Pitch Black Marshall Minor Review

 

I previously reviewed the white Marshall Minor headphones and although I was not jumping up and down with its performance, I still found it a good set of headphones with a good value-for-money offering.  The Marshall Minor is arguably a good-looking set of headphones and would certainly earn quizzical looks with its quirky design.  Yet the design has its purpose and the Marshall Minor has in fact one of the most innovative headphone designs.

Marshall Minor Technical Specifications

• Transducer                         15.44mm Moving coil dynamic speaker
• Sensitivity                           115 ± 3dB at 1kHz 1mW (single speaker)
• Rated input power            2mW
• Impedance                          32 Ω ± 15% at 1kHz
• Frequency respond           20 ~ 20kHz
• Maximum input power    5mW

I liked the packaging of the white Marshall Minor and it’s no different with the Pitch Black Marshall Minor.  The packaging of the Marshall Minor is something that stands out, not for being fancy, but for being a retro.  I guess this is something in line with the Marshall brand.  But instead of the white prints with light brown background, you get brown prints against a black background.  The box is still the same though, including the pop-up mechanism once you open the box.  The entire package consists of the Marshall Minor headphones, the neutral stereo plug, the product manual and three sets of EarClick pads.

As I have already previously mentioned, the design of the Marshall Minor is not the ordinary kind.  Indeed, the Marshall Minor is different.  The design of the Pitch Black Marshall Minor is very much the same as the white Marshall Minor and the only difference really is the color.  So instead of white, the new Minor now sports Pitch Black or what Marshall claims is the same as being colorless.  It simply means black the way you imagine black to be.  I like this color better than white one.

The weird design is still there, but believe me, the weirdness of the shape has a special purpose.  The Marshall Minor is not a real in-ear headphones and can still be classified as conventional canal type headphones.  This is because no part of the headphones go into the ear canal.  When the headphones are in place, the ear buds just sit outside the canals.

The design of the Marshall Minor may confuse users as there are fan-shaped little pads that are positioned on top of the earbuds.  These pads actually function as locks that are meant to be inserted to the canal just above the earlobe. The pads act as locks that hold the earbuds firmly on the ears.  The design is what Marshall calls the EarClick System and the Minor comes with four sets of interchangeable EarClick pads, one of which is already pre-mounted on the earbuds.  The Marshall Minor has mic and remote for use on cellphones using the 3.5mm standard.  The button is located a few inches below the left earbud and can be used to control calls and to play music.  Overall, the build of the Marshall Minor is quite solid and the tangle resistant fabric cord is strong and sturdy.

The first Marshall product I reviewed was the Marshall Major, a set of on-ear cans that delivered strong bass and an impressive overall performance.  The Marshall Minor is not as impressive as the Major but it’s not bad either.   The Marshall Minor still delivers the strong bass elements in the Major although it’s a little muted.  The sound signature is rounded but bass intensity is not its strongest suit.  Where it excels, though, is in delivering mid frequencies.  So on tracks that do not require too much bass power, the Minor is actually good.  The Minor is therefore ideal for listening to alternative and guitar-heavy tracks.   The treble quality on the Minor is also something that’s praise-worthy.   Try listening to mellow tunes with strong vocals and the Minor simply shines.

On highs, the Minor is a bit wanting.  The highs somehow break towards the end and this is noticeable at high volume.  Sound stage is quite acceptable but is also not a strong suit of the Marshall Minor.   Sound isolation is however nice, although not as ideal as the type delivered by in-ear headphones.

For the price of P2,950, what the Marshall Minor delivers is decent sound in a fashionable yet quirky design.  And with the new pitch black color, the Minor will gain even more fans than the white Minor.

There’s actually an ongoing promo for the Pitch Black Marshall Major and Marshall Minor.  What you only need to do is come to the participating stores wearing a black shirt and you automatically get 15% off the regular price.  The participating stores are as follows:

• Beyond The Box One Rockwell
• Beyond The Box new Port City
• Beyond The Box Lucky Chinatown
• Digital Walker Trinoma
• Digital Walker Eastwood
• Digital Walker Alabang Town Center
• Digital Hub Virra Mall
• Digital Hub Market! Market!
• Buzz Robinsons Ermita

Check out this poster for the promo which runs from May 14 to May 16.