The Marshall Emberton III: One Month Later

Normally, doing audio reviews is a combination of experience and science. We take it to a controlled environment and perform our listening tests for the sake of fairness. However, life has been quite hectic as I have found myself in the middle of moving living spaces with the Marshall Emberton III wireless speakers in tow. From my usual array of speaker, soundbar, IEM, and headphone options laid out generously within my setup, I had to transition to just relying on one piece of technology to fulfill its intended purpose.

Over the span of a month, I exclusively listened to audio on the Emberton III – while watching movies on my phone at dinner, unpacking items, playing music on my laptop as I worked, all of it. This type of usage, while not so common with us tech hoarders, is a better representative of use cases for normal people going through their everyday lives.

Now, the question is: how did it fare?

Well, if there’s one thing for sure: the Marshall Emberton III is a looker. It features the signature brand design of black and bronze gold, with the name/logo up front and center. It’s surrounded by a mesh-like grille, which is also the same finish done on the rear of the speaker. This predictability exudes a clean and classic look. At the same time, this mesh also protects the speaker to give it IP67 dust and water resistance. Although Marshall advertises this to be alright with 30-minute water plunges, there was no need for me to test this out. For shower music singers and your pool parties, probably?

It is then enveloped by a leatherlike material, which is mildly soft to the touch but seemingly durable as well. At the top of the speaker rests the Bluetooth and Power buttons, accompanied by the battery level bar. It’s definitely a welcome addition which helps in knowing how much juice exactly this little speaker has left in the tank.

The centerpiece in this section is a bronze-gold circular item at the center. A spiral pattern has been crafted into it, which not only adds visual flair but also gives it a better feel to the hand.

Just from playing around with it, the button is engineered to be pressed in four directions to control the speaker. Both the volume and track controls can be accessed here. When we let other people fiddle around with it, some people liked the ability of this little tool to be pressed in directions with no control function, and others didn’t.

Lastly, on one side is a power input (USB Type C) and a strap placement, the other has “EST.1962” to remind you of Marshall’s storied past, while the bottom has the labels you’d expect on any product.

Does that pedigree and heritage translate to sound?

After a quick and pain-free pairing process, it was time to give this thing a listen. The first thing that caught my attention is just how well the Emberton III distributes the sound. For its size, the soundstage is admittedly much wider than expected. Even as you move around the speaker, the quality doesn’t diminish as it does with other similarly-packaged portable speaker or soundbar setups.

It’s truly impressive how Marshall was able to achieve this without giving the Emberton III a cylindrical shape. A quick gander through the product page soon revealed that this is a feature called “True Stereophonic,” a multi-directional audio technology unique to the brand.

Whether it was a small room, or a sizable living space, the speaker’s sound filled the area quite nicely. There was also no distortion within the higher volume ranges. Its installed two 10W full-range drivers and two passive radiators are all being utilized to great effect.

Cycling through various genres of music instantly revealed the Marshall’s warm sound signature. Instruments emitting sounds within the low-end came through rather cleanly. It packs some full-bodied punch. Sure, you won’t be fooled into thinking it comes with a dedicated subwoofer, but it is far from tinny.

Despite the presence of bass, it doesn’t overpower vocals or cause the audio to be muddy. The mids aren’t recessed and successfully shine through in the music. It makes for a very lively listening experience.

In my opinion, the weakest point of these Emberton IIIs are the highs. They aren’t as well-pronounced as the other ranges. This also means no sharp sibilances, though, so it isn’t fatiguing to listen to for long periods of time.

Overall, this is a well-packaged mainstream sound. It works splendidly with a wide range of tracks, especially given its size. It could possibly cancel out the lack of EQ customization for most listeners.

This little Marshall will keep going for 32 hours on medium listening volume, which was more than enough for my use cases. It will also top up its batteries after 2 hours of charging.

After a Month…

One month of continuous use later, and the Emberton III still looks and feels like the day I received it for testing. This isn’t something that you’ll have to baby, which gives some peace of mind for those who want to keep their devices clean.

It works as intended and has never had any connection drops or other issues. Battery life has been consistent and reliable.

I even took it poolside for some jams!

Marshall Emberton III Review Conclusion

The Marshall Emberton III is a fantastic portable Bluetooth speaker. It combines the brand’s iconic design, some ruggedness, a pleasant, omnidirectional mainstream sound, all in a compact form factor.

Its retail offering of PHP 10,290USD 179INR 15,598EUR 170CNY 1,297 seemed steep at first, but keep in mind that the portability that it brings to the table commands a higher price.

So if the overall package fits everything that you need, and you find yourself more on-the-go rather than stationed in one setup, then this speaker could be for you.