jbl earbuds tour pro 2

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JBL Tour Pro 2 - True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds with Smart Charging Case, 6-mic Perfect Calls with Voice Control, Up to 40hrs of Playtime, Immersive Spatial Sound (Black)

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About this item.

• Smart Case for seamless experience: Control the earbuds' settings, manage calls and playback, control your audio setting and battery level and set your alarm without taking out your phone, through the screen of the charging case. Enjoy a truly seamless experience thanks to the JBL Tour Pro 2 unique smart charging case without using your phone or the JBL Headphones App.
• True Adaptive Noise Cancelling with Smart Ambient: Enjoy the soundtrack of your life no matter where you are. True Adaptive Noise Cancelling technology automatically uses 4 noise sensing mics to adjust to your surroundings in real-time, minimizing distractions when you need to focus and optimizing the JBL Tour Pro 2's performance for a superior audio experience—all while you adjust ANC mode control with the JBL Headphones app.
• 6-mic perfect calls with voice control: The 6-mic crystal call algorithm of the JBL Tour Pro 2 earbuds allows you to have better conversations even in loud or windy environments or to get help from your preferred voice assistant. And with VoiceAware, you can choose how much of your own voice to hear by controlling the amount of mic input routed back into your earbuds.
• Smart Ambient technology: Stay alert to the sounds of the world around you while enjoying your music with Smart Ambient. Control either feature with a simple touch of a button and fine-tune them with the JBL Headphones app.
• Legendary Pro Sound: Thanks to extensive global research and testing, the superior JBL sound curve delivers precise, accurate audio and less distortion with all the music you love at any frequency or volume, even in noisy environments. Enjoy deep-dive bass thanks to the 10mm dynamic drivers powered by JBL Pro Sound.

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From the manufacturer, jbl tour pro 2.

The JBL Tour Pro 2's True Adaptive Noise Cancelling technology tunes out distractions so you can enjoy your favorite audio—or even the sound of silence—all powered by legendary JBL Pro Sound and experience seamless, superb sound on the go. The unique smart charging case allows you to control the earbuds' settings without using your phone or the App. Immerse yourself in spatial audio for up to 40 hours on a single charge.

Smart Case for seamless experience

Control the earbuds' settings, manage calls and playback, control your audio setting and battery level and set your alarm through the screen of the charging case. Enjoy a truly seamless experience with JBL Tour Pro 2's unique smart charging case without using your phone or the JBL Headphones App.

True Adaptive Noise Cancelling with Smart Ambient

True Adaptive Noise Cancelling technology automatically uses 4 noise sensing mics to adjust to your surroundings in real-time, minimizing distractions and optimizing the JBL Tour Pro 2's performance for a superior audio experience—all while you adjust ANC mode control with the JBL Headphones app.

6-mic perfect calls with voice control

The 6-mic crystal call algorithm of the JBL Tour Pro 2 earbuds allows you to have better conversations even in loud or windy environments or to get help from your preferred voice assistant. And with VoiceAware, you can choose how much of your own voice to hear by controlling the amount of mic input routed back into your earbuds.

Smart Ambient technology

Stay alert to the sounds of the world around you while enjoying your music with Smart Ambient. Control either feature with a simple touch of a button and fine-tune them with the JBL Headphones app.

JBL In-Ear/Earbud Headphones

What's in the box.

• JBL Tour Pro 2 Earbuds; Charging Case; USB-C Charging Cable; 3 sizes of Eartips; QSG; Warranty

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Looking for specific info, product information, warranty & support, product description.

The JBL Tour Pro 2's True Adaptive Noise Cancelling technology tunes out distractions so you can enjoy your favorite audio—or even the sound of silence—all powered by legendary JBL Pro Sound and experience seamless, superb sound on the go. The unique smart charging case allows you to control the earbuds' settings without using your phone or the App. Immerse yourself in spatial audio for up to 40 hours on a single charge.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 71% 9% 7% 5% 8% 71%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 71% 9% 7% 5% 8% 9%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 71% 9% 7% 5% 8% 7%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 71% 9% 7% 5% 8% 5%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 71% 9% 7% 5% 8% 8%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers like the sound quality and fit of the headphones. They mention that the sound is better than more expensive options, and the buds stay put and don't irritate their ears. Customers also appreciate the design. However, some customers dislike bluetooth connectivity. Opinions are mixed on functionality, battery life, value for money, and quality.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers like the sound quality of the headphones. They mention they're better than more expensive options, punchy, and clear, with great noise cancellation. Overall, customers are satisfied with the product.

"...Onto the ANC features, the Tour Pro 2 allow adjustable ambient sounds , you can amplify it to listen to conversations easier or you can negate it..." Read more

"...the firmware update and setting up the custom eq, the Tour Pro2 sounds amazing so far ...." Read more

"...Between the audio quality and the battery life I’m very impressed- even with the typically noisy environment in the truck cab!..." Read more

"These were a gift from my wife, I love them. Great battery life, great sound , they are comfortable, the little screen on the case is useful...." Read more

Customers like the fit of the headphones. They say it's comfortable and stays put.

"...Great battery life, great sound, they are comfortable , the little screen on the case is useful. Really solid earphones. No complaints." Read more

"I like my Samsung buds much more on most aspects. The Samsung buds fit perfectly and rarely fall out...." Read more

"...I continue to find new features the more I use it. The fit takes some getting used to and they are so lightweight...." Read more

"...I have small ears and these buds stay put and don't irritate my ears at all...." Read more

Customers like the design of the headphones. They say it looks cool, premium, and the material used feels high-quality. Some are amazed at the design and touch screen on the case.

"...have my reasonable expectations such as the right amount of airiness, crisp , clean, clarity and details...." Read more

"...The smart case is good , I'd wish it would show the artist and track and the flashlight function is silly. Couple of things i have to get..." Read more

"...Earbuds:Other than the pairing issue, they're very nice . For earbuds, the sound quality is very good...." Read more

"...3. The case is unnecessarily advanced. It seems cool , and is sometimes handy, but it's no different than just using your phone...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the functionality of the headphones. Some mention the ANC works well, while others say they're almost unusable and the display has completely stopped working.

"...such amazing performances that is audiophile worthy, and practicality for ANC system , the price of the product, all considered and it still doesn't..." Read more

"...if i move my jaw at all or do any sort of activity, they fall out. very frustrating ...." Read more

"...Not only do they work great for enjoying music- they work great for phone calls as well!..." Read more

"The absolute best in NC & sound quality!" Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the battery life of the headphones. Some mention it's great, while others say it failed to take a charge and the case stopped turning on or charging the headphones.

"...having them for a while, the stability is great, and the battery life is holding on strong ...." Read more

"...important to passion is that I bought a pair and they wouldn't charge as the instructions read . I sent them back. Bought another, same issue...." Read more

"These were a gift from my wife, I love them. Great battery life , great sound, they are comfortable, the little screen on the case is useful...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the value for money of the headphones. Some mention they're worth the money, a worthy investment in their ears, and the sound quality is defined as worth the cost. Others say the full price is not worth it and the case doesn't unlock.

"...that is audiophile worthy, and practicality for ANC system, the price of the product , all considered and it still doesn't get the credits that it..." Read more

"...While these are a bit on the pricy side for some they are definitely worth what you pay for them...." Read more

"Biggest plus I have with these is how well they are made.. makes the price worth it .. u see I've gone threw like 20 pairs of ear buds...." Read more

"... They're pricey , but you get what you pay for, and they do sound good.Case:..." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the quality of the headphones. Some mention they're amazing, solid, and versatile. Others say the product is very poor, the worst buds they've had, and the case is super cheap. They also say the connectivity is shaky and unreliable.

"...out of the case to be awkward after having them for a while, the stability is great , and the battery life is holding on strong...." Read more

"...Cons.1. The ear tips are garbage . Very hard to get a good seal, which is where the good sound comes from...." Read more

"... Really solid earphones . No complaints." Read more

"These are crazy good so far, stay in my ears, soumd quality is great . a little expensive but so far they feel worth it!!!..." Read more

Customers are dissatisfied with the bluetooth connectivity of the headphones. They mention the earbuds routinely lose connection and don't connect to the app. Some also say the Bluetooth pairing function is miserable and the wireless charger is poor.

"...common complaint with those who gave these buds a 1 star is not pairing out of the box ...." Read more

"I almost returned these because they wouldn't pair . However, the are good headphones...." Read more

"...Already had to get replaced thru manufacturer. Connectivity is shaky /unreliable. None of the different sized Earbuds fit comfortably...." Read more

"...The biggest two issues were:1. Bluetooth pairing was seemingly not possible to enter if you had a previously connected device in the area..." Read more

Reviews with images

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JBL Tour Pro 2 review

Effective anc, gorgeous sound, and a case with a touchscreen — what more could you ask for.

Tom's Guide Verdict

The JBL Tour Pro 2 true wireless earbuds boast solid ANC, a premium build and design, gorgeous sound that’s consistent across a range of genres, and an innovative smart charging case. But there’s no support for advanced codecs and spatial audio falls short.

Effective ANC

Innovative smart charging case

Premium looks, build and features

Consistent sound quality across songs

User-friendly companion app

No support for advanced codecs like LDAC and aptX

Spatial audio isn’t great

Smart case unlocks in pocket

Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.

• Cheat sheet
• Price & availability
• Design & comfort
• Connectivity
• Controls & app
• Sound quality
• Active noise cancelation
• Battery life

Price: $249 / £199

Colors: Black, champagne (off-white)

Battery life (rated): 8 hours (ANC on), 24 hours (charging case); 10 hours (ANC off), 30 hours (charging case)

Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3 with AAC, SBC

Weight: 0.42 ounces (each earbud), 2.6 ounces (charging case)

Durability: IPX5 rated

Here at Tom’s Guide, we’ve tested hundreds of contenders for the best wireless earbuds . We’ve also reviewed and raved about a lot of JBL products , but they’re often bested by premium brands like Sennheiser , Sony and Bose . Could the JBL Tour Pro 2 wireless earbuds change that?

The Tour Pro 2 boast an impressive feature set, all packaged in a sleek and premium design. With effective active noise cancelation (ANC), a handy TalkThru mode, various equalizer presets, an innovative charging case and a good battery life, these earbuds pack enough specs to rival high-end products in the price range. But there is no support for advanced codecs like LDAC and aptX for higher-quality audio handling over Bluetooth , and spatial audio isn’t the greatest. So are these worth the steep price tag?

For the full breakdown, read our full JBL Tour Pro 2 review.

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Cheat sheet

• A very comfortable drop stem design
• Bluetooth 5.3 with AAC and SBC codec support, but advanced codecs like LDAC and aptX are not supported
• Smart charging case that doubles as a controller, but is prone to unlocking when in your pocket
• Wear detection for automatic pausing and resuming
• Great and consistent sound quality across a variety of genres
• Spatial audio doesn’t work well

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Price & availability

The JBL Tour Pro 2 have a retail price of $249 / £199, and we’ve seen them drop to $195 at Amazon U.S. and £180 at Amazon U.K . At this price point, these wireless earbuds have some serious competition from the likes of the Apple AirPods Pro 2 (also $249) and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds ($299). The Tour Pro 2 earbuds are available in two colors: black and champagne (off-white).

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Design & comfort

The JBL Tour Pro 2 look like a pair of ordinary earbuds, although the long stem design is sleek and looks more sophisticated than many of the best noise-canceling earbuds available. Both earbuds have a glossy, matte finish, and the black model we tested looks premium. They’re quite light, with each earbud weighing 0.42 ounces. The long stem design is handy, too, as it prevents accidental taps when you’re adjusting the fit.

The Tour Pro 2’s smart case is something to behold and it feels innovative. The robust smart case weighs only 2.6oz, and it easily slips into your pocket. With a 1.45-inch display, the touchscreen is generally responsive but given its small size, those with large hands may struggle to get a reaction from it. The case doubles as a controller, allowing you to cycle between 13 settings, so you don’t need to open up the JBL app on your smartphone every time you want to alter the equalizer or enable/disable active noise cancelation. You can even turn the LCD screen into a flashlight (albeit nowhere near as effective as a smartphone’s). Nifty!

A downside of the smart case, though, is that it unlocked twice while it was in my jeans’ back pocket. I realized this only when I heard random beeping coming through the earbuds as the alarm had somehow been triggered. This is a bit annoying as, if the case is locked, only swiping to the right should unlock it.

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Connectivity

The JBL Tour Pro 2 earbuds use Bluetooth 5.3 to seamlessly connect to your laptop and smartphone, and they support AAC and SBC codecs. However, there is no support for LDAC and aptX — advanced codecs for higher-quality audio handling over Bluetooth — which is surprising given the $249 price tag. The Tour Pro 2 lose a couple of points here as similarly priced earbuds, such as the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 and the Sony WF-1000XM5 (both priced at $299), support these advanced codecs.

These earbuds also support multipoint connectivity, so having them simultaneously connected to my MacBook Air and Google Pixel 7 Pro was handy as I could use both systems to play music or watch videos. I’ll give the Tour Pro 2 a point here as this is a feature missing from the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 .

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Controls & app

While you can control the JBL Tour Pro 2 with the smart case, the earbuds also have touch controls. Tapping the left earbud swaps between Ambient Aware, ANC and TalkThru, while you can go to the next/previous track or pause by tapping the right. Holding either down will mute the mic. All the touch controls were highly responsive during my testing, and the protruding touch panels are handy as they provide improved touch accuracy.

These earbuds also feature wear detection, so if you remove an earbud, the media will pause and then resume when it’s put back in.

The Tour Pro 2 earbuds are compatible with the JBL Headphones app, available for free on iOS and Android . Even though you can change pretty much every setting via the charging case, the app isn’t completely redundant. Personally, I used the app to remove a few widgets from the touchscreen and kept only the ones I knew I’d be constantly using. You can also customize the EQ and change the controls on the earbuds.

The app also conducts a test to check how the earbuds fit for the best seal, and an extensive test to help create a personalized EQ which can be applied to every song you listen to.

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Sound quality

For the purpose of this review, I listened to a playlist on Spotify Premium, which is one of the best music streaming services , on my Google Pixel 7 Pro . With new upgraded 10mm drivers (up from 6.8mm in the JBL Tour Pro+), the JBL Tour Pro 2 offer an excellent listening experience, especially when it comes to the bass. As a bassist, I’m prone to noticing the bass in every song I listen to, so I was thrilled with the Tour Pro 2’s ability to amplify the bass without sounding overbearing. I’ve been playing One Pilots’ new album Clancy on repeat, and these earbuds fed into my obsession. The basslines in ‘Navigating’ and ‘At the Risk of Feeling Dumb’ sounded exceptional with the EQ set to bass.

I was also pleased with the vocal EQ, as was proven by how wonderful Paris Paloma’s vocals sounded in ‘Labour’ and the ‘Cacophony’ where the Tour Pro 2 highlighted the several singing voices in all their glory. These earbuds work so well that I noticed something new in Mitski’s ‘Brand New City’ (a song I’ve probably listened to 100 times). About 15 seconds into the song, a haunting instrument akin to an out-of-tune violin plays in the background — how had I never heard that before?!

While the overall sound is great, I found the spatial audio a bit lacking. On live albums, it works well at separating audience cheers from the artist’s vocals and guitar riffs. Give Green Day’s live performance of ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ a spin and you’ll see what I mean. But it doesn’t work with studio recordings, adding what feels like a tinny EQ.

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Active noise cancelation

I rank the JBL Tour Pro 2 ANC highly. When you wear them for the first time, the app will conduct an ear canal test (you need to be in a noisy environment for this) to check for good sealing which makes ANC more effective. It also adjusts in real time based on how loud your environment is, and it works well. When someone was building shelves in the office, I could barely hear the hammer loudly striking the nails, preventing me from getting a headache. However, the ANC wasn’t as effective when traveling on a train — I could still hear the loud hum of the engine. Having used the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 in the past, I have to say Bose’s ANC is better than the Tour Pro 2’s. I’ve been able to easily fall asleep on airplanes while wearing the QuietComfort Earbuds 2, but based on my testing, I doubt the JBLs would be up to the task. but the same can’t be said for the Tour Pro 2.

In addition to ANC, the Tour Pro 2 offers two other modes: Ambient Aware, and TalkThru. TalkThru works especially well as, when toggled, you can have a conversation without needing to remove the earbuds. You can then switch back to ANC or your preferred mode via the smart case or tapping the left earbud.

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Battery life

JBL claims the Tour Pro 2 earbuds give 10 hours of playback time, with the charging case giving an additional 30. With ANC on, this falls to 8 hours of playback and 24 hours from the case. I found these claims to be fairly accurate, as with ANC on, the earbuds died after 7 hours. This is better than the (6 hours with ANC on), but worse than the $219 Cambridge Audio Melomania M100 (10 hours with ANC on).

If you’re on the move and desperately need your earbuds, charging them with a 30W USB-A to USB-C adapter for 15 minutes gives you 4 hours of playback. The Tour Pro 2 also support wireless charging.

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Verdict

It feels like JBL has struck gold with the Tour Pro 2 wireless earbuds. I now wish all earbuds came with this smart charging case. Its touchscreen is fairly responsive and it doubles as a controller, negating the need to pull out your phone and open the app every time you want to change any settings. With effective ANC that blocks out most noise and a consistent sound across a range of genres (especially ones with heavy bass), the Tour Pro 2 warrant a recommendation.

However, there is no support for advanced codecs like aptX and LDAC, which many similarly priced earbuds do (looking at you, Sony WF-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds ). Also, while features like TalkThru are appreciated and work well, spatial audio doesn’t perform nearly as well, and it feels like listening to music with a tinny EQ.

But the Tour Pro 2 are still worth the steep $249 price tag, especially if you value effective ANC, an innovative case, excellent sound quality, and a premium build.

Nikita is a Staff Writer on the Reviews team at Tom's Guide. She's a lifelong gaming and photography enthusiast, always on the lookout for the latest tech. Having worked as a Sub Editor and Writer for Canon EMEA, she has interviewed photographers from all over the world and working in different genres. When she’s not working, Nikita can usually be found sinking hours into RPGs on her PS5, out on a walk with a camera in hand, at a concert, or watching F1. She's also a licensed drone pilot. Her work has appeared in several publications including Motor Sport Magazine, NME, Marriott Bonvoy, The Independent, and Metro.

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JBL Tour Pro 2 review: these earbuds have a screen

The touchscreen offers quick access to earbud settings along with extras like timers and even a flashlight. it’s not a super compelling addition right now, but this is only the beginning of what’s sure to become a trend..

By Chris Welch , a reviewer specializing in personal audio and home theater. Since 2011, he has published nearly 6,000 articles, from breaking news and reviews to useful how-tos.

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Am I holding the future of wireless earbuds in my hands? Or are JBL’s Tour Pro 2 buds — with a charging case that has its own built-in display — a parlor trick negated by the smartwatch? Do you need these controls directly on the physical product when they’re all easily accessible via an app on your phone? I’ve been testing the new $249.95 noise-canceling earbuds for a couple weeks now, and strangely enough, it’s a difficult question to answer.

The Tour Pro 2 are the first to come to market with an interactive case; HP has announced something similar (albeit focused on enterprise customers), and Apple patent filings suggest that the AirPods maker is at least exploring this concept. But JBL’s earbuds are here now and start shipping today in the US after launching in other markets earlier this year.

Look, I know we’re all in this together for the zany case-with-a-screen experiment. So let’s get the earbuds part of this equation out of the way first. The Tour Pro 2 include an exhaustive, well-rounded list of features. Their adaptive noise-cancellation, which adjusts in real time based on the loudness of your environment, is impressively strong and comparable to the upper tier of competition. Battery life is another highlight and rated at up to eight hours of continuous listening with ANC on or 10 with it off — plus another 24 or 30 hours from the case, respectively. That outlasts the AirPods Pro, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, the Nothing Ear 2, and other premium options. 

According to JBL, the sound signature from these 10-millimeter drivers follows the revered Harman response curve , albeit with some extra bass tacked on. And while the Tour Pro 2 sound perfectly good, I still prefer the audio fidelity from the second-gen AirPods Pro, Samsung’s flagship buds, and Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3 earbuds. To my ears, those earbuds have more depth, greater dynamic range, and just lend more definition to whatever music is playing. The Tour Pro 2 don’t fully sound like $250 earbuds to me, so yeah, the case is factoring into that price. You get several equalizer settings to pick between, and JBL’s Personi-Fi feature can further tune the audio output frequencies based on your own hearing traits and preferences. 

The company also piles on other tricks like multipoint, proprietary spatial audio profiles (music, movie, games, etc.), an earbuds locator utility, and speech detection for automatically activating ambient sound mode. That transparency / ambient sound mode was where I was least impressed; it just sounds very stuffy, inarticulate, and lags modern competitors quite substantially. Voice call performance is clear and satisfactory, however, and the earbuds are rated IPX5 for water and sweat resistance. 

To sum it all up, the Tour Pro 2 are comfortable, sound good even if not great, and they pack plenty of battery endurance. JBL also notes that the earbuds are ready for LE Audio spec and will be updated to enable it once the spec goes mainstream. That could lead to more efficiency and even better battery performance. For now, Bluetooth codec support is limited to AAC and SBC.

Now for the main attraction: that case. It’s pretty large by today’s standards thanks to the built-in 1.45-inch touchscreen LCD on the front. But there’s support for wireless charging, at least, which isn’t always guaranteed , even for the bulky ones. Do I wish the screen used something cooler like OLED or even E Ink? Sure. As is, you can adjust between three different brightness levels, but even the lowest setting isn’t particularly dim. Unlike the buds inside, the case only offers the slightest amount (IPX2) of water protection, so you’ll want to keep it dry. JBL tells me it might offer standalone replacement cases down the line since “I dropped my earbuds and broke the screen” is a dilemma that now exists, but it will likely replace both earbuds and the case in the event you damage any of them individually.

When you tap on the display, your chosen wallpaper appears. (There are presets, but you can also use custom images. JBL preloaded The Verge’s logo onto our review unit.) Slide your finger to the right, and you’ll start cycling through the different functions. And there are more than you might think:

• Playback controls
• Sound mode (ANC, transparency, etc.)
• Timer: the earbuds will power down after your chosen time elapses
• Spatial audio 
• Screen brightness
• Wallpaper selection
• VoiceAware: this determines how sensitive the voice detection is
• SilentNow: you can enable ANC even without music playing for a preset amount of time
• Automatic play/pause ear detection
• Notifications
• Find My Buds

That’s a lot of widgets to constantly be swiping between. You can (and should) remove the ones you don’t want through JBL’s mobile app for Android or iOS and cut that list down to a more manageable five or six screens.

Track controls and volume adjustments work well enough, although you’re never shown what song is currently playing; it’s just the controls. (You can’t fast forward or rewind by long-pressing the buttons, either.) Other core tasks like switching audio modes or EQ modes also pose no issue. But even here, I’m already questioning whether the display is necessary and how much convenience it adds. You can perform several of these functions through the remappable earbud gesture controls with the case stowed away. And yes, they’re all present in JBL’s app on your phone. 

I’m doing my best to ignore the possibility of ads on an earbuds case someday

But some inherent benefits do come with the screen. For one, there’s never any mistaking whether or not your earbuds are charging or how much battery remains. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve wound up with one fully charged AirPod — insert any earbud brand here, honestly — and the other fully depleted just because the contacts needed cleaning or didn’t align perfectly. But with the Tour Pro 2, that information is always visible in a small font at the top of the display. And since it’s the most pressing data for earbuds, it remains there as you swipe through the other widgets. 

There are even some rudimentary, super basic smartwatch-like features tossed in: the case lets you see and answer / reject incoming calls, and it can show an alert whenever you receive messages on your phone. When I say an alert, it literally just says “new message on mobile device” most of the time, so don’t expect much context. The message notifications disappear so quickly that they’re rarely helpful, so I left them off.

Does the case make life easier overall? …Perhaps ? Technically it’s faster to grab the case and change some random setting than it would be to pull out your phone, unlock it, find and open the JBL app, and go hunting for the same toggle. And it’s nice to have the Find My Buds tool right there if you open the case and discover one or both buds to be missing. 

But all of these “benefits” come with a big assumption: do you really carry your earbuds case on your person at all times? More often than not, I leave mine in my backpack or my coat’s chest pocket. If that’s you, the advantages of this interactive case go out the window unless you change your habits and keep it within reach. 

The earbuds case needs to be within reach often for the display to be useful

I can’t imagine anyone who routinely wears a smartwatch will see much to get excited about with the Tour Pro 2, either. Apple, Samsung, and Google all provide deep controls over their respective earbuds right from their wearables; hell, the Apple Watch can now tell you how much noise the AirPods Pro (or Max) are canceling in real time. There’s only more synergy growing in these walled-off gardens. But JBL doesn’t have a horse in that race. Many companies don’t. So if you think about it that way — a platform-agnostic audio brand trying to stand out — the Tour Pro 2 make a bit more sense. 

Agree to Continue: JBL Tour Pro 2

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

By using JBL’s Tour Pro 2 earbuds, you’re agreeing to:

• JBL / Harman terms of use
• Harman privacy policy statement

The final tally is two mandatory agreements.

And they’ve definitely got me pondering what’s to come. How long will it be before earbuds are a fully independent source of entertainment? It’s not hard to imagine some company building flash storage into an earbuds case and letting you sync music to it from your phone. You can already do so with a smartwatch; why not just extend that to the actual listening device? Maybe several years from now, we’ll be using AirPods with an iPod nano crammed into the case. 

I haven’t uncovered any singular compelling reason that will keep me using the JBL Tour Pro 2 in place of my favorite wireless earbuds. The surefire battery status is handy, but I’m too set in my ways to give earbuds valuable pocket space. That’s true for this first try, at least.

This concept isn’t going to begin and end with JBL — or HP, for that matter. I predict we’ll see others try their hand at “smart” earbud cases. Truthfully, no idea has ever struck me as more Samsung, but I suppose the Galaxy Watch lineup covers similar bases. Maybe someone will figure out a brilliant reason for earbuds to have a screen. For now, this feels like one screen too many.

But I can’t knock creativity and an attempt at something new. The Tour Pro 2 don’t measure up to the best earbud contenders when it comes to sound, but they definitely have a unique gimmick. They’re offbeat and weird. Let’s keep getting weird. Something good has to come out of that.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

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JBL Tour Pro 2 review: Welcome to the smart case era

The company jam-packed these earbuds with features of varied utility..

When it comes to earbud innovation, these days advances typically come in reduced size, longer battery life and improved audio. Rarely does a company offer something truly unique. But JBL seems to think there’s room for improvement in the charging case . With the Tour Pro 2 , JBL has installed a touchscreen display , giving you access to settings and tools without having to dive into its app. On top of that, these are a feature-packed set of true wireless earbuds, with a ton of options for sound customization, hearing assistance and more. But with everything the $250 set offers, JBL might’ve been too ambitious.

JBL’s product range features a mix of “traditional” earbuds, stick buds and sport models with an over-the-ear loop. The Tour Pro 2 fits in that middle category with a design akin to Apple’s AirPods. These certainly have a more refined look, though, with a mix of matte and gloss black plastic. The shape of the inner part of the earbud is ovular which, again, is similar to the AirPods Pro.

JBL Tour Pro 2

JBL threw a ton of features in the Tour Pro 2 earbuds, but some of them work better than others. The most interesting tool is the touchscreen smart case, but it’s not necessarily any quicker than reaching for your phone.

• Smart case works well
• Loads of features
• Smart case utility is debatable
• ANC can struggle
• Some features work better than others
• Sound leakage at high volumes

The curves here combine with lower weight to make for a comfy fit. The Tour Pro 2 are one of the few sets of true wireless earbuds I can wear for hours at a time without it becoming a chore. There’s a touch panel on the outside of both buds that can accept single, double and triple taps, in addition to long presses, for a variety of on-board controls. Plus, you can reconfigure those to your liking inside the JBL Headphones app.

The headline feature, though, is undoubtedly the case. Most earbuds come with a charging case, the feature list basically ends at charging. Some companies have added wireless transmission for use on planes, but nothing too crazy. The Tour Pro 2 comes with a “smart case,” complete with a touchscreen on the outside. As you might expect, it’s larger than what we typically see, but it’s not huge by any means. It’s equipped for wireless charging and there’s a USB-C port on the button for wired top-ups.

Software and features

The Tour Pro 2 offers a ton of features for audio setup, convenience and customization. All of which are accessible inside the JBL Headphones app and some are available via the charging case display. When you pair the earbuds to the app for the first time, the software will prompt you to complete a few steps for initial setup. Those include an ear tip fit and ear canal tests for ANC performance, voice assistant setup and a quick feature tour. The main section of the app displays battery status for both earbuds individually and the case right up top.

Everything else is situated on that main screen, accessible with a simple scroll. Ambient Sound Control is up top, giving you the ability to choose between active noise cancellation, Ambient Aware (transparency mode), TalkThru for IRL conversations and off. There’s the option to further tweak ANC by opting for Adaptive, automatic adjustments or by enabling leakage and/or ear canal compensation. Ambient Aware allows you to adjust the level of environmental sound the earbuds pick up with a slider.

Next on the list is Personi-Fi. This is JBL’s take on personal audio profiles. After completing a hearing test, the app creates a sound profile that also takes into account your listening preferences. Personi-Fi considers gender, age and more to build its custom preset. Before completing the process, the audio on the Tour Pro 2 was… fine. After the five-minute bout with tones at various volumes and frequencies, my sound profile produced improved bass response from the earbuds and what felt like a slightly wider soundstage. However, the tailored setting did lose some detail in things like softer background vocals, guitar distortion and subtle noise.

Sound options follow Personi-Fi. Here, JBL gives you a collection of audio presets as well as the ability to manually adjust the EQ curve. Any tuning you create can be saved for future use. You also have the option of enabling Spatial Sound on the Tour Pro 2, JBL’s take on spatial audio. Once you turn it on, the company offers three options based on what you’re listening to: movie, music and game.

The app gives you the ability to change the gestures for the on-board controls from this menu too. There’s a limit to the fine-tuning here as JBL has grouped all the options under Ambient Sound Control, Volume Control or Playback & Voice Assistant Control. Those are self-explanatory and you can choose to put one on the left and a different one on the right. The only consistent behavior is that a long press will summon your voice assistant on all three gesture options.

Three of the most useful features on the Tour Pro 2 are VoiceAware, SilentNow and Personal Sound Amplification. VoiceAware is an adjustable tool that allows you to tweak how much of your voice you hear during calls. JBL describes SlientNow as a quiet bubble, a feature that disconnects Bluetooth and turns on ANC. The company goes a step further by allowing you to schedule when the mode will turn on, how long it will be active and if you want an alarm when it ends (in case you’re planning to nap). Personal Sound Amplification is designed for hearing assistance, boosting environmental sound by 15 to 20dB and helping with conversations. When it’s enabled, you can adjust left/right balance and gain to fit your needs.

The smart case

While the main purpose of the smart case is to give you easy access to the Tour Pro 2’s features. I’m happy to debate the utility of putting everything on the charging accessory instead of leaving it in an app – software that takes only a couple more taps to open. But, if you find the entire concept convenient, I’m pleased to report that the touchscreen works well. You swipe from side to side to scroll through the myriad options available on the case and that panel is receptive to taps without issue. Plus, JBL decided to put battery levels, a clock and handy icons on the top edge, giving you crucial info at a glance. What’s more, when you’re on a call, those controls pop-up on case too.

The JBL Headphones app includes a section for customizing the smart case. Here, you can adjust the display brightness, select a screensaver, enable message notifications/previews and choose which features will be accessible on the touch screen. By default, the case shows Ambient Sound Control, Spatial Sound, EQ presets, VoiceAware and auto play/pause (when you remove the buds from your ears). That’s in addition to the lock screen wallpaper selector, screen brightness, timer, volume, playback controls, flashlight and Find My Buds that can’t be removed. The only additional feature that isn’t enabled by default that you can add to the case is SilentNow.

Sound quality and noise cancellation

The default tuning on the Tour Pro 2 is pretty average. There’s some decent clarity and detail, but the soundstage feels compressed despite a good amount of bass and a smidge of punch in the treble. Overall, things converge on the midrange, leaving the extra oomph on the table with tracks like Better Lovers’ “30 Under 13” and boygenius’ “$20.” Personi-fi helps open things up a bit, but as I mentioned, it comes at the cost of lost detail. You lose some of the texture of the vocals and guitars in that boygenius song, for example.

Another prime example of the lack of space in the sound profile is on Nickel Creek’s Celebrants. That album was recorded in a way that sounds like you’re in the room getting a private performance. Guitar, fiddle, mandolin and bass surround you with vocals sprinkled around to complete the vibe. On the Tour Pro 2, you lose the sense of the virtual room, so the songs just become music in your earbuds instead of capturing the atmosphere and energy of the tracking session. Personi-fi makes no noticeable difference here.

While there are a number of audio customization options in JBL’s app, they don’t do much to improve things. In fact, some make the sound worse. Spatial Sound’s effectiveness can vary depending on the genre. Sometimes there’s a noticeable improvement in the immersive nature of the audio. But with some content, like that Nickel Creek album, it seems like positioning is just moved up slightly, like it's trying to simulate up-firing drivers in a soundbar. In those cases, the sound is just relocated, not improved. I found it best to leave Spatial Sound off.

JBL threw a ton of features in the Tour Pro 2 earbuds, but some of them work better than others. The most interesting tool is the touchscreen smart case, but while it offers quick access to a lot of features, it’s not necessarily any quicker than reaching for your phone. Sure, everything is on the outside, but the company might’ve been better off fine-tuning transparency modes and ANC performance – among other things.

JBL Tour Pro 2 review

In terms of ANC performance, the Tour Pro 2 does a solid job in most circumstances. They’re very good at blocking the constant roar of a dishwasher, clothes dryer or white noise machine – things that conspire for the daily droning at my house. However, the earbuds struggle with human voices, especially if the person is close by. Listen to anything relatively quiet and you’re sure to hear the chatty person behind you.

One note on noise isolation that’s worth pointing out. Despite the ear tip fit test determining that all was well with the Tour Pro 2, there was a lot of sound leakage so the people around me could clearly hear what I was listening to. My wife was the first to notice, and while she says it happens occasionally while I’m testing, it has never been this bad. Sure enough, when she popped in the earbuds, I could clearly hear the tunes at volumes above 60 percent or so. It’s something to consider if you like to blast heavy metal in the office.

For calls, the Tour Pro 2 is a mixed bag. Confusingly, the TalkThru option in the Ambient Sound Control menu can’t be activated here. You can enable ambient sound mode, but that doesn’t pick up a considerable amount of your chatter. Instead, there’s that separate VoiceAware feature and it only works during calls. Again, it’s adjustable, so you can select the amount of your speech you want sent back through the earbuds. It works okay, but it’s nowhere near as natural sounding as what you get on the AirPods Pro . While TalkThru is meant for in-person conversations, it doesn’t pipe in much more of your voice than the transparency mode Ambient Aware. So, even if you could use it for calls, it’s not a great option for them. In the end, it just feels like different features here do variations of the same thing. Overall, call quality is just okay here, despite JBL’s promise of “perfect calls” via six on-board mics.

Battery life

JBL says you can expect up to eight hours on a charge with ANC on, plus another three full charges in the case. Turn noise cancellation off and you could muster two additional hours on both the buds and per charge in the case. During tests consisting of “normal” use – a mix of ANC, transparency mode, calls and leaving the buds to power off automatically – I got seven hours before having to dock the Tour Pro 2 in the case.

Oddly, I started getting low battery notifications when the case was still showing 25 percent left on both earbuds. Power plummeted quickly from there and after less than 30 minutes the pair was dead. I mention this to point out that the battery estimates on the case don’t seem to be entirely accurate, especially when you hit 25 percent. If you unexpectedly encounter a faster-than-expected drain, there is a 15-minute quick-charge tool that will give you up to four hours of use.

The competition

When it comes to premium true wireless earbuds, Sony’s WF-1000XM4 are the best you can buy right now. The company includes just as many features as JBL, if not more. You won’t find a smart case, but you will find handy tools like Speak-to-Chat automatic pausing when you start talking and the ability to automatically change sound settings based on location or activity. Plus, the M4s offer better sound quality and more effective noise cancellation on top of all the conveniences. They’re starting to get some age on them as they debuted in mid-2021, but that means you’re currently privy to a discount: they’re currently going for $200.

JBL threw every feature it could at the Tour Pro 2 . And that’s without even considering the smart case. That touch-screen-enabled accessory is the main draw but I’m not sold on the concept just yet. Sure, there’s something to be said for easy access to settings, but that only works if you leave the case sitting out on your desk. Otherwise, you can probably get your phone out just as quickly. JBL isn’t the only company putting a display on a charging case, so who knows, maybe it will become standard. Tour Pro 2 do offer handy tools like VoiceAware, SilentNow and Personal Sound Amplification. But overall they’re an average set of earbuds with okay sound, decent ANC and so many features you might not use some of them more than once.

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Home / Reviews / Audio / Headphones / JBL Tour Pro 2 review: case study

JBL Tour Pro 2 review: case study

Smart case stands out, but is it a sonic slam dunk?

There’s a fine line between groundbreaking and gimmicky. JBL is aiming for the former with the new Tour Pro 2: these true wireless earphones are the first to take smartwatch-style notifications and controls off your wrist and cram them onto a charging case via a tiddly touchscreen. They don’t skimp on other features, either, with active noise cancellation, customisable EQ and spatial sound upmixing.

That clever little display pushes them into properly premium territory, which isn’t JBL’s usual stomping ground. You can buy some very capable rival buds for £250 – ones with dumber cases, but an unwavering focus on sound quality or effective ANC. Can the Tour Pro 2 compete, or have the audio essentials taken a back seat?

Design & build: case in your face

Making space for a screen means the Tour Pro 2’s charging case is undeniably on the chunky side. It’ll likely live in a different pocket to your phone, and is no featherweight either. Still, it’s perfectly palm-friendly, and the 1.4in LED panel is big enough that its menus are easy enough to read at arm’s length. The flip-top cover that reveals the buds lurking inside gives us major Star Trek Tricorder vibes, too.

It looks suitably premium, whether you go for the Black model tested here or the fancier Champagne option. Branding is subtle and the metal accents not too blingy. The glossy display bezel up front is quick to pick up fingerprints, though – and you’ll also have to think twice before throwing the case in a bag with your keys, in order to avoid scratching it. A rubberised back to stop it from sliding around on a desk, and a flat bottom lets it stand vertically, too.

The buds are more standard fare, with AirPods-style stems and tiny blue activity LEDs that aren’t an especially useful inclusion. They’re relatively small, but sit quite deep in your ears, so you’ll need to experiment with the bundled silicone ear tips to find a firm fit. The flattened stems give a large surface area for activating tap gestures, and means you can grab a bud at the sides to reposition it in your ear without accidentally skipping tracks or pausing playback.

With an IPX5 rating, the buds are able to survive sweaty workout sessions and brief rain showers, but nothing more. The case is only IPX2, so is best kept in a pocket when the clouds open.

Features & battery life: swipe for sound

So what does that screen actually do? Its main purpose is to tweak the earbuds’ settings on the fly, without having to reach for your phone. After tapping to wake the case up, and sliding to unlock it, you can swipe through a bunch of pages to adjust the level of active noise cancellation, enable spatial sound effects, tweak the EQ presets, and turn on sidetalk to hear more of your own voice while making voice calls. It responds quickly enough to each tap and swipe.

It’ll also flash up any calls coming in to your paired smartphone, with options to answer or reject, and display incoming app notifications. The basic envelope icon that appears doesn’t make it clear which specific app is demanding your attention, though. You can change the lockscreen wallpaper if you like, but only from a limited selection; there’s currently no way to add your own.

Naturally you can control volume and music playback too, but it’s limited to play/pause and track skip. There’s no playback scrubber, no album art, or even a line of text to tell you what track you’re listening to. That means you’re just as likely to reach for your phone when skipping through shuffled playlists, which sort of defeats the object of having a screen in the first place.

It does at least show each bud’s remaining battery life, as well as how much juice is left in the case itself, the Bluetooth connection status and the current time. What you don’t get are any smartwatch-style widgets, like a calendar, weather report or timer. There’s a flashlight function, but it simply turns the screen white and is useless in anything other than total darkness.

Putting the various ANC modes at your fingertips might encourage you to experiment, but you’ll still need to head into JBL’s smartphone companion app to perform an ear fit test, or turn on the Adaptive setting that varies strength based on how loud your surroundings are. It’s the same with the other settings: the case can handle the basics, but it can’t completely replace your phone.

That’s partly because the Tour Pro 2 is absolutely stuffed with features. A Personi-Fi personalised sound test tweaks frequency response based on what you can and can’t hear (with modest gains at best in our testing), the buds’ gesture controls are fully customisable, and the equaliser is about as extensive as it gets for a pair of mainstream in-ears. You can create a curve based on exact frequency and decibel levels if you want to properly geek out over sound.

You can choose which voice assistant gets triggered (Google, Alexa, Siri or your phone’s native assistant – say Bixby on a Samsung Galaxy S23 ). In-ear detection automatically pauses tracks when taking the buds out of your ears, and never got confused while we were walking about. There’s even an option to amplify the sound around you for the hard of hearing. Basically if you like to fiddle, the Tour Pro 2 has got you covered.

It’s not a great choice for anyone wanting hi-res Bluetooth though, at least right now. JBL says LC3 codec support will be added in an update, but at the time of writing it just had basic SBC and AAC. No aptX or LDAC is a disappointment at this price.

Battery life is pretty good, though. The buds themselves are good for about eight hours of listening with ANC enabled, which is a solid showing among high-end earbuds. A few trips to the charging case adds a further 24 hours, assuming you’ve not spent too much time swiping through the screen’s menus. If you can live without noise cancelling those figures jump to 10 hours and 30 hours respectively.

Fast USB-C charging means 10 minutes should be enough for a further five hours, and it supports wireless charging like all true wireless earbuds at this price should.

Sound quality and noise cancelling: leaves you wanting

The Tour Pro 2’s 10mm dynamic drivers put in a decent enough performance – but not one we feel matches the £250 price. There’s not as much expression or dynamism as you’ll find from similarly-priced rivals, which leaves more energetic tracks feeling a little flat. We were left wanting a more expansive soundstage, with the Studio EQ preset merely giving the impression of distance.

The amount of low-end detail puts cheaper, boomier buds to shame, but we were still left wanting a little more impact. At the other end of the frequency range, instruments could sound overly bright. Crank up the volume and hi-hats, guitar strings and vocals can lean slightly into harsh territory. One personalised listening test later and things calmed down a bit, but only a little.

Having EQ presets so easily accessible through the case encourages you to experiment more than a phone companion app might, swapping between modes based on the currently playing track rather than picking a “best all-rounder” setting. Which is handy, as even after a lot of experimenting we couldn’t find a balance that worked perfectly across multiple genres.

The Tour Pro 2 fares better when it comes to noise cancelling, muting the low rumble of public transport quite effectively. That said, certain voices would still cut straight through, even at the highest setting, and it wasn’t particularly skilled at stripping out office chatter or keyboard clatter. Again, this is the sort of performance that would impress in JBL’s more affordable models, but here it comes up just a little short.

JBL Tour Pro 2 verdict

JBL is definitely on to something with the Tour Pro 2. Adding a screen to the charging case shines a light on the more advanced features that would otherwise be buried in a phone companion app, and is simpler to control than the touch gestures built into the buds themselves. It doesn’t come at the expense of battery life, either – but without more smartwatch-style widgets and interaction, its usefulness is limited.

Sound quality is merely OK for the money, with the Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Gen and Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 both offering more oomph. The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II and Sony WF-1000XM4 remain the gold standard for noise cancellation, too.

Until there’s more incentive to keep the case out of your pocket, it’s just not worth paying a premium for the screen.

Stuff Says…

Score: 3 /5

A novel twist on true wireless earphones, but one that doesn’t quite reach its full potential. Sound quality and noise cancelling don’t deliver at this price, either.

Touchscreen gives the case more purpose

Respectable battery life with and without ANC

Lots of audio customisation

Average sound quality for the money

noise cancelling could be better

Screen is under-utilised

JBL Tour Pro 2 technical specifications

A tech addict from about the age of three (seriously, he's got the VHS tapes to prove it), Tom's been writing about gadgets, games and everything in between for the past decade, with a slight diversion into the world of automotive in between. As Deputy Editor, Tom keeps the website ticking along, jam-packed with the hottest gadget news and reviews.  When he's not on the road attending launch events, you can usually find him scouring the web for the latest news, to feed Stuff readers' insatiable appetite for tech.

Areas of expertise

Smartphones/tablets/computing, cameras, home cinema, automotive, virtual reality, gaming

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JBL Tour Pro 2 review

Jbl’s flagship wireless earbuds have high ambitions tested at £250 / $250 / au$330.

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

JBL’s Tour Pro 2 are a solid pair of wireless earbuds, but you can find far better sound at this price elsewhere

Fun, innovative on-case display

Well-made and smartly designed

Packed with features

Sound is merely OK

Middling ANC

Serious competition at this level

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

It’s shameful to admit that we spent much of the time before composing this review trying to think of puns revolving around the word “case”. After all, there’s no escaping the exciting novelty that JBL’s Tour Pro 2 bring to the party with their cute display that gives full touchscreen functionality from the front of the earbuds’ charging case. Gimmick or not, it’s something unique to JBL .

Time will tell if that sort of thing catches on, and while such an innovation may be the first thing to grab your attention, we’re more concerned about high-quality sound than a touchscreen in a place we’ve never seen before. There’s little use in recommending a pair of wireless earbuds for sporting pretty patterns or fun gimmicks if they make your music sound like it was recorded at the local swimming pool.

This is the standard that the JBL Tour Pro 2 must live up to, and it’s a high one. At this price, there’s serious competition from the likes of Bose's QuietComfort Earbuds II , Sony's WF-100XM4 and of course Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 , so a fancy charging case isn’t going to be enough to stave off such heavyweight rivals if JBL can’t deliver genuinely outstanding audio. Let’s find out if the new Tour Pro 2 are up to the task.

Comfort & build

The JBL Tour Pro 2 are as stylish and comfortable as you’d expect at this price. Some of our team had a little more trouble making a full seal, while others found these new earbuds nestled happily in their ears after a little perseverance. If you don’t manage to get a perfect fit first time, you may find yourself limited by the fact that JBL only offers three choices of ear tips to accompany its latest pair of wireless buds.

General build quality, though, is good, and while the earbuds themselves aren’t particularly remarkable to look at, their ridged edge pattern and neat, short stems are far from offensive to the eye. That case is a lovely item, robust and sturdy while never straying into the realm of bulky or obtrusive. The coveted touchscreen, meanwhile, is relatively responsive and usually pretty precise, even if it can take a few attempts to get a reaction from some of the display’s fiddlier commands.

JBL’s latest pair of earbuds are well-furnished in the features department, boasting a large stable of tricks for an impressive wireless experience. The buds themselves are call-enabled, with a substantial 40 hours of total playback (if you’re a very frugal user) with the case. On a single charge on the buds, you'll get eight hours of play with ANC on (or 10 hours with ANC off), while a 15-minute charging session can bolster battery life by around four hours. For comparison, Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II offer around 24 hours in total, whereas Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 manage roughly 30.

As you’d expect, JBL has also brought active noise cancelling (ANC) to the Tour Pro 2 party, with the JBL app and smart case both offering access to the standard Noise Cancelling, Ambient Aware or Talkthru modes, and while there’s certainly a difference between these three options, none of these settings is especially remarkable. Standing next to a moderately busy road with Noise Cancelling activated removes the general rumble of traffic, but the louder wooshes and bumps of individual cars, not to mention other intrusions, still filter through.

Bluetooth 5.3

Codec Support AAC, LC3, LC3+, SBC

Noise-cancelling? Yes 

Battery Life Up to 8 hours (single charge in earbuds with ANC on), up to 10 hours (ANC off); total 40 hours (with charging case)

Finishes x2 (Black, Champagne)

Weight 6.1g (each)

Most of these functions, including spatial audio, ANC and JBL’s onboard equaliser, can be set and adjusted via the charging case screen as well as through the app itself. In a further attempt to justify its own existence, JBL’s novelty display also allows for your smartphone’s notifications and alerts to come through, as well as allowing control of VoiceAware settings to let you choose how much of your own voice you hear on calls, autoplay and a very handy Find My Buds feature. There’s even a case flashlight, but it’s so limited in its brightness that you’d struggle to light up a mouse’s cupboard with it.

The question, though, is whether that display on the case is really needed. Sure, it’s nice to be able to make adjustments on the fly from a new interface, but considering that you’ll likely be playing music from your phone as a source (and therefore always have it handy wherever your buds go), there isn’t much of a necessity to also have a case display in addition to your phone and the detailed JBL app. Maybe we’ll be proved wrong, but this feels more like Google Glass than Google Earth.

All of this agonising over novel charging cases shouldn’t distract us from the main event: sound. Considering the superb sense of refinement and balance offered by Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II, not to mention the effortless dynamic quality of the AirPods Pro 2, there’s some serious competition to be had at this flagship price level. Our expectations, frankly, were high.

Sadly, the Tour Pro 2 don’t quite meet them. There’s nothing actively wrong with JBL’s game effort, but little truly grabs us as we work our way through our favourite tunes. Few tracks are coloured by a predominant or overbearing sonic bias, but whether you’re wanting to groove to Noisette’s Never Forget You or rock out to Wig Wam’s In My Dreams, there’s just a slight lack of dynamism, detail or personality on display throughout.  

Cranking up Kanye West and Jay-Z’s No Church In The Wild should be an invigorating experience, but the Tour Pro 2 always feel as though they’re holding back somewhat. That primal, driving drumbeat just doesn't thump like you feel it should, and there’s a limit to the expression and feeling from the track’s charismatic performers. It’s far from an unpleasant listen, it’s just not quite an essential one, either.

Smoother, more chilled efforts fare a little better. Pick out a softer track from De La Soul’s seminal 3 Feet High And Rising album and you may find the JBL’s more muted presentation better suited to tracks like Eye Know or The Magic Number, even if heavier, punchier offerings just don’t feel as thrilling as you’d like. 

Spatial audio compatibility is one of the Tour Pro 2’s flagship features, adjustable via the JBL app and case to accommodate three different modes: Movie, Music and Game. Setting the Tour Pro 2 to Music before loading up Apple Music and digging out sections of Gorillaz’s Cracker Island sees the technology working respectably, with voices and instruments somewhat separated into their own distinct areas with relative conviction. However, the JBL’s implementation of this spatial audio tech pales in comparison to the AirPods Pro 2’s more assured performance; during the album’s title track, Thundercat’s upper-range vocals envelop you in an echoey fog, while the funky piano on Silent Running has a far more distinct personality all of its own when played on Apple’s wireless buds. The difference is stark.

Ultimately, then, the listening experience offered by the JBL Tour Pro 2 feels a little thin, limited by a lack of excitement and dynamism that rivals are able to offer at this level. The Tour Pro 2 aren’t a bad listen, but they fail to truly thrill on a sonic level. 

JBL had its work cut out if it wanted to muscle in on the action against some seriously impressive rivals. Hovering around this price are some of our favourite earbuds, be they the Award-winning Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II or Apple’s superb AirPods Pro 2, both exceptional performers that would have taken something seriously special to be knocked from such lofty perches. 

JBL’s latest don’t quite have the firepower to dethrone such worthy rivals. Yes, that case is a fun novelty and yes, everything’s well-made, well-designed and easy to use, but there’s something missing from the ensemble when it actually comes time to getting stuck into your catalogue of favourite songs. The Tour Pro 2 buds sound fine, but fine just isn’t going to cut it when you’re coming up against the best in the business. 

Read our review of the Apple AirPods Pro 2

Also consider the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Read our Sony WF-1000XM4 review

Best in-ear headphones: budget to premium

JBL’s smart case is a fun innovation – but I can’t see it catching on

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