JBL Tour Pro 3 Earbuds Review: Feature-Packed Powerhouse or Costly Overkill?

JBL Tour Pro 3: A Two-Minute Review

Sometimes, we can become victims of our own success. Are the new JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds some of the best noise-cancelling earbuds I’ve ever tested? They’re undoubtedly the most feature-packed I’ve ever used, and that’s wholly commendable. A quick scroll through the on-screen menu options is a testament to that. These flagship earbuds do so much for your music, for the voice of anyone you talk to during calls, for the ambient sounds around you, for your in-game experience, and for broadcast audio to your friends – I could go on (and will, don’t worry).

So, why do you sense a ‘but’ coming? Well, since the arrival of the January 2023-issue JBL Tour Pro 2 upon which this third-gen flagship set are built, JBL has offered much of its once-flagship tech to the cheaper Live 3 earbuds (which come in three flavors: ‘toothbrush-head’ Beam, ‘open-ear-ish’ Flex, and ‘no-tail’ Buds) including that super-impressive smart case. Which is good, right?

Yes, except it means justifying the price hike from $199.95 / £179.99 for the excellent JBL Live Beam 3 up to $299.99 / £279.99 for the Tour Pro 3 isn’t easy. And making a case for buying the flagship set only becomes harder when you discover that the more budget set is now available for a bit less; a quick UK scan proved you can buy the Live Beam 3 for £149.99 – and I’d suggest that they’re amazing value for that money.

So, what are the upgrades here? Let’s not mess around, I’ll tell you right now: you now get two color choices – black and a new ‘latte’ caramel-type finish – and the screen is 30% larger than the older Tour. Also, the case is a little smaller than that of the Tour Pro 2, but it’s still bigger than the Live Beam 3.

The headline-grabber is that this case is now a transmitter (like the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8, Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2, or LG Tone Free T90S for similar). Meaning that with the included 3.5mm-to-USB-C cable, you can hook up to the in-flight movie system in your airplane seat (say) and broadcast the audio to your buds – but like B&W’s option, it’ll do it in high-quality audio, this time using LE Audio and the LC3 codec.

The JBL Tour Pro 3’s case is also one of the first registered 5G cases, with impressive IP55 waterproofing, wireless charging, and a 24-hour battery life.

Features Overview

Here’s a quick rundown of the key features:

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC, LE Audio, and LC3 in case mode
• Frequency Range: 20 Hz – 40 kHz
• Waterproofing: IP55
• Other Features: Case retransmission feature in LC3 codec quality, Auracast source device; smart case; 6 mics; head-tracked spatial audio

How I Tested the JBL Tour Pro 3

I tested the JBL Tour Pro 3 for nearly four weeks, after a thorough 48-hour run-in period, as per our guidelines on how we test wireless earbuds. I wore them to work on weekdays (running to the station; on the London Underground; at the office), and during a weekend on Weymouth seafront – the best way to test blustery wind interference from mics during calls I’ve ever found. I even wore them during a cycle along the promenade, and they seem virtually uncrushable (since I believe another bicycle may have gone over it).

To better test the audio quality across the frequencies, I listened to our playlist (spanning everything from acoustic mixes to electronica) on Apple Music, Qobuz, and Tidal, but I also tested using podcasts and albums on Spotify, plus YouTube tutorials (mostly about how to duck-dive while surfing because I still can’t do it, in case you wondered) on my MacBook Pro. I compared them directly against the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8, Cambridge Audio Melomania M100, AirPods Pro 2, and JBL Live Beam 3.