Around this time last year, Marshall released a new version of its Major wireless headphones that offered a ludicrous 60 hours of per charge use time. Now the iconic brand has thrown another 20 hours into the mix with the release of the Major IV on-ears.
Marshall is of course best known for its guitar amplification prowess, but decided to expand into the already crowded personal audio gear market in 2010, joining up with Sweden's Zound Industries to release the first version of the Major headphones.
These were square boxes that sat on the outside of the ears, rather than over them, and were connected to the music source with a guitar lead-like curly cable. The arresting styling wasn't to everyone's taste, but they sounded pretty good. In fact we still use a pair to this day.
The Major finally went wireless in 2016, and Google Assistant was cooked in last year for the Voice edition – with a headline-grabbing battery life of 60 hours per charge. Now Marshall has raised the bar once again with the latest flavor.
Not only are the Major IV headphones reported to be good for over 80 hours of continuous use over Bluetooth, but they don't even need to be directly plugged into the mains for a recharge. The wireless over-ears can be sat on a wireless charging mat for a juice up, though sadly that pad is not supplied with the product.
Elsewhere, the headphones are said to benefits from improved ergonomics for long-haul comfort. They still feature 40-mm (1.6-in) dynamic drivers for a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz, 99-dB sensitivity and 32-ohms impedance.
The new Majors make use of Bluetooth 5.0 technology, though there's no indication of codec support out of the box, and also accept cabled input for when the battery is low, or to allow friends to plug in their cans to share your listening experience. And the brass multi-directional control knob is used to adjust volume, control playback and take calls from a paired smartphone.
The Major VI wireless headphones are available for pre-order now at US$149.99, with shipping expected to start from October 14.
Product page: Marshall Major IV