Marshall Launches Motif II ANC Earbuds with Extended Battery Life

Marshall has announced the availability of its latest active noise canceling earbuds, the Motif II ANC, for pre-order today. This marks the first release of a headphone or speaker product by Marshall Group, a newly formed collaboration between Marshall Amplification and Zounds. The Motif II ANC offers significant improvements over its predecessor, including enhanced battery life and fast charging capabilities. Interested customers can pre-order the earbuds for $199 on Marshall’s website, with shipping scheduled for September 12th.

Many features remain the same as before, so existing Motif users can do a cost-benefit analysis to decide if they’re ready to upgrade. There are still 6mm dynamic drivers pushing out tunes in the 20Hz to 20kHz frequency range. You get touch controls for core functions like play/pause, skip and noise control (ANC and transparency mode). Bluetooth’s roughly 33-foot range still remains, though the Motif II headphones now have Bluetooth 5.3 and will support Bluetooth LE Audio (LC3) in future updates.

The sound of the new Motif II should also be essentially the same as before, although to be honest that’s just based on specs as I haven’t tried the first generation model. The buds fit snugly in my ear (at least) and provide a thick bass experience with a rich and familiar Marshall sound profile. Active noise cancellation works well to block out most ambient noises, such as the subway or a crowded bar, leaving only some sounds to pass through as distant conversation.

The IP classification is also unchanged when the waterproofness of the headphones is IPX5 and the charging case is IPX4. This means that these buds are suitable for normal exercise, but not for submerging in the sink. And the charging case itself should be handled a little more carefully. You can also still charge the case wirelessly, which brings us to one of the biggest upgrades to the Motif II: battery life.

The new Motif II has a total of 30 hours of play time with the help of the charging case (10 more than before) and ANC function. Without this feature enabled, you should be able to achieve an impressive 43 hours. Individual buds have between six and nine hours of stand-alone playtime, depending on whether you use ANC or not.

Although the previous full charge time was three hours, it has been halved via USB connection to only one and a half hours. There’s also a quick charge setting that you can enable via the app, giving you a full hour more than before. That means a 15-minute charge should now give you around two hours, which is forever useful.

You also get Spotify Tap with the Motif II ANC. You can access Spotify by double tapping and long pressing the touch controls on the earbuds without having to pick up the phone. Details of this touch feature and all others can be found in the Marshall Bluetooth app, along with all other features and some touch tweaks.

Marshall’s Motif II ANC headphones cover all the essentials and provide a great listening experience without overcomplicating the product. Long battery life is a basic requirement for many, and these buds excel in this regard. The minimal black exterior with gold-plated heads keeps them visibly subtle, and this signature sound profile is well worth checking out. Pre-orders for the $199 headphones are open today on the company’s website and should launch on September 12th, which is fast approaching.