The JBL Tour Pro 3 Sets a New Standard for Wireless Earbuds
The newest earbuds from JBL – the Tour Pro 3 – are a seamless blend of innovation and performance, offering cutting-edge features and remarkable sound quality. And this latest flagship model from JBL just might be the best true wireless earbuds I’ll test all year. Whether you’re an audiophile or simply someone who wants reliable earbuds for everyday use, you’re going to want to check out everything that the Tour Pro 3 has to offer.
JBL Tour Pro 3 Specs
- Price: $299.95
- Weight: 5.6 grams (each)
- Active Noise Cancellation: Yes
- Weather resistance rating: IP55
- Battery life: up to 7 hours with ANC (33 hours total with case), up to 11 hours without (up to 44 hours total with case)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3
JBL Tour Pro 3 with ANC – Design and Features
Most everything about the JBL Tour Pro 3 exudes extravagance, starting with the sleek, felt-lined packaging it arrives in, with cables and five extra sets of foam tips neatly encased inside.
It was the little things that stood out to me, though, specifically JBL’s attention to detail. The earbuds’ smart charging case has a vibrant 1.57” (a step up from the previous Tour Pro 2’s 1.45” screen) touchscreen display, which was a nice touch. But it’s not just a gimmick – this little screen is surprisingly useful. It lets you check the time, battery status, and even messages without needing to reach for your phone. You can customize the background for a personal touch, as I set mine to a waterfall from a recent trip to Hawaii. What’s more impressive is how the case doubles as a dongle for audio transmission, allowing you to connect to devices like in-flight entertainment systems via aux or USB. It’s a level of utility I haven’t seen in frankly any other earbuds cases.
The design of the earbuds themselves are equally impressive. While they’re a bit bulkier than some competitors (the earbuds I reviewed just before these were the comparatively diminutive Apple AirPods 4, so my recent bias might be showing), their ergonomic design ensures a secure and comfortable fit. I consistently wore them during long work shifts and workouts without experiencing any discomfort or ear fatigue. Plus, with an IP55 weather resistance rating, the Tour Pro 3 handled everything from sweaty gym sessions to light rain on a few morning runs with ease.
In the battery life department, JBL’s new flagships are not a huge step up from the Tour Pro 2, but the buds do improve by an hour or so with up to 8 hours of usage with ANC and an additional 44 hours if you include what you get from a fully charged case. That kind of endurance makes them perfect for extended use, and sets them apart from other premium earbuds that often make battery life an afterthought, like the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and their max of 6 hours of playback.
JBL Tour Pro 3 – Performance
The JBL’s Tour Pro 3 bevy of features really help round them out, but performance is truly these buds’ bread and butter. Right out of the gate, the Tour Pro 3 deliver outstanding sound quality thanks to the buds’ 1-2 punch of a balanced armature drivers and 10.2mm dynamic drivers. The result is an audio experience that’s rich no matter the genre of music or scenario you’re using them in. I tested them with everything from Jelly Roll’s soulful country rap to Led Zeppelin’s classic rock and Doechii’s experimental beats. Every track was expertly balanced, with deep, resonant bass, crisp highs, and punchy mids that brought the music to life. When I tested the Tour Pro 2, I candidly thought they missed the mark when it came to a premium audio experience, so the tweaks JBL made to this new model helped punch things up. To put it simply, these are some of the better-sounding earbuds I’ve tested, and deserve a seat at the table with flagships from Sennheiser, Sony, and the like.
As a side note, if you’ve read my other reviews, you may know that I’m not exactly a fan of spatial audio. I will say that I like the Tour Pro 3’s spatial audio capabilities better than most, because it added depth to tracks more often than it relegated them to sounding downright jarring. While that kind of virtual spatial audio just isn’t me (and it’s not for lack of trying), the Tour Pro 3 offered a better experience in that category than most others I’ve tested.
Looking to a more useful feature, JBL’s Adaptive Noise Canceling 2.0 technology blocked out background noise in my day-to-day environments effortlessly, whether I was in a crowded gym or running alongside busy streets. I also found the earbuds’ ambient sound mode to be a perfectly practical feature that complimented the earbuds’ ANC quite nicely, especially useful during quick interactions like greeting a fellow jogger or taking my dog out for a walk. I don’t think the Tour Pro 3 are redefining ANC by any stretch, but I also believe most people will be pleased with the quality they find.
Call quality is big for me, since I’m a terrible combination of being on the go often and the person that always needs to call instead of text. With six microphones and JBL’s Crystal AI Algorithm, the Tour Pro 3 delivers clear, detailed audio on both ends of a call, even in challenging environments. I put the buds up against my classic bike test – a scenario where wind and background noise typically wreak havoc on call clarity – and my partner and I had a near flawless, uninterrupted conversation as I hummed along on some sweet single track.
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Finally, the JBL Headphones app is a game-changer. Whereas some apps are optional, JBL’s partner software is an essential piece to the package since it offers such a comprehensive suite of features, including EQ customization, fit adjustment tools, and even a “find my earbuds” function. The app’s Person-Fi 3.0 personalized EQ was particularly impressive, using a series of hearing tests to tailor the buds’ audio profile to my unique hearing preferences. I also loved the Smart Ambient mode, which automatically paused playback and ANC when I started speaking. It was a really handy feature for gym workouts with my partner, though it’s worth noting that it can be a bit sensitive when you’re alone, occasionally pausing your music unexpectedly.
One minor downside is the Tour Pro 3’s multi-connection functionality. While the earbuds can connect to multiple devices simultaneously, in this case my phone and laptop, I encountered a few instances where they switched to the wrong source and left me struggling to get them to switch back. I had to dive into my Bluetooth settings and toggle things on and off again to get the buds back on track. It was a small inconvenience, but it happened enough times to become worth noting.
JBL Tour Pro 3 – The Competition
There’s never been as many high-end earbuds options as there are today, and the Tour Pro 3 certainly still has stiff competition. That said, without having the top buds on hand for a direct, side-by-side comparison, my experience with the JBL Tour Pro 3 aligns with what I expect from high-end earbuds, keeping up with some of the best, including the Apple AirPods Pro 2, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4, and Sony WF-1000XM5.
Where you, specifically, land between these true wireless juggernauts becomes a matter of personal preference, since we’re essentially splitting hairs in areas like (standard) features and price. For example, the AirPods Pro 2 are more compact and intuitive for iPhone users, while Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4 boasts audiophile-grade sound quality and superb ANC. And of course, Sony’s WF-1000XM5 is often regarded as the gold standard for ANC. While I’m not ready to declare that the Tour Pro 3 can completely unseat these top industry buds, I am confident in saying that the latest from JBL have one of the better blends of high-quality performance and features that you can find today.
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