Marshall’s first soundbar rocks as a mainstream alternative – Here’s my take

The Marshall Heston 120 soundbar is currently out of stock on Marshall’s website, and there are no other retailers. According to Marshall, it will be restocked on its website on July 21.

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I’ve tested a handful of soundbars. After a while, I’m not going to lie, they start to blend together. Sleek, nondescript, typically black bars stuffed with the same features but a different arrangement of speakers.

It’s especially exciting when a company releases a product in unfamiliar territory, and even more exciting when that product is done really well on the first try. So, when I got to try Marshall’s Heston 120 soundbar, I was preparing to test simply another soundbar, and instead was greeted by a fresh take on an otherwise uniform product category.

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The soundbar market is a crowded pool, with heavy hitters like Sonos, Samsung, and Sony producing some of the best in the game. Whether you choose from one of those three or go with Marshall’s new Heston 120, you’re sure to spend at least $1,000. Here’s what you should know about it.

Starting with design, the Heston 120 stays true to Marshall’s rock-n-roll visual cues, including pops of gold embellishments, wrapped leather trims, brushed metal panels, and a small row of knurled metal knobs that pay homage to the company’s amp-making roots.

According to Marshall, the Heston 120 was designed to stand out from its home theater competitors, which are usually meant to be heard, not seen. The Heston 120 functions as a soundbar as much as it does a piece of home decor, just like its Stanmore and Woburn home speaker cousins.

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Sound-wise, the Heston 120 didn’t disappoint. It boasts a 5.1.2-channel configuration, 11 class-D amplifiers, two subwoofers, two midwoofers, two tweeters, and five full-range speakers. The bass response is incredible, offering deep, rumbly low frequencies without overriding everything else. It doesn’t measure up to the Arc Ultra’s impressive 15 amplifiers and 9.1.4-channel setup, but the Heston 120 holds it own.

The Heston 120 includes Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, a spatial audio protocol that the Arc Ultra lacks. I watched “Top Gun: Maverick” in Dolby Atmos, and the Heston 120 did better than many standalone soundbars I’ve tested with object separation and tracking. You could feel the rumble of warplanes taking off, and easily track their sound moving from across the screen.

I also watched the season finale of “Love Island” in stereo/PCM, and the Heston 120 reproduced clear dialogue and an enjoyable reproduction of the show’s usage of cheesy pop music. 

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Marshall acknowledged that many people use their soundbar as much for watching TV shows and movies as they do for listening to music. Despite that, the company says that many soundbars aren’t as adept at playing music as they are movies and TV shows. Thus, Marshall aimed to tune the Heston 120 to be as well-suited for a theater-like setting while staying true to its musical roots. 

I found this to be the case, especially since all the knobs on the Heston 120 are fully functional — designed to be a physical way to toggle between outputs, sound modes, and bass and treble levels. If you’re particularly cozy on the couch and don’t want to get up to turn the knobs, however, the Marshall companion app houses all of the Heston 120’s controls. The soundbar comes without a remote, similar to the Arc Ultra, which could be bothersome to some people. For me, it was a plus.

This soundbar has an array of inputs, including HDMI eARC, HDMI pass-through (4K at 120Hz) with Dolby Vision support, RCA stereo, RCA mono (sub out), USB-C, and Ethernet. With these many inputs, Marshall is catering to its customers who want to use the Heston 120 with their analog music players.

For those who don’t have a turntable or music player to connect, the Heston 120 supports an array of wireless connectivity options, including Apple AirPlay via Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth (with Auracast), Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect.

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Listening to music through the Heston 120 is a dream, as it gets plenty loud with lots of bass, clear instrumentals, and balanced vocals. I use Apple Music to stream, and I noticed Dolby Atmos mixes are available when I connected my iPhone to the Heston 120 via Bluetooth instead of AirPlay.

As well as the Heston 120 handled The 1975’s “Pressure” in Dolby Atmos, I preferred listening in stereo. The spatial aspect of the Atmos mix was impressive. There was a noticeable spaciousness to the song, the bassline coming clearly from the left while the guitar melody was reproduced beautifully from the right.

However, the vocals and harmonies were much clearer in stereo, and the instrumentals were layered just right, making every song I listened to all the better.

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Marshall Heston 120 is a very capable soundbar, offering a comprehensive array of ports, spatial audio protocols, and wireless connectivity options. Although its unique design stands out the most, its audio performance is equally impressive, catering to music and movie lovers alike.

Compared to the similarly priced Sonos Arc Ultra, the Heston 120 has a more prominent bass response, eliminating the need for an external subwoofer unless the room is especially large. On the other hand, the Arc Ultra is great on its own, but a Sonos Sub, which is at least an extra $430 and at most an extra $800, is a must to maximize its performance.

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Of the two, the Arc Ultra has more speaker channel divisions, making it a slightly better option for people who want a soundbar that is better suited for a theater-like experience. The Sonos app (despite its issues) has more Wi-Fi music streaming options, and the Arc Ultra has a muted, modern design that may be more appealing to the everyday consumer.

Finally, like any soundbar, a pair of solid rear speakers would truly set the Heston 120 off. Sonos’ indelible footprint in the home theater industry allows for more options to build on your home system, while Marshall is still developing the rest of its home theater lineup.