Bigger and bolder, but is it better? Marshall Willen II review

What's The Best has been inundated with some of 2024's best speakers recently, and without fail, Marshall speakers climb the list. The industry giant Marshall, supplying its amps and speakers to avid audiophiles for over 60 years, has rarely faltered in its time in the limelight, and its new generations of budget-friendly speakers have only strengthened its place in the industry.

The phenomenal range of speaker technology available from Marshall is second to none, ranging from the ultra-expensive to some of the cheapest on the market, cornering every niche and budget imaginable.

The Marshall Willen II, much like its predecessor, is one of the best of the budget Bluetooth speaker market, offering impressive audio performance, an eye-catching retro design and more, all in a compact, lightweight enclosure. With a slightly wider body, the speaker claims to have better bass than the first Marshall Willen, along with improved battery life and other features to explore.

Ryan Houghton is testing the Willen II speaker, and given his love for the first Marshall Willen, has high hopes that it'll expand on what made the original one of his favourites this year. Taking a detailed look at this speaker's hardware, and comparing it to the first Willen speaker, Ryan's thorough testing should illuminate what makes this speaker so good. But if you have the original, is it worth the upgrade?

Warm, inviting sound: Marshall Willen II review

The Marshall Willen II speaker offers a larger, more bass-filled sound than its predecessor, with the same warmth that I experienced when using the first Willen model, but with a little more to offer for its price. Marshall's elite audio engineering precision is nothing short of remarkable for such a small speaker and I was particularly impressed by its impressive frequency response range, which scarcely glosses over a note.

Regardless of whether it's a low rumbling bass note from a double bass, or the harsh whistling of a harmonica, the Willen II speaker deftly handles songs with as much power as you could possibly achieve in a speaker of its size.

Design and build quality

Speaking of its size, the design of the Willen II is, much like its predecessor, pretty phenomenal. Housed in a cream rubber enclosure that's textured to imitate leather and adorned with a gold metal grille on its front, Marshall never fails to impress with its designs that harken back to its legendary amps of yesteryear, used by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Slash and many more.

In hand, the Willen II feels particularly dense for such a small speaker, its weight was almost borderline shocking when handling it out of the box. For those new to the world of speaker technology, a heavier speaker often indicates quality. A heavy speaker can produce a wider range of frequencies, particularly lower-end ones, so when I felt the sheer heft of this smaller speaker, I knew fairly quickly that its sound was bound to be impressive.

With a little more weight comes better build quality too, and that's certainly the case for the Willen II. The construction is robust and rugged, and its IP67 waterproofing keeps the Willen II safe from accidental damage while on the road, making it a fantastic outdoor speaker.

The Willen II's design features the ever-excellent joystick found throughout the best Marshall speakers. As ever it's a great way of skipping through songs and controlling volume with intuitive ease, and in my opinion, it far surpasses the standard 'double-click' design of most Bluetooth speakers.

The enclosure of the Willen II is noticeably thicker than the original Willen, but not to the degree that detracts from the speaker's portability. In fact, it's very slight, but it does help the Willen II push its bass slightly harder compared to the original. The design of the Willen II also includes a rubber clip strap which you can use to attach it to anything it can wrap around, which is fantastic for budding backpackers, and even cyclists looking for hands-free tunes on the go.

Battery life and Bluetooth connectivity

The Willen II features an amped-up 17-plus hour battery life, gaining two hours over the original Willen design, and it's certainly not an exaggeration on Marshall's behalf. The Willen II's battery life in action is one of its finest features: it's packed with power, which seems impossible for the sheer output power and size of the speaker itself.

Indicated by a red battery indicator at the top of the speaker with glowing LEDs, knowing exactly how much power you have left without dealing with the inaccuracies of smartphone battery life detection, is terrific.

The Willen II's Bluetooth 5.3 has a range of approximately 240 metres, or about the length of 2.5 football fields, which is perhaps the most I've ever come across as a reviewer. The connectivity of the Willen II is unrivalled in its strength, and the speed of connecting to the Willen II is remarkable.

As an added bonus of the Willen II, it also includes future-proofing compatibility for Auracast™ technology, which allows users to listen to music across multiple devices simultaneously, regardless of brand. This technology is, as of writing this review, unavailable until 2025, but it's one of the most promising technological innovations we've seen in recent years for speakers.

Marshall Willen vs Willen II: what's different?

Being a particular fan of the original Marshall Willen speaker, the promise of a bigger, better sound in the Willen II was almost too tempting, so when I got my hands on it, I couldn't shake the excitement. Opening the box, immediately I was struck by the sheer similarity of the two designs: yes, these speakers are part of the same collection, but almost nothing design-wise has changed. So what's new with the Marshall Willen II?

Design

Previously, I noted that the Willen II was thicker, but how much thicker, you might ask? Around 3mm. It's noticeable, yes, but can you expect much more power from such a minor increase in size? I think not. Much like the original Willen, the bass for its size is impressive, there's no denying it. Its loud, balanced sound is impressive, but as for innovation, the Willen II is certainly lacking it.

The primary difference between the Willen and Willen II's designs is a slick transition into an island of buttons on top of the speaker. Instead of the oversized buttons that appear quite loosely positioned on the top of the original Willen, the Willen II's cleaner bordered aesthetic is admittedly quite the step up design-wise.

There's also the addition of a power button on top of the Willen II for those who aren't so familiar with Marshall speakers and their standard joystick designs.

Sound performance

The Willen II, instead, makes incremental improvements where it can for its limited price difference, after all, it's only an extra £30 for the upgrade. The frequency response range of the Willen II is improved on the lower end of the spectrum, dropping to around 70Hz compared to the original's 100Hz.

For me, the Willen II is seemingly louder, with even better balance than the first Willen, but it's only by a small degree in truth. The Willen II has a more powerful amp than its predecessor, going from the original's 10W amp to a brand-new 38W amp, which sounds promising from the get-go. There's a lot to love about the Willen II's sound: it's vibrant and has the same warmth that the original Willen has, but isn't a massive evolution of the original design by any means.

I listened to a range of music across both speakers, but I enjoyed the sound of Belle and Sebastian's 'A Summer Wasting' particularly on both speakers. This upbeat folk rock song has the most pleasantly warm sound on both speakers, and I noticed some small differences in terms of bass and harmony, as well as the overall loudness, but sadly I experienced nothing that was exceptionally different or improved.

Usability

Possibly one of the larger areas of improvement for the Willen II, this latest design increases the overall battery life of the speaker by over three hours, giving you a decent chunk of additional time to enjoy your favourite music, without the fear of utterly depleting your battery life.

Then there's the improved Bluetooth version 5.3 included on the Willen II, which doesn't improve the range of Bluetooth technology but does improve the speaker's energy efficiency and connection strength overall, so it has less trouble dealing with obstructions.

The Willen II's future-proofed Auracast also isn't included in the original Willen speaker, so there's certainly an exciting element of upcoming technology that's waiting to be utilised with the Willen II.

Any downsides?

The Marshall Willen II is a fantastic speaker for on-the-go sound that's portable, lightweight, and especially cheap for a Marshall product, but there are certain issues that shoppers should consider before buying.

The main issue with the Willen II, much like its predecessor, is the fairly low output power compared to higher-end speakers on the market. Balanced and brilliantly engineered, the Marshall has a beautiful sound, but it isn't winning any awards for its loudness, not even with more bass since its upgrade.

Perfect for smaller rooms, relaxing outdoors and listening desk-side, the Willen II thrives in compact spaces where acoustics are strong, but I've certainly come across louder speakers for less money.

Another downside of the Willen II has to be its similarity and lack of innovation over the original Willen design: very little has changed in terms of design and performance, with some changes over the original design which are commendable, but it's the kind of incremental innovation that we, the modern consumer, are very much used to. Thankfully, this upgrade is only £30, so Marshall keeps it reasonably priced, but it's still £30 that could otherwise be saved.

Price and competition

The current retail price of the Marshall Willen II is £99.99, making it a considerably cheap speaker for such a new release from Marshall. For the price, the sound output and overall build quality are excellent: Marshall spares nothing to bring its loyal fan base a high-quality, low-cost speaker that offers unbeatable value for money at its price.

I recently reviewed the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4, which is around £10 cheaper than the Marshall Willen II, and it certainly gives the Willen II a run for its money. For one, the bass of the Wonderboom 4 is incredibly loud for its size, it fills rooms much better than the Willen II and has a much louder 360-degree sound overall.

But the Willen II, in my opinion, has a much stronger balance than the Wonderboom 4. As beautifully balanced as the Ultimate Ears product is, the Willen II sings with a finer and more detailed timbre, which means that complex instrumentals don't lose their detail.

For smaller sound with greater portability at a lower cost, there's also the Sony SRS-XB100 to consider. It's over half the price of the Willen II, but that's also at the cost of volume, balance and bass.

Who is it for?

The Marshall Willen II is ultimately for those in search of a strong, portable speaker sound that's still brilliant even when on the move. The rugged build quality and the beautiful design of the Willen II are undeniably excellent, and considering the build quality alone, you're likely to get years of performance from this speaker.

For outdoor adventurers, avid partygoers, and those who enjoy the quiet, dulcet tones of jazz on a rainy Sunday afternoon, the Willen II aptly provides consistent quality at any volume. It's worth noting, however, that unless you're solely interested in having more Willen speakers, you shouldn't consider the Willen II if you're looking to upgrade. The fact of the matter is, this upgrade is so slight and minute, that it's really not for those searching for bigger, better sound.

Would we recommend it?

All-in-all, I would absolutely recommend Marshall Willen II to anyone who's looking for a beautifully engineered, ruggedly designed and powerfully subtle speaker that's small enough to fit in a backpack or handbag. The sheer excellence of Marshall's speaker quality cannot be understated, it's a brand that can be trusted, and the Willen II is certainly no deviation from that trend.

Our recommendation comes with a small, but meaningful caveat: if you own the original Willen speaker, don't bother upgrading. Unless you're hoping to fill your home with the sounds of the Marshall Willen, upgrading to the Willen II isn't quite worth it in our eyes.

The sound, though slightly louder and more finely tuned, is more or less the same across devices, so at £30 cheaper, it's hard not to recommend the original Willen over the Willen II, despite some of the changes I love.

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Who tested it?

Ryan Houghton, a content writer for What's The Best, has been reviewing audio products, amongst other things, for the better part of two and a half years, and is passionate about audio technology. Testing headphones, speakers, soundbars and more, Ryan Houghton knows what real quality is, and his harsh, but fair review style reflects just how much he values exceptional audio quality.

How the product was tested

I tested the Marshall Willen II by listening to all of my music through it: I charged up the speaker fully and listened to it non-stop to get an idea as to how strong the battery life was. I also walked considerably far from the speaker to test its connectivity range, including with obstacles such as walls between me. Having the original Marshall Willen, I also compared the Willen II with the older speaker to see just how much has changed.

Ryan Houghton is a commercial content writer for What’s The Best, known best for his expertise in gaming, with a particular soft spot for PC gaming, audio tech, televisions and smartphones.

Diligently writing for What’s The Best for almost two years, there are very few tech products Ryan hasn’t had his hands on to review; televisions, headphones, folding phones and even LEGO, if it’s nerdy, he’ll be there.

His well-versed history as one of the resident techies at What’s The Best has kept him keen to uncover the very best deals, savings and offers for those in need of a cracking deal to upgrade their setup.

In his downtime, Ryan most likely has his nose buried in a fantasy book, or his eyes glued to a screen whilst playing a tough-as-nails Soulslike or leisurely RPG, indulging in most forms of escapism where possible.

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