Pros & Cons
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- Excellent audio response
- Lightweight and comfortable
- Long-lasting battery
- Feature-rich charging case
- Well-designed app with adjustable EQ
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- Expensive
- Noise cancellation doesn't match competitors
JBL Tour One M3 Specs
| Active Noise Cancellation | |
| Connection Type | Bluetooth |
| Connection Type | Stereo 3.5mm |
| Connection Type | Wireless Transmitter/Receiver |
| Type | Circumaural (over-ear) |
| Wireless |
There's no shortage of high-end noise-cancelling headphones on the market, but JBL's $399.95 Tour One M3 stands apart from the competition for one simple reason: They come with a compact wireless transmitter that can deliver high-quality connectivity from virtually any audio source. In addition, they're comfortable to wear for hours on end, have long-lasting battery life, and produce clean, enjoyable sound. While these well-rounded headphones are an excellent choice if the wireless transmitter appeals to you, the $429.99 Bose QuietComfort Ultra delivers superior sound and noise cancellation, remaining our Editors' Choice winner.
Design: Refined and Lightweight
The JBL Tour One M3 headphones resemble the Tour One M2, which is a good thing. They maintain a premium look and don't add unnecessary design touches just for the sake of it. They're elegant and understated and come in black, blue, or mocha. I think the blue option is the most attractive, but the mocha pair I reviewed looks great, too.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)The Tour One M3 headphones are lightweight at only 9.6 ounces. They achieve this with a build that's mostly plastic, and while the materials feel slightly cheap at times, it's a fair trade-off that JBL isn't alone in making. On top of being lightweight, they also feature plush earcup and headband padding with a clamp that isn't too tight. The result is a comfortable fit.
The right earcup has a capacitive touch panel. Tapping it once plays or pauses audio, while double-tapping skips to the next track and triple-tapping skips to the previous track. Tap-and-hold will trigger Siri. It can also control calls—a double tap answers an incoming call or ends an ongoing one, and a tap-and-hold rejects an incoming call or mutes the microphone when you're on a call. You can't customize these controls via the app.
Apart from the headphones and the transmitter, the box includes a USB-C cable, a 3.5mm-to-USB-C cable, a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter, and a lightweight hardshell case with a built-in carabiner.
Bluetooth: All the Right Codecs
The headphones have 40mm mica dome drivers, producing frequencies between 10Hz and 40kHz, which means they are capable of hi-res audio. They connect through Bluetooth 5.3 and support the simple AAC and SBC, and high-quality LC3 and LDAC codecs, which is a good selection.
They also support Google Fast Pair and Google Audio Switch (an Android-specific version of multipoint pairing). JBL notes that the headphones have an effective range of 30 feet.
Battery Life: Outlasting the Competition
JBL says the Tour One M3 headphones can run for up to 70 hours with noise cancellation off or 40 hours with it on. That beats the majority of competitors. Moreover, when it comes time to recharge, you can fully replenish the battery in only two hours.
The transmitter has a battery life of 18 hours, which is significantly shorter than the headphones themselves, but long enough to keep you connected to an in-flight entertainment system on the the world's longest flight.
Extras: Connect to Anything
One of the real selling points of the Tour One M3 headphones from a technology standpoint is the included transmitter, which JBL calls the Smart Tx Audio Transmitter. It is likely responsible for the M3's $100 price jump compared with the M2s. It's compact and lightweight (1.2 ounces), has a touch screen on the front, and includes two USB-C ports: one to connect to an audio source and another to charge the headphones. There's also a power button on the top.
The transmitter uses a direct 2.4GHz connection to transmit three times more data than standard Bluetooth, enabling it to deliver 24-bit audio through a wireless connection. That’s the same as LDAC, which the headphones support on their own, but by using the transmitter, you can get that higher-resolution connection from any source. For example, my Mac computer doesn't support LDAC, but with the transmitter, I can get LDAC quality by selecting the USB device as my audio output, which then transmits audio to the headphones.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)At the same time, the transmitter also enables a wireless connection to devices that otherwise wouldn't have one. The headphones have a built-in digital-to-analog converter so you can connect them with a USB-C cable to a device like a laptop or smartphone for higher-resolution listening. It's also possible to connect to 3.5mm auxiliary jacks, so you can use the transmitter on an airplane. JBL has built the same Smart Tx technology into the charging cases of some of its noise-cancelling earphones, like the $299.95 Tour Pro 3.
The transmitter's screen lets you access settings like EQ, noise modes, and more, though you can access most controls on the headphones directly. The headphones use a combination of physical buttons and touch controls to access various features. There's a volume rocker on the left earcup, while a power switch on the right earcup can also put the headphones into pairing mode. Additionally, the right earcup houses the Action Button, which can cycle through noise modes or turn them off. By default, it simply switches between noise cancellation and ambient modes. Double-tapping the button enables TalkThru, JBL's transparency mode.
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(Credit: Christian de Looper)App Experience: Deeply Customizable
The JBL app (available for Android and iOS) is well-designed, easy to use, and offers a ton of customization options. When you connect your headphones, the main screen lets you scroll through features like noise modes and automatic play and pause. You can customize how long you want the Smart Talk feature to be active or turn it off completely. This screen also lets you customize the Smart Tx transmitter’s settings, including the screen brightness, the wallpaper on the lock screen, and which features you want to access on the device.
(Credit: JBL/PCMag)The second tab relates to audio features. It lets you toggle spatial audio and call settings and enable a low-volume EQ mode that boosts low and high frequencies when you're listening at low volumes to create the perception of a more accurate audio response.
The customizable EQ lets you tweak whatever you want, plotting points on a graph between 32Hz and 16kHz. I've played with the EQ a lot and haven't run into a band limit, so there's a lot of flexibility. If you use multiple pairs of JBL headphones, you can save EQ presets for each model, which is handy.
Noise Cancellation: Dependably Deadens Deep Sounds
The JBL Tour One M3 headphones produce good but imperfect active noise cancellation (ANC). It cuts low-end rumble from plane engines quite well, though some low frequencies still push through. This is also true of city bus noise, where the headphones reduce some low-end engine droning, though more mid and high frequencies are able to pass through. In a busy cafe, the headphones eliminate much of the background chatter, leaving only closer, louder sounds to pass through. They perform well, but aren't as effective as the Bose QuietComfort Ultra.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)The headphones have two different transparency modes. The Ambient Aware mode is a typical transparency mode that lets all the noise around you enter the headphones. Conversely, the TalkThru mode tones down your music and accentuates voices so that you can speak with others without removing the headphones. These modes sound reasonably natural, but Ambient Aware mode introduces some background hiss into the mix and could do a better job of reproducing high-end frequencies.
Sound: Well-Rounded and Bass-Rich
With the EQ and noise cancellation modes disabled, the headphones produce a full-bodied and detailed sound, from deep, rumbling bass to crisp and clean highs.
They adeptly handle the low sub-bass frequencies on tracks like The Knife's "Silent Shout." The bass sounds well-rounded and rich throughout the track without feeling muddy or distorted. Importantly, the bass doesn't take away from the track's tight percussion.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)The impressive bass response resonates on Kendrick Lamar's "Loyalty." This track has a challenging sub-bass synth, and the headphones produce all but the deepest notes, which is common. Unlike competing models, though, the JBLs still manage to deliver some subwoofer rumble to complete the bassline. This assists other aspects of the mix, like Lamar and Rihanna's vocals, which sound full and present.
Bill Callahan's "Drover" sounds excellent, too. This track benefits from a relatively natural frequency response, and the headphones deliver. Callahan's vocals are full-bodied, while the strings from the acoustic guitar and the sizzle from the cymbals ring through in the high end without being overpowered by the kick drum.
On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the natural frequency response makes for bright brass instruments and smooth strings. The soundstage isn't necessarily as wide as other headphones I've tested, but it is pleasantly expansive and most instruments find their own space in the mix.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)The headphones produce decent spatial audio. While it does increase immersion to a degree, I don't love the effect. Your impression may vary.
The microphones are acceptable, but not particularly impressive. I could understand every word I said in a Voice Memo recording on an iPhone. There was enough depth to my voice, but the crisp details in the high-end didn't come through very well.