JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds announced with unusually smart case

JBL has announced a new set of premium true wireless earbuds in the JBL Tour Pro 3, which come with an unusually smart charging case.

Just like previous Tour earphones, the charging case for the new JBL Tour Pro 3 features its own touchscreen. It’s 30 percent bigger this time around, measuring 1.57-inches.

The idea here is that you can keep your phone in your pocket, using the touchscreen to seamlessly connect the earphones with any Bluetooth device, as well as to see what song is playing or who’s calling you. You can also personalise your case with a custom photo, access your Spotify account directly, as well as basic smart functions like checking messages or the time.

It’s not all about that touchscreen either. The JBL Tour Pro 3’s case can also serve as a dongle for wirelessly transmitting audio to the earbuds from any AUX or USB-C source. It opens up a world of low latency wireless audio, even when establishing a standard Bluetooth connection proves impossible or impractical.

It works the other way, too. Connect the case to a device and press the Auracast button on the display, and you can share your content to any nearby devices. On a more basic level, the Smart Charging Case enables up to 44 hours of music playback, which represents three full charges of the earbuds.

JBL hasn’t forgotten that the primary job for any set of earphones is to play music. The JBL Tour Pro 3 packs dual drivers into each earbud, with a balanced armature driver handling the highs and an 11mm dynamic driver driving the bass and vocals. There’s full LDAC support for 24-bit high-res audio, too.

The company’s Personi-Fi 3.0 feature offers a personalised EQ setting depending on your own preferences.

It wouldn’t be a modern set of premium earphones without 360 spatial audio support, and the JBL Tour Pro 3 supports the brand’s own JBL Spatial 360, complete with head tracking for more immersive sound.

You also get enhanced ANC, while a six-mic array and JBL’s Crystal AI algorithm promises strong call quality.

You’ll enjoy a swift connection whether you’re hooking up to an Android device or a Windows PC, with support for both Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair, and Bluetooth 5.3 LE is supported for a more stable connection.

The JBL Tour PRO 3 will be available in two colours, Black and Latte, from September 14 at a price of £279.99 / €299.99.