'Like taking a hot bath in bass': This mid-range Marshall speaker sounds way bigger than it looks

I’m no stranger to a dashing, alternative-style speaker. Not sure I’ve seen one quite as charming as the Marshall Middleton II, though.

Successor to the original Marshall Middleton, the II brings some key updates to the core running gear, with boosted battery life and some new connectivity goodies sprinkled in for good measure.

If you need something bigger than Marshall’s compact Emberton, smaller than the chunkier Kilburn, and have circa three hundies going spare in your cash clip, the Middleton II could be one of the best Bluetooth speakers for you.

Or could it? Find out in my full Marshall Middleton II review.

Marshall Middleton II review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A mid-range, mid-sized Bluetooth speaker
• What does it cost? $329 / £269
• What’s good? Lots! Looks, build, sound quality, battery, connectivity…
• What’s not? It’s expensive, and priced confusingly close to the bigger Kilburn

Marshall Middleton II review: Specs

Marshall Middleton II review: Price & availability

Now, like most Marshall gear, the Middleton II is expensive, although not extortionate. Especially considering the premium build, effortless styling and solid performance. Marshall is like the BMW of the audio world — premium, a tad luxurious even, yet still attainable to we lay-folk.

The Middleton II costs $329 at Amazon, or £269 in ol’ King Charlie’s change. That’s a hell of a lot spennier than its nearest rockstar rival, the $199 Fender x Teufel Rockster Cross — the only speaker, in my opinion, that gets close to the Marshall lineup’s rogue-ish good looks. As I’ll cover throughout, the Marshall is better in many ways, so it’s definitely worth a premium; it’s just that I doubt it’s worth the premium — $130 is a lot more dough.

The original Middleton still costs $319 at Amazon, though, so for the extra $10, it’s well worth buying the newer model with its improved specs.

If you’d like similar looks for less, consider the Middleton II’s little sibling, the $149 Marshall Emberton III. Or there’s the compact Fender X Teufel Rockster Go 2 at $129. Both garnered high scores in our testing.

However, there’s a thorn in the Middleton II’s side, price-wise, and that’s its bigger brother, the $379 Marshall Kilburn III. The elder bro has bigger sound, a subwoofer, better battery life and isn’t that much larger than the Middleton — not enough to make much real-world difference, anyway. It looks just as good and has more onboard controls. Personally, I’d stretch the extra fifty.

Marshall Middleton II review: Design & controls

The Middleton II looks exactly the same as its predecessor, about which I’ve no complaints. Honestly, I’ve never been prouder to bring a Bluetooth speaker along to a party. I thought my Rockster Cross was a looker, but it’s a 7-at-best versus the Middleton.

Stick this thing in the middle of a table of people, and they go crazy for it. Ever been out to a bar with a really good-looking friend? You notice them getting all the limelight, people stopping and staring, chatting to them, that kind of thing. Well, that’s what it’s like with the Middleton II. Bring it to a gathering and, before you know it, your comrades are ogling it, fawning over it, even stroking it. I caught one of my friends frowning at it, clearly navigating some internal struggle about stealing the thing.

The Middleton II is built beautifully, too. Pure Marshall. It doesn’t have quite the same ruggedness of the Rockster Cross and its impact-resistant rubber coating, but the Middleton II looks built to last, all the same.

At 3.9lbs and 9 x 4.3 x 3.8 inches, the Middleton II is more or less the same size and weight as the OG. That isn’t especially large or heavy for a mid-sized Bluetooth speaker, either. Marshall supplies the Middleton II with a wrist strap and, while I wouldn’t want it dangling there on a hike or for an extended period, it isn’t too weighty for that concept to seem silly.

The Middleton II is IP67 rated, meaning it’ll essentially withstand anything except being chucked into the deep end of a pond. The 6 in 67 means it’s fully dustproof, too, — a beach-goer’s delight.

Controls-wise, things are exceedingly simple, while at the same time offering a fairly high level of onboard control — as far as Bluetooth speakers go, anyway. Again, it’s all the same as the original Middleton: there’s a four-way circular knob up top for playback controls, there are power and connectivity buttons, then two sets of up/down buttons for bass and treble adjustments.

The latter two, in particular, are very handy. There’s a full custom EQ to play with in the app, but so long as you can settle with mids sounding how they sound, you’ve got everything else you need onboard for quick tweaks to highs and lows — sans smartphone.

For control avec smartphone, the Marshall app is excellent. It’s smooth, reliable and well-laid-out. The app can be used to update firmware, check precise battery life and adjust the 5-band EQ.

Marshall Middleton II review: Features & connectivity

While the Middleton II’s design has stayed the same as its predecessor, there are some sizable upgrades under the hood, particularly in the connectivity department. The Bluetooth version has increased from 5.1 in the OG model to 5.3, a modest upgrade which doesn’t affect data transfer rates but brings more efficient power consumption (which I’ll cover more in the battery section below) and increased connection stability at range.

On the topic of range, the Middleton II’s Bluetooth range has jumped to 200 feet / 60 meters from the OG model’s 30 feet / 10 meters — a huge delta. 33 feet is also where the Middleton II’s bigger sibling, the Marshall Kilburn III, tops out. Now, 200 feet is obviously a best-case scenario, assuming clear line of sight etc, but put it this way: I haven’t been able to break connection with the Middleton II in my house or garden.

Codec-wise, Marshall has added AAC to the OG Middleton’s standalone SBC codec, allowing higher quality playback. There’s now also the LC3 codec, for lower power consumption with similar or higher perceived audio quality than SBC.

There’s an aux input for wired playback if you’d like to play lossless, although I’d argue that for a party speaker’s primary purpose, sheer fidelity is not the chief priority. Next to the jack is an input/output USB-C port for charging the Middleton and/or refuelling other devices from it.

Marshall Middleton II review: Sound quality

I’d not blame you for suspecting a speaker this pretty of being all bluff and no aces. Thankfully, that isn’t the case.

Like its predecessor, the Middleton II packs dual ⅗-inch tweeters and dual three-inch woofers, with two passive radiators to further amplify the sound from the main drivers. This time, though, the main drivers are neodymium magnetic versus the dynamic drivers of the OG unit, resulting in richer bass (in theory, anyway). Importantly, the amps for the main woofers have been boosted from 20W to 30W, for extra bass punch and more loudness.

And for its size, this thing is fairly loud. Indoors, it has no issue soundtracking gatherings and small parties. Admittedly, in my thirties now, those gatherings are a little quieter than they used to be, but for small gardens and one-to-two room parties, the Middleton II is eminently suitable. For larger indoor or outdoor spaces, though, I’d check out the bigger Kilburn III. And there’s the enormous Marshall Bromley 750 party speaker if it’s a car park or something needs filling.

The Middleton II’s sound separation isn’t bad. It’s obviously got nothing on a set of the best headphones, and uber-spacious tracks like Mk.Gee’s ‘Dream Police’ sound a tad claustrophobic. But I had to pay attention to care. And hey, it’s a Bluetooth speaker, remember? It isn’t really meant for detailed listening.

There’s stereo playback, too, which is OK. I played ‘Moving in Stereo’ by The Cars, which leans heavily on left and right stereo separation, especially noticeable in its opening section. As the riff came in, I could just about make it out as coming from the right-hand channel, followed quickly by Benjamin Orr’s vocals through the left. But only just. Again, though, it’s a compact speaker.

Marshall promises 360-degree sound, suggesting you can sit anywhere around the speaker and still get the full effect. That’s mostly true. Sitting in front or behind, I had great difficulty working out any difference, although at the sides there’s a definite muting of the sound. Sat around a table with friends, though, would I care? No.

The Middleton II’s default ‘Marshall’ EQ profile is deliberately neutral. I wanted a little extra brightness from Stewart Copeland’s ferocious cymbals in The Police’s ‘Truth Hits Everybody’, which felt uncharacteristically un-piercing — nothing a little EQ tweaking couldn’t fix, though. Otherwise, I had very few issues with the high-up stuff.

Mid tones are well-pronounced, suiting guitar- and kick-drum-heavy rock tracks — unsurprising for a Marshall speaker. Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ riff sounds as gravelly and powerful as it ought to, while the conjoined riffs of Melvins' ‘Honey Bucket’ are just as thick and sludgy as god intended.

Listen along to my testing playlist below:

I was particularly impressed by the Middleton II’s low frequency response, which suits the speaker especially well to bassy electronica. I could feel the sumptuous lows of Dusky’s ‘Stick By This’ warming my bones; like taking a hot bath in bass. And in Burn Water’s deep, melancholic ‘Ikigai’, it was more of the same — a rich, tight and distortion-free performance.

Skream’s ‘Sub Island’ is my go-to for sub-bass testing — a veritable speaker ruiner, in case that wasn’t immediately obvious from the eponym. The track is almost entirely sub-bass, so the fact I could hear anything besides the drum track at all on a speaker this size had me impressed. The ground wasn’t shaking, but the frequencies themselves were all there. For thicker and more powerful sub-bass, though, you’ll need something endowed with a sub-woofer, like the Kilburn III or the $499 Brane X (my daily driver) and its 9-inch magnetic sub.

Marshall Middleton II review: Microphone quality

Unlike its predecessor, the Middleton II features a microphone, allowing you to take calls through the speaker. The microphone is pretty good, too, although obviously its performance depends on how close you are to it.

Within a meter of the speaker, the microphone performs respectably on calls. My wife reported that my voice sounded clear, with the full spectrum of my vocals relayed well, from the deeper tones through to higher notes when I whispered. Dropping back further than a few feet from the speaker and my voice started to sound echoey, as if I were on speakerphone (which, well, I was).

I can see this being a useful feature during gatherings, allowing a group of friends to all join in and take a call. It also gives the Middleton II workplace conferencing capability — hilariously at odds with its edgy, alternative styling.

Marshall Middleton II review: Battery life

The Middleton II’s battery life is its pièce de résistance. 30 hours, according to Marshall, and I can vouch for it. After pushing 20 hours of mixed-volume use across several small gatherings and numerous testing sessions, I still had 32% of battery left.

This is a major improvement on the already respectable 20-hour battery life of the original Middleton and almost double the 16-hour battery life of my Fender x Teufel Rockster Cross speaker. If you want the best-of-the-best battery-wise, though, then you’ll have to front the extra 50 bucks for the Kilburn III.

The Middleton II also features USB-C power output, so you can charge your phone or other devices from it. This is super handy when going on camping trips, as it saves you needing to bring a separate power bank.

Marshall Middleton II review: Verdict

Ah, the eponymous middle child, cursed with middle-child syndrome. The Marshall Middleton II is a decent little (kinda) speaker. If you need something more than the Emberton III — you’re soundtracking more than a picnic in the park or studying in your dorm room — the Middleton will do the job. It’s loud enough for small gatherings, and the sound itself is fairly impressive. The battery life is excellent, the build quality sublime, the aesthetics jaw-dropping.

The only problem is its bigger brother, the Kilburn III, which is bigger for the better in most ways: bigger sound, bigger woofer, and only marginally bigger ($50) price tag. The Middleton II still has the upper hand with its impressive connectivity range and better waterproofing, though, so it’ll really depend on your specific needs and what you value most.

Regardless, I seriously doubt you’ll be disappointed by the middle kiddo. If you chose to save the $50, I get it.