Although we would never recommend a speaker based solely on its looks, we do care about the aesthetics of the speaker. If you’ve worked hard on decorating your space, you deserve a speaker that will make your new home look even better.
So, for those who appreciate good design, we recommend the new Marshall Emberton III. This premium Bluetooth speaker not only has Marshall’s iconic vintage look, but it’s also a solid sounding speaker for its price point.
No matter where we placed the Emberton III – on a desk, in the middle of a coffee table, on a bookshelf, even on the kitchen counter – it instantly brightened up the room. In all honesty, because it looks so good, we were a little skeptical that its performance would match its pretty face.
We were surprised, speaker Did perform. Right out of the box, it produced clear and good sound. Although it had a slightly heavy-bass mix, it made Still Woozie’s “Get Down” and Billie Holiday’s “Solitude” sound equally 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 boosts the mid-range for voice-centric content. The presets sounded clearly different, which isn’t always the case with the audio devices we tested. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t recommend the voice presets. Like Podcast mode on the Wonderboom 4, this setting made the podcast host’s voice compressed and less clear.
As far as on-speaker features are concerned, a light indicates battery life and both the power and Bluetooth buttons make the speaker extremely easy to turn on and pair – we never had to spend more than 10 seconds connecting or switching between devices. Lastly, the speaker comes with a unique knob at the center to turn the volume and song selection. It works fine, but the dial controls may not be for everyone.
Marshall promises 32 hours of battery life with this speaker, and after several days of moderate to heavy use, the speaker is still at about 60% battery life. With the app, you can also turn on battery conservation features to keep the charge going for as long as possible.
At $169.99, this is a good, but not incredible, sounding speaker, but it makes up for its small shortcomings with a great retro design. Released in August 2024, its feature set and design are no different from the Emberton II. So, if you want to save some money, you can buy the Emberton II at a discount without compromising on the sound quality.