metal arms to create a premium look. I like that Marshall kept Major V’s foldable design, meaning you can fold the Milton ANC’s ear cups for better portability. The cans are slightly heavier than Major V (200g versus 186g), but the foldable design should help keep them portable.
Marshall says it has also introduced an “entirely new driver system tuned to improve bass and treble extension,” with SBC, AAC, LC3, and LDAC codecs. The Milton ANC headphones feature 32mm drivers (versus 40mm on the Major V) and Bluetooth 6.0 with LE Audio, which enables native support for Apple Find My and Google Find Hub services. That capability means you can use them with iPhone and Android, and the cans will show up in your respective built-in location-tracking apps.
The biggest addition to the latest on-ear headphones is active noise cancellation (ANC) support. Marshall added more microphones (six versus one on the Major V), which help with ANC and Transparency modes as well as call quality. The cans have “next-generation ANC” to analyze the surroundings and adjust noise cancellation in real time, says the brand. Theoretically, this capability should help block out noisy environments more effectively.
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The Marshall Milton ANC also features Adaptive Loudness, which “subtly adjusts audio playback tonality to the listening volume and environment.” Then there’s Soundstage spatial audio with the brand’s in-house spatialization algorithm, which makes any stereo track more immersive by adding depth and width. The headphones are rated to last up to 80 hours with ANC off and 50 hours with ANC on, which is promising for a pair of ANC cans. Moreover, they’re designed to be repairable with a replaceable battery.
The new Marshall Milton ANC on-ear headphones are priced at $229 and are now available to purchase from marshall.com. You’ll be able to buy them from select retailers starting May 27.