Audio review
Marshall Emberton II Review: Nine Hours, Not Thirty
Marshall claims 30-plus hours. One lab measured 9 hours 8 minutes on a standardised test. The gap is the single biggest thing to understand before buying.
By Paulo GerchonPublished 2 min read
Illustration, not a photo — we don’t have a licensed image of this product yet.
Marshall
Marshall Emberton II
Fair · researched from 3 sources
A genuinely well-balanced small speaker with a control knob better than any app, wrapped in a design people buy on sight. Halve the battery figure in your head, keep the volume under two thirds, and it is easy to live with.
- Buy if
- Listening at moderate volume in a room, kitchen or garden · Anyone who wants physical controls rather than an app · Wet environments, on the IP67 rating
- Skip if
- All-day use away from power, given the measured battery · Filling a large space or an outdoor party · Calls, since there is no microphone
We don’t list prices, because Amazon’s change hourly.
The battery claim and the battery measurement
Marshall says 30-plus hours. SoundGuys put it on a standardised test at a fixed output level and recorded 9 hours 8 minutes.
That is not a rounding error. It is roughly a third of the advertised figure, and it is the largest gap between claim and measurement of any product in this catalogue.
The explanation is volume. Manufacturer battery figures assume moderate listening; a fixed loud test level drains any speaker much faster. Reviewers using it casually report figures far closer to Marshall's number, and both things can be true at once.
What you should not do is plan a weekend around 30 hours.
The sound is better than the bass
Mighty Gadget's summary is the fairest one: the bass is the least powerful among its rivals, and it beats them on balance and clarity anyway.
Tech360 describes it as warm and lush with distinct vocals and crisp highs. Both agree the low end is present rather than impressive.
For a speaker this size that is a defensible choice. Small drivers pushed for bass produce the muddy, one-note sound that most portables have, and this one has chosen definition instead.
The cost appears at volume. Tech360 found distortion and unpleasant tonal shifts above roughly 60 percent, and recommended sitting between 50 and 70 percent outdoors. Indoors it is comfortable at full.
What Marshall left out
No microphone. No calls, no voice assistant.
No 3.5 mm input. Bluetooth or nothing, and SBC is the only codec available, which Mighty Gadget lists as a limitation.
No multipoint, so switching between a phone and a laptop means re-pairing.
No custom EQ. The app offers three presets, which Mighty Gadget says differ very little from each other.
The knob is the good part
One multi-directional control on the top handles power, volume, playback and track skipping. It is the opposite of the app, and it is why the speaker is pleasant to use in a kitchen with wet hands.
The other genuine addition over the original is Stack Mode, which links multiple Emberton II units together. Reviewers are lukewarm on how many people will buy two, and the search results note occasional pairing drops, but it exists and the first generation did not have it.
Against the original
IP67 instead of IPX7, so it now resists dust as well as water. A longer claimed battery. Stack Mode.
Mighty Gadget still says the cheaper original remains competitive, and Tech360 says the upgrades are minimal enough that existing owners can skip this one. That is an unusual pair of conclusions for a well-reviewed product, and it is worth weighing the price difference carefully.
How it scored
The overall 6.7 is the weighted average of these five criteria — we never adjust it by hand.
Sound quality
Mighty Gadget praises the balance and clarity while calling the bass the least powerful of its rivals. Tech360 finds it warm and lush but reports distortion above about 60 percent volume.
Value
SoundGuys scored it 6.6 out of 10. Mighty Gadget gave it 80 percent and notes the cheaper original model remains competitive.
Build quality
IP67, up from IPX7 on the original per Mighty Gadget, with a construction that uses 50 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.
Ease of use
A single multi-directional control knob and a deliberately spare app. SoundGuys calls the app lean, and Mighty Gadget says the three EQ presets differ very little.
Battery
SoundGuys measured 9 hours 8 minutes against Marshall's 30-plus hour claim. Quick charging returns four hours from twenty minutes.
Pros and cons
What we liked
- Mighty Gadget rates the balance and clarity above rivals despite less bass
- IP67 rated, an improvement on the original's IPX7 per Mighty Gadget
- A single control knob that handles volume, playback and track skipping
- Stack Mode links several units together, which the original could not do
- Twenty minutes of charging returns about four hours of playback
- Built with 50 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and no PVC
What we didn’t
- SoundGuys measured 9 hours 8 minutes against a 30-plus hour claim
- Tech360 reports distortion and unpleasant tonal shifts above roughly 60 percent volume
- No microphone at all, so calls and voice assistants are out
- No 3.5 mm input and SBC is the only codec, which Mighty Gadget lists as a limitation
- No multipoint, so it holds one device at a time
- At 0.7 kg it is heavier than most rivals of its size
Specifications
| Battery | 30-plus hours claimed; 9 h 8 m measured by SoundGuys |
|---|---|
| Quick charge | 20 minutes for about 4 hours; 3 hours for a full charge |
| Water resistance | IP67 |
| Weight | 673 g per SoundGuys, quoted as 0.7 kg elsewhere |
| Dimensions | 70 x 159 x 70 mm per SoundGuys; 68 x 160 x 76 mm per Mighty Gadget |
| Bluetooth | 5.1, SBC only, no multipoint |
| Controls | One multi-directional knob |
| App | Three EQ presets and Stack Mode; no custom EQ |
| Missing | No microphone and no 3.5 mm input |
How we researched this
We have not had this unit on the bench. This review synthesises the manufacturer’s published specifications, independent measurements and owner reports listed below. Every figure on this page comes from one of those sources rather than our own measurement.
3
sources reviewed
SoundGuys is the only source to measure the battery on a standardised test, which is where the 9 hour 8 minute figure comes from, and also supplies the dimensions, weight, codec and connectivity limitations. Tech360 supplies the volume behaviour and the point where distortion begins, and is the source for the description of the sound at ordinary levels. Mighty Gadget supplies the generational comparison, the IP rating change and the criticism of the EQ presets, and scored it 80 percent. The three give slightly different dimensions and weights, and both figures are reported rather than reconciled. No source published a measured frequency response curve for this speaker.
What we read
Common questions
How long does the Marshall Emberton II battery really last?
How loud can it go before it sounds bad?
Does it have a microphone?
Is the app worth using?
Should I buy this or the original Emberton?
The bottom line on the Marshall Emberton II
A genuinely well-balanced small speaker with a control knob better than any app, wrapped in a design people buy on sight. Halve the battery figure in your head, keep the volume under two thirds, and it is easy to live with.
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