Marshall’s made a ssspecial ssspeaker for the year of the snake

Although many of us in the UK and US will celebrate the Gregorian New Year from the first of January, huge parts of the world celebrate a different annual start date. The Lunar New Year begins at the end of January 2025, and this time around it's the Year of the Snake.

To celebrate that, Marshall has announced a limited edition of its rather good Emberton III Bluetooth speaker.

The Emberton III Lunar New Year Edition 2025 is a collaboration with the renowned artist Dark Question, who has created packaging inspired by vintage firecrackers and given the speaker itself a psychedelic edge. It references the legendary music festivals where Marshall amplifiers rocked the stage, such as Woodstock, and that's promptedMarshall to call its celebration Woodsnake 2025.

Marshall Emberton III Lunar New Year Edition 2025 price, features and availability

Wacky marketing ideas aside, the Emberton III is a terrific little speaker – I've got one and it's impressive given its small size.

We also write in our Marshall Emberton III review that it provides "fun, full sound". It's not quite as loud as a Marshall amp, but then it's about a thousandth of the size. I know which one I'd rather lug around with me.

Beneath the visual changes you're getting the same specification as the standard Emberton III. That includes 32-plus hours of playtime, Bluetooth LE, IP67 weatherproofing and a built-in mic so you can make calls. It'll also support Auracast streaming via an imminent software update.

There are two features here that I particularly like. For starters, dynamic loudness, solves an issue that applies to most small speakers.

The sonic characteristics change dramatically as you turn them up – the tech adjusts the sound profile to make it more balanced.

And the second feature, which Marshall calls True Stereophonic, widens the sound field to make the speaker sound much bigger than it actually is.

The new Marshall Emberton III Lunar New Year Edition 2025 has an RRP of £179 / $189 / about AU$359 and it's available to pre-order now from Marshall for delivery in January.