The Emberton speaker stays well-within the design language we’ve come to expect from the company. This means that you’ll get an all-black design with a metal grille and gold accents just like its famous amps.
On the front of the speaker you’ll get the classic all-white Marshall logo but besides that, the design is pretty minimal. There’s the gold knob up top that controls playback and power, a battery indicator that fills up with red-bars, and that’s about it.
The compact size of the speaker makes it easy to stuff on top of an already full bag and at just 0.7kg (24.6oz), it won’t weigh you down either. I would’ve at least liked to see aptX or even AAC, but it’s not like I encountered any weird lip sync issues while watching YouTube videos.
Pairing to the Emberton speaker is pretty straightforward and just requires you know how to navigate your Bluetooth settings. Once it turns on you just need to press the Bluetooth button to the left of the gold knob in order to enter pairing mode.
Whether you’re at the beach or floating in the pool and can’t get to your phone, having a built-in microphone in your Bluetooth speaker can be pretty helpful.
The Marshall Emberton emphasizes bass notes with a slight de-emphasis in the midrange, which could result in some noticeable auditory masking. However, environmental noise like wind or beach waves are more likely to mask your audio than the slight bass bump, so the frequency response alone shouldn’t be cause for concern. While the size makes it hard for it to hit the deep lows of Vanish in Our Sleep by Rob Roy the extra emphasis between 100-200Hz does a decent job at faking.
While you’re not going to get amazing audio quality with any portable Bluetooth speaker, the Marshall Emberton does a pretty good job trying. Overall, I really enjoyed the sound of the Emberton and while it isn’t going to hold a candle to the larger offerings from the company, it definitely gives the waterproof Bluetooth speaker market some competition. If you’re in the market for a portable Bluetooth speaker for the summer, the Marshall Emberton makes a strong case for why you should pick one up. The battery life isn’t super impressive and, even though it’s small in size, I would’ve liked if there was a way to conveniently carry like a strap or something similar.
If all you want is a cheap, waterproof speaker to toss around at the beach then there are plenty of other options to choose from that won’t cost you as much.
Marshall Emberton review
It lacks some power in its audio performance, but a strong battery life and waterproofing makes it an appealing portable speaker. It lacks some power in its audio performance, but a strong battery life and waterproofing makes it an appealing portable speaker. The Marshall Emberton Bluetooth speaker almost looks like a novelty gift you get for someone when you couldn’t afford the full and ‘real’ thing.
It’s effectively a miniaturized version of a Marshall guitar amp, and that immediately makes it look stylish and cool.
While many Bluetooth speakers in this price range bundle in many features, the Marshall Emberton keeps things pretty simple. It also has IPX7 water resistance so you won’t have to worry about this waterproof speaker falling in the pool or getting wet. It genuinely does look like a mini version of a Marshall amp which means it looks great on a desk, living room side, or mostly anywhere else. A glowing red light indicates remaining battery life to the side of it while there’s a subtly placed Bluetooth pairing button too. Keep the volume low-ish and you’ll be impressed by the bassy sounds that emanate as you listen to your favorite tracks. Priced at $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$249.99, there’s no sign of discounts by third-party retailers yet and we suspect that won’t be the case for a little while yet – though it may be worth keeping an eye out for Black Friday deals. There’s also only one color scheme to choose from – black – but at least it means you won’t have to spend time figuring out what suits your aesthetic most. While small, it’s rugged enough to withstand a few knocks and its IPX7 water resistance means you can feel confident that it’ll survive a trip to the pool, next to the bathtub, or when out hiking in poor weather.
There’s a button for Bluetooth pairing, along with a gold four-directional joystick that dictates power, volume adjustments, and the ability to skip tracks. While other manufacturers are keen to embrace touch-sensitive technology, we appreciated the reliability that comes from this button that requires pressure. It sounds like every time you open a new menu in a Guitar Hero game, and it immediately grates. Utilizing two 10-watt drivers and two class-D amplifiers, the Marshall Emberton accomplishes a fair bit for its size.
The speaker offers consistently smooth mids whether you’re listening to a heavily instrumental piece of classical music or feeling romantic with a dose of John Legend’s All Of Me. In a similar vein, we also appreciated the crispness of the trebles exhibited when we went down a path of rediscovering David Bowie’s discography. It’s only really going to be an issue if you expect it to hold its own in a large social gathering, which is a bit ambitious given the size of this speaker. Mileage will always vary when it comes to battery life depending on how high you crank up the volume, but the Marshall Emberton performed pretty well in our tests. It took seconds to hook up and the extended range that comes from the specification is sure to come in handy if you’re using the Marshall Emberton across a large area. Because the Marshall Emberton has no microphone for a smart speaker feature, it also means you can’t use it to take calls.
Marshall Emberton Review
When you max out the volume, the bass may thin out a bit, but the Emberton still delivers surprisingly powerful audio performance for its size. The brick-shaped Emberton is available in black, with a gray metallic mesh grille on its front face, along with the familiar white script Marshall logo. Despite there being an uncovered USB-C port on the right panel, the Emberton has an excellent IPX7 rating, meaning it is fully waterproof and can even be submerged up to a meter (though Bluetooth signal doesn’t do well underwater). On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the Emberton delivers some full-sounding bass for its size—at moderate volumes.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the general sound signature. On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence to keep its attack punchy, and we also hear perhaps a little more of the vinyl hiss and crackle that’s usually relegated to the background. Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, actually sound fantastic at top volumes. The DSP doesn’t do much damage here, with the lower-register instrumentation sounding full and rich in its anchoring role, while the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals remain crisp and clear.
Tiny, stylish, waterproof, and with more power than you’d expect from a speaker this small, the Marshall Emberton is an ideal travel companion.
No aux input The Bottom Line The attractive Marshall Emberton speaker is on the small side for the price, but it delivers a bigger sound than its dimensions suggest.
Marshall Emberton Review: Minature Marvel
Marshall continues to pump out new Bluetooth speakers in all shapes and sizes and the guitar amp company’s latest effort is the smallest yet. It’s not the smallest speaker we’ve tested at Tech Advisor towers but it’s very compact and will easily fit into bags with ease.
An IPX7 rating means you’re protected from splashes of water as well as complete submersion, although Marshall oddly does not claim the Emberton as waterproof in the small print. There’s a black metal wire gauze at the back and silver at the front, adorned with the iconic logo.
It’s actually a multi-direction control knob similar to the one found on Marshall headphones like the Monitor II ANC. You can rock it up and down to adjust volume, click it to play pause or flick it left or right to skip tracks. There are a few small downsides to mention as you can’t use the Emberton with the Marshall app to do things like tweak the EQ. This isn’t a huge deal since the sound profile is going to appeal to most users and I didn’t find myself wanting to change it, but worth pointing out as adjusting bass and treble is normal on other Marshall speakers like the Uxbridge – which is also a smart speaker.
There are some cheaper options if these devices are simply too expensive, such as the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 for £89 and the Denon Envaya Pocket at £85.
It looks great, is highly portable with a rugged design and offers a surprisingly big and rich sound for such a small speaker.
Throw in really long battery life and a pretty good price point and it’s a winning combination.
Marshall’s Emberton is a basic but brilliant Bluetooth speaker
Marshall’s new $149 Emberton Bluetooth speaker gives the beloved Logitech Ultimate Ears Boom a run for its money. To navigate, simply tilt the gold, spiralized nub in one of four labeled directions to adjust the volume or find the song you want. As some companies try to find clever ways to let you control your devices, such as swipes or gestures, there’s something to be said for physical buttons being easy, accessible, and fun. The Emberton’s design might not strike a chord with everyone: it’s a brick-shaped speaker made to look like a portable guitar amplifier with metal grilles covering the front and back.
I’ve been using the Emberton nonstop since I got a review unit to test, and it easily hit the 20-hour lifespan claim when it was piping out music at medium volume. The Marshall Emberton is easy to recommend if you’re looking for a small Bluetooth speaker with powerful sound, long-lasting battery, and USB-C charging — the latter of which is currently a rarity in the market.
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Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Summertime may be coming to an end, but listening to music outdoors is, luckily, an all-year-long kind of activity.
This summer, we spent some time inside, in the water and, most importantly, around the grill, with Marshall’s newest portable Emberton speaker. It’s not quite as fun to use the Emberton as the original Stockwell at first, but the lack of knobs actually makes it slightly more portable in the process. The top of the speaker has a Bluetooth pairing button, along with one center control knob for powering on and off, changing the song and adjusting the volume. The Emberton may not be a high-end speaker system, but it’s likely a hell of a lot more rugged than your premium audio setup.
According to the brand, with its IPX7 rating, it can withstand being in three feet of water for a half hour, so you don’t have to worry about it floating around in the pool or if a wave suddenly washed it away from your spot at the beach. Turned up as high as it could go, the bass on songs like Men I Trust’s “Sugar” sounded like it was about to break through the speaker’s compact frame.
If you’re searching for a great-sounding, long-lasting Bluetooth speaker on a budget, you won’t have any buyer’s remorse after scooping up the Emberton. The bottom line is that it’s one of our favorite compact, portable speakers under $150 for playing music inside and out, all year long.
Marshall Emberton review: Tiny, powerful and stylish portable Bluetooth speaker
Its impressive sound quality and breezy setup mean it’s not simply a case of style over substance – it stand up against the best Bluetooth speakers. It’s notably cheaper than the Sonos Roam, which offers extra features compared to the Emberton, but more expensive the likes of the UE Wonderboom 2. Marshall has opted to keep things simple with the Emberton, paying homage to its range of guitar amps with a near identical design. That ruggedness is borne out in its IPX7 waterproof rating, which means it can handle being left out in the rain, or even brief immersion in your swimming pool or hot tub. That gold button acts as a volume control and lets you skip tracks back and forth too, while a red light indicates how much battery life you have left. Featuring two 10W drivers alongside two class D amplifiers, the Marshall Emberton delivers punchy, well-rounded sound that works especially well with classic rock, as you’d expect, as well as electronica, pop, hip-hop and more.
Vintage Joni Mitchell sounds great, with the speaker picking out plenty of detail in the mid and high end. There is a lot of excellent competition in the compact Bluetooth speaker market, and the price tag is a little high for this size and featureset.
However, with a small footprint, great sound and Marshall’s usual design approach, the Emberton is well worth inviting to your next pool party.
Marshall Emberton review: Commanding sound with a rock ‘n roll vibe
Marshall has been tapping into its long and distinguished history in the audio industry to produce consumer-facing headphones and speakers since the early 2010s. And since Marshall is a performance audio-focused company first and foremost, it’s most interested in creating the best-sounding Bluetooth speaker without piling on the bells and whistles.
After you hear the signature guitar strum (and a quick “beep” to let you know that it’s also found your smartphone), you can log in to Spotify or whatever music or entertainment app you wish and start playing immediately. Right from the start, the Marshall Emberton delivers a deep, rich sound, with enough bass to make its presence felt but not enough to overpower your tracks.
There’s a slight boost at both ends of the spectrum, which isn’t unusual among small speakers expected to be used outdoors, where they compete with environmental noise. Even though midrange is ever-so-slightly recessed compared to bass and treble, instruments and vocals had great separation, sounding crisp and detailed.
I tried it out with a mixture of rock, EDM, and hip-hop and found each of them was treated well (though the strutting guitar/bass interplay of a song such as AC/DC’s “Back In Black” really benefited from the speaker’s tuning—I mean, it’s a Marshall). Podcast voices, too, were clear and distinct—the speaker never wavered even in those situations where show audio shifted from music or bursts of noise back to general conversation.
Someone craving a perfectly flat response may find it a touch pushed toward a party-friendly tone, but that’s common in speakers like this and it’s not oversaturated. With a max output of 87 dB, it’s not the loudest portable Bluetooth speaker, but it can fill a room or a yard easily, and become your sole music source. The Marshall Emberton’s thick hide and metal-grated front plate make it feel like you don’t have to treat it with kid gloves. You won’t be hosting any all-nighters in the Coral Reef, and the speaker doesn’t actually float, but if it slid into your tub and you fish it out quickly enough you wouldn’t be out $150.
This is comparable waterproofing to the $119.95 JBL Flip 5 (a true “party speaker”), as well as the $149 UE Boom (another cylinder with more bold low-end, but some EQ options). With companies like IKEA trying to find ways to hide Bluetooth speakers by making them part of lamps and other devices, the Marshall Emberton stands out as one you want to show off.
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