Don’t touch that stereo

Marshall Masters – Don’t Touch That Stereo

Great amplifiers for rockers and other noise makers, that’s what Marshall is known for. They recently released some proper headphones too, so you can live the Marshall experience wherever you go. Is nice!

The headphones come in two flavors: the Major and the Minor. The Major Marshall is a decent external headset, while the Minor is in-ear. I got the opportunity to test the Major Marshall for a few days, and I must say: wow! The lower end of the frequency spectrum is attenuated much more than in other headphones (dramatically more compared to my Blackberry in-ear phones, and even but not so dramatic to the Technics headphones I use to DJ with). My qualitative impression of the frequency response is shown in the figure below (flatter is better as that means it won’t change the sound of the recording).

Qualitative frequency response for the Major Marshall and regular headphones.

I read some comments on the Major, and some say the earshells are too small. Some DJ found the basses being attenuated too strong.

My opinion: sound quality is really, really good and I haven’t been annoyed by the earshells in 3 or 4 days, so I guess they’re pretty much OK. The only thing that annoyed me was the packaging: the top and bottom part of the packaging don’t really hold together, so be sure to hold the bottom part! I guess the cardboard is more ecological than plastics, so that should cancel out each other.

That shouldn’t change the opinion on the headset itself: it’s lightweight, flexible yet sturdy and gives tremendous soundwaves, so you really can’t go wrong with this one, as it only costs 99 euros!

You can buy them either online, or in the following stores (in Belgium):

1. Essentiel
   Schuttershofstraat  9
   2000 Antwerpen
2. Clinic
   De burburestraat 5
   2000 Antwerpen
3. Johny Velvet
   Rue de l’hopital 1
   1000 Brussel
4. Sharff
   Galerie Wellington 16
   1410 Waterloo
5. Melosport
   Herestraat 50
   3520 Zonhoven
6. ICC
   Wiedauwkaai 23e
   9000 Gent
7. Radical Shop
   Rue de la Casquette 38
   4000 Liège

The packaging.

The packaging and the headset.

A nice detail: a signature by the Marshall creator!

Some nice fake gold branding.

The Major Marshall in a club setting.