I tried Marshall’s first soundbar, which rivals the Sonos Arc Ultra with an amp-inspired design and huge Dolby Atmos sound
- The Marshall Heston 120 soundbar launches on 3 June 2025
- And it will set you back an almighty $1000 / £899
- Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and HDMI passthrough
Marshall, known for its amp-making heritage and rock ‘n’ roll-inspired speakers, is taking its first steps into an all-new product category: soundbars.
The audio brand’s very first soundbar, the Marshall Heston 120, is coming to your living rooms from June 3 2025 and will be available for an eye-watering $999 / £899 (about AU$1599). Marshall’s Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar is over 100cm long – suitable for the best 55-inch TVs and up – and promises a “colossal audio experience” with both “immersive and spacious sound”.
However, it doesn’t harness a separate sub or rear speakers to supply this, with Marshall instead opting for an all-in-one design. As a result, it feels that this is a natural competitor to the excellent-sounding Sonos Arc Ultra, which holds the title of ‘best all-in-one soundbar’ in our guide to the best soundbars available today.
Getting hands on with the Heston 120
I was lucky enough to be among the very first to hear the Marshall Heston 120 at Marshall’s headquarters in Stockholm. First of all, I was struck by its luxury, retro design – something I’ve always loved about products like the Marshall Monitor III ANC and the Marshall Emberton III.
Its faux leather outer casing combined with sleek golden details makes it stand out in a market full of chunky black plastic bars.
There’s a lot of attention to detail with design, too. For instance, Marshall has installed three tactile dials for controlling volume, EQ and source. These use haptic feedback for a satisfying user experience, and are made of knurled metal – another nod to Marshall’s amp-related roots. There are also buttons for different sound modes such as Music, Movie, Night, or Voice.
But what you’re probably most keen to find out, is how did the Heston 120 sound? Well, I only got a brief demo in a space that almost mimicked a living room. But from what I heard, this thing is pretty impressive.
Marshall showed off the Heston 120’s capabilities across three formats: stereo music; Dolby Atmos music; and Dolby Atmos movies. Ed Camphor, Audio Technology and Tuning Lead at Marshall Group, told me that “our focus was very much on getting a good level of polish on every format”, and that certainly seemed to be the case.
For instance, when listening to stereo music, I was instantly smacked with punchy, impactful bass – the kind that so many soundbars struggle to replicate, particularly without the help of a dedicated sub.
Dolby Atmos music impressed me too – when tuning into bury a friend by Billie Eilish, vocal pans were tracked accurately with rumbling, deep bass and haunting screams piercing through.
Finally, we watched a portion of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace on Disney Plus. The directionality of soaring spaceships in one scene was delivered with precision, and the soundbar recreated big sound effects such as ships overtaking and crashing cleanly, in a true-to-life manner. Unfortunately, Jar Jar Binks’ dialogue was crystal-clear, all the way through the scene.
Of course, these are only my initial impressions from a demo, so if you want my full and unfiltered thoughts, you’ll have to wait for my full review. That’s coming soon…
Into the nitty gritty…
So, in terms of tech specs, the Marshall Heston 120 makes use of 11 active drivers, which includes height channels to capture the verticality needed for ‘true’ Dolby Atmos and side channels for truly expansive audio. Altogether, you’re getting a maximum power output of 150W in a 5.1.2 configuration. Of course, there’s Dolby Atmos compatibility for movies and music alike, but the Heston 120 also supports DTS:X content as well, which is an advantage it has over the Sonos Arc Ultra (Sonos continues to avoid DTS support).
There are so many ways to play through the Heston 120 too. There are HDMI eARC and HDMI passthrough ports (another plus it has over the Arc Ultra, which only has one HDMI port), RCA stereo and mono slots, as well as both Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6 compatibility.
You can play music over Apple AirPlay 2, and Marshall has also integrated a range of streaming services, including Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Airable. These can also be bound to preset buttons for easy access. There’s even Auracast.
One more nice little nugget of info is that Marshall will revamp its companion app in tandem with the launch of the Heston 120 soundbar. This unlocks detailed EQ options, remote control of volume, source and sound modes, as well as room calibration options to get the best sound for your living space.
The app is so fleshed out, in fact, that the Heston 120 will not come with a separate remote – all you need is your phone and you’ll be ready to go.
Marshall may be launching the Heston 120 as a standalone soundbar, but it has confirmed that later down the line, you’ll be able to snap up the Heston Sub 200 – a separate subwoofer – to really feel that low-end eruption.
On top of that, a smaller soundbar, the Heston 60, will be available to those who are working with a little less room. Both will release later in 2025 and we’ll be sure to keep you updated with more details as they come.
The Marshall Heston 120 soundbar is available for pre-order now and will go on sale from June 3rd 2025 via Marshall’s own website. It will later become available with select retailers from September 16th 2025.
You might also like
- Want to get to grips with the Marshall Heston 120’s competition? Then take a look at our list of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
- Want a flashy new soundbar but working on a tight budget? Fear not – we’ve got you covered with our guide to the best cheap soundbars
