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It’s a healthy sign when consumers have the ear of a company that wants their ears. Marshall heard from the market that there was a desire for ultra-portable on-ear headphones with active noise cancellation, and the end product is the new Milton A.N.C. It brings familiar design language and flagship flourishes into what has typically been a less feature-packed form factor. Until now.
At $229.99, the Milton A.N.C. is positioned between the Major V and Monitor III A.N.C. [literally in one of the pictures below]. It adopts the textured surface, brass logo, multidirectional control knob, and customizable M-Button of the Monitor III A.N.C. (for toggling ANC/Transparency mode, cycling EQ settings, or going directly to a Spotify playlist, etc.). But it does it in a foldable form factor similar in size to the Major V. That’s where the similarities to the Major V end, however. The build and built-in tech have far more in common with the bigger brother.
Larger, detachable, replaceable earpads with softer memory foam improve comfort and passive noise attenuation. Combined with six optimally placed microphones and a next-generation adaptive algorithm that adjusts noise cancellation in real-time, the Milton A.N.C. blocks out noisy environments so you can make the most of the new custom-tuned driver system, which is Hi-Res Audio certified. This means it can deliver a frequency range of 20Hz – 40kHz and handle sources up to 24-bit/96 kHz. To do this, Milton A.N.C. features Bluetooth 6.0 with LE-Audio and support for not only SBC, AAC, and LC3, but also LDAC with a compatible source. Adaptive Loudness ensures the Marshall sound signature comes through clearly when ambient intrusions increase, and proprietary spatialization processing, based on the “True Stereophonic” spatial sound of Marshall’s Bluetooth speakers, widens the soundstage.
Completing the package is a replaceable battery capable of 80 hours of wireless playtime without ANC and 50+ hours with ANC. We’ll share more thoughts on listening and longevity once we’ve had time with a pair.
Milton A.N.C. is available to buy now at marshall.com and will become available at select retailers on May 27.
In the market for something less portable but more colorful? Marshall has also released a purple crushed-velvet ACTON III Marshall X Hendrix 60th Anniversary Edition [$299,99, below left], as well as a matching, far more indulgent halfstack redesign of the 1959 HW and 1960AHW Cab guitar amp accompanied by a custom Jim Dunlop Fuzz Face pedal [$4,999, below right].
