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I tested JBL's newest premium headphones – Bose and Sony should watch out
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- JBL’s refreshed flagship headphones improve on core features while introducing an innovative sidekick for $400.
- The Tour One M3 are packed with useful features, have a marathon battery, and deliver a sufficient noise-canceling and audio performance.
- The Smart Tx is a clever idea, but many people probably won’t use it to its full potential.
Wireless headphones are a dime a dozen, so manufacturers must give us something new and innovative to keep our attention beyond improving noise cancellation and sound quality. In January, JBL announced the latest generation of its flagship headphones, the Tour One M3, and the pièce de résistance was a tiny Auracast-enabled Bluetooth transmitter.
The Smart Tx transmitter is included with purchase, and it’s supposed to break down connectivity barriers so you can connect your headphones to virtually any audio source. It’s an interesting gadget, but its inclusion bumps the price of M3 headphones to $400.
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I tested the JBL Tour One M3 with the Smart Tx transmitter for two weeks. Despite the novelty, are a pair of JBL headphones worth residing in the same price range of premium offerings from Sony, Bose, and Sonos?
Starting with sound, the Tour One M3 headphones are impressive; they’re certainly the most premium-sounding headphones from JBL. The M3’s 40mm dynamic drivers wonderfully reproduce deep lows and bright highs, although the mids aren’t as clear.
The EQ settings in the JBL headphones app can rectify your dislike of the out-of-the-box sound, which is not moving or inspiring. You can choose from preset EQ modes or create your own using a 10-band equalizer. If the preset EQ modes don’t suit your style or you can’t get the custom EQ to your taste, you can take the upgraded Personi-Fi hearing test to help the headphones create a personalized hearing profile based on which frequencies you hear best.
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My Personi-Fi test concluded that I needed a slight bass, mids, and treble bump in my left ear and a bump of only mids and treble in my right. This personalized adjustment, plus a little extra bass (I can’t help myself), really made these headphones come to life.
The bass and funk of Justin Timberlake’s “Let the Groove Get In”were bumping, while the vocals and harmonies were smooth and present without any sizzle or piercing. The M3 did Tate McRae’s “bloodonmyhands” much justice, showcasing the best parts of the sultry pop ballad while keeping the bass punchy and tight enough to make you want to groove.
JBL implemented its proprietary spatial audio format into the M3, allowing you to listen to anything in spatial audio. The Spatial Sound opens up the M3’s soundstage, and like all songs in spatial audio, some sound better than others. Still, the feature offers head tracking, so your audio can move with you. It’s a neat effect that works reliably and with the right media, can be highly enjoyable.
The M3 promises 70 hours of audio playback, 20 more hours than its predecessor. In perspective, the M3 pledge 30 hours more than Sony’s XM5, 40 more than Sonos’ Ace, 46 more than Bose’s QC Ultra, and 50 more than Apple’s AirPods Max.
The Tour One M3 is loaded with software features, including the usuals like TalkThru mode, which lowers the volume when the headphones sense you’re trying to have a conversation, touch controls, and multifunction button gestures, all of which can be manipulated in the JBL Headphones app.
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The companion app also lets you tweak the headphones’ left/right balance, sidetone when taking phone calls, and ANC and transparency mode levels. The M3’s noise-canceling capabilities feature an impressive eight microphones to aid in detecting and canceling noises.
The noise-canceling performance will do for commuting and quieting noise in the office, but it’s not as good as what Sony and Bose can offer. Still, these headphones offer more noise-canceling customization than their equally priced competitors, allowing you to adjust noise cancellation levels and toggle between active and adaptive noise cancellation.
Four beamforming microphones are responsible for keeping your voice clear when participating in phone and video calls while wearing the M3. During my testing, I took plenty of phone and video calls and didn’t get any complaints about my voice clarity. Compared to headphones like the Sonos Ace with more luxury marketing, the M3 outperformed in this category.
Design-wise, the Tour One M3’s $400 price tag may confuse you. The M3’s design is almost identical to its predecessor, except the volume buttons moved to the left earcup, and there is no 3.5mm headphone jack. Additionally, the M3 are entirely plastic, omitting any heavier and more luxurious-looking metals to elevate the design or add stylish flare.
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Still, the M3’s plastic build keeps them light and comfortable on your head for hours. The faux leather ear pads are thick and plushy, offering enough padding to curb ear fatigue. Although there’s no 3.5mm jack, JBL asserts you won’t need one when you have the Smart Tx transmitter. Connect the transmitter to your M3 headphones, plug the transmitter into your 3.5mm jack-equipped audio source, and you’re rocking and rolling.
The M3 headphones come with a USB-C-to-3.5mm cord for plugging into sources like an in-flight entertainment system or gym equipment. The Smart Tx has Bluetooth Auracast, which allows you to use it as a Bluetooth transmitter (Tx) or Auracast receiver (Rx).
In transmitter mode, you can plug the Smart Tx into an audio source to share the audio with someone nearby with an Auracast-enabled smartphone and headphones. In receiver mode, you can connect the Smart Tx to an Auracast stream to hear the audio through the M3 headphones.
Because Auracast is still aiming for widespread adoption, the Smart Tx’s main feature may be limited for some people, particularly those with iPhones. However, the audio-sharing feature is a huge win. If you’re watching a movie on your MacBook and your friend has a compatible Google Pixel phone and headphones, you can plug the Smart Tx into the laptop and share the audio with your friend.
ZDNET’s buying advice
The JBL Tour One M3 are a superb pair of reliable, everyday headphones. They promise up to 70 hours of use, provide endless personalization options, and deliver practical use in everyday situations, like commuting or working. The M3’s predecessor was released just two years ago, which isn’t a lot of time to dramatically improve the M3 compared to the M2. So, if you own the Tour One M2, I suggest holding onto them.
If your headphones are due for an upgrade and you want a pair of high-performing headphones, I recommend the Tour One M3. However, paying a premium for the Smart Tx when its most innovative use cases with Auracast are still in their infancy seems like a miss. Hopefully, JBL will offer consumers an option to purchase the M3 separately from the Smart Tx.
Many JBL headphones offer effective noise cancellation, audio personalization, and intuitive software features. If you want access to those features for hundreds less than the Tour One M3, consider the JBL Tour One M2or the JBL Live 770NC.
