Marshall Major (On ear portable headphone)

[Jörgemeister]

Marshall Major
On ear portable from music hardware manufacteur Marshall




At first I had a hard time with the major and was dissapointed, mainly fit issues and sound signature. then I learned to live with it for what they are.

Build: no complains here, the build up is tough, nothing feels loose or flacid, the headband is well padded but not so flexible, the cups are made of plastic with a rubery feeling to it, hinges are metal attached to the leather( or pleather?) headband with plastic pieces responsible of the folding. they fold nicely into a small ball, very practical.
the cable is about 1 meter and 1/4 of it is coiled, it doesnt get in the way because it is thin and dosile, overall easy to handle.

A Design flaw: the cups are fix, they wont move but upside down, not even swivel to the sides a bit, this make them press hard on the back part of your ear, sometimes too hard.

The look: The Major look like an old rocker, something you would match with an old leather jacket and heavy boots. See the picts at the end of the review.



Marshall Major folded

Comfort: the headband is well cushioned and soft, the material is like hard leather on top (black) and brown soft leatherette (below). earpads are square and very soft. They clamp hard, because of the lack of flexibility of the headband and the lack of movement of the cups makes the bad note here, they can put pressure in the back of your ear and press it against the skull. I used to hate them because of this but playing with the fit I can find a comfortable spot, basically wearing them more in the back that I usually do, so the back of my ear dont get in the edge of the cup, where the pressure is bigger. also the earcushions + pressure makes my ears hot and sweaty

Isolation: they manage to Isolate a big deal, over average than most over ear portables.


Sound: Sound signature is leaned just a little bit to the dark side, you could tell if you wear them after a bright or neutral headphone. Laid back and mellow sound, something I can listen for hours without getting tired or exahusted. but at the same time sounds powerful and full bodied. all this without the need of an amplifier, tried a couple and all they did was volume up the headphone, and not that it needs it, the clip+ manage to get it at very high volume levels and acceptable sound.
Detail is average. not deatil champions by far, but not muddy either. I dont mind using low bitrate recording with it.

The bass hits hard, but it feels loose, not too loose, just not tight either, bass extensions is nothing to call home about but it doesnt lack either, basically mediocre in the bass section. lets say something a bass freak and a regular fella would agree on: the major has adecuate ammount of bass, not too much and not too little.

And the Mids are slighty recesed in the way that you hear the voices warmer than they actually are. but brings out a nice guitar texture, this and the treble makes the whole presentation mellow and laid back.

The highs are clear enough but sound veiled, this helps to the melow and laid back feeling. nothing impressive here.

Final words / Summary:
A good all rounder, and would make for a great portable if you dont mind paying what it cost, at $99 it feels overpriced, I could pay $75 and be OK with it, they would be hard to bea in tthe $65 to $75 price bracket.

The combination of hard hitting bass and warm mids makes them sound powerful for metal and despite the boom of the bass, they manage fast technical stuff pretty damn well. it is indeed a rocker.

Leaving price aside, it is a good package, you get a great looking, well built and decent isolation with a non tiring sound. I can relax with this listening some pop-rock like Radiohead, but I can also rock out with some heavier music like Blotted Science and they turn into powerful little bastards.

This is the thing, soundwise the Major's is not something impressive, but they dont lack either, they just dont do anything bad, for the price, the only problem the Major's have is the fact that is priced in a very competitive area.

Pros: Good looking, well built, very portable, easy to drive, decent sound
Cons: a bit overpriced, sound quality is slightly below the rest, comfort issues.


Marshall Major + Clip+

Would I recommend it at $100? not really , there are better headphones at that price, unless you really dig the look, like I do. if you can get it at something like $70 or even $80, it would be awesome, though even then they will have to fight against the Sony V6, not an easy rival for any headphone in that price if you ask me.

[CrowdAds]

[skip252]

Me likey. Not the headphones, the write up. Well written with clear photos.

I base my decisions on headphone reviews on if I would feel comfortable making a buying decision from the review. I feel I could from this one. Well done.

[Jörgemeister]

Thank you sir, I forgot to mention that this headphone makes for a great gift, after all it is a looker. (my gf loves it)

and I edited the post to resize the images, but still linked to the original, they were too heavy for the post, I think.

[WalkGood]

Nice easy read with good pictures and important points reviewed; good review IMO. I tend to wear headphones for a long time so the clamping and heat issues would be a problem for me, so I’d probably pass on these but I enjoyed the read, thanks. I also prefer circumaural headphones that don’t touch my ears for comfort and not sure from the pics but they might come close to my ears but that’s just me. Edit: looked again and it looks like they'd sit on top of my ears.

[The DarkSide]

Great review,...me likey. And I was personally interested in these myself, just for the looks alone.

Question: you have the Sennheiser HD25-1 II's like I do, how do these compare? Especially when it comes to clarity?

[Adub]

Great read, well done.

One criticism, do not ever wrap the cord like that on any electronic device.

[JK98]

The Sony V6 is not $70 now. It was $65 a few months ago, but now that there is a shortage of them few dealers have them, and the ones that do have them want around $150!!(I see the 7506 at $129)What is around $65-80 now is the Koss pro DJ100. The pro DJ100 is said to be quite neutral, and almost like the Sony V6 but with highs that are a bit suppressed. The Sennheiser HD280 pro is under $100.


The Sony ZX700 is in the $80-100 price region, however it is not a studio monitor like the V6.

I guess the Sony V6 might drop back to the $65-80 range when the supply of them is replenished. Who knows when that will be. I assume it is not discontinued.

[Jörgemeister]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Great review,...me likey. And I was personally interested in these myself, just for the looks alone.

Question: you have the Sennheiser HD25-1 II's like I do, how do these compare? Especially when it comes to clarity?

HD25 beats the Major in everything (except folding). the Major tends to sound muddy, most probably because of the bass being a bit too loose, not a bad thing if you like that. HD25 bass is more punctual and hits harder, the senn sounds more clear in everything, specially bass and treble.

there is no reason to buy the Major if you have the HD25, they share a somewhat similar sound so it wouldnt be as much of a variety but only a step down in sound. unless you really dig the look of the Major.

Originally Posted by Adub

Great read, well done.

One criticism, do not ever wrap the cord like that on any electronic device.

Thnaks for the advice
I really mistreat my cables, but perhaps because I can recable them at will, that cable seems like it could take a beat up though, its flexible and strong. we will see.

Originally Posted by JK98

The Sony V6 is not $70 now. It was $65 a few months ago, but now that there is a shortage of them few dealers have them, and the ones that do have them want around $150!!(I see the 7506 at $129)What is around $65-80 now is the Koss pro DJ100. The pro DJ100 is said to be quite neutral, and almost like the Sony V6 but with highs that are a bit suppressed. The Sennheiser HD280 pro is under $100.

I guess the Sony V6 might drop back to the $65-80 range when the supply of them is replenished. Who knows when that will be. I assume it is not discontinued.

The V6 is one of my frist headphones and still one of my favorites, at 65usd is a no brainer, my only problem with it was the huge cord, makes it hard to use as a portable, luckily it is easy to replace if you know how to.

V6 has been around since loooong man, My father had a pair in the 80s! I dont think sony is disscontiniung that classic.

and watch out for the fakes!

[skip252]

The V6 is listed as back in supply at $109 on Sonystyle. They were listed as out of stock for a while.

They're nice headphones, I like mine. No way in hell they're worth $150. Anybody that pays $150 in the US is nuts.

[JK98]

Even $109 for the V6 is very expensive, since for almost all of last year it was $65 at places like B&H. I guess if someone wants it right now, $109 is much better than $149, however imo it might get back to $65-80 in a few months once the supply gets back to normal.


PS. J&R is taking preorders for the Sony V6 at $80. I guess Sony is gearing up production. I just noticed that the price of the Sony XB500 is back down to $50 at Amazon.

http://www.jr.com/sony/pe/SON_MDRV6/

[The DarkSide]

Thanks Jörgemeister, I think I'll stick with my HD25-1 II's then!!!