Marshall ups its game to launch a high-end Dolby Atmos soundbar that doubles as a powerful music speaker – but can this striking unit take on Sonos?

£900 /go.stuff.tv/Heston

Marshall’s distinguished history as a British guitar and bass amp specialist has certainly taken some diversifying turns in recent years.

In 2010 it teamed up with Swedish company Zound to make Bluetooth speakers and headphones. That resulted in Zound buying Marshall in 2023 and rebranding the whole thing as the Marshall Group. The firm has been planning to expand its range of Marshall-branded tech for a while… and that bring us to the Heston 120.

This is a high-end one-box soundbar with full Dolby Atmos and DTS-X support, and as such it’s taking on the Sonos Arc Ultra. That’s far from an easy task. But the Heston 120 is a soundbar that looks a little different from the norm – and one that’s well suited to music as well as TV.

Is that enough? Marshall believes so, and more products will follow: a Heston 60 soundbar with virtual Atmos is coming later in the year.

London scrawling The design is unmistakably Marshall (1), but it’s more subtle than it could have been – the large logo might put some off, but it doesn’t stick out much. The physical controls (see panel opposite) only protrude a little, so you won’t be bothered by them when watching TV.

Wired riot Connectivity-wise, there’s HDMI eARC support of course (2). But you also get HDMI passthrough, Bluetooth (including LE and Auracast), AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect. There’s even analogue RCA so you can hook up a turntable.

Complete shunt role As you’d expect at this price, the audio hardware inside the 7kg bar is hefty in both weight and power. There are no less than 11 individual drivers (3) and associated amplifiers (2x 50W plus 9x 15W, with 150W peak power) arranged in a 5.1.2 configuration.

Know your heights It’s adept at films in particular, but also does a good job with the immersive noise of F1; and Dolby Atmos (4) takes all of this to a new level. Some softer talking might require you to raise the volume, even if the voice mode is selected, but it’s a great all-rounder.

Clash settee rockers The Heston comes into its own with music. The wide range of sources and codecs should suit everyone, and it is powerful. It’s happier with rockier stuff, but bassy dance tunes are well catered for – it’s a warm, high-quality sound that can easily fill a mid-sized room.

Tech specs

Output 150W Drivers 2x 0.8in tweeters, 2x 3in mid-woofers, 2x 5in subwoofers, 5x 2in full-range Connectivity HDMI 2.1 eARC, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, RCA, USB-C, Ethernet Dimensions 1100x145x76mm, 7.04kg

Should I pay or should I no?

3 If you’re lost in the soundbar market, the Heston 120’s practical design features might just help you decide

Spank throbber A Heston Sub 200 is coming later in the year for those who want even more bass punch. No word on pricing yet. n Knob job While some will view the amp-style physical knob controls as gimmicky, I found them genuinely useful for the likes of volume adjustments, especially when listening to music.

n Mode load You can also select presets for quick access to a favourite playlist or internet radio station using the physical controls, and you can flick between the four sound modes.

n App tap A redesigned Marshall app debuts alongside the Heston 120. You can use this to set up the bar, and (optionally) to calibrate the sound to suit your room. This is simple and takes just a few minutes.

n Fix tricks It’s designed to have a low enough profile to sit under most TVs, but can also be wall-mounted easily. There are many replaceable parts inside, including the drivers and even the circuit boards.

Marshall has created a wonderful box of tricks here, and the wide variety of streaming formats is a real boon for music-playing flexibility. It’s hard to recommend the Heston 120 over the Sonos Arc Ultra, though – especially if you have multiroom plans. And while the physical controls are great, some won’t like the look of this statement soundbar.

@dangrabham

STUFF SAYS ★★★★ Maybe the retro look won’t be for everyone, but this is a cracking Dolby Atmos one-box audio system