What you need to know
- Marshall's Monitor II A.N.C are its newest premium headphones.
- Their standout features are Active Noise Cancellation and up to 45 hours of battery life on a single charge.
- They launch worldwide on March 17th for $319.
Marshall is launching the Mashall Monitor II A.N.C, its new flagship premium headsets. It'll set you back $319 in the U.S. when it's released globally on March 17th.
The flagship feature of these headphones is the active noise cancellation. You can tell, it's in the name. Marshall says these "utilize advanced active noise canceling technology that continuously pinpoints and measures ambient noise in order to block out the things you don't want to hear."
If you think it'll be hard on the battery, you're probably right. Marshall promises up to 30 hours of battery life with noise-canceling engaged, power that's up there with Sony's WH-1000XM3 and even shoots up to 45 hours if you turn off active noise cancelation. So on the one hand, active noise cancelation shaves off 15 hours from the battery. On the other hand, the battery life is still pretty competitive when you compare to other wireless headphones without noise cancelation such that it ends up not mattering anyway.
Physically, the headphones come with "super soft ear cushions and a plush headband with metal swivel rotation hinges." They're collapsible and equipped with just a few buttons. A multi-directional knob for controlling music, an ANC button for toggling noise cancelation between active noise cancelation and Marshall's monitoring mode, and finally a Google Assistant button for invoking Google's Assistant on your phone.
The EU'll be pleased to learn that Marshall is launching these headphones with USB-C and not micro-USB like far too many wireless headphones are. It's 2020, and this should be more prevalent than it is. There's an optional 3.5mm cable, in case your phone still has one of those.
The Marshall Monitor II A.N.C may not be the cheapest cans on the block. But that battery life paired with the Google Assistant integration makes it something worth watching — er — listening to.
