Marshall sound and vibes now in a soundbar
Marshall Heston 120 and Heston 60 soundbars make Singapore debut
Marshall, known for making the amps used by legendary musicians, moved into consumer audio over a decade ago. The audio firm has since released headphones and speakers that sport its iconic logo. So naturally, the next step would be to launch two soundbars, right?
Well, Marshall says its research found that 65 percent of soundbars are used for music. But soundbars are usually built for movies, and aren’t focused on music playback. Hence, there’s an opportunity for Marshall to create something that’s more equally geared towards music and movies, according to Sasha Soh, Marshall’s brand manager from Singapore distributor TC Acoustic.
She added that the Marshall experience is also about the vibes created by its signature sound, as well as the classic aesthetic with the brass control knobs and gold trim. The new Heston 120 and Heston 60 soundbars certainly have that unmistakable Marshall DNA. While most soundbars try to blend unobtrusively into the background, the Heston soundbars are anything but discreet.
The Heston 120 also sounded really loud in the demo at the launch party. The soundbar easily filled the relatively large room it was in, and at maximum volume (or close to it), there wasn’t any distortion. It certainly reminded me of Marshall’s speakers, which are also capable of big sound without cracking.
Powering the Heston 120 are 11 drivers facing in different directions to enable spatial audio in a 5.1.2 configuration with a total output of 150W. Both Dolby Atmos and DTS-X are supported, which should satisfy movie fans. However, I wasn’t impressed with the Dolby Atmos demo that I heard. Perhaps it’s the room or the content, but there wasn’t sufficient separation and I didn’t discern any overhead sound effects. It’s something I hope to test properly in a future review. But that aside, the Heston 120 produced an overwhelming wall of sound, especially when supplemented by the Heston Sub 200, a wireless subwoofer for those who want even deeper bass.
Besides the sound and the aesthetics, the Heston 120 also packs all the modern niceties you’d expect from a premium soundbar. Connectivity-wise, it has everything, from having two HDMI ports to Bluetooth to support for Wi-Fi music streaming like AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect.
Two built-in microphones enable a room correction feature in the Marshall Bluetooth app that can adjust the sound from the Heston 120 to its surroundings. There’s also an equaliser to tune the sound to your liking. But I bet some will enjoy playing with the tactile control knobs to change the bass and treble instead of doing it on the app.
The Heston 60 soundbar shares the features of the larger Heston 120, including support for Dolby Atmos. But it comes in a more compact size with only seven drivers, and the peak power drops to 56W. There’s also only one HDMI port, but it does have an auxiliary input. I wasn’t able to listen to the Heston 60 soundbar, but when wall mounted, the soundbar is rotated such that the control knobs face the user, and the Marshall logo ends up at the bottom. Except that the Marshall logo on the Heston 60 is actually attached magnetically to the soundbar, so you can just pull it off and stick it to the front. It shows the attention to detail from Marshall to keep its brand front and centre.
The Heston soundbars and subwoofer don’t come cheap, though. The Heston 120 is priced at S$1,899, the Heston 60 is S$999, and the Heston Sub 200 is S$799. You can check them out from the official Marshall stores on Lazada or Shopee. You can also listen to them at TC Acoustic @ The Adelphi.
This week, we tried Apple’s next big seller, the AirPods Pro 3, had plenty of fun exploring the open world in PS5 exclusive Ghost of Yotei, and gave Asus’ new, incredibly-light mouse a test drive.
The Apple AirPods Pro 3 is a significant upgrade over its predecessor. Not only does it have much better active noise cancellation, it can also sense your heart-rate during workouts, and fits much better in the ear as well. Battery life, too, has improved, and there are other useful new features, such as live translation and the ability to use them as hearing aids.
Ghost of Yotei tweaks the gameplay of the previous Ghost of Tsushima for the better, though it doesn’t deviate too much from the tried-and-tested open-world formula. There’s a new protagonist, and the game is set in a different era. But it’s the stellar presentation that elevates it above other similar games.
If you’re looking for a pro-grade lightweight gaming mouse, consider the Asus ROG Harpe II Ace. It weighs just 48g, and comes with a 42K DPI optical sensor, optical micro switches, and supports a 8K polling rate. It also has a convenient Zone mode that can instantly adjust the mouse settings to be ready for competitive gaming.