Amp up your portable audio experience
The Marshall Willen is a fully waterproof speaker with a reasonable amount of power, though it's priced a bit high for what it offers.
Marshall’s lineup of portable Bluetooth speakers has been a steady presence of cool in a category saturated with sporty models, and the Willen ($119.99) sticks with that approach. This speaker features a retro, rock-inspired design and pumps out surprisingly powerful audio for its size. We also like its practical touches, such as a built-in carrying strap and a durable build. From an audio perspective, however, it doesn't do enough quite to justify its cost compared with similarly priced competitors, such as the more powerful JBL Flip 6 ($129.95). Just keep in mind that none of the competition offers the same sense of rock-and-roll swagger.
The Marshall Willen is available in black-and-brass as of this writing, and will be available in a cream color later this year. It upholds the company's rock aesthetic with a faux grain-leather exterior (this has a rubbery, weatherproof feel) and a front-facing, crosshatched grille reminiscent of a classic guitar amp. It measures just 4.0 by 4.0 by 1.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 10.9 ounces. For comparison, the JBL Flip 6 (7.0 by 2.6 by 2.8 inches, 1.0 pound) and the $169.99 Marshall Emberton II (2.7 by 6.3 by 3.0 inches, 1.5 pounds) are significantly larger.
Behind the grille, a 10W Class-D amplifier powers the full-range, 2-inch driver, while dual passive radiators add a sense of bass depth. The Willen is compatible with Bluetooth 5.1 and supports the SBC Bluetooth codec; AptX and AAC support is missing, but that's not a huge deal because the Willen pumps out mono audio. That said, you can pair multiple Willen speakers together by pressing the Bluetooth button several times.
The front features a brass Marshall script logo, while a brass multifunction button sits in the upper right corner. The left side houses an uncovered USB-C port for the included USB-C-to-USB-A charging cable. And on the back panel, the speaker has a strap that you can use to fasten it to various surfaces, such as a bicycle handlebar.
The multifunction button handles power (hold it down) and playback (press it), as well as volume (nudge it up or down), and track navigation (push it left or right). It’s a useful, easy-to-operate control and looks good, too. Up top, you get controls for Bluetooth pairing, a speakerphone mic button (press it to toggle calls between your phone and the Willen’s speakerphone), a status LED, and a battery life meter (both are red).
The Willen’s IP67 rating is excellent—the speaker is fully dust-proof and waterproof. You can submerge it at depths of up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes and rinse it off under a faucet without issue. Neither poolside splashes nor heavy downpours should pose much of a risk.
Marshall estimates that the Willen can last roughly 15 hours on the battery. That estimate is excellent, but your results will vary based on your typical volume level. For comparison, the JBL Flip 6 has only a 12-hour battery life. Recharging takes a full three hours.
The Marshall Bluetooth app (available for Android and iOS) offers three EQ presets: the default Marshall sound signature, Push (boosted treble and bass), and Voice (enhanced vocal clarity). You can't make adjustments to these EQ presets, but that's not something we expect for a speaker in this class. Otherwise, the app offers firmware updates and the ability to control the Stack mode (for pairing multiple Marshall speakers).
The Push EQ mode indeed seems to deliver slightly more bass depth, but a speaker of this size is not capable of truly deep bass and this mode comes at the expense of some midrange. That said, it’s really a matter of taste whether you should use the Marshall or Push mode—both have their merits. We primarily tested the speaker in the default Marshall mode.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the Willen pumps out a reasonable semblance of deep bass at moderate-to-high volumes. At maximum volume, it’s a different story: Here, the digital signal processing (DSP) desperately tries to thin out the bass thump to prevent distortion. This effort is mostly successful, but the enclosure can rattle a bit and the sound quality suffers as a result. This behavior isn't surprising given the speaker's size, and just reaffirms that you should stick with moderate volumes.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Willen’s sound signature. The drums on this track can sound thunderous on larger speakers, but here they have a far more subtle presence; you get a hint of their lower frequencies, but that's it. Callahan’s baritone vocals get plenty of low-mid richness and some additional high-mid presence, thus resulting in a rich, sculpted sound. The acoustic strums and higher-register percussive hits retain a certain brightness, and even at top volumes, everything stays in relative balance. Still, there's a definite tendency toward the brighter, crisper aspects of the mix.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence, so its attack retains its punch. Meanwhile, the vinyl crackle and hiss in the background take a step forward in the mix. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are present but faint, and the drum loop gets additional weight from the passive radiators. But again, a speaker of this size isn’t going to provide much deep bass response. The vocals on this track sound clear, but we note some additional sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, have a crisp, bright sound. A pleasant lower-mid richness anchors the mix here.
The mic works fine. We had no trouble understanding every word in a test recording on an iPhone, and even note a bit of lower-frequency presence in the signal. Vocals sound crisper at close distances, but you shouldn't have any problems with voice calls over this speaker in any reasonable scenario.
The Marshall Willen is easy to use, sounds good for its size, and looks cool. But the cost seems a bit high in light of more powerful competitors in this price bracket, including the JBL Flip 6 and the comparatively massive Anker Soundcore Motion Boom ($89.99). The Bose SoundLink Flex ($149) and the Marshall Emberton II are more premium options worth your attention, though the latter isn't much of an upgrade in terms of sound quality. If you’re a fan of the Marshall aesthetic and the price doesn’t bother you, however, the highly portable and outdoor-ready Willen lives up to expectations.
The Marshall Willen is a fully waterproof speaker with a reasonable amount of power, though it's priced a bit high for what it offers.
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I've been a contributing editor for PCMag since 2011. Before that, I was PCMag's lead audio analyst from 2006 to 2011. Even though I'm a freelancer now, PCMag has been my home for well over a decade, and audio gear reviews are still my primary focus. Prior to my career in reviewing tech, I worked as an audio engineer—my love of recording audio eventually led me to writing about audio gear.
Probably because of their prevalence in the recording studios I worked in a long time ago, I am most comfortable on Macs—I'm writing this on the 2019 iMac I use for testing. I also have a MacBook Pro that gets plenty of similar use.
My workspace has a mini recording studio setup, and the the gear I work with there is a mix of items I've used forever (Paradigm Mini Monitors and a McIntosh stereo receiver) and newer gear I use for recording and review testing (such as the Universal Audio Apollo x16).
I'm obsessed with modern boutique analog synths—some of my favorites instruments in this realm are the Landscape Audio Stereo Field and HC-TT, the Soma Enner, the Koma Field Kit, and the Lorre Mill Keyed Mosstone.
From my studio days, I'm comfortable using Pro Tools, and in recent years have branched out to other realms of creative software, like Adobe Premiere and After Effects.
I stream music, but I also still buy albums, digitally or on vinyl, and encourage anyone who wants fair compensation for musicians and engineers to do the same.
I also play lots of Wordle.
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