I bought the Marshall Stanmore 2 last year because I liked the tuning. I needed something portable with the same sound, so I ended up buying the petite Marshall Emberton 2 for travel. But I realized later that I needed something bigger, louder and yet portable enough to be carried to nearby outings or picnics. The Marshall Middleton fulfils exactly that.
The $300 Middleton sits between the Emberton and Woburn 3 (or Stanmore 2) series. It is small enough to be portable but buffed enough to a surprisingly room-filling sound. The solid build with waterproof design makes me want to take it to the pool with me. Here’s what you need to know about Marshall’s new portable Bluetooth speaker.
Marshall Middleton review: Design
The Marshall Middleton measures 4.29 x 9.06 x 3.74-inch (109 x 230 x 95 mm) and features a textured silicone cabinet like the Emberton 2. At 1.8kg, it is heavy but sturdy. It supports IP67 rating that means it’s dustproof and can be go inside pool water for up to a meter for 30 minutes.
You might feel like it’s too heavy to be portable but the included rubber strap helps in carrying it around. On the front, you get a hard plastic mesh with the gold Marshall logo – a familiar and good-looking design. The backplate is made of an even tougher perforated metal. There is similar perforation on the sides of the cabinet as well.
On the top of the Marshall Middleton, you’ll find the central gold multifunction button, similar to the Emberton 2. It is responsible for power on/off with a long press, and volume and previous track or track skip. What’s new here is the presence of dedicated up/down bass and treble controls, as compared to the smaller Emberton 2.
When you adjust them, the LED battery level indicator located on the left serves as bass and treble level indication as well, so you know what your settings are without opening the app. Also like the Emberton 2, there’s a Bluetooth pairing button to help you connect new devices.
The Marshall Middleton comes equipped with two 3-inch woofers that push the low-end out of the left and right sides. It is powered by two 20-watt class D amps for the woofers and two 10-watt class D amps for the tweeters. For reference, the Emberton 2 comes with two 10-watt class D amps. These make the Middleton offer good stereo separation.
The only downside of this design I noticed was that it attracts and retains a lot of dirt. Although, it can be cleaned.
Marshall Middleton review: Performance
The Marshal Middleton uses Bluetooth connectivity and a companion app to connect with your iOS and Android devices. The app gives you access to volume, bass, and treble EQ sliders, which you can also adjust manually with the physical controls. You can also connect multiple Middleton speakers together with the company’s “Stack” mode. I placed the speaker in my home-office, bedroom, living room and bathroom – it was loud for every room.
I listen to a lot of Strings music, and love their tunes. The Middleton sounds brilliant for songs with guitar tunes. The bass is thumping but doesn’t overpower the vocals. I could hear the beats and lyrics of Duur clearly. I could hear the guitar tunes, drum, bass and vocals separately in Teri Aankhon Mein (from the same band). It offers big soundstage, and the highs are bright without getting too sharp for the ears.
Even at high volumes, none of the frequencies get fuzzy. You aren’t going to be disappointed, no matter what type of music you listen to. Just remember to place the Middleton away from walls when it’s over 50% volume for the best experience.
The speaker only supports SBC codec, so I couldn’t tell a difference between songs played via Spotify or Apple Music on the Galaxy S23 Ultra or iPhone. You can connect it to other devices like the projector in my case, with its 3.5mm AUX port.
The Marshall Middleton is rated to last up to 20 hours. For reference, the Emberton 2 can run up to 30 hours on a single charge, while the Sonos Roam will last you only 10 hours. In my testing, it lasted at least 18 hours on a single charge, which is solid. The speaker takes 4.5 hours to go from zero to full, while a 20-minute charge can get you two hours of playback time.
Marshall Middleton review: Verdict
I like how loud the Marshall Middleton can get without getting distorted. For its size, the Bluetooth speaker offers excellent sound, good battery life and a solid build. I’m also a big advocate of buttons on my audio devices, and I love the treble and bass controls alongside the volume control.
However, there’s Sony SRS-XG300 that offers better battery life (25 hours vs 20 hours on Middleton), powerful sound, more codecs with SBC, AAC and LDAC with the same IP67 rating. If want a portable party speaker, Sony SRS-XG300 might be a better buy for you at Rs 33,990 / $200 (current price) than the Middleton at Rs 31,999 / $300. But if you want a portable Bluetooth speaker that has good aesthetics to double as your living room speaker, Marshall Middleton is the way to go.