Marshall Tufton

Marshall has somehow nailed it, whether we like the rather precise design and technical decisions behind it or not. Their Major headphones are everywhere in the cityscape, and likewise, their general line-up of products seems to have been a huge success.

Why is that? Well, firstly, Marshall headphones, in-ears and speakers always sound great and maintain a clear attitude to how sound should be cut. Also, they look so distinct, appearing analogue in a digital age.

The latter is especially true for Tufton, their most expensive speaker in the "Portable" line-up. It has no "smart" features whatsoever. There's no Siri or Google Assistant, no WIFI or wild stacking features. It is, simply put, just a Bluetooth speaker, and for some, that automatically makes it a more trustworthy product that knows what it does and doesn't want.

The speaker itself offers the same striking design. Sure, it's an upright rectangle and doesn't quite maintain the illusion of a guitar amplifier, but it's still leather-bound, offers the same great leather strap for transport and has a cool metal grille adorning the entire front. From the tactile knobs to the battery indicator, every little detail oozes confidence. There's no faulting the construction or the aesthetics.

It weighs 4.5kg, which isn't nothing to say the least, and Marshall has only managed to secure an IPX2 certification, which means that while it can withstand a bit of rain, it's not as such made for being outside in all weathers. That's a little disappointing.

The best part, though, is that almost no matter what you throw at the Tufton, it produces warm, pleasant and rich sound that has a profile of sorts. Like Bang & Olufsen, the sound is... well, warm. We tested with everything from Noname's new album Sundial to Jungle's Volcano, and were surprised every time by both depth and breadth.

Of course, it doesn't produce the same enveloping 360-degree sound that the directional design prevents, but if you position it correctly, you get a speaker that looks great and works well in most situations. It even runs 20 hours of playback on a single charge and supports Fast Charging, which can provide several hours on 15 minutes of power.

Some might look for USB phone charging, or Google Assistant, or WIFI smart features, and you won't find any of that here. Whether it's liberating or not? Well, that's up to the individual. But it plays well and looks good while doing so, and for us, that's enough.