Marshall Motif ANC true wireless headphone: Yet another hit

These active noise-canceling earbuds sound great out of the box and are highly configurable with numerous EQ presets.

JON L. JACOBI

Every Marshall-branded home-audio product I’ve tested of late has been in the 95th percentile in terms of audio quality, style, and features. The $200 Marshall Motif ANC true wireless headphone reviewed here is the latest example of that trend.

Sweden’s Zound Industries builds home audio products—speakers, headphones, and earbuds—under license from rock-music icon Marshall Amplification. Zound does a faithful job of conjuring the Marshall spirit by way of covering one element or another of its licensed products with Tolex (fave.co/3Gloz3B), a rough-grain textile reminiscent of alligator skin. You’ll find it here on the exterior of the Motif’s charging case. If the vaguely reptilian appearance doesn’t disturb you, you’ll like the feel and the grip that Tolex imparts to the case.

The charging case holds enough juice to charge the earbuds for 20 hours of listening time with active noise canceling (ANC) engaged, and 26 hours with noise canceling turned off. The batteries in both the case and earbuds themselves (200mAh batteries in the latter) charge fully in three hours. A 15-minute charge of the earbuds will provide about an hour of listening time.