Marshall Major V and Minor IV launched: What's changed after all these years?

Marshall has launched the long-awaited Major V wireless headphones and Minor IV TWS earbuds. The products come years after their predecessors hit the market. The Marshall Major IV came in 2020, while the Minor III launched in 2021. So the refreshed lineup has been long overdue. What’s changed in all these years? Let’s have a look.

Marshall Major V

• Drivers: 40 mm, dynamic
• Driver sensitivity: 106dB SPL (100 mV @ 1 kHz)
• Driver Impedance: 32Ω
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz
• Weight: 186g
• Bluetooth LE Audio support

The company’s new headphones still don’t offer active noise cancelation, if that’s something you were hoping to gain. The on-ear headphones still rely on passive isolation, which wasn’t too great the last pair Marshall released, so we’re not sure how much has changed this time around.

That said, the company claims that Major V comes with improved sound and reduced distortion powered by its 40mm dynamic drivers. The headphones also now promise an increased battery life of over 100 hours and take three hours to fully charge via USB-C when completely out of juice. They even support wireless charging, just like their predecessors.

The design of the headphones hasn’t changed much even after all these years. However, you do get a customizable M
button on them and access to the Marshall Bluetooth companion app. Pressing the M button opens Spotify by default. It can also be reconfigured to access EQ presets or a voice assistant.

The Marshall Major V cost $149 and are available to pre-order starting today. They will go on sale globally starting April 23.

Marshall Minor IV

• Drivers: 12mm, dynamic
• Driver Impedance: 32Ω
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz
• Weight of charging case: 39.41g
• Weight of earbuds: 7.39g
• Playtime: 7 hours in earbuds, 30+ total hours with case
• Time to full charge: 1.1 hours for earbuds, 2 hours for charging case
• Bluetooth LE Audio support

The Marshall Minor III had many issues, including a bad finish, poor fit, unreliable controls, and more. Hopefully, the company has managed to fix these problems in the new Minor IV.

The refreshed TWS earbuds seem to have the same AirPods-like design with long stems as last time. However, Marshall says it has redesigned earbuds to create an angeled, truer fit inside the ear canal. The earbuds are also water-resistant with likely an IPX4 rating, just like the Minor III.

Looks like the Minor IV also feature Bluetooth multipoint connectivity as the company says they can connect to multiple devices simultaneously.

Elsewhere, you get a promised 30+ hours of playback, an in-app battery preservation feature, and Bluetooth LE Audio support.

The Marshall Mino IV cost $129 and are available to pre-order now. They will go on sale alongside the Major V headphones on April 23.