READ NEXT: The best headphones for every budget Marshall Major IV review: What do you get for the money? The fourth-generation Major IV possess all of the style we’ve come to expect from Marshall, while more than doubling the battery life of their predecessor. They’ve also undergone a few smart design tweaks, making them an attractive option for those seeking eye-catching, on-ear cans. Controls are equally simple to navigate. Marshall has taken a “less is more” approach, and I can’t fault the execution. A single multidirectional knob on the right earpad handles all of your key commands. Pressing and holding the knob powers the Major IV on or off, with a single press playing or pausing audio.

Marshall Headphones and earphones | Argos

Where these headphones fall down is in the bass department, with slightly rolled-off frequencies which bassheads probably won’t appreciate. We tried out James Blake’s ‘If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead’ to put the bass frequencies to the test, and found the usually-body-thumping bass drum was pretty underwhelming. However, for general use, the sound is warm and balanced enough to give you a great listening experience. Another attractive feature is the ability to share your audio using the included 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable. Plug the cable into the Major IV, connect it to any pair of headphones with a 3.5mm port and whatever you’re listening to will be played through the other device as well. A section of the cable stretches so you don’t have to worry about pulling the headphones off your head if one of you moves, which is a nice touch. Opportunities to take advantage of such a feature may not present themselves too often – particularly at the moment – but it’s a thoughtful and useful inclusion nonetheless. It’s been ten years since Marshall released its first pair of headphones, the Marshall Major. Over the course of the decade, the Major series has dropped its 3.5mm cable in favour of a Bluetooth connection, but the basic premise remains unchanged: on-ear headphones created to reflect the renowned guitar amp manufacturer’s heritage. Passive noise cancellation is never a strong point of on-ear headphones, but the Marshall Major IIIs are particularly disappointing in this regard. We tried them in the office and could still easily hear people’s conversations, meaning you’d have to really blast your music if you wanted to drown out the outside world. There’s no active noise cancellation option offered here, which isn’t surprising considering this is seen as more of an entry level pair from Marshall. For active noise cancellation, you’re going to have to stump up the cash for the enjoyable and premium Marshall Mid ANCs. With a straight band and heavily padded on-ear cushions, the headphones are designed to be comfortable for long periods of time, although we did experience a little discomfort from the pressure on ears after a long listening session. If you also have this problem with on-ear headphones, we’d recommend opting for over-ear headphones, which are usually more comfy, surrounding your ears rather than being placed on top of them.

Stylish headphones for guitar heroes

The Major IV is also serviceable for binging Netflix shows and YouTube clips. Clarity was spot-on, making dialogue-heavy content sound crisp and clear while accentuating certain effects; mic static was prominent on certain podcasts. Action sequences also sounded good, with explosions giving off a nice boom effect that wasn’t overbearing on my ears. Adding to the Major IV’s convenient controls is digital assistant support. Siri and Google Assistant are available, so you’ll be able to shoot off voice commands without a hitch thanks to Marshall’s intelligible mics, which offer great speech recognition and register full sentences completely. It was nice to pull up NFL scores, create calendar invites, and send voice-to-text messages to friends without reaching for my smartphone. Marshall Major IV: Sound quality