The Lowdown
The Marshall Middleton is a premium Bluetooth speaker that has a reasonably low latency Aux In socket, making it suitable for wired use with DJ equipment – unlike the majority of similar speakers out there. So as a speaker for wired DJ use it is good, getting our “silver” awards for latency, and for general use, it’s an excellent choice.
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Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
This is a relatively heavy, medium-sized portable Bluetooth speaker, in classic Marshall styling – faux leather casing with that iconic “Marshall” logo on the front. Cleverly though, it has speakers all around for a more 360 degree audio footprint. It oozes quality, unlike lighter-weight, plasticky alternatives – but that is reflected in the rather high asking price.
The main control is a gold button on the top, but it also has subtle extra touch controls, including – and we loved this – bass and treble controls. Here you’ll also find a multi-LED levels meter, plus battery level display and Bluetooth pairing buttons.
Around the back is the all-important Aux In socket for the attachment of wired DJ equipment, plus a USB-C socket that can also double as a charging point for your phone etc in an emergency. The Middleton comes with a strong rubber strap that clips on to one side of the speaker to give a carrying handle.
In Use
As a standard Bluetooth speaker, using this is easy – hit the pairing button, find the speaker on your source (eg your phone), pair and play.
Once you’ve done so, the sound quality is excellent, probably the best we’ve heard from any speaker this size. Bass is of course limited to the upper end of bass frequencies (don’t expect it to rattle your stomach like a real Marshall array), but that’s not to say it isn’t a full sound – indeed, I’d describe it as bass heavy, which is a good thing for dance music.
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The mid-range definition is good, with a transparent sound complemented by true-sounding and smooth high frequencies, as long as you’re listening from the front – good for DJs for whom directional sound is probably preferable to 360 degree output. Overall, it belies its size, for a satisfying sound, unless you push it too hard – which seems to be the case with most small speakers, to be fair. Also, although it has those grills on the sides and back too, the majority of the audio comes from the front, with the sides seeming to be the bass speakers? (We didn’t open to check.)
Marshall quotes a battery life of 20 hours, which is going to be dependent upon how loud you have the speaker, but the weight does suggest a high-capacity battery inside – so we’ll assume they’re telling the truth here. It should certainly outlast any party you choose to use it at.
The all-important question though is whether the Aux In has any noticeable delay for DJing, and I’m pleased to report that it’s pretty good – a “silver” award from us here, which means “low latency”. Not perfect, then, but perfectly usable. For DJing without headphones, it’s fine, but with headphones, you do notice a little latency, however not enough to get in the way of DJing (it would if you were a pro scratch DJ, though).
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So for general DJ use, you can buy this speaker confident that when you plug your DJ mixer or controller into it for practising, to use it as a monitor speaker when playing in bars etc, or even as a sole speaker for small house parties where you’re DJing live, it’ll be fine – unlike the majority of Bluetooth speakers nowadays, even those with Aux In sockets.
Other features we liked include the bass/treble controls on the top of the unit; the visual display via a strip of LEDs of bass, treble, volume and battery level; and the ability to plug, say, a phone in via its USB-C socket for a cheeky charge at a pinch.
Conclusion
This is one of the nicest portable Bluetooth speakers we’ve tested for a long time, and for day-to-day use it’s excellent. It’s well built, has a high-capacity battery for extended use, and is reassuringly heavy.
It is certainly suitable for DJ use too, which is our main criterion for inclusion of such speakers on our site. For all but the most picky DJs, I think you wouldn’t even notice it’s got a little bit of latency, because it’s not enough to spoil your fun. For that it gets our silver award for portable Bluetooth speakers, which means “low latency”.
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Style-wise you’ll have to buy into the – rather kitsch – “honey, I shrunk the Marshall” styling, but if you can live with that, you’re getting a capable, premium product that just as importantly, sounds great.
And call me old school, but having bass and treble buttons on the top is a deal maker for me – something I don’t think I’ve ever seen on such a speaker before (yeah, they all tend to have apps – this one does too – but who wants to open an app to adjust EQ?).
If you can afford the premium, as this is not a cheap speaker, we recommend it for both DJing and general use. Indeed – in the short time we’ve had it – it has become our current go-to speaker for living room practice sessions, van-life DJ sets, and day-to-day listening.
