Who it’s for:
While we would never recommend a speaker solely on how it looks, we do care about the aesthetics of a speaker. If you’ve worked hard on decorating your space, then you deserve a speaker that will make its new home look even better.
So, for folks who appreciate good design, we recommend the new Marshall Emberton III. Not only does this premium Bluetooth speaker have Marshall’s iconic vintage look, but it’s also a solid-sounding speaker for its price point.
Why we picked this:
No matter where we put the Emberton III — on a desk, the middle of a coffee table, a bookshelf, even the kitchen counter — it instantly elevated the vibe of the room. In all honesty, because it looks so good, we were a little skeptical that it would have the performance to match its pretty face.
To our surprise, the speaker did perform. Right out of the box, it produced clear and well-rounded sound. Though it had a slightly heavier-bass mix, it made Still Woozy’s “Get Down” and Billie Holiday’s “Solitude” sound equally as good. We wish it had a custom equalizer, but if you download the companion app, you can choose between the Marshall preset (the speaker’s default sound), the Push preset that boosts bass and treble, and the Voice preset that enhances the mid-range for voice-focused content. The presets sounded markedly different, which isn’t always the case with the audio devices we test. We wouldn’t recommend the Voice preset, unfortunately. Like the podcast mode on the Wonderboom 4, this setting made podcast hosts’ voices sound compressed and less clear.
As for the on-speaker features, a light indicates battery life and both the power and Bluetooth buttons make the speaker ultra-easy to turn on and pair — we never had to spend more than 10 seconds connecting or switching between devices. Finally, the speaker also comes with a unique knob in the center to toggle the volume and song selection. This worked fine, but the dial control might not be for everyone.
Marshall promises a 32-hour battery life with this speaker, and after several days of medium to heavy use, the speaker still sat at about 60% battery life. With the app, you can also turn on battery preservation features to keep the charge going as long as possible.
For $169.99, it’s a good, but not incredible, sounding speaker, but it more than makes up for its small drawbacks with a cool retro design. Released in August 2024, its feature set and design aren’t that different from the Emberton II. So, if you want to save some money, you can pick up the Emberton II at a discount without sacrificing much sound quality.
