The first thing you need to know about this review is that who is this coming from. I have been an audio equipment enthusiast since the age of 8 when I tore apart our beloved Philips Cassette player and added cheap tweeters to it to get more "clarity" in the sound. I have been reading, auditioning, experimenting with almost all budget brands and I have more often than not found out that price does not always determine the quality of a product. I have auditioned a $2000 Grado headphone, and the sound wasn't as impressive as a Ground Zero headphone which I purchased for around $50 - nothing to take away from Grado, it was a great headphone but the sound wasn't nearly as "real" as GZ (GZ has only ever produced that one headphone by the way!). To me, the people behind the product matter as much as the product itself, not the brand as much. That is why I have an Audiotec-Fischer setup in my car, not JBL or Sony. I just cannot compromise on quality of sound. It's not Brax because that's a very high price point for me. Cut to Marshall Kilburn II, which I received this morning after waiting for 62 days, owing to the lockdown. As soon as I opened the package, I could see "Estd. 1962". Beneath that was a neatly wrapped speaker which is the highlight and just the charging cable - that's it. I don't usually bother with product manuals unless I get in trouble and the internet can't solve it, in which case the manual is pretty redundant anyway. So, I turned on the 30% default charged speaker, placed it on a table top, connected it to my phone within 10 seconds (yes, it's that fast even for the first time), played my favourite song, and was instantly satisfied, not blown away, but satisfied. Then I placed on a shelf in the kitchen, and cranked up the volume a little and fiddled with the bass and treble controls to suit myself. This is where I was blown away. How does one fit so much sound in so little, yet make it sound so clean. As I write this review, I'm playing lossless media on it via Aux, and it sounds even better. It's like it can perform on every level. Maybe I'll get an A&K Kann sometime and see for myself. My point being it sounds as good as the source, which is the true test of a speaker. During this course, I have played Metal, Pop, Jazz, Indian Classical, Rock, Hard Rock and Folk music on it, and it's at home with all these genres. Everything about this speaker is high quality - The sound, materials, build, design, connectivity, and yes, the knobs. If you need an amazing speaker which is built as good as it sounds, lasts 20 hours on a single charge, looks stunningly classic, easy to carry around while you can manage a small hole in your pocket, I see no reason not to go for this.
