JBL’s Tour Pro 3 Are the Most Feature-Packed Earbuds Ever
It’s rare to find a pair of earbuds with every single advanced feature we can dream up, but that’s exactly what the JBL Tour Pro 3 is designed to deliver.
These flagship noise-cancellers are an upgrade of 2023’s Tour Pro 2 and build on the refinements in the Live Beam 3 we reviewed earlier this year. Going through everything that JBL has loaded into these buds would be quite a long list, but it’s worth considering how much is included and how versatile they are. JBL says they’re “leading the next generation” of earbuds and, after testing them out, that’s a hard claim to dispute.
JBL Tour Pro 3: The Case and the Screen
Although we can no longer call a display on a charging case “innovative”, JBL is still the only major audio brand putting screens on earbud cases. And this time around, it’s a larger and more capable display than ever before.
We’ve found it brings genuine utility. It's not just a gimmicky addition! If you like the idea of the screen, we can confirm it makes it easier to manage your listening experience without constantly pulling out your phone.
The screen showcases battery levels, track information, volume, equaliser controls, notifications from your phone and more. It lets you tweak "Spatial Audio" sound settings or toggle noise control modes, among many more features. It's like a mini smartwatch built into your earbuds case.
Design-wise, the case is a bit larger and heavier than most rivals, but it justifies it with all its functionality. The display is about 30% larger than it was on its Tour Pro 2 predecessor and is incredibly intuitive.
You can customise the lock screen wallpaper and you should be able to use Auracast (new Bluetooth technology) for audio sharing, making it possible to share your music stream with your mates after they’ve all upgraded their earbuds too. This feature isn't straightforward to test yet, though, given how few buds currently support it.
The case also functions as an audio retransmitter (just like the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 or Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2), so when you plug the case into a headphone jack or USB socket, it'll beam an audio stream over to the buds. It's ideal for personal listening from a CD player or record player, or for use when connected to an inflight entertainment system.
And when it comes to finishes, the Tour Pro 3 are available in either simple black or “latte”.
JBL Tour Pro 3: All the Next-Gen Features
There's more here than just the screen, these buds are packed with almost every imaginable feature going. A few of the highlights? They've got spatial audio (with head tracking), an ear fit test, a personalised hearing test, multipoint connectivity to two devices at once, new noise-cancelling and voice call algorithms, a customisable equaliser, the high-resolution wireless LDAC codec, and support for 13 languages.
The head-tracked spatial audio has us particularly impressed. It provides an immersive listening experience that adapts to your movements, making it feel like the sound is enveloping you from all directions. This is ideal for watching movies, and it feels far more realistic and natural than most other versions of this tech – we’d say it’s definitely just as good as the AirPods Pro spatial mode.
One of the other standout features is the updated hearing test experience in the JBL Headphones app. This “Personi-Fi 3.0" evaluation adjusts the audio to your unique hearing profile – it’s easy to set up and significantly improves our listening sessions by compensating for the frequencies we may not be able to hear quite as well.
JBL Tour Pro 3: Crisp Sound and Powerful Noise Control
Of course, all these features would be moot if the sound quality didn’t deliver – but it does.
The earbuds come with a new dual-driver setup, a first for JBL. In each bud, there's an 11mm dynamic driver for the deep, resonant lows and a balanced armature driver for crisp, clear highs – and each driver is driven by its own DAC (digital to analogue converter). The result? These compact buds deliver a rich and detailed sound across all frequencies that has us hearing new details in our favourite tracks.
The JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds provide a well-balanced audio experience that competes with the best in the market, including the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8, the JLab Epic Lab Edition and the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EX. The sound is detailed, with a distinct separation between different instruments and vocals. Whether you’re into bass-heavy beats or classical symphonies, these earbuds have you covered.
The noise-cancelling capabilities are top-notch too. The adaptive ANC (active noise-cancelling) continuously monitors and adjusts to your environment over 50,000 times per second. We find it effectively mutes everything from the rumble of our morning train journey to the chatter in a busy café.
We found this useful in the obvious settings – from working in the office to commuting on noisy public transport – but it’s best turned off when you’re walking on a windy day as that can create a lot of feedback in the microphones. We like the alternative setting to ANC too, for ambient awareness when we don’t want to be completely cut off from the world around us.
There’s also the “TalkThru” mode (accessible with two taps on the left bud), which is a separate and more powerful awareness option that lets you have conversations without removing the earbuds – we've found this handy while ordering our coffee in the morning.
JBL Tour Pro: Verdict
Right now, there aren't other earbuds that pack in this many upgrades and advanced features. We reckon the audio retransmission and future-proof Auracast support make the JBL Tour Pro 3 some of the best picks for travellers and early adopters after superior sound quality and highly effective noise control.
Compared to rivals like the Sony WF-1000XM5, Apple AirPods Pro 2, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra, the JBL Tour Pro 3 holds its ground with next-gen capabilities, competitive battery life and high-fidelity audio.
While they come with a hefty price tag, the sheer number of extras makes them worth the investment. The smart charging case with its screen sets the Tour Pro 3 apart from the competition, giving you both convenient control and a bit of sci-fi flair.
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