Marshall Heston 120 soundbar overview: Huge TV sound from a rock’n’roll legend

Marshall, the enduring UK-based guitar amp firm, has lastly taken the leap from wi-fi headphones, earbuds, and Bluetooth audio system into the world of TV audio with its first soundbar. And it’s a Dolby Atmos and DTS-X doozy.

The Marshall Heston 120 is massive, brash, and has a value to match. That makes the Heston costlier than soundbar heavyweights like Sony, Bose, and Sonos, which implies that Marshall can’t relaxation on the ability of its model — the Heston 120 should ship a robust house theater expertise to be ranked among the many finest soundbars.

Spoiler: It does. It might not be good, however for those who’re out there for a easy but high-performance TV speaker, the Heston 120 ought to be in your shortlist.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: Design

Check out actually any of Marshall’s audio merchandise, and you will notice the corporate’s guitar amp heritage proudly echoed for all to see. And even though the Heston 120 is a soundbar, not a devoted music speaker, I’d argue it’s probably the most authentic-looking Marshall house merchandise up to now.

Whether or not that’s factor or not is dependent upon your style.

I’ll be sincere, once I first unboxed the 43-inch huge Heston 120 and located myself gazing its many gold-tone accents — particularly these distinctive prime management knobs — I anxious it will show too visually distracting. In spite of everything, while you’re watching a film, the display ought to be the one factor you’re .

One month later, I’m nonetheless conscious of the tops of these knobs, however I’ve additionally change into fairly keen on seeing the Heston in entrance of our TV, whether or not we’re watching content material or not.

The black cupboard, with its faux-leather building, distinctive Marshall brand, and salt’n’pepper material grille (which Marshall insists on calling a ‘fret’) — it’s not only a soundbar, it’s a dialog piece.

At three inches tall, it seems nice sitting on a floor (and it in all probability gained’t block the underside of your display), however you too can wall-mount it with an non-compulsory set of brackets that Marshall sells individually.

I don’t are inclined to get very bodily with my soundbars, however for those who’re involved about how the Heston offers with tough dealing with, apparently, the fret, finish caps, drivers, and even the circuit boards are all replaceable.

These top-mounted controls actually assist evoke the guitar amp vibe, and I really like the pink LED ring indicators that encompass them. However having them because the solely visible indicator for issues like supply, quantity, and tone won’t be the appropriate name. When seated on our couch, they’re invisible, and the Heston 120 doesn’t have a front-facing various.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: Arrange

Getting the Heston arrange couldn’t be simpler. When you plug the speaker into your TV through an HDMI cable after which plug it into the wall with the ability wire (each included within the field), you’re just about good to go, a minimum of for TV sound. You may management the amount utilizing your TV’s distant.

However don’t cease there.

Obtain the Marshall app (iOS/Android) and let it stroll you thru the fast technique of getting the Heston linked to your Wi-Fi community. Doing so will allow Apple AirPlay, Google Forged, and quite a lot of different useful options, together with the soundbar’s built-in room correction course of, which takes lower than two minutes to finish.

As a result of the Heston doesn’t ship with its personal distant, the app can be the way in which you’ll management the speaker’s supply (TV/HDMI/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/Aux-in) and sound mode (music/motion pictures/night time/voice) out of your couch.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: Connections and Controls

Across the again of the Heston 120, you’ll discover probably the most in depth collections of ports I’ve seen on a soundbar at this value. Along with the usual HDMI-eARC port, you get an HDMI enter (with HDMI 2.1 together with Dolby Imaginative and prescient and 4K/120Hz passthrough), a set of analog RCA inputs, and a mono subwoofer output.

The HDMI enter could be very useful—it helps to offset the HDMI port in your TV wanted for the soundbar’s connection. Nevertheless it’s the subwoofer output and stereo inputs that deserve a particular call-out. Sony, Bose, Sonos, Samsung, and LG — these manufacturers all supply subwoofers for his or her soundbars, however you’re restricted to the wi-fi fashions that they manufacture. With the Heston 120, you need to use any subwoofer with a wired enter.

These different manufacturers sometimes embrace an optical enter — nice for connecting a CD participant or community music streamer — however an analog enter is a rarity, and it’s extra versatile, letting you join these digital units in addition to a purely analog supply like a turntable (when you’ve got a preamp).

There’s additionally a USB-C port, however that is only for energy. Why is it there? A stick-style streamer just like the Amazon Fireplace TV Stick may occupy the HDMI enter and draw its energy from the USB-C port, for a super-clean set up.

On the networking facet of the equation, the Heston helps each wired Ethernet (10/100) and Wi-Fi 6. With Apple AirPlay, Google Forged, UPnP, Tidal Join, and Spotify Join, the Heston can play nearly any supply of music you may have entry to, at very excessive resolutions.

Lastly, you additionally get Bluetooth 5.3 with help for SBC, AAC, and LC3 codecs for ad-hoc audio streaming from a cell gadget.

As I stated earlier, the Heston’s controls are aesthetically lovely. They’re additionally a pleasure to make use of, with a pleasant knurled end and the kind of exact tactile suggestions I’ve come to anticipate from Marshall’s glorious wi-fi audio system. The three primary knobs (quantity/tone/supply) are accompanied by three preset buttons and a sound mode button (extra on these later).

Their proud, extremely seen presence on the speaker’s prime floor hints at the truth that Marshall locations an equal emphasis on music listening.

There’s no option to mute the amount, however the supply knob doubles as a playback management, with a single click on to play/pause, a double click on to skip ahead, and a triple click on to skip again.

Like many soundbars lately, there’s no energy button. When you plug it in, the Heston is successfully on all the time, although it hangs out in a low-power standby mode when it hasn’t been actively used shortly.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: Nice for motion pictures and TV reveals

Below the hood, the Heston 120 sports activities 11 discrete drivers and amps. And although that’s fewer than you’ll discover within the Sonos Arc Extremely ($999, 14 drivers/15 amps), Marshall’s soundbar can simply compete with the Extremely for uncooked energy and emotion.

With frequencies that get as little as 40Hz, the 2 built-in subwoofers generate the type of deep low-end that lends itself to each motion pictures and music. They supply a good stage of energy — Max Rockatansky’s opening monologue in Mad Max: Fury Highway comes throughout as deep and gravelly, because it ought to —  although it stops wanting the Arc Extremely’s spectacular low frequency vitality. 

My different go-to Dolby Atmos check clips from No Time To Die, Dune, and Unbroken proved that the Heston 120 is a succesful spatial audio speaker, with good width, depth, and peak. In Film mode, dialogue readability is powerful and will get clearer while you use the devoted Voice sound mode. As soon as once more, the Arc Extremely proved extra agile, with higher definition for encompass sound results.

The Marshall app is commendable for its simplicity. A lot of the settings are all accessible from the homescreen, however I discovered myself wishing for just a few extra changes. A notable omission is the shortage of particular person channel ranges, particularly for the peak drivers. To get probably the most out of the Heston’s Dolby Atmos capabilities, I needed to drive it loud. At 50 p.c quantity, the digital encompass channels and peak results lacked oomph. At 75 p.c, they roared to life. With extra management over these channels, I think I may have heard them higher, even at a decrease total quantity.

As you may anticipate, including a wired sub improves the entire expertise. In my case, with an Vitality S8.2 sub, it added vital energy to the lows. The soundbar diverts all frequencies decrease than 50Hz to the sub, a setting that Marshall says will likely be adjustable with a future firmware replace. Curiously, while you join a sub, the app doesn’t immediate you to recalibrate the room correction — probably as a result of it doesn’t actually management any of the sub’s parameters apart from the frequencies it receives.

It’s price noting that the Heston 120 additionally helps DTS-X, a Dolby Atmos competitor. I attempted just a few DTS-X demo clips, they usually sounded wonderful. Nevertheless, DTS-X followers might need to double-check the specs on their favourite DTS-X motion pictures. Whereas the Heston had no bother decoding Dolby Atmos at as much as 9.1.6 channels, its DTS-X decoding proved to be extra restricted.

Marshall says it would downmix DTS-X 7.1.4 to five.1.2, however once I ran a channel-by-channel check, the soundbar skipped the rear peak and facet surrounds.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: For Music

I’ve reviewed lots of soundbars, and it’s uncommon for them to do nearly as good a job with music as they do with motion pictures. The Heston 120 is a kind of rarities: Listening to streaming music is a blast. 

I credit score the Heston’s built-in subwoofers for the sound, which has a heat tone when utilizing the default Music mode. It could possibly get remarkably loud, with no noticeable distortion, even when taking part in tracks like Billie Eilish’s dangerous man — a torture check for low-end constancy. Marshall doesn’t focus on the way it processes two-channel stereo, however I’m pretty sure there’s some upmixing occurring to make the most of the soundbar’s a number of drivers. As an alternative of getting a phantom middle channel, it’s a way more expansive soundstage. I occur to love it, however for those who don’t, there’s no option to alter it.

Your finest wager is to make use of the lossless, Wi-Fi-based Google Forged protocol from apps like Amazon Music or Qobuz on an iPhone. Alternatively, for those who’re on Android, you too can Google Forged Apple Music. Tidal customers can leverage the Tidal Join system from both platform.

Equally good are music apps on a linked streaming gadget like an Apple TV or Nvidia Defend.

Lastly, for those who don’t thoughts a lossy connection, Apple AirPlay and Bluetooth are additionally obtainable.

In the event you’ve by no means heard Dolby Atmos Music on a speaker system, you’re in for a deal with. Fireplace up a monitor like M.I.A.’s Marigold, or the superb Atmos model of The Doorways’ traditional, Riders On The Storm, and I think you’ll search out Atmos content material at each alternative.

The one draw back to Atmos on the Heston is the way in which the speaker handles quantity ranges. For some motive, Atmos content material performs a lot quieter than two-channel mixes. In the event you’re listening to a whole Atmos album (say, Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms), it’s no drawback. However bounce between Atmos and stereo, and also you’ll be wishing Marshall had included a distant management that can assist you keep on prime of the amount adjustments.

These preset buttons (each on prime of the speaker and within the app) are useful, however restricted. You may program with any radio station from the Marshall app’s built-in Airable Web radio service, or any Spotify station or playlist. Sadly, the Spotify integration didn’t work for me whereas utilizing a free subscription, and there’s no approach to make use of the presets with different companies like Apple Music, Tidal, or Amazon Music.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: Sound changes

Like most soundbars at this value, the Heston 120 has built-in room calibration. The effectiveness of this function can depend upon lots of elements, like room form and dimension, furnishings placement, the capabilities of the soundbar, and the algorithms used to do the calibration. In my case, the Heston’s calibration helped to scale back some bass muddiness whereas rising high-frequency definition.

In the event you’re not pleased with the calibration, you possibly can repeat the method or disable it fully. Both approach, you’ve additionally acquired two extra choices to fine-tune the sound.

The speaker’s sound modes ship an instantaneous change of emphasis, and every enter (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and so forth) will bear in mind the final mode you utilized. Film mode boosts lows and highs for extra cinematic punch. Music mode retains issues balanced for a extra impartial presentation. Night time reduces dynamic vary, so that you’re much less more likely to hassle neighbors or members of the family, and Voice de-emphasizes lows and lower-mids whereas boosting the frequencies that belong to dialogue.

Nevertheless, every sound mode could be additional tweaked through the use of the bass/treble knob. Push it as soon as to swap between these changes, then spin the dial.

In the event you actually need to get granular, the Marshall app permits you to manually tweak a five-band equalizer. These adjustments could be achieved per mode (totally different tweaks for Music vs. Film, as an example), however they’ll’t be saved for those who attempt totally different combos.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: Untapped potential

Most high-end soundbars both include their very own wi-fi encompass audio system and a subwoofer (LG, Samsung, JBL) or they’re designed with enlargement in thoughts (Sonos, Bose). For the time being, the Heston 120 provides neither, however Marshall says that can change quickly.

A devoted wi-fi sub is on the way in which, and the plan is to let customers develop the Heston through Marshall’s line of third-gen Homeline moveable Bluetooth audio system — all the way in which from the tiny Emberton III to the Woburn II.

I didn’t get to check this functionality, so I can’t say the way it performs in comparison with current options. Marshall says it would use Bluetooth Auracast as its wi-fi protocol for these add-on audio system, which is an trade first for a soundbar. Time will inform if it’s as dependable and efficient as Wi-Fi.

Is the Marshall Heston 120 price it?

Sure. Contemplating its value, design, options, and efficiency, the Heston 120 is a wonderful alternative for a single-speaker house theater sound system. Whereas not as exact or immersive because the Sonos Arc Extremely for motion pictures, its help for DTS:X, HDMI enter, and wired subwoofer output make it a extra versatile alternative. It’s additionally an excellent music speaker that gives the best high quality wi-fi streaming protocols (like Google Forged), so you possibly can rise up to 24-bit/96kHz decision out of your music, one thing the Arc Extremely can’t do.

Lovers might need for extra management, particularly round two-channel stereo and particular person channel ranges, however for those who’re among the many set-it-and-forget-it crowd, I doubt you’ll thoughts this in any respect.

Lastly, there’s the potential for discrete encompass and subwoofer additions through Marshall’s vary of current Bluetooth audio system. It’s all the time a bit iffy to purchase a product for its promised options, but when this involves fruition, it may make the Heston 120 probably the most compelling soundbars available on the market.

Marshall Heston 120 overview: Simply the specs

• Dimensions: 43.3 x 5.7 x 3.0 inches

• Wall-mountable: Sure, wall-mount bought individually

• Distant included: No

• Quantity/kind of drivers: 11 (2 tweeters, 5 full-range, 2 mid-woofers, 2 subwoofers)

• Quantity/energy of amps: 11 class D (2 x 50 watts, 9 x 30 watts)

• Channels/configuration: 5.1.2

• Ports: HDMI eARC, HDMI IN (Move by), RCA Stereo, RCA Mono (Sub Out), USB-C

• Video specs/codecs: HDMI 2.1 eARC, 4K 120 Hz, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, HDCP 1.4

• Wired/Wi-fi networking: Bluetooth 5.3/Wi-Fi 6, Ethernet (10/100)

• Wi-Fi streaming platforms: Apple AirPlay 2, Google Forged, Spotify Join, Tidal Join

• Bluetooth codecs: SBC, AAC, LC3

• Audio codecs: MPEG-4, ALAC, FLAC, LPCM, Ogg, Vorbis, WMA, WMA9 

• Audio codecs: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, DTS-X

• Expandable: through Auracast (future replace)

• Within the field: soundbar, HDMI cable, energy cable, Fast-start information

• Colours: Black