JBL Tour Pro 3 Review
Pros
- Better, more comfortable fit
- Long battery life
- Balanced approach to sound
- Strong noise-cancellation performance
- Good call quality
Cons
- Beaten for sound quality
- Beaten for ANC performance
- 'Noisy' Ambient Aware mode
Key Features
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Review Price: £279 -
Smart Charging Case Tweak settings, change the volume and more with the charging case
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LDAC Support for wireless hi-res audio
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Spatial 360 sound Turns stereo into 3D with head-tracking support
Introduction
When I reviewed the JBL Tour Pro 2, I was largely underwhelmed. They weren’t bad but against the competition, they weren’t great.
So the JBL Tour Pro 3 arrives, and as you’d expect, the marketing line is about being the smartest true wireless earbuds yet.
I’ve heard the hype before, so let’s put the Tour Pro 3 to the test and see if they are up there with the best earbuds I have reviewed.
Design
- Slightly bigger design
- IP55 rating
- Smart Charging Case
I wasn’t enamoured with the Tour Pro 2’s design, and despite the Tour Pro 3 being slightly larger, I find the fit is better.
The Tour Pro 2 felt a little loose, and even swapping the ear-tip didn’t have the most positive effect. The Tour Pro 3 are more snug, more reluctant to move about and less prone to leaking sound in from the outside world.
Even though the Tour Pro 2 were on the chunky side, the Tour Pro 3 are bigger but fit my ears better.
People with smaller ears might go for an option such as the Sony WF-1000XM5 and Technics EAH-AZ100, but there are five sizes of ear tips to help find that tighter fit. The smaller tips may compensate for the larger size of the housing.
Touch controls are responsive and well implemented. The left bud mainly controls noise-cancelling while the right is for playback. Both can be used for calls. You still can’t alter the volume, nor can you adjust volume control through the app.
Aesthetically, they’re almost the same as before, save for the microphones being repositioned. They still don’t look or feel premium, so while the silver styling and glossy finish are nice, I’d like it if there were more colours than just black and latte.
The IP rating has been boosted from IPX5 to IP55 so they can be exposed to small amounts of both water and dust without taking damage – although you don’t want to dunk them in water like you can with the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2.
The smart charging case has a larger touchscreen (1.57-inches from 1.45-inches), and like the Live Beam 3, I enjoy the customisation it offers without having to fetch your smartphone. It makes sense if you’re connecting the headphones to a laptop or something else and can still monitor and change the performance. And at least with the case, there’s the ability to change the volume.
Battery Life
- 11 hours per charge
- 44 hours with charging case
- Wireless charging
With the charging case, JBL claims 33 hours in the case and 11 hours in the earbuds, for a total of 44 hours with ANC off. That’s four hours more than the Tour Pro 2.
In my tests, and with noise-cancellation enabled playing audio at 50%, the Tour Pro 3 dropped to below 90%, which means they last around 10 hours. That’s the same as Tour Pro 2, but among ANC true wireless, that’s a hefty amount. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are capable of six hours per charge.
Charging is possible via USB-C (15 minutes for another three hours), and the Tour Pro 3 supports wireless charging. While the latter is more convenient for some, it is slower.
Features
- Auracast support
- LDAC streaming
JBL has loaded the Tour Pro 3 with features. I won’t go through all of them, but I’ll focus on the most important, starting with call quality.
Call quality has always been an area where even the best noise-cancelling earbuds have struggled, but the Tour Pro 3 are one of the better options. They’re not as good as the Technics AZ100 but the voice pick-up is clear and natural, and background noise is minimal even in a crowded food market. They’re also Zoom certified if you want to use them for work calls.
Bluetooth equals the v5.3 spec with multi-point support for connecting to two devices, and streaming in SBC, AAC, and the higher quality LDAC (which is only available on Android).
There’s Auracast, which allows the earphones (and case) to wirelessly connect to another device, like a screen at the gym. The problem with Auracast is that not many ‘source’ devices are supported, so there’s little reason to use it. In terms of the Bluetooth performance, I’ve experienced a few dropouts in places such as Waterloo Station in London but every else has been smooth sailing.
The Headphones app is very thorough. Just like it was with the Tour Pro 2, you can check for the best fit: monitor battery life, alter the EQ settings, (slightly) customise the controls, and find the earphones if they’re misplaced.
LDAC is enabled through the app but like the Live Beam 3, enabling it means some features are unavailable (such as Spatial Sound and Personi-Fi).
New features I don’t recall from before include Relax Sound, which apparently plays soothing sounds – all I heard was silence.
You can also adjust the sound to fit the ear-tips used (silicon or foam). There isn’t any built-in native support for voice assistants. You can still call up your voice assistant through the earbuds, but not through specific wake words.
Noise Cancellation
- Strong noise-cancelling performance
- Ambient Aware and Talk-Through modes
The Tour Pro 2’s ANC was fine but suffered from a leaky fit. The Tour Pro 3 is a big upgrade, up there with the best noise-cancelling earbuds from Bose, Sony and Technics.
I’ve used them on a plane and found them strong in removing the sounds of a cabin and people talking. Compared to the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and they’re a stronger proposition.
Walking around the streets of London it’s virtually quiet; while on a train the only sound that disturbs my bubble of isolation is a baby’s voice.
Back home and carrying out a pink noise test against the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and Technics AZ100; the differences between all three are small. I’d say both the Bose and Technics edge the JBL.
The Ambient Aware is good but could be better. While sounds passed through to my ears sound clear and natural, the noise floor is raised, and that’s audible when no music is played. Noise is present in the Talk-Through mode, and people sound less natural.
Sound Quality
- Balanced approach to sound
- Good bass response
- Easy to like character
The Tour Pro 3 have a similar performance to the Tour Pro 2 with a clear and balanced approach, but really, that’s the only common trait between the two.
To my ears, JBL’s soundstage sounds bigger and closer – the Tour Pro 2 sounded distant. Levels of detail and clarity are better – helped by the LDAC support – while voices and instruments are better defined. Vocals also have more of a presence in the middle of the soundstage.
The Tour Pro 3 features more punch and energy, along with more obvious peaks and troughs in terms of dynamics.
But, compared to Bose, Sennheiser, and Technics’ flagship true wireless, these still lack energy, dynamism and drive. They’re not as much fun as those true wireless.
And fair enough if that’s not the sound that JBL is going for. They’re not as rich-sounding as the Sennheiser Momentum 4 True Wireless, which gives them the upper hand in terms of clarity, detail and definition but compared to the Technics AZ100 they’re less expansive and energetic. They don’t grab my attention as much.
Highs have plenty of clarity and detail in GoGo Penguin’s Erased by Sunlight. You could want for some more brightness so treble stands out more, and piano notes in Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles aren’t as varied as I’d like. The top end of the frequency range is both assured but also on the safe side.
It’s the bass where the JBL Tour Pro 3 brings some oomph. Test track favourite Warren G’s Regulate offers plenty of sub-bass and depth, which the JBL laps up. But it’s still a balanced approach to the low frequencies. With Easy Life’s Skeletons the JBL offers some thump but doesn’t impact midrange clarity.
Queuing up an oldie in Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, there’s an enjoyable level of clarity and detail to his voice. With Norah Jones’s Don’t Know Why, those levels of clarity and detail are present, though her voice sounds flat and lacking dynamism.
The Tour Pro 3 seemed designed to be an easy listen – and they are – though a little more fun would put them up there with the best.
The Spatial Sound feature is back and takes stereo audio and makes it into a bigger, wider soundstage. I wasn’t a fan of it Tour Pro 2 and I don’t think it’s better with the Tour Pro 3. In fact it might be worse.
It’s the change in tone that I don’t jive with – the headphones sound shaggy in terms of detail and less defined. While the head-tracking works, the drop in detail means there’s a vague sense of the music in front. The Tour Pro 2 didn’t do much to make audio ‘spatial’ – the Tour Pro 3 does more but the execution still isn’t there. The Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 does a better job.
Should you buy it?
If you want an all-purpose true wireless
Need a true wireless for work? What about exercise? Perhaps you travel a lot too? The performance of the JBL ticks all those boxes.
The competition is slightly better
While the JBL’s noise-cancellation is excellent, there are slightly stronger options. The sound is good, but others are more entertaining.
Final Thoughts
The JBL Tour Pro 3 are a better attempt at a flagship true wireless pair than the Tour Pro 2. They’ve closed the gap the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds Ultra and Sony WF-1000XM5 in terms of comfort, fit, and noise-cancelling, and in some areas they are better, such as call quality.
But ultimately sound wins out, and the JBL Tour Pro 3 remain a balanced but safe and easy listen. They entertain but not as much as others. As an all-round proposition they’re one of the best wireless earbuds but JBL’s problem is that there are even better options available.
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every pair of headphones we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
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- Tested over three months
- Tested with real world use
- Battery drain cariied out
- Compared to price rivals
FAQs
The Tour Pro 3 was announced in August 2024, and first went on sale in September 2024 in the UK.
Full Specs
| JBL Tour Pro 3 Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £279 |
| USA RRP | $299 |
| EU RRP | €299 |
| Manufacturer | JBL |
| IP rating | IP55 |
| Battery Hours | 44 |
| Wireless charging | No |
| Fast Charging | No |
| ASIN | B0DDTVL8V2 |
| Release Date | 2024 |
| Audio Resolution | SBC, AAC, LDAC |
| Noise Cancellation? | No |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Colours | Black, Latte |
| Frequency Range | 20 40000 – Hz |
| Headphone Type | True Wireless |
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