Review: Marshall Heston 120 Soundbar

Marshall’s first try at a Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Heston 120, is an ambitious effort. Marshall’s consumer arm (once a separate entity) became a success by leveraging the amplifier brand’s musical legacy for an expansive line of headphones and Bluetooth speakers that sound nearly as powerful, raucous, and downright fun as they look. Moving into soundbars might seem like a natural succession, but creating an all-in-one distributor of surround sound and spatial audio formats that sits neatly beneath your TV is not without its challenges.

The Heston 120 is a beautiful reflection of Marshall’s design heritage, and there’s a lot this 5.1.2-channel system gets right, but it’s a surprisingly mercurial performer. It's capable of a premium touch and immersive overhead and side-firing effects. But when it comes to cinematic punch in action scenes and impactful moments, something is holding it back. In other words, this soundbar just doesn’t rock.

Bodacious Unboxing

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

It’s nearly impossible not to admire the Heston 120’s style. My wife—who has endured more soundbar unboxings than any audio civilian should have to—was immediately impressed by its striking design. Tactile touches like long strips of vinyl, coarse amplifier threading on the grille, and gleaming gold control knobs provide an impressive home theater translation of Marshall's original amplifiers, as well as speakers like the Stanmore and Kilburn.

Under the surface are 11 individually powered speakers, including two 5-inch woofers, two midrange drivers, two tweeters, and five “full-range” drivers. The collection includes both side-firing and up-firing drivers to bounce sound off your walls and ceiling for surround sound and 3D audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

Around back, you’ll find solid connectivity, including HDMI eARC/ARC for seamless connection to modern TVs, an HDMI pass-through port for connecting a streamer or gaming console, Ethernet, RCA analog connection for a legacy device like a turntable, and a traditional subwoofer that lets you sidestep Marshall’s available wireless sub. There’s no optical port, but since optical doesn’t support Dolby Atmos or DTS:X spatial audio, that's kind of a moot point.

Setup is pretty simple, but the bar’s hefty size adds some complications. At 3 inches tall, it’s a tough fit beneath many TVs. Conversely, the rubber feet that diffuse its 43-inch long frame from your console offer almost zero clearance at the sides and, unlike bars like Sony’s Bravia Theater 9 or System 6, there’s no way to extend it. That makes it tough to set the bar down properly with all but the thinnest pedestal TV stands, which are becoming common even in cheap TVs. All that to say, there’s a good chance you’ll need to mount your TV to use the Heston.

Like the Sonos Arc Ultra, there’s no remote, meaning adjusting settings mainly relies on the Marshall app. The app is relatively stable, but it froze up during a firmware update for me, and it usually takes a while to connect when first opened. Those are minor quibbles, and your TV remote should serve as your main control for power and volume.

Wi-Fi connection unlocks music streaming via Google Cast, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and internet radio stations, with Bluetooth 5.3 as a backup. Automated calibration tunes the sound to your room (complete with fun guitar tones), and in-app controls like a multi-band EQ provide more in-depth options than the physical knobs.

Premium Touch

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The Heston 120’s sound profile impressed from the first video I switched on, which happened to be an episode of Bob’s Burgers. The bar immediately showcased a sense of clarity, openness, and overall definition that’s uncommon even from major players in the space.

Using the bar in the background as I reviewed a TV, I found myself pausing to enjoy subtle moments like the spatial relationship of voices to their environment as an actor moved around a room, or the gravelly crunch of horse hooves as I traveled through the past in Ghost of Tsushima. Even with basic sitcoms and dramas, there’s a tactful touch to instruments and effects. The system’s upper register can sometimes reveal an edge in metallic effects like the lock of a door or a gun being cocked, but it rides the line between sharpness and warmth smoothly.

Moving to Dolby Atmos mixes like Mad Max: Fury Road revealed solid expansion on both the horizontal and vertical planes. The haunting vocal echoes of Max’s torturous past in the intro scene submerged me in fly-by whispers that got uncomfortably close. When Immortan Joe finds out Furiosa has escaped, the scattered dust of the shotgun blast to the ceiling had me nearly checking my hair for debris.

One confusing element in my initial testing was the Heston 120’s inconsistent bass response. Low-end rumbles seemed to modulate between powerful and weak-kneed from scene to scene. It wasn’t long before I realized that bass wasn’t the problem.

Where’s the Action, Jackson?

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

After a week with the Heston 120 in the background, I began testing in earnest with the “Amaze” scene from my go-to Dolby Atmos demo disc. The buzzing bugs at the intro were impressively precise, as was the overhead rain storm, but I was almost shocked at how little punch and gravitas the bar mustered from the rolling thunder effect. Moving through other key scenes, I soon realized that what initially seemed like a bass issue was actually the Heston 120’s lack of dynamic expression. Whenever the bar is confronted with fierce action, the sound seems to pull back.

The “Space Chase” scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a prime example. When the Sovereign fleet assumes position behind our heroes, the Milano’s engines usually fire up with a satisfying muscle-car rumble that ramps up the action for the battle. With the Heston, the ship seemed almost serene in its response, and the violent chaos of laser bursts and explosions to follow was notably toned down.

Wondering if it was a spatial audio issue, I popped in my Dark Knight Blu-ray in Dolby surround, and once again, the dynamic punch was missing. When confronted with the gravelly rumble of the Batmobile as it careens into the parking garage, or the ensuing explosions as the car goes from “Loiter” to “Intimidate,” the Heston 120 held back the goods with the restraint of a strict school teacher. The bar certainly feels much bigger than smaller systems or TV speakers, but the issue repeated itself to varying degrees in several of my other favorite high-octane test scenes.

You can counter the compressed dynamics by ramping up the volume, but that can leave dialog uncomfortably loud in quieter scenes. Swapping from the Movie mode to Music didn’t help either. Whatever I tried through weeks of testing, the Heston rarely reached the kind of cinematic impact I expect from a soundbar at this level.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The system is more confident for music. There’s a pleasant jangle to guitar and mandolin, and sweet fluidity in strings and orchestral horns. Tunes like Elton John’s “Your Song” revealed a pleasantly nuanced touch to piano key strikes. Occasionally, the soundstage can sound a bit smooshed in stereo, but the 120 does about as well as you can expect from a compact multi-channel system. It also works with Dolby Atmos music with supported services, which can put a bigger, wider, and more spacious bent on an increasing number of available Atmos tracks. All told, it's great for music, especially during parties or get-togethers, occasionally sneaking through with some real standout moments.

Is there enough good stuff here to make up for the Heston 120’s dynamic shortcomings? Now that its price has risen from $1,000 at launch to $1,300, it's a tougher ask. Pairing it with a good subwoofer could supplement its lack of punch, but then you’re in even pricier territory, on par with multi-component Atmos superstars like Samsung’s HW-Q990F.

Marshall’s first shot at a Dolby Atmos all-rounder has some real traction, but it’s in a very competitive space. Most folks would be better off with models like the Sonos Arc Ultra, or for tighter budgets, the stripped-down Klipsch Flexus Core 200. Neither bar offers Marshall’s signature flair, but both better embody the rock and roll spirit where it really counts.