- Excellent sound quality
- Rugged IP67 build
- Easy portability
- Great battery life
- Sync with similar speakers
- No AAC or aptX support
- No wired playback
- Pricey
When it comes to Bluetooth speakers, there’s an insane number of them to choose from. Most are perfectly adequate for casual listening, but if we’re being brutally honest, they’re not much to look at. Marshall’s line of portables neatly avoid the generic speaker trap by leaning into to the brand’s iconic history as one of the most recognizable names in live rock ‘n’ roll. For 2022, it has updated its Emberton speaker — now the $170 Emberton II — and added an even smaller and more portable sibling, the $120 Willen.
Marshall Emberton II | Marshall Willen |
So from a size and style point of view, these two speakers already have a lot going for them. They can even play beyond their respective frames, and we spent a lot of time with them to find out just how far they can go. But has Marshall thrown in enough features and performance to justify its premium pricing on the Emberton II and Willen? Let’s check them out.
What’s in the box
Despite being different speakers, they each unbox exactly the same way, with the same contents inside. Apart from the USB-C charging cable and user manual, there’s nothing else to discover inside. These speakers aren’t exactly made to work with accessories anyway, but I’ll get to that part further down.
Design
Emberton II
Here, too, the design principles align for both. They’re not new, however, since Marshall largely built the original Emberton the same way. This time, the rubberized veneer has more of a leather texture to it, and the grille is black to accentuate the brass color logo at the front. Marshall did also make a cream variant for this speaker that sports its own retro look in the company’s signature style.
The dimensions of 2.7 x 6.3 x 3.0 inches and weight of 1.5-pounds are identical to the previous Emberton. Marshall also didn’t move the multifunction button, LEDs, or USB-C port. That familiar territory also extends to what’s inside, courtesy of the dual 2-inch drivers with 10-watt Class-D amps and two passive radiators.
So what’s changed? And why is Marshall asking $20 more for the Emberton II? A key change is that you can sync the Emberton II with other Emberton II speakers in what’s called Stack Mode. It works similarly to JBL’s Party Mode and Soundcore’s PartyCast mode.
It’s also more robust, now with dust protection, as well as waterproofing, for a combined IP67 rating. That’s enough to survive full immersion in water for up to 30 minutes at a depth of about three feet, plus any sand or debris that might go along with your beach adventures.
But keep in mind, unlike some other full waterproof portables, the Emberton II does not float. And if you take it into a pool or salt water, you had better give it a thorough rinse in fresh water before putting it away.
Willen
Despite their similarities, it’s not possible to “stack” these two speakers together. The mode only works with the same speaker types. The original Emberton doesn’t support the feature, so there was no way to get it to pair with its successor.
The Willen is the smaller of these two, but arguably the more versatile. It’s a lightweight at 0.68 pounds, and easy to carry with its frame measuring 4 x 4 x 3 inches. It holds one driver and amp, instead of two, though it does also have two passive radiators. A rubber strap on the back also lets you mount it onto whatever it can wrap around.
It’s cool to have, but I did run into some issues with it, like when it was too short to strap onto my bike’s handlebars. It’s also not as stretchy as it looks, so the application is going to be hit-or-miss. You may find success with a thinner bar, or on a bag, as there is no real defined application for it. Whatever you can strap it onto is really up to you.
Marshall claims 60% of the Willen’s plastic comes from recycled electronics, a little further ahead of the 50% it uses to make the Emberton II. Whatever Marshall put in these two, it did make them fairly rugged and tough. The Willen shares the Emberton II’s IP67 rating.
