Design & Construction

Marshall has been making waves in the portable speaker market for a while now, and it is certainly time for a refreshed update considering how many of its competitors have caught up. Today, we have the smallest of the pack, the Marshall Willen in the studio. Let's find out If Marshall can re-engineer their signature sound into the compact form yet. Diving straight into the design, the Willen's design, the Willen's palm-sized form factor helps keep the 310g speaker thin and lightweight for everyday carry. At the front, the classic black speaker grille feels durable and resistant to drops while a brass Marshall logo is etched in the front and centre to give it its iconic character. Around the speaker, a textured silicone wraps its entirety to the back where the speaker features one of the more important purposes yet, a stretchable back-mounted strap that can be detached on the bottom end to loop over poles, window grilles, bicycle handles or even on a backpack to keep the speaker intact. Personally, testing out the stretch, I would say it is strong yet stretchy enough to last for many years of use. I found that looping over regular sizes of poles and even those that are a little thick works the best. However, it may not work too well with poles that are very thin in diameter. You may attach it parallel to the ground or angled to the back of the speaker grooves to keep it even more sturdy. When played at loud volumes, the speaker may shift a little due to the bass vibration but nothing too strong that can dislodge or cause the speaker to fall off. Aside from the strap, the silicone finish runs at the back with strategic bumper cut-outs that help to lift the speaker off the surface of the table when listened to laid down. Because of its grippy texture, the speaker doesn't shift in its flat position when the bass gets going. Controlling the playback, pairing and power are on the top portions of the speaker. On the front, a familair, gold-plated multi-function knob on the front right lets you power on the speaker with a long press. With the same knob, you may play/pause with a single press, skip forward with a right tilt, skip backwards with a left tilt and increase or decrease the volume with a upward or downward tilt respectively. For calls, a single press will answer/end the call and a double press will reject the call. On the top of Willen, you will a rather discrete button on the left that allows you to put the speaker in Bluetooth pairing mode with a long press as well as Stack Mode with a triple press on the main speaker. For additional speakers that you like to add on, a double press will allow the speakers to be found by the main speaker. Stack Mode allows you to connect two or more Willens together for a louder sound, that means that you and your friends who have multiple speaker can come together to start a small party, Willen does also connect to other Marshall speakers in the lineup such as the Emberton II and Middleton, sharing the same daisy chain capabilities as the JBL PartyBoost, Sony Wireless PartyChain or even UE PartyUp. Back to the speaker itself, the mic can be seen to be positioned in the top centre with the five red LED battery indicators that lets you know your battery life status at a glance. Lastly, on the left side, there is a USB-C port meant solely for recharging purposes only, no wired music playback via the cable unfortunately. The Willen last for 15+ hours of music playback at a moderate listening volume with quick charge capabilities that gets you 3 hours of playtime with a 20 minute charge. To charge up the speaker from a dead battery, it takes 3 hours to do so. In terms of weather resistance, we are looking at a IP67 dust and water resistance rating to keep the speaker ready for the elements.

Sound Quality

Moving on to sound quality, the Willen features a single 2 inch 10W full-range dynamic driver and 2 passive radiators, powered by a 10W class-D amplifier to give out a deep-sounding yet vocal-rich sound signature. With a frequency range between 100Hz to 20KHz, the front and backward firing passive radiators push out decently deep and punchy bass though it doesn't have the depth and tightness as medium-sized speakers that have more volume and drivers. The bass however, does do a great job of not bleeding into the mids at a low volume level but it will hit a depth limit at around 80% volume and beyond where the mids and highs become significantly louder and the bass less audible. On the other side of the frequency spectrum, the highs sound bright and forward with great detail especially with low and high pitch vocals without sounding too piercing to listen too at less than 80% volume. The mids are crisp with a very filling soundstage but there is no distinct left and right channels as the speaker is a mono set-up. Meanwhile, I have to comment on how excellent the instrument separation for speaker of its size as all frequencies are can be heard without distortion or getting jumbled up in fast-paced songs at both low or high volumes respectively. With a sound pressure of 82dB, the Willen also gets plenty loud for a stardard medium-sized room like a bedroom or a dorm, easily filling up the space with just one speaker playing at 70% volume. Of course, as mentioned earlier, you can utilised Stack Mode which lets you connect to multiple Willens so you and your friends can jam out together. Although the Willen sounds great out-of-the-box, the speaker's sound signature can be customised via the Marshall Bluetooth app, available on the App and Play Store. In the app, you will first see the option to pair your Willen if you haven't done so before. You will then be greeted with the image of the speaker in the colourway that you have as well as the battery life staus. The first setting is the Eq Preset where you can choose from 3 fixed presets of Marshall, Push and Voice. The Marshall preset is selected by default as being the out-of-the-box sound well the Push preset enables a boosted bass and treble for a deeper and heavier sound. The Voice preset on the other hand, feature an emphasis on the midrange that is more suited for podcasts rather than songs due to its extreme over-tuning that causes the bass to be lost totally. The Push preset didn't fare too well either as the bass becomes bloated and the treble sounds sharp instead, similarly over0tuning to cause the midrange to become over-shadowed and make the speaker sound like it is underwater. Though there is no further customisation like a full-range equaliser, I didn't mind the lack of it since the presets work fine and suffice for most use cases. Back to the app, you can enable the Stack Mode and fiddle with the settings. Moving on to the about tab, you can chwec the speaker's name, model, serial number as well as update its firmware too. If you wish to remove the speaker from you app, a simple tap on the 'Forget Device' button does the job. There are other parts of the app like the Explorre tab that lets you learn more about the rest of Marshall's offerings  and the More tab where you can seek help from the built-in Quick Guide should you forget how to operate the speaker or refer to the user manual for even more detailed instructions. If you are looking to use the Willen as a speakerphone, you are in for a treat since there is a built-in mic for you to take quick phone calls or even a full-on business meeting with cilents. I have to say I am pretty impressed with the voice pickup of the mic too since it sounds rather natural with a decent volume and some clarity. Now those who are into using their smart assistants may be disappoint since the Willen does not have Google Assistant, Siri or Amazon Alexa integration for your smart home needs.

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Connectivity & Portability

In terms of connectivity, Bluetooth 5.1 and the standard SBC is offered and not the latest Bluetooth 5.3 or with any AptX codec support unfortunately. However, any device with Bluetooth 5.0 is still very much relevant for long-term use. If you watch movie or videos with the Willen, it doesn't have much latency. On the bright side, the Willen supports Bluetooth multipoint connection so you can take calls on your phone and listen to music on your laptop. With the move to a wireless, there is no 3.5mm audio-in port available for wired use. On the left side, there is a USB-C port for charging purposes only of which the speaker will last for 15+ hours of playback and quick charges at a rate of 20 minutes for 3 hours of playtime. 

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PROS​

• Energetic Sound Signature

• Iconic, Compact Design

• Rugged Build

• Stretchable Back-mounted Strap

• App Support

• Customisable Equaliser Presets

• Stack Mode

• Long Battery Life

• IP67 Dust and Water Resistant

• Bluetooth Multi-Pairing

• USB-C Fast Charging

• Speakerphone

• Two Colours Available

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CONS​

• No Audio-In Port

• No AptX Codecs Support

 

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Marshall Willen is a great everyday carry compact speaker that satisfies users with essential features. The top selling points include its distinct Marshall sound, long battery life, great durability as well as portability. Armed with the iconic Marshall look, it takes on its competitors of the same size and price point to give them a run for your money. Two colours of Black and Brass and Cream are available to fit users of different genders and styles.