A new heavyweight joins the 2024 headphone party

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. About eight years ago, just as the Indian smartphone market was heating up, a side war ensued for premium, noise-cancelling, wireless headphones. Soon enough, three recognized brands—Bose, Sennheiser and Sony—took on each other with headphones that were almost evenly stacked.

In 2018, Marshall, an iconic British company cemented in ‘70s rock folklore, joined this party. Today, the Marshall Monitor III ( ₹29,999) seeks to prove that the brand is not merely cashing-in on its storied existence—this pair is worthy of a discerning music lover’s attention. The audio industry has long been split into the mainstream market of everyday listeners and a more discerning market of customers who call themselves ‘audiophiles’.

Marshall, as a brand, has always belonged to a third category—professional musicians—given that its core business until today remains its venerable tube amplifiers and guitar cabinets. In the audiophile segment, there were questions about whether mainstream audio products can be true-to-source—a big factor in high fidelity sound. True audiophile-grade headphones typically use sophisticated sound drivers, high-quality connector wires and balanced audio ports—headphones that claim to deliver high-fidelity audio over Bluetooth is simply not to be trusted.