Marshall Heston 120 review: this soundbar slays

I've had Marshall's Heston 120 soundbar parked under my 65-inch living room TV for a full month now, fully embracing living with the company's first venture into TV audio enhancement.

It didn't take nearly as long to realise that this soundbar slays, though, and I'd take it as the choice option over a Sonos Arc all day long – for a variety of reasons that I'll get to later in this review.

I'll admit, however, that I did have some doubts. Could Marshall really make a knock-out single-box soundbar solution on its first attempt? Would its on-device physical controls make sense in practice? Is a soundbar of this stature worth its asking price?

Over the last few weeks, however, the Heston 120 has proven to me time and time again that any trepidation was unfounded. Marshall's new soundbar is a rock'n'roll star among the best soundbars out there. Sure, its design may divide opinion, and it's certainly not small, but here's why I think it's a major new chart-topper on the scene.

Price

Marshall isn't mucking around with the Heston 120: it costs £899 in the UK (direct from Marshall's store), $999 in the US, and AU$1,799 in Australia. It's pricey for a single-box soundbar, but then it's better than almost any other single-box soundbar you'd care to mention.

Interestingly, there'll be a smaller Heston 60 in the future, while a Heston Sub 200 subwoofer can be paired with either of these 'bars to bring out some even lower-frequency bass response (further adding to your price tag, of course).

This approach is Marshall's take on the Sonos model, far as I see it. The Sonos Arc Ultra can pair with a Sonos Sub 4, the pair of which would cost far more than the Marshall equivalent outlay.

What's New?

'What isn't new?' is more like it. The Heston 120 represents Marshall's first-ever soundbar, as I said up front, and it's also the brand's first-ever Dolby Atmos-capable product too – delving into the three-dimensional audio space with gusto.

This has been a project years in the making – as told by Marshall engineers when I visited the company's HQ earlier this year – designed to fuse the classic design language of the brand with up-to-date audio solutions, focused on both music and movies alike.

Design & Size

• Dimensions: 1100 x 145 x 76mm // Weight: 7.04kg

Upon unboxing the Heston 120, it was immediately clear how large this soundbar is. It measures 1.1 metres in length, so it'll beef up the audio of any TV, but I suspect you'll want to pair it with a 55-inch or 65-inch – or even something larger, as it'll certainly be able to deliver.

Interestingly, the soundbar's height, at 7.6cm (that's circa 3in), is something you're going to really need to consider in advance. That'll work for many TVs, but not all of them. Marshall's research deduced that 8cm is the 'maximum' height any soundbar could realistically be, to avoid getting in the way of a TV's screen.

Get that tape measure out, then, as you'll need to ensure everything will fit in place. The same goes for visualising the design in your space, too. This is a Marshall product, fitted and finished exactly as you'd expect – with a textured stage-amp-like material, brass logo and brass front edging, making for a surefire statement piece.

I had originally thought the Heston 120 might look too much in my space, but it's not actually so outlandish once in position. I'm sure it'll divide opinion, but I'm fully on team Marshall with regards to this aesthetic. I actually prefer it, as it's not just yet another black box.

Controls

• Controls:
  • 3x brass control knobs
  • 3x preset buttons
  • 4x sound modes

It's rare that a soundbar looks especially different to the next, but the Heston's features of distinction are always delivered with purpose and not just for the sake of standing out. Up top, for example, there are three control knobs and a variety of control buttons – which is actually far less intrusive than some soundbars' reflective plastic tops, as I found out during late-night movie sessions.

This control section is wonderfully crafted, with a great fit and feel. I love the way each of the three brass knobs – volume, bass/treble (toggled by clicking it down, like a button), and source (Bluetooth activated with a press-and-hold motion) – has a progressive red illumination to show you how far up the scale you are. This illumination fades away, as to not disrupt your TV viewing, which is nicely considered.

I'll admit, however, that not having an included remote control might bother some people. You can supplement with the Marshall app via your Apple or Android phone, of course, but guests aren't then likely to have access to this – and I think a way to control presets from afar by all persons present would be handy. Still, any excuse to get up and play with the brass, eh?

Connectivity

• Ports: HDMI eARC, HDMI In Passthrough, RCA, Sub Out, USB-C, Ethernet
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6

One of the reasons I feel the Heston 120 is worth its asking price is because it does what the Sonos Arc Ultra totally missed out on: providing more than one HDMI port.

The Heston 120 features an HDMI eARC for easy connection to your TV, but there's also an HDMI input with passthrough to 4K/120Hz, meaning you needn't forego any slot on your TV when plugging in the latest and greatest AV kit.

There's actually a fair lot more around the back, too, if you want to plug in the works. The subwoofer output is an addition I doubt many people will utilise, but it's a mono RCA, so you could use any wired sub. There's a separate RCA stereo pair, too, if you want to plug in a separate music player source.

Marrying the old with the new, the Heston 120 also brings in modern standards, such as Bluetooth 5.4 LE with Auracast. This is future-proofing, really, as its use won't be fully realised just yet – but it'll be interesting to see what updates Marshall brings in the future in relation to that. Far as Bluetooth connecting, say, a phone or tablet goes, though, it's a rock-solid connection.

Speaker Arrangement

• Configuration: 5.1.2 channel arrangement
• Speakers:
  • 2x woofers (2x5in at 50W each)
  • 5x full-range drivers (30W)
  • 2x mid woofers (3in, 30W)
  • 2x tweeters (0.8in, 30W)

A lot of consideration has gone into the Heston 120's internal arrangement to squeeze the most out of its considerable speaker array. The '120' actually refers to the physical capacity of the product: as it's got just over 120 cubic centimetres to play with.

Inside that space, there are nine speakers and two woofer radiators, with 11 Class D amplifiers powering the lot. That's a considerable outlay, so it'll be of no surprise that it 'can go all the way to 11' – by which I mean it's bloomin' loud. But not at the cost of clarity.

The speakers are arranged in a 5.1.2 fashion, meaning five cater for centre, left/right, side left/right, while there's one central bass output, and two true upfiring speakers – the last pair giving added guts for Dolby Atmos three-dimensional audio decoding.

Sound Quality

• Frequency response: 40Hz - 20kHz
• Decodes: Dolby Atmos, DTS:X

I've spent a lot of time using the Heston 120 to listen to music, however. With Marshall originally being a 1960s amplifier company, it's stuck to its roots and wanted to ensure that this 'bar can be used to deliver the kind of vocal clarity, yet rhythmic drive and low-end that makes music, for a better word, 'sing'.

It's a truly massive sonic experience, too, especially with the ability to cater for users' treble and bass adjustments. Crank that bass up and you'll be looking around the back of your TV to see if there's a 'secret subwoofer' that some rock faerie has installed without you looking. But, no, the Heston 120 is just massively accomplished with the low-end output.

It's a dab hand at dealing with more gentle content – whether TV, movies or music – thanks to those preset adjustments and upfiring arrangement. Treble is always output through the upward channels, even for non-Atmos content, which gives a real verticality to this wall-of-sound output.

What's equally pleasing – arguably more so, given the nature of the product – is how deftly the Heston 120 handles Dolby Atmos content. There's a fair amount of it on the best streaming services lately, and when I dug into watching various 4K Blu-ray discs, or dabbled in a PS5 gaming session, the sense of width and height from this speaker is impressive.

Granted, it's not a true surround system, so you'll never quite achieve that full immersion – as there are no speakers physically behind, overhead or to the sides of you. For that, you'll want to look at, say, a Samsung HW-Q990F, with all the extra boxes included, but as a single-box solution I find the Marshall exemplary. Especially in the context of what other 'bars offer at this level.

Marshall Heston 120 review: Verdict

Simply put: this soundbar slays. Marshall's first-ever foray into the TV audio market doesn't lose sight of its musical history, while embracing all the mod cons that make it such a master for movies. It's enticingly different, too.

Sure, that design may prove divisive, there's no physical remote control, and it's not cheap for a single-box solution. But the on-device brass control knobs are great, it offers as much or more than the competition at this level, and so long as it fits into your AV setup – because it's rather large – the design really isn't outlandish.

I've listened to dozens of soundbars in recent years, and single-box solutions don't come better than this Marshall. The Heston 120's bass response is seismic even without a separate subwoofer, its control over width and height generates a giant soundstage, and its handling of Dolby Atmos delivers a massive frontal wall of sound. It's a true rock'n'roll star.

Also Consider

An obvious (albeit more generic) option would be the Sonos Arc Ultra. It's a truly epic soundbar that's also a haven for bass-lovers. But its lack of an HDMI passthrough is irksome for a soundbar priced as it is.

If true surround is top of your list, however, and you're willing to have all the speaker boxes to accommodate that, then a package system such as the Samsung HW-Q990F (or older 990D) will deliver the full shebang – with a subwoofer included too. It'll cost you more, mind.