I Tested Marshall's Heston 60 Soundbar, and Found That Underneath Its Rockstar Good Looks, It Delivers Audio Well Beyond Its Size

When you consider soundbars, certain brands will likely spring to mind. Sonos, Samsung, and Sony are all renowned in this space, just as JBL and Bose are for Bluetooth speakers. But while rock and roll royalty Marshall needs little introduction when it comes to amplifiers, having been the backbone of live music for decades, it is lesser known in the soundbar world. That was, at least, until the company announced its first spatial audio soundbar, the Heston 120 last year.

The Heston 120 has earned itself a solid reputation since it launched, and Marshall has now taken the lessons learned and channelled them into something more accessible. The Heston 60 is smaller, more affordable, and designed to slip neatly into living rooms that the 120 might have overwhelmed. The question is whether size really does matter or if this compact and distinctive soundbar can take on the likes of the Sonos Beam Gen 2 and its rivals.

First Impressions

You only need to take one look at the Heston 60 and one thing is immediately clear: it looks significantly better than many traditional soundbars. There are some lovely design details that make it stand out for all the right reasons, from the woven grille to the gold controls.

A soundbar's main job is to make your TV audio better, but no one wants an eye-sore taking centre stage in their living room or bedroom, and the Heston 60 makes sure that isn't the case. You'll want it on display. I had the black option in for review, but if you really want a soundbar that stands out from the pack, consider the cream colourway.

Both beautifully translate Marshall's signature aesthetic into soundbar form. The Heston 60 feels considered in a way that many rivals, stuck firmly in black rectangle territory, simply don't.

Features

Under its handsome exterior is a thoughtfully engineered speaker system delivering 5.1-channel sound: three 32mm full-range drivers fire forwards in a left/center/right configuration, with two more facing sideways at each end, passing through waveguides designed to achieve a convincing sensation of width and surround sound.

Finishing things off are two 76mm woofers, reinforced by four balanced mode radiators arranged in opposing pairs to minimize unwanted vibration. Marshall claims the total peak power output is 56 watts, while the frequency response runs from 45Hz to 20kHz.

Connectivity is pretty much covered at all bases, too. There’s no HDMI passthrough for connecting multiple devices, but you will find an HDMI 2.1 eARC port, along with USB-C and a 3.5mm analogue input. There’s also an RCA pre-out for a separate subwoofer, though if you opt for Marshall's own Heston Sub 200, you can also connect it wirelessly.

Speaking of wireless, you’ll find Wi-Fi 6, enabling features like Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, and internet radio, while Bluetooth 5.3 handles everything else. The Heston 60 is also fully compatible with both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, while control is handled primarily via the Marshall app. There is no physical remote included in the box, so that’s something to keep in mind.

Style

If you've read this review from the top, you'll probably think I am starting to sound like a broken record (excuse the pun), but the Heston 60 really is one of the most attractive soundbars out there. The cream colorway will warm up a living room in a way that a matte-black bar never could, but I have a lot of love for the black finish, too.

The gold buttons and accents add character and give the Heston 60 a premium feel, while the crocodile-effect rubber on the edges and back adds texture and provides a little extra design detail to draw your attention.

The Heston 60 has a trick up its sleeve when it comes to the Marshall badge and metal control surround, too. Both are magnetic, allowing them to be repositioned depending on whether you place this soundbar flat on the surface under your TV, or wall-mount it on your TV wall.

An internal gyroscope automatically detects orientation and adjusts the sound output accordingly, so no manual configuration is required when switching between the two positions. It's a small detail, but one that reflects the attention Marshall has given to how people actually use this kind of product.

At 68 x 730 x 124mm, the Heston 60 is lovely and compact, though larger and a little more substantial than the Sonos Beam Gen 2. High-end soundbars have a habit of looking oversized beneath anything smaller than a 65-inch TV, but the Heston 60 is well-proportioned alongside a 48-inch or 55-inch screen – it's smaller than both but not uncomfortably so.

Sound Quality

The Heston 60 isn't all form and no function, though. Fire up a Dolby Atmos film or album, and you'll immediately understand what I mean. Its soundstage is considerably wider and more enveloping than its physical dimensions would suggest, with sound filling the room with ease and effects nice and precise.

Dialogue is handled with confidence, too. Voices are clear and centred, even when a soundtrack surrounds them. This can make a real difference in your viewing experience, and it's also something some rivals struggle to maintain. Tonality throughout the frequency range is natural and consistent, with plenty of detail in the midrange and above.

At the low end, the Heston 60 digs deeper and hits harder than its modest size implies. Bass is solid and controlled, transients land cleanly, and timing is tight, from sustained rumbles to sudden bangs. In some material, low-end information can seem slightly cordoned off from the rest of the frequency range, while higher frequencies can occasionally be a little harsh if you crank the volume up too much, but neither is a glaring flaw.

The one area where expectations need to be tempered is stereo music. Like many multi-driver spatial audio soundbars, the Heston 60 applies its full architecture to two-channel content, and the results are less impressive than its excellent performance with spatial audio material.

Ease of Use

Day-to-day operations are handled primarily through the Marshall app, available on iOS and Android. It's a clean, well-designed, and well-organized app, offering a five-band EQ and the ability to save custom presets so you can tune the Heston 60 to your liking. That said, the app can be sluggish at times — it can take a couple of seconds to find connected devices, and there’s currently no surround options in Marshall’s range – an area where Sonos takes the win.

The app allows for configuration of wall-mount or surface positioning, however, along with wireless subwoofer pairing, audio delay adjustment, and internet radio access.

On the Heston 60 itself, five small tactile buttons deal with input selection, play/pause, volume, and 'sound', the latter of which cycles through four preset EQ modes: Music, Movie, Night, and Voice. Only one mode can be active at a time, though, so you can’t combine Movie mode with Voice mode, for example. On Sonos, meanwhile, you can turn on night mode while also boosting dialogue.

It's a limitation worth being aware of, though the app's five-band EQ gives you the scope to build your own custom solution. The fifth button is a 'Prog' button, which can be assigned to a saved Spotify playlist or radio station – a thoughtful touch for those who like a quick-start option.

As I mentioned, there is no physical remote in the box, so the app will be your main means of control from the sofa unless you're relying on your TV remote for volume. It’s not a huge issue, but some may prefer to put their phone down when watching TV, and you can’t do that here unless you’re happy to use the on-device controls instead.

Extras

Beyond the audio performance, the Heston 60 has several noteworthy elements. Its sustainable credentials are excellent: around 75 per cent of the plastic used in its construction comes from recycled materials, there is no PVC in sight, and the grille, end caps, drivers, and circuit boards are all designed to be repairable and replaceable, which is far from standard in this field.

The magnetic design accents that allow the branding and controls to be repositioned for both orientations deserve another nod here, too, just in case you missed it when I mentioned it above. Lastly, the wall-mounting bracket is included in the box, which, like the sustainability credentials, is not common.

Is the Marshall Heston 60 worth it?

At £499, the Heston 60 sits in competitive territory, but it earns its place there. It delivers spatial audio that sounds bigger and more involved than anything else this size and price, it's built with care, and it's distinctive in a category where visual anonymity is the norm.

Yes, stereo music isn't at its finest, and the occasional sharpness in the high frequencies is worth noting. The absence of a physical remote and HDMI passthrough will matter to some buyers, too, and the inability to layer sound modes is a shame. But for a compact, characterful soundbar that takes Dolby Atmos seriously and won't look like an afterthought beneath your TV, the Heston 60 is an excellent choice.