Marshall Emberton portable speaker review: The one to beat?

Marshall Emberton is the next portable powerhouse

6th August 2020

Marshall’s wireless speakers started out with their plug and play home range, then they released their portable outdoor speaker range, followed by the voice-activated Uxbridge and now we have their most portable speaker to date, the Marshall Emberton for a price of £129.

We’ll be covering everything from styling to build quality to sound quality, so stay tuned and hopefully, you’ll be able to determine if it’s going to make the grade as your next portable speaker.

Article Breakdown...

Styling & Design
Top Features
Sound Quality
Strengths & Weaknesses

Not got time to read? Have a watch of our YouTube review below:

Shop Marshall Emberton

Styling and Design

Right out of the box, the Emberton will fit in the palm of your hand as it’s only 16cm in width so will fit in a rucksack or suitcase no problems at all and won’t weigh you down when you’re on the go.

It retains the same vintage and retro look and feel from Marshall with the prominent Marshall logo on the front. It also has a rugged design with a silicone exterior and metal grilles and was able to be dropped multiple times without consequences in our testing.

They claim the speaker uses a unique form of multi-directional sound which Marshall are calling True Stereophonic so your audio can be heard from 360 degrees - I’ll come back to this a bit later on.

On the top, you’ve got a slightly updated layout so you’ve got the Bluetooth button on the top and the very handy battery life indicator here.

Pro's

Con's

✓ Multi-directional knob to control volume skipping and pausing a track

✓ Great build quality

✓ Lightweight and small

✓ True Stereophonic

✓ Battery life indicator

✖ No button for changing the Bass or Treble like on other Marshall speakers

✖ No 3.5 mm jack

Top Features

Battery & Charge Time
_______________

Multi-Host & Bluetooth
_______________

Weather rating & Durability
_______________

You get an impressive *20-hour battery life with this speaker which is pretty good for a portable speaker compared to the current market.

It also boasts a quick charge feature so 20 minutes of charge will give you 5 hours of battery life or a 3-hour charge will give it a full battery.

The Emberton supports a high standard of Bluetooth being 5.0 and gives a good range of around 30 feet or 10 metres.

Marshall also lets you pair up to 2 devices at a time which they call Multi-Host functionality so you and a friend can control the speaker from your devices at any one time

Emberton is IPX7 rated which means it can be **submerged in water levels up to 1m deep for up to 30 minutes. So no need to worry about any spills or dropping in any water!

It also has a rugged design with a silicone exterior and metal grilles and was able to be dropped multiple times without consequences in our testing.

*We’ve been able to test the battery life in the office and we found it comfortably managed 20 hours of battery life when playing music at medium levels. Playing it at lower volumes also sustains the battery life for even longer.

**This was tested in our recent video review and passed our tests with flying colours.

Sound Quality

The Emberton retains the same warm and vibrant signature sound that Marshall are known and loved for. It produces a sound well beyond its physical size as it is a stereo speaker on its own. It’s got surprisingly punchy bass but this is not the standout characteristic and it’s comparable with its competitors in this department.

The mids and the highs shine and where we think it excels is at full volume because it doesn’t distort which means you can listen to it loud from a small form factor.

Its multi-directional sound feature in our testing could be heard from most angles almost as clearly as listening from the front, which is ideal in outdoor spaces when a group of people might be surrounding it.

Although, as it doesn’t have speakers on the sides, we are not sure it can be called 360 degrees sound. It does sound clear from all angles and will fill a space but we do still think it sounds noticeably better from the front than it does if you’re sat to the side of it.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

✓ Fully portable speaker with a high weatherproof rating so you don’t need to worry about it getting wet or dropping it

✓ Impressive battery life and recharge time

✓ Sound quality far beyond its little size

✖ Bluetooth is the only method of control

✖ No line-in

✖ No bass and treble customisation

Who is the Emberton for? The Emberton has a durable feel to it and would be a good speaker for on-the-go, taking on holiday, or for pool or garden parties to bring music to a BBQ for example.

Verdict

If the characteristics we've just gone through are important to you, it’s worth taking a look at the Marshall Emberton, as it has got a longer battery life, the latest USB-C charging and superior build and sound quality. Marshall’s appearance is distinctive and if you’re into the vintage style, you’re not going to get bored of it any time soon.

As ever, if you have any unanswered questions, please feel free to get in touch with one of our friendly advisors via email info@smarthomesounds.co.uk or 08006771100 or online chat!