Marshall Stockwell III Review

• Marshall Bluetooth app
• Fast charging support

Features for the Stockwell II were on the light side, and the Stockwell III has received a pretty decent bump that brings it in line with the Kilburn III.

The Stockwell III features the brand’s True Stereophonic Sound that claims to offer a consistent performance from whatever angle you sit from the speaker.

Marshall’s Dynamic Loudness intends that the speaker sounds clear, balanced and free from distortion at whatever volume you’re listening at. The Soundstage mode offers you two options: reduce the width for a tighter, punchier sound or expand it for an airy, more detailed presentation.

Dig into the app and the customisable M-button doesn’t offer as many opportunities to customise it. You’ve got the option of making it the EQ button or ‘Do nothing’. If you decide on the former, it’s a choice between Marshall Sound or whichever EQ you’ve chosen to sit in the second slot.

• Not the most detailed mid-range performance
• Strong bass performance
• Detailed treble performance

First off, the Stockwell III is a big improvement on the Stockwell II. Perhaps the sound of the older speaker has degraded over time, but regardless, loudness has improved. To get the Stockwell II to the same volume, I have to turn it all the way up, and the Stockwell III is at half volume.

The bass output from the newer speaker is stronger: it projects vocals out from the speaker better, it’s clearer in the midrange and treble, brings out more details in a track, and sounds bigger too.

The crisper tone of the Stockwell II is replaced by a warmer, smoother tone, and this helps with the speaker’s bass weight. It’s not the punchiest of low ends, more of a warm, weighty, slightly rich presentation with Katy B’s On A Mission and Genesis’ Justice.

The bass isn’t one-note in description, as there is variation in the depth and size of the Stockwell outputs. It makes a decent fist at describing the low-end bass in Warren G’s Regulate; however, the low-end is richer in tone than it is outright powerful. Lows aren’t delivered with quite as much punch or energy as the JBL Charge 6.

Try a track like Hard Life’s Skeletons and while the bass sounds good, it doesn’t quite have the power, depth or energy I’m looking for. A play with the bass EQ settings on the speaker, and it affects the tone of the midrange, making it slightly thicker with vocals pushed more forward. Bass is stronger but midrange clarity does sound affected as a result.

The Stockwell III’s midrange performance can be classed as being very good with vocals, which are relayed with smoothness and clarity. Whether it’s Phoebe Bridgers’ vocals in Garden Song, Chris Cornell’s in Black Hole Sun or Todd Edwards’ in Daft Punk’s Fragments of Time, the speaker displays a pleasant, expressive touch with vocals. But in terms of overall detail, the smoothness of its sound means it’s not the highest.

Treble frequencies come across pretty decently – they’re not the sharpest, but the highs can turn out a bright performance, though the warmth of the speaker seems to curtail some of the detail and definition in the high frequencies when giving GoGo Penguin’s Ascent a listen.

I’d say the crisper sound of the JBL Charge 6 extracts more detail. Highs sound a little more precise and defined with the JBL producing a more insightful sound, with punchier and more energetic bass compared to the Stockwell III’s weighty and richer performance. The JBL also loads the midrange with detail that the Marshall seems to lack.

Using the USB-C input for audio doesn’t ultimately change the tone of the speaker’s sound – it’s still smooth but it does sound clearer, tighter, and more composed when fed higher quality audio that is possible over Bluetooth.

It’s a very handy feature to have, especially as the speaker keeps your volume, bass, and treble settings source-specific, so you can have different EQ for wired and wireless sources.

The Soundstage feature sounds fine, but I do think your feeling may vary depending on what you’re listening to. The soundstage does expand out of the speaker, becoming airier in tone but also sounding thin and crisper – but more detailed? I think it can sound a little harsh and bright when enabled. I prefer the tighter, smoother sound of its default settings.

The True Stereophonic Sound feature is another area I’ve been up and down (mostly down) with previous Marshall outdoor speakers. There’s already depth to the Stockwell III’s soundstage, but there’s no sense of that depth from the sides of the speaker. It’s just front and back, so from those two positions, the Stockwell III sounds good – from the sides, it feels like there’s a gap.

One last thing to note is that there’s volume on the source and volume on the device. You can raise the volume on your source to its highest level, and the speaker might not seem too loud, so to unleash the full volume of the Stockwell III, you’ve got to turn that dial on the speaker.

Should you buy it?