Marshall
Marshall Stockwell II portable speaker: design evolves, sound progresses
Aprox. 179€ - see price -
See specificationsMarshall is continuing to renew its range of Bluetooth speakers with the second iteration of the Stockwell, its most compact model, which sees itself decked out in the famous "Blumlein stereophony" which has become a signature of the brand.
Positive points
Lots of control and balance in the bass and midrange.
Sound / congestion ratio remarkable.
Original and efficient spatialization system.
Design and construction worked.
Splash protection.
Connection to two sources simultaneously via Bluetooth.
AptX Low Latency compatible.
High autonomy (20 hours).
Bad points
A slight resonance is heard in the extreme bass.
Small failure in the high-midrange, lack of presence of voices and cutting edge.
Very incomplete commands (no volume unification, no reading control).
Our review
Presentation
The Stockwell II is the most compact new Bluetooth speaker in the Marshall catalog. This certainly does not make it an absolute ideal of nomadism: 18 cm high, 16 cm wide and 7 cm deep, it weighs 1.4 kg on the scales. This therefore places it slightly above the threshold which marks, according to our definition, the boundary between "portable" enclosure and "transportable" enclosure.
Besides its name, the Marshall Stockwell II surprisingly shares little in common with the first Stockwell of the name. Exit the rectangular shape and the integrated cover / support, the new born adopts the design inaugurated by Marshall in autumn 2018 with the Kilburn II. From the latter, it also takes up the famous "Blumlein stereophony" - a slightly fanciful name given to an original spatialization system, making use of an additional tweeter placed at the rear of the speaker to optimize the diffusion of sound in the listening room.
The Stockwell II is launched at a target price of € 249.
Ergonomics
There is probably no longer any need to write about the design of the Marshall Bluetooth speakers. The look of the eponymous vintage amps befits these little speakers, which the Stockwell II demonstrates once again. The finish is not to be outdone, with its rubbery plastic of good quality and its strap in synthetic leather and very elegant red velvet.
More mobile than its sisters in the Marshall range, the Stockwell II is not only by its relatively small footprint, but also by its IPX4 certification. This index certainly does not guarantee any protection against immersion - so avoid taking it to the edge of the swimming pool -, but you can at least take it outside without fear that a sudden downpour would damage its integrity.
The speaker proudly displays its Bluetooth 5.0 compatibility, but it does not take any functional advantage. Much more interesting, however, is its ability to connect multipoint to two sources simultaneously, with automatic connection and switching of the broadcast source when a playback is launched on one of the two devices. Ideal if you want to regularly use the speaker with a smartphone and a computer, for example.
On the other hand, control interfaces with "pseudo-knobs" are still just as questionable, insofar as they clearly sacrifice convenience of use in favor of the aesthetic effect. The absence of a motorized volume control prevents any unification of the latter with the volume of the source device, and we still regret the impossibility of controlling playback (pause, navigation between tracks) from the enclosure.
Note also that the speaker does not have a hands-free kit function.
Like all the latest Marshall speakers, the Stockwell II is compatible on its Bluetooth link with the aptX Low Latency codec; and when paired with a compatible source device, the broadcast delay is kept below 50 ms. The resulting audio / image mismatch when watching a video is almost undetectable; a great point. With other sources, the latency is around 150 ms, a value that is always reasonable; the sound / image mismatch then becomes clearly perceptible, but unless you are particularly sensitive to the phenomenon, you get used to it quite quickly.
In addition to its Bluetooth connectivity, the Stockwell II also has an auxiliary input on 3.5 mm mini-jack. The single USB Type-C port can be used both for charging the speaker itself, and in reverse for charging a device from the speaker - smart! The choice of this connection also makes the speaker compatible with fast charging (up to 12 V / 3 A), but we can however find a bit stingy on the part of Marshall to provide no AC adapter in the box. You have to settle for a simple USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable.
Autonomy is announced by the manufacturer at 8 pm And this generous promise is perfectly kept when the listening volume is set at around 60% of its maximum value. This makes the Stockwell II one of the most enduring speakers in our comparison.
Audio
Marshall also took advantage of this redesign of the Stockwell to significantly retouch its sound performances. The whole is still far from perfection, but highlights some very good qualities.
The Stockwell II carries a woofer lined with a bass reflex vent radiating towards the front, as well as two tweeters positioned back to back, at the front and at the rear of the speaker - we will come back to this below. For now, let's focus on the lower half of the spectrum, which is clearly the region where the speaker shines the most. Very balanced - with the exception of a slight resonance at 70 Hz which is not at all dramatic - the bass shows a fairly impressive mastery. Their excellent responsiveness allows the loudspeaker to offer a first-rate seat / congestion ratio. The positioning of the vent at the front also means that the bass rendering depends as little as possible on the acoustics of the listening room; it's always appreciated.
The notion of balance, on the other hand, is clearly not the first that would come to mind when describing the high and mid-range highs of the Stockwell II. Admittedly, the abyss visible on the measurement of frequency response between 3 and 11 kHz is largely exaggerated compared to what one perceives in real use - this is explained by the fact that the energy emitted by the rear tweeter, precisely concentrated on this frequency band, is largely lost in the ultra-absorbent acoustics of our measurement lab, whereas it is not in a listening room with "normal" reverberation. Nevertheless, we can clearly hear a noticeable failure in the cutting edge by ear, which weakens the presence of voices and electric guitars in particular - we couldn't do more paradox for a brand like Marshall, of course!
But this is the only major criticism that can be made of this place. Apart from that, the dynamics and the power provided are up to the excellent habits of the brand, with a slight compression which is heard only when one approaches the maximum volume. The distortion is kept at inaudible levels over the entire audible spectrum.
As almost always on Marshall Bluetooth speakers, the bass level settings are nice additions a priori, but whose real usefulness is very limited. It is an understatement to say that the allowed settings are not extremely precise, since they apply to frequency ranges of a frankly excessive width. We advise not to touch the bass knob and leave it in the middle position, the only one that preserves the balance of the lower part of the spectrum. The treble knob on the other hand can be handled sparingly to soften or brighten the sound according to individual preferences.
Finally, let us conclude on this famous "Blumlein stereophony", whose principle and effect are here perfectly identical to what we had seen on the Kilburn II: the stereophony of the input signal is analyzed by DSPs which try to automatically extract the room effects ( reverberation, echo ...) in order to restore these via the rear tweeter, and to accentuate their distribution throughout the listening room by reflection on the rear wall. The system certainly has nothing whatsoever to do with Alan Blumlein's inventions (which in any case only concerned the recording of sound, and not its reproduction), but it turns out to be quite effective surprising and allows the soundstage to be adorned with a small but real depth, much better than a "classic" stereo confined to the tiny dimensions of a portable speaker. Nothing that revolutionizes listening, but a little more pleasant nonetheless.
Conclusion
After the very successful Kilburn II and Acton II Voice, the Marshall speakers continue their good series. The Stockwell II benefits from very serious sound progress made since its predecessor, completed by this "Blumlein stereophony" still as strangely named, but undeniably effective. Not everything is still perfect in terms of hearing, but the visual attractions of the beast may be enough to compensate for this.
Specifications
Reviews
#1 in my homegrown Head-to-Head Comparefest
Was nervous picking this up at first, because all the reviews seemed to be from reviewers who got the product for free. Not that their reviews weren't accurate, but I was tentative to buy a Bluetooth speaker at this price, and knowing whether the performance would justify the cost was a big part of the buying decision for me.
Well, long story short, I tested this speaker against a handful of other highly-regarded Buletooth speakers in the $ 50-75 range, just to be sure that the Stockwell's price tag wasn't based on branding alone, and I ended up satisfied with the results. The Stockwell II isn't a perfect speaker - it does drop off more low-end base than some speakers with "boomier" designs, and it may not get quite as loud as some others at the very top of the volume dial, but the one thing it does do well, is sound good across virtually every source & listening scenario.
Every time I thought I had found a song or sample that proved another contender could top the Stockwell II for less cash, I found there was a caveat ... For example, the Archeer A320 produced better bass at low-to-mid volumes, but its midrange was muddier across the board. I realized after more research that the Archeer adds some artificial bass boost on the low-end that sounds good in some cases, but extended into the low-mid range, cluttering up some intstrumentals and giving voices a weird "overboosted aftereffect" vibe. Meanwhile, at higher volumes, the Stockwell produces enough thump to be heard, while remaining noticably tighter than the others.
Along the same lines, speakers that could get louder than the Stockwell usually ended up sounding crushed, or with a buzzy sound either from the processing or the drivers themselves, that didn't really produce a better experience than the Stockwell at max volume, which holds together pretty well, and is loud enough for an outdoor gathering of all but the most chaotic kind! (If you're trying to outdo a kids' pool party or a rowdy family barbecue, you might need more than 1 portable Bluetooth speaker in the first place!)
Anyway, I'm writing this review for people like me, who are intrigued by the Stockwell II, but have doubts about the price. I'm going to be returning or gifting the other 4 speakers I tested this against, and happily rolling with the Stockwell for the foreseeable. If you have incredible particular musical tastes, eg you listen to 99% EDM and hip-hop. there might be a more aggressive speaker that fits your expectations. But versus all that I threw at the speakers in my home-grown "2019 Bluetooth Speaker head-to-head," be it acoustic guitar tracks, Jazz, Rock, Metal, or podcasts and YouTube movies or music, the Marshall gave everything the most natural, ie "live" impression.
There may be competitor speakers that outdo the Stockwell - I don't run an audio review site nor have the time to continue testing alternatives for weeks on end. But I came away mightly impressed with this little speaker (which, it should be noted is arguably more portable than many of the other large-ish "pro" quality BT competitors in its price range.) While I'm sure I could find an even better option at twice the price or size, I could never get the Stockwell II to sound * bad * - more than could be said for some of the others I tried - and it often sounded surprisingly clear.
Rarely do I make such an effort to review something online, but I didn't want all my time & effort on this little side-project to go to waste. :) Hope it helps someone else out there evaluating their options for a high-quality Bluetooth speaker to pair with a phone, tablet, or laptop, that's still easy to port around.
Wow! Just Wow!
This Marshall Stockwell Portable Bluetooth speaker has wowed me in ways that I did not think were possible. Let's jump right in with the Class D amplifiers. Most people are not going to know what a Class D amp is, does, or why it is better - and in fact, some people are going to complain about a Class D amplifier's one "drawback" or perhaps not really a "drawback," but the one thing you can notice about it.
Class D amplifiers are not linear. That means that when you turn it up (or turn down the resistance) the Class D amp does not get louder in a straight line. It is exponential so it takes a long time of turning the volume knob before it starts to get loud, and then when it does, it gets very loud, very fast. You have to be precise when turning the volume knob and plan on treating "6" or "7" as the starting point.
In exchange for this one minor difference, you get an amplifier that is easily 90% efficient, compared to a Class A or B amplifier that is 50% -78.5% efficient - and typically closer to 50% efficiency. That means cleaner power and more power, with less distortion and more punch and power when you need it. Mostly what it means, is PURE sound quality that is crisp and clean and sounds awesome.
You can hear those amplifiers at work in this beautiful speaker. It is truly a work of art on several levels. It looks and feels outstanding. The build quality is like a German car of yesteryear folklore. The speaker just feels solid and perfectly built. It is heavy, and sturdy and interestingly, somewhat water resistant.
The engineering is very simple and clean and minimalist - all in a very beautiful look and feel.
But where it really shines is the rich, warm, powerful sound. This is one of those speakers that you look at it and listen to it and think to yourself - HOW DID THEY DO THAT? How did they get this relatively small, chunk of a speaker to look and feel so good and sound so amazing.
I would give this speaker 10 stars if I could. The battery lasts plenty long, even at loud levels (remember that 90% efficiency?) And it sounds SO, SO GOOD. Rich, warm and clear with no HISS and no noise or distortion. Run it at 10 and it sounds loud, but clear. The bass isn't the kind that rattles screws loose or makes you think your windows are going to rattle into pieces - it is the kind of bass that sounds like there is a real bass drum in your room, or a bass guitarist with a ( Marshall) amp in your bedroom strumming away with the band.
Can you tell I'm a fan of this speaker. It is simply a thing of beauty.
I hope you find this to be a helpful review. If there is anything more you would like to know, please ask. I try to check my reviews for comments and respond to them right away. If you ask something and I don't get back quickly, please check my profile page and email me and I will try to respond as soon as I see it. I think it is important for fellow shoppers on Amazon to look out for one another by letting each other know if a product is good, or if it is a stinker. THIS is a good one - I stand behind it 100% and I would put my name all over this review with no holding back. It is the real deal! I take reviewing very seriously and try to be helpful. Thank you!
Great but with one small issue
Just got this speaker and it really does sound very good. The only issue is the frequent
Bluetooth connection issue. When I connect it to my iPhone, sometimes the
Music isn't audible until you get past # 6 on the volume knob. I contacted customer service and they had me select the speaker on my phone, then select “forget this device”, then turn my phone off and reconnect the speaker to my phone. This cumbersome workaround works but I am having to do this every other time I want to use the speaker, which is annoying. Marshall is aware of the issue but no software update is available at this time. So, I will be returning the unit until they can fix this issue.
Great omnidirectional sound, excellent battery life
I got this speaker to replace my Denon Envaya dsb-250bt. The denon was draining battery for no reason, a known defect with that speaker.
This speaker has better sound quality, it is omnidirectional so it sounds good wherever you are standing in the room. The battery lasts much longer and actually keeps it's charge. The bass and treble knobs actual make meaningful changes to the sound but are subtle enough that it never sounds bad.
The Bluetooth connect and disconnect tones are slightly annoying but easy to get used to. The speaker will auto turn off when it's not in use without making any sound (Unlike the Denon Envaya which has a loud tone when it turns off). This is perfect if you like to sleep to some music.
My 2 year old niece loves to listen to music on this, and I think it's because anything you play on it is unoffensive to your ears. It just sounds good.