House of Marley Legend review

House of Marley has been producing reggae-inspired headphones for a few years now, preserving the Marley family’s 1Love organisation through earth-friendly materials and charity support. That doesn’t mean sound quality takes a back seat, though, as the new Legend in-ear headphones prove. They use balanced armature drivers for superior sound quality.

Built from recycled aluminium and finished with reclaimed maple wood, each tiny Legend earbud certainly looks the part. Despite containing a balanced armature driver, typically larger than the dynamic drivers found in less expensive earphones, the Legends are very small and weigh next to nothing, so you should have no trouble wearing them for hours at a time.

Five sets of rubber tips are included in the box, so you should find a comfortable fit no matter how large your ear canals might be. The braided cable might prevent tangles, and the subtle Jamaican red, yellow and green pattern is easy on the eye, but unwanted sound is transferred to your ears when the cable rubs against your clothes. This means the Legends aren’t the in-ear headphones to use when jogging. The in-line remote control with microphone is a welcome addition, though.

We always like to test headphones in public, to see if they can drown out exterior noise without leaking out and irritating fellow bus or train passengers. The Legends excelled on both counts, easily muting our tube journey to work but keeping noise leakage to a minimum. You don’t need to increase volume particularly high either, as the Legends are seriously loud compared to other in-ear headphones at the same volume setting.

General sound quality was superb, with ample bass that doesn’t overpower the mid-range, but doesn’t boom. The mid-range comes across as clear and precise, and although cymbals don’t crash with the crispness we’d hope to hear from £200 earphones, high-end frequencies are treated well.

We like the House of Marley Legend earphones, but if you aren’t bothered about the colourful cable and ethically sourced materials you might be better off with earphones such as the Sony XBA-1, which are available for much less.