Marshall Woburn II Bluetooth Review

The Marshall Woburn II Bluetooth, at $499.99, represents the top of the line for the company's newly revamped slate of Bluetooth speakers.

We like all of the models in its new lineup, but we are infatuated with the Woburn II Bluetooth.

It delivers a powerful sonic experience that can be sculpted with in-app EQ, as well as bass and treble knobs on the speaker itself.

If you like the retro guitar amp look, the clear and balanced sound won't disappoint.

Despite its high price, the Woburn II Bluetooth earns our Editors' Choice for high-end Bluetooth speakers.

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Design

Nearly all Marshall products take their visual cues from amps, but the Marshall Woburn II Bluetooth looks like an actual guitar amp.

It's huge, measuring 12.2 by 15.8 by 7.8 inches (HWD) and weighing in at a formidable 18.9 pounds.

It could sit next to some small practice amps and not look out of place.

Other than its dimensions, the Woburn II Bluetooth looks very much like the rest of the new Marshall speaker lineup—black or white leather-like material encases most of the speaker, with a tweed, front-facing grille emblazoned with the Marshall logo on the main panel.

There are guitar amp-like controls up top and brushed aluminum, gold-colored accents on the knobs and the front face.

It's a large, handsome speaker.

The control panel houses knobs for volume, bass, and treble, as well as a power switch, a play/pause button, and an audio source button for switching between Bluetooth mode and aux or RCA modes—there's a 3.5mm aux input up top, and an RCA input on the rear panel.

The back panel of the speaker is best not displayed.

It's covered in painted-on warning labels and legalese that most manufacturers hide from view—the only way this will be hidden is if you place the Woburn II Bluetooth against a wall.

There are dual ports on the rear panel for air moved by drivers to escape through, as well as the RCA input and the connection for the power cable.

Other than the power cable, there are no included cables—not for the 3.5mm aux input up top, nor for the RCA input on the rear.

For $500, Marshall could have done far better in the accessories department.

The free Marshall Bluetooth app delivers firmware updates for the speaker and allows you to use custom EQ presets or create your own.

The app is used in conjunction with the bass and treble knobs to dial in your preferences.

You can also adjust the brightness of the red status LEDs, turn audio prompts on or off, or pair the speaker with another to make a stereo pair.

The app isn't essential for operation, but it definitely has enough useful features that we recommend giving it a try.

Performance

The five-band in-app EQ works in conjunction with the bass and treble knobs on the speaker itself, allowing you to fine-tune things to your ideal sound signature.

We tested the Woburn II Bluetooth with the bass and treble knobs in the middle and the app set to flat.

From here you can adjust to your heart's content, with the bass and treble knobs coming after the app in the chain—so you can boost lows in the app and then dial them up or down a bit with the knob.

Set to flat mode, with the bass and treble knobs in the middle, the Woburn II Bluetooth packs quite a punch.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Woburn II Bluetooth delivers earth-shaking bass at moderate to high volumes.

At top volumes, it unfortunately distorts on this track, but let us make this clear: Top volume on this speaker is insanely loud.

You probably won't need to go that high too often, especially if you have neighbors or pets.

At slightly lower (but still very loud) volume levels, the Woburn II Bluetooth delivers thunder, and when you dial up the bass, it's enough to shake walls.

If that's not what you're looking for, the good news is that the knob (and the EQ) can also dial bass back.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Woburn II Bluetooth's general sound signature.

The drums on this track have a full, round sound here at mid volume levels.

Pump up the volume and push the bass a bit, and the drums start to have some real punch.

It's Callahan's baritone vocals, however, that have the most low-mid presence—their richness is well matched by the high-mids and highs to keep things clear and crisp.

Regardless, the vocals are probably the most notable bass presence in the mix through the Woburn II Bluetooth's drivers.

The acoustic guitar strums and higher register percussion are delivered with excellent clarity and can be given some extra crunch and shimmer with the app's EQ and the treble knob.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence in default mode for its attack to retain its punchiness, but dialing up the treble knob a bit gives it that extra sharp kick that we are used to hearing.

The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with serious power here, and at top volume they don't distort.

The vocals are delivered with solid clarity and no added sibilance.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound magical through the Woburn II Bluetooth.

In default mode, the lower register instrumentation is given some added body and presence, but the higher register brass, strings, and vocals still shine.

Tweaking the bass and treble to taste can have wonderful results on tracks like this—I found a slight boosting of treble and a tad more in the lows and low-mids really makes the dynamics of this recording stand out, without sounding wildly sculpted.

Conclusions

While we like Marshall's Stanmore II Bluetooth and Acton II Bluetooth, we love the Woburn II Bluetooth.

Yes, it's the most expensive of the bunch, but I'd argue it isn't too expensive for the sound quality it delivers—a case I'm less inclined to make for its more affordable, but less overwhelmingly awesome, siblings.

It looks the same, uses the same app, has the same basic features, but that extra woofer brings the magic, making this a fantastic all-in-one wireless speaker, and our Editors' Choice.

In this high price range, there are several winners if the retro amp look isn't your thing.

Check out the JBL Boombox or the Sonos Beam.

No matter which speaker you choose, you won't be disappointed.