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Sound Quality9
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Comfort8
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Design8
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Connectivity8
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Noise Cancelling9
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Battery8
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Value For Money9
I review a lot of earbuds each year, and it’s always nice to come across a pair that are a bit different.
The JBL Tour Pro 3 fall squarely into that category, thanks mainly to their big-but-functional case which sports a display and some fancy audio retransmission technology.
I’ll get to that stuff later, but it’s also worth noting that the JBL Tour Pro 3 feature Auracast, which is an exciting new Bluetooth technology that I was lucky enough to experience in Berlin last month. It’s early days for Auracast and mass adoption, but having seen what it can do, I’m hoping that happens sooner rather than later.
Firstly, let’s dig into the JBL Tour Pro 3.
Specs and pricing
The JBL Tour Pro 3 feature a brand-new hybrid driver set-up. This includes a 10.2mm regular driver (which is slightly bigger than the previous generation) and a 5.1mm balanced armature, both configured to deliver ‘JBL Pro Sound’. The frequency response is also wider than before at 20Hz – 40kHz.
There are six mics on duty for noise cancelling and calls and Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity. The battery will last for 11 hours of playtime with noise cancelling turned off, seven hours with it switched on, and a total of 44 hours with the charging case.
Water and dustproofing have been uprated to IP55, and the box includes loads of regular ear tips, one set of foam tips, a USB-C charging cable, and a USB-C to 3.5mm cable.
You can order the JBL Pro Tour 3 today at Amazon, and they cost £279.99 / $299.95.
Interested in other JBL products?
Design, fit, and comfort
Let’s talk about the case, first. It’s impossible not to.
If you’ve not seen the JBL Tour Pro series before, the case is the first thing that stands out – because it contains a display. An even bigger display this time around, actually – if you compare it against the Tour Pro 2 case, it offers significantly more estate and room for controls.
The case display provides access to a whole bunch of stuff including play controls, noise-cancelling options, Bluetooth connections, EQ, a timer, a bunch of settings, and quite a bit more. You can even customise it with your own wallpaper when it’s locked.
In my review of the JBL Tour Pro 2, I revealed that I struggled to find a regular use case for that display, simply because I was so used to interacting with audio playback on my phone or watch. Your mileage may vary. Clearly, there’s a reason JBL decided to retain the case display on version 3 of these earbuds and I’d wager that some audience research must have played a role in that.
It’s a big case, too – much bigger than most other earbud cases I’ve tested. It isn’t quite as tall as the version it replaces, but it is just as well made, which makes up for the chunkiness; it feels like a serious bit of kit.
The bud design is very similar to last time, but the Tour Pro 3 buds are slightly thicker, which probably accounts for that new driver setup. Regardless, they remain incredibly comfortable to wear for long periods, and I love the inclusion of the foam ear tips, which create an even better seal for noise cancelling.
The Tour Pro 3 use touch controls for playback and instigating noise cancelling, which still isn’t my favourite approach, but they’re not too sensitive and, regardless, you have that case to call on if you want to interact with your earbuds, right?
Sound and noise cancelling
The sound produced by the JBL Tour Pro 3 is immediately exciting. I’m a huge fan of JBL consumer gear – it’s always incredibly live sounding, which is a nod towards the brand’s heritage; something I’m very familiar with, having worked in that space for many years in a previous life.
Out of the box, the Tour Pro 3 were just a little bit too bright for my liking. Thankfully, the JBL app has one of the most configurable EQs I’ve ever encountered for a pair of earbuds, and you can literally tweak every part of the frequency spectrum. You can also save multiple presets if you wish.
This means you should be able to get the Tour Pro 3 sounding exactly as you wish, while still benefiting from that exciting live-esque signature sound. They’re a fun pair of buds to listen to and they cope with most types of music very well indeed. We should also remember that they offer head-tracked spatial audio, which is great for movie watching and is fast becoming a standard feature in most earbuds at this price point.
That big charging case has one other trick up its sleeve, too – you can use it as an audio transmitter (similar to the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8). This means you can plug the case into, for example, a laptop or plane entertainment system and have the audio transmitted wirelessly to your earbuds. If you fly a lot, that could be a game-changer.
Noise cancelling on the JBL Tour Pro 3 isn’t AirPods Pro 2 levels, but it’s very good, and even better if you use the foam tips. Transparency mode does the job, although still isn’t up to AirPods Pro 2 standards (nothing I’ve tested thus far is). You can read our ‘Are Airpod Pros worth it guide‘ if you are interested in buying the Pro 2 earbuds.
Auracast on the JBL Tour Pro 3
One of the standout features of the JBL Tour Pro 3 which could easily get overlooked is Auracast.
This new Bluetooth technology enables users to broadcast audio to multiple nearby devices, which is perfect for sharing music, podcasts, movies, and presentations – to name but a few applications. It is, basically, limitless Bluetooth sharing – think of it as modern radio transmission without the need for millions of pounds worth of broadcast equipment.
I had the chance to experience Auracast firsthand at IFA in Berlin this year via three different demos.
The first was an ‘airport’ setting where we shared a music playlist with everyone in the group simply by connecting to one audio source. That could be pretty handy for big parties during layovers or flights where everyone wants to tune into the same content.
The second was set in a theoretical bar, where everyone could connect to a muted TV and hear the audio perfectly, thus not having to rely on subtitles in a crowded, noisy environment. I can imagine this being handy at the gym, too, where a group might need to work out together and listen to the same track in isolation.
Lastly, we were taken into an auditorium demo, where Auracast enabled the speaker to send his mic audio to everyone’s earbuds, no matter where they were seated or standing. Having spent a lot of time at press conferences where the PA system isn’t always up to scratch, I for one highly valued the capabilities of Auracast in that setting.
Auracast may not be abundantly available at the moment, but it’s coming, and the ability to share audio so easily is genuinely game-changing. The JBL Tour Pro 3 is one of the first consumer products to feature this – I just hope the potential applications catch up with them.
Find out our Top 5 Wireless Earbuds For 2024
Conclusion
Just as before, the Tour Pro 3 are JBL all over when it comes to sound. It’s exciting, engaging, and very malleable thanks to that brilliant app EQ.
They also have an interesting case, which you may or may not use, and they’re comfortable and very well-built. For the price, you can’t go wrong.
Last but not least, there’s the Auracast support, which is super impressive and which I hope sees mass adoption soon.
This is another top release from JBL.
Before you go
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