Marshall Major V headphones add upgrade many users have been hoping for

If styling is your first thought when shopping for the best headphones, Marshall will surely have made your shortlist; the rock-influenced cans and IEMs are the next best thing to strapping a pair of guitar amps to your ears, and have been for multiple generations. The latest are the Major V on-ears and Minor IV earbuds, which bring battery boosts and comfort upgrades.

The Minor IV sees the biggest visual tweaks, with a redesigned stem and earbud that are angled to better fit inside your ear canal. That should be a big win if you’re absolutely glued to your Spotify playlists. The 12mm dynamic drivers make a return from the previous gen, so should be as beefy on bass as Marshall fans have come to expect.

Marshall doesn’t give an exact IP rating, but promises the Minor IV is ‘water resistant’. The pricier Motif II ANC buds are IPX5 and its case is IPX4, so I’m expecting something similar here. It’s also packing Multipoint Bluetooth for pairing two devices at once, and plays nicely with Marshall’s companion app to customise the controls to your liking.

It should manage seven hours per top-up from the buds themselves, with 30+ hours total listening once the compact charging case comes into play.

Battery life and sound quality will have to do much of the heavy lifting here; they’re landing at £129, putting them directly up against affordable ANC in-ears including the Nothing Ear 2 and Samsung Galaxy Buds FE.

Meanwhile, the Marshall Major V see the firm’s signature sound tweaked for reduced distortion, which will be music to the ears (literally) of anyone who likes to crank their tunes loud. They still fold down for travel, and again come with wireless charging built in – still something of a rarity in headphones.

The big upgrade here is battery life, which can now manage more than 100 hours per charge. That’s a healthy 20 hours more than the previous generation, and up there with the best wireless headphones in its price range. Marshall has also made the M button customisable, so if you don’t use Spotify Tap you can exchange it for EQ switching, or activating your phone’s voice assistant.

Both models are also ready for Bluetooth LE audio, once the standard is more widely adopted.

The Major V ($149/£129/€149) and Minor IV ($129/£119/€129) are for pre-order right now on the Marshall website, with general sales kicking off from the 23rd of April.

• Related: Marshall Motif II ANC review – throwback style, throwdown sound