Marshall Major IV MIV-201 Bluetooth Headphones

I really like these headphones. They have easily become my everyday headphones. Here’s why:

Battery Life: The battery life on these puppies is insane. 80 hours! I can go weeks without recharging, and I use them for a couple of hours everyday. These are the longest lasting headphones I’ve ever had.

Looks: They headphones don’t look like all the other plasticky headphones out there. The leather (although maybe it’s fake leather) and the retro styling on the cans all come together to produce a unique and cool aesthetic.

Sound: The sound quality is very, very good, although if you’re a true audiophile, they will probably not satisfy you. Also these headphones lack support for for AptX or AAC. However the whole point of support for those codecs is to provide superior sound, and these headphones provide great sound without it, so I guess who cares. Right? The sound mix features a very punchy bass, which I like. It is very clear and a great mix. You can hear all the details. If what you primarily listen to is Rock, R&B and Blues you will like the sound mix here. There is somewhat of a soundstage effect, but not as wide as some of the more audiophile type headphones that cost three times the price. I have listened to the $300 Sony headphones and I like the sound on these Marshall’s way more.

Portability: These headphones are small. Seriously, you will be surprised how small they are. They also fold up really nicely. I can easily fit them into my coat pocket. They do not come with a carry case, although I never really uses those anyway.

Comfort: These are very comfortable. They are very light and do not make you feel like you have extra weight on your head. The padding on the ear cups is soft. Be aware that these are on-ear headphones, not over-ear. This means that the padding sits on your ears instead of going around them. Some people might find this uncomfortable, but I do not. Also as someone who wears glasses, I prefer on-ear to around-ear because the over-ear ones tend to put pressure on my glasses ear pieces. There is just enough clamping pressure to make me feel safe that the headphones won’t slip off, but not enough to give me a headache. Obviously a lot of how comfortable a pair of headphones are depends on your headsize and shape. I have kind of a medium size head, and these are great for me. I can easily wear them for 2 hours without feeling uncomfortable. That being said there were one or two time where I was wearing them for 4-5 hours where they definitely did get a little uncomfortable so if you are going to wear them all day long, that might be a problem. But I would think that 2 hours of comfortable wearing will cover more than 90% of situations.

Controls: These headphones have a unique joystick-style control for volume, ffd/rew and on/off. One joystick button for everything. I was apprehensive about it at first, but now I love it. No feeling around for various buttons and trying to make sure you have the right one. I kind of wish that other brands adopted this joystick model. My only complaint on the controls is that you have to push and do a long hold (3-4 seconds) to turn it off and on and sometimes it doesn’t register if yu don’t have it in the exact right position and you have to do it a couple of times. A minor complaint, but I honestly have so little to complain about on the headphones that I feel like I must mention it.

Noise cancellation: There is no active noise cancellation (ANC) on these headphones. That’s probably one reason why they were able to get the battery life so long. Also, since they are on-ear and not over-ear headphones, the passive noise cancellation is not as much either. There is definitely some passive noise cancellation, but not tons. This doesn’t bother me. Since I mostly wear them on my commute, I want to be able to hear when there is a subway announcement about route changes and when a car in the street is honking at me or a fire engine is going by. But if you are planning on mostly using these to block out noise on an airplane, you probably want something with better noise cancellation. I have worn these on a plane and I could hear fine, but I had to turn the volume pretty high up.

Build Quality: These headphones feel really nice and are definitely a quality product. The cans are connected to the headband via thin metal clips that fold in. I am a little concerned about the durability of this component since it at a joint and it is so thin. I have had these for a couple of months and not had a problem, but I suspect that if I do have a problem, these metal clips are where it will be. Hopefully it’s more durable than it looks.

Cords: These come with a USB C cord for charging and 3.5 mm jack coiled cord for connecting directly to your audio source. A nice feature is you can also use the 3.5 mm cord for connecting to another pair of headphones and sharing your sound.

Mic: I have used these for several phone calls and zoom meetings and have never had any complaints about anyone hearing me.

Competition: If you are looking for an on-ear Bluetooth headphone without AAC, these are hard to beat. I also have the Jabra 45’s which are also very good, but I prefer these because they fold up, don’t slip off my head, have the option for using 3.5 mm cord, and have a slightly more punchy bass mix. The only other options in this category are the JBL 500BT which I understand have great sound and are much cheaper but get alot of complaints for being uncomfortable. Or the Beats solo 3, which I generally feel like are overpriced and not worth it.

To sum up – get these headphones. You won’t regret it.

These headphones are a solid choice if you’re into metal or rock and want quality sound. Other people have gotten into the specifics, but yeah, it’s not super bass heavy, which is a plus for metal and rock where that type of thing usually muddies the sound and makes it sound horrible, there is a very clean sound in my opinion. I just got these yesterday and have been listening to extreme metal genres to test them out and I have zero complaints, from listening to death metal, to grindcore, to doom metal, they have given me the exact sound that I’ve wanted. I am super stoked. I was really hesitant to throw down over 100 bucks on a pair of headphones but I love them.
As for other genres of music, I can say that while I’m not a purist in terms of only listening to metal and rock, they are my primary go to genres and the ones that I care most about the music, HOWEVER, listening to pop and classical music I felt like the sound was super clean and nice as well. If you like it the bass to hit really hard, then these are definitely not where it’s at.
Noise cancellation is non existent other than what the headphones block out from being over your ears, and it’s mediocre.
The fit is so-so as well, these would be amazing if they were over the ear instead of just on the ear but I find them tolerable for long periods of time still, and the sound makes it worth it.

I am very happy with these headphones. A single charge easily lasts 3 weeks for me with fairly regular use. They are comfortable enough to wear for a few hours at a time, and I like the look of them.

I only have one complaint. The battery level is very difficult to read. After recharging, I noticed my phone only reported the battery to be 80%. I thought it was odd so I asked Marshall’s support team. They provided the following response:

“The headphones do not have the ability to display their battery level onto devices, although some phones will show a battery percentage however this is not accurate for the headphones.

The only way to read the battery level is with the LED light on the headphones.”

This seems to be a pretty important feature to leave out of Bluetooth headphones.

It’s so cute and not to big on ear. The battery is long, I used about 3-4 hours/day and just recharge every 3 weeks. However, my ear feels hurt when I wear it more than 3hours.

Was a gift and really love it. Works perfect

Great bargain!