Design & Construction

With the success of the first iteration of the Motif ANC, Marshall is yet again releasing a successor in its similar footsteps to take on new competitions. Marshall's foray into the true wireless market has been considered the latest among its competitors. Today, we are taking a fresh look at the recently released Motif II ANC. Let's see how it fares. Starting off, we have emphasis on Marshall's iconic design that remains largely unchanged from the rest of their products. Taking cues from the AirPods Pro, the Motif II ANC has one of the smaller case dimensions yet, being almost the same size as the AirPods Pro. However, the Motif II ANC's outer finish is a debossed silicone texture that resists picking up fingerprints smudges very well. There is a multi-function button the front of the case with an LED indicator to notify you of the case charge. A single press gets you a glimpse of the the case charge while a long press put the earbuds in pairing mode when the case is opened. At the bottom, there is a USB-C port for wired charging. It takes about 1.5 hours to charge both the case and earbuds from a dead battery and if you are in a rush, a quick 15 minutes charge gives you up to 1 hour of music playback, Like many flagship earbuds, the Motif II ANC features Qi Wireless Charging so you can simply place it on any charging mat to get it juiced up. Now from my experience, the durability of the case is indeed top-tier when compared to its competitors. One missing features that I wished was included is the ability to track and trace your earbuds and case should you lose it. Moving onto the earbuds, the Motif II ANC still uses a stick-style shape but with this time it felt much bigger than the first generation. The fit of the earbuds does still contours to the sides of your ears and securely locks it in place but it was slightly larger in the back part of the ear, making it difficult to forget about it. Onto the controls, the Motif II ANC uses responsive touchpads on the face of the earbuds; of which a single tap will play/pause, a double tap will skip forward and a triple tap will skip backward. Tapping once and holding will activate Spotify Tap. The long press commands can be customisable to cycle through noise control settings, change the equaliser, adjust the volume or be totally disabled. For calls, there is yet another set of controls of which a single tap will answer the call and another will end the call. If you remove either earbuds from your ear, the music will automatically be paused. In the box, there are extra sizes of silicone eartips to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. Even though the Motif ANC isn't a sports earbud, the earbuds features a decent IPX5 water-resistance while the case itself is IPX4 water-resistant giving users the ultimate peace of mind for intense workout and rainy days. The earbuds also do a great job at resisting fingerprint smudges with a matte finish.

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Sound Quality

Exciting, bass-focused and energetic is how I would describe the sound of the Motif II ANC. So let's start off with the bass response. In short, it is deep, punchy, and tight. It never managed to distort at loud volume and never bleeds into the mids when it is at a low volume level. It hits as deep as the Beats Studio Buds+ and the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4. The highs sound bright and forward with plenty of details. The mids do sound crisp but do take a backseat to elevate the V-shaped sound signature that is common for most earbuds today. The instrument separation is excellent too with distinct left and right channels being heard clearly. If you are not so much of an EDM or Hip-Hop fan, I am glad to report that the Motif II ANC works perfectly with all other genres ranging from Pop to Jazz after you fiddle with the customisable sound settings in the Marshall Bluetooth App available for download from the App & Play Store. In the app, you will first see the image of your earbuds and its battery life status. Next, you will see a simple 3 button switch that cycles between Active Noise-Cancelling, Off and Transparency Mode. Fortunately, that is not all as you can further customise the detailed setting in the Noise Control tab where low. medium and high modes can be toggled to suit your needs. Comparing the ANC performance of the Motif II ANC to the competition, I found that the overall performance isn't too far from the best of the best. If I were to rate it, I would say it is on par with the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 and Jabra Elite 8 Active but weaker than the Sony WF-1000XM5 or the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation). In terms of Transparency Mode, the Motif ANC did not manage to beat the AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) and the WF-1000XM5 since its transparency doesn't have the smarts to detect and filter out loud bursts of noises or selectively take in voices only. Just below, the equaliser settings can be customised and set to 2 different presets including a Marshall default. There are presets like Bass Boost, Mid Boost, Treble Boost and Mid Reduction. You will then see the option to customise your tap and hold controls which you can change it to cycle between Noise Control, Equaliser and Voice Assistant, Volume or Do Nothing at all and totally be disabled. Back to Home page, you can learn about the Spotify Tap controls, enable or disable interaction sounds for feedback as well the auto play/pause, There is also a slew of battery preservation settings which regulates your charge times and temperature to ensure that the battery lasts longer as well as enable or disable the interaction sounds when a setting is changed. You can refer to the name, model, serial number and check the firmware for any updates in the about settings. Onto the Explore tab, you can discover the rest of Marshall's lineup where they will share their latest product offerings and possibly entice you to buy them? In all case, its possibly the least important and useful feature in the app. In the More tab, you can seek help or read the Marshall product newsletter. In terms of call quality, the Motif II ANC mic quality is pretty usable though I sounded a little robotic and needed to speak up when I picked up calls in outdoor environments. It is definitely comparable in quality to the Nothing Ear and the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4.

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Connectivity & Portability

The earbuds support the latest and greatest Bluetooth Version 5.3 with LE Audio as well as the LC3, AAC and SBC codec. The earbuds also automatically power on/off when docked and taken out from the case. The battery life peaks at 6 hours per use with ANC and 9 hours without ANC. Together with the case, you can achieve a total of 30 hours with ANC and up to 43 hours without. The package also comes with a USB-C cable for charging and if you ever wished for wireless charging, the earbuds doesn't disappoint. The Motif II ANC is Qi Wireless Charging capable. Either earbuds do also allow for one-sided listening and Bluetooth Multi-point connection so you can only connect 2 devices at any one time. The earbuds connectivity to the app is perfect as it is able to detect my device when its already connected via Bluetooth all the time. If you try to watch videos or movies with these, they do not have any latency in audio transmission.

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PROS​​

• Durable Construction

• Ergonomic Fit

• Low Profile

• Energetic Sound Signature

• Customisable Sound

• Customisable Active Noise-Cancelling

• Transparent Hearing

• Responsive Touchpads

• Bluetooth 5.3

• LE Audio

• Quick USB-C Charging

• Long Battery Life

• Qi Wireless Charging

• IPX5 Water Resistant Earbuds

• IPX4 Water-Resistant Case​​​​​

CONS​​

• No AptX codec support

• Only One Colour Available

The Bottom Line

In all, the Motif II ANC is a compelling choice to pick when selecting a travel-ready ANC earbud. Some of its best features has to be its exciting sound signature, strong ANC and stable LE Audio. Overall, its is a seamless and hassle-free user experience. The earbuds do come in only one colour of Black.