Review Verdict Philippines: If you want compact Bluetooth speakers that not only sound good but look good, the Marshall Emberton is a great option. It is priced a little higher than some of its competition and there are a few things that we wish they kept from their other offerings but the smaller form factor and amazing capability to fill the room with music really makes up for it.
Pros
- Aesthetics on Point
- Sounds fantastic for its size
- Great battery life
Cons
- Priced Higher than Competition
- Fixed EQ
- No headphone jack
Small and Looks Incredible
We’ve all seen Marshall’s products before and they’ve always done a fantastic job at bringing their signature aesthetic to their wireless speakers and headphones. That certainly hasn’t changed with the Emberton, which has the well-known Marshall logo with the mesh that perfectly captures the look of their classic amps in a much more compact size.
It comes in three color options here in the Philippines: Black, Black and Brass, and the Cream colored one that we have for review. While any of them can easily fit into any setup you may have at home, the cream ones may be the choice for those of you who might be scrolling through the Home Buddies facebook group looking for a discreet speaker that matches your Scandi, Japandi, or even Boho mood boards.
Don’t be fooled by its looks though. The Embertons can be your on-the-go speaker as well since it has an IPX7 rating, which means that it can survive a dip in the pool of up to 1 meter for 30 minutes, and weighs in at around 700 grams so it shouldn’t be much of a burden to bring around.
It will require a space in your backpack though since there isn’t an option to clip it on and you will need to take extra care not to scuff up that beautiful exterior.
As for the controls, there are only two buttons on top of this compact speaker. One for Bluetooth pairing and the multi-directional control knob that also doubles up as the power switch with the battery indicator on the right of it. This makes operation on the Embertons really easy but they did sacrifice the treble and bass controls on this speaker; given its size though, we understand the choice to do so.
There’s a USB-C port on the right side of the Emberton for charging the device and that’s pretty much it so If you’re looking for wireless speakers that still have a 3.5mm audio jack then these might be the ones for you.
Good news though is that the Embertons connected seamlessly to our phones via Bluetooth 5.0 and has a pretty decent range of up to 10 meters, which wasn’t an issue at all for our 2-bedroom apartment.
Surprisingly Powerful
One thing that Marshall advertises with the Embertons is that you’re getting a 360-degree experience. That’s because it has two 10w speakers with two passive radiators so as they say on their website “every spot is a sweet spot”.
To be fair, it’s true and these tiny speakers were surprisingly easily able to fill our place with tunes which we use to get us hyped up for our workouts or to help calm our dog during the thunderstorms we’ve been having recently. A little tip though, if you want a little extra kick to the bass, we recommend placing the Emberton close to a wall.
Speaking of which, I thought these speakers also sounded fantastic. I am not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination but the lows on these had a nice satisfying thump without being too overpowering and the vocals are really clear on this speaker as well. Like most of their lineup, I think it’s still best suited for alternative tracks but they don’t sound bad if you’re tripping on some K-Pop or Hip Hop tracks as well.
As I mentioned earlier, they no longer have the treble and bass knobs, so if you want to tweak the audio a little bit that isn’t going to be an option. Sadly, you can’t tweak the EQ on their app as well so you are pretty much stuck with Marshall’s signature sound.
As for battery life, Marshall has this advertised to last up to 20 hours with the volume at 50- percent and it does hit that mark rather easily when we did an endurance test. If you run out of juice but need some tunes right away, you can also charge the Emberton for 20 minutes to give you up to 5 hours of playtime.
Wrap Up and Conclusion
I really enjoyed using the Marshall Emberton for the last couple of weeks. It’s been a great workout companion and the wife and I have had a blast singing along to our playlists when doing mundane chores since these small speakers do fill our house with sound quite easily.
Yes, I wish there was a way to tweak the EQ to my liking but, then again, I’ve always liked Marshall’s so-called “Signature Sound” and I don’t consider myself an audiophile so that might be something you have to consider if you’re on the hunt for a compact wireless solution for your room or apartment.
There’s also pricing to think about. While I feel that these are worth its nearly Php 9,000 price tag, you also have other great options in the market right now that perform just as well as these.
What puts these over for me though is how good it looks in our house. It did win a Red Dot Award in 2021 for Product Design after all.
Marshall Emberton Speaker Price Philippines
The Marshall Emberton Speaker is priced at Php 8,690 and is available at Digital Walker.
They did send over this review unit for us to check but they did not see this review before hand nor have a say in this review. They did however give us a discount code so if you want to save Php 500 on these sweet sounding and looking speakers, enter the code DWEMBERTONUNBOXPH when you checkout from their website.
