In this day and age you don’t have to to havee to pay flagship money for a futuristic earbud case with a lock screen image; JBL made this available not just for the JBL Live Beam 3, but for all of its mid-range earbuds in January 2024, including the JBL Live 3 Buds, Beam, and Flex.
I liked it so much that I wrote a piece about the improved experience in JBL’s second-generation smart-case earbuds. In case you missed it, back in December 2022, when JBL first put a smartwatch-like screen on an earbud case, our subsequent JBL Tour 2 Pro review showed that we weren’t entirely convinced this first attempt was anything more than a colorful novelty.
But since that second smart case was so good that it ended up in our guide to the best noise-cancelling earbuds as our “best for battery” pick, I’m curious to see what JBL can do with its third attempt, this time in a flagship proposition. And putting the case aside for a moment, what about the spec sheet and audio quality?
Well, this isn’t a full review. But I do happen to have a review unit of JBL’s just-launched (August 21) Tour Pro 3 here, and I can give you some early facts, figures, thoughts, and impressions (spoiler alert: it’s good news).
JBL Tour Pro 3: What you need to know
First off, you get two color choices – black and “latte” – and while JBL is a bit vague on exact dimensions, the company does tell me that the screen is 30% larger and the chassis is slightly smaller in this iteration. The screen is certainly larger than the Live Beam 3, and the chassis is slightly smaller than the Tour Pro 2 (scroll down to the image below for a side-by-side comparison).
I’ll start with what I see as the biggest updates here. First off, this case is now a transmitter (see the Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 or LG Tone Free T90S for similar ones), meaning that with the included USB-A to USB-C cable, it can bypass Bluetooth, connect to your in-flight infotainment systems (for example), and broadcast that audio to your wireless earbuds. But more than that, the JBL Tour Pro 3’s case is one of the first audio products to arrive as a registered Auracast source device. That essentially means that anyone nearby with a pair of Auracast-compatible headphones can also join in and hear the audio being broadcast, and you can add a password if you don’t want random passersby joining in on your broadcast.
Next up is JBL’s Spatial Audio 360 (scroll down to the image of the ‘spatial audio’ options on the smart case, above), which features head-tracked, device-agnostic immersive audio, aided by an updated algorithm. I haven’t had much time with it yet, but initially it’s notable. As I listen to Melissa Etheridge’s I am the only oneI forgot I had earphones in because her soft voice seemed to be coming from somewhere close to my phone, even when I turned my head.
JBL has added L/R balance optimization, 12 EQ bands to tailor things sonically, and – a big one for me – JBL’s new Personi-Fi 3.0 update. For the uninitiated (it’s okay, we’re all friends here), this feature helps personalize your sound to your liking by creating a sound profile based on your hearing ability. First, it asks you a few questions, then checks your current ambient noise level – and I absolutely loved Personi-Fi 2.0, in the Live Beam 3.
What about noise cancellation?
Good question, but to explain what’s new, we first need to talk about the hardware. Beneath the driver housing (which is on the large side, but nicely ergonomic and comes with five pairs of ear tips to ensure a good fit) there’s now a hybrid 10.2mm cellulose dynamic driver paired with a 5.1mm x 2.8mm balanced armature setup. Here, JBL tells me that frequencies from 20Hz (aka the lowest our ears can detect) to 8kHz are handled by the dynamic drive unit; 8kHz-40kHz (or well beyond what we can hear) sounds are handled by the BA driver configuration – and interestingly, each has its own DAC to convert the digital signal to analog.
Codec support is also better: in addition to SBC and AAC, hi-res LDAC and LE Audio and the LC3 codec in dongle mode (i.e. transmission mode) are also included.
With a total of six microphones (two outside, one inside) and an improved algorithm using artificial intelligence (AI), there is a call equalizer function that allows you to control the volume of the caller on the other end. You can also make your own voice sound clearer to the caller.
Now, the noise cancellation – because again, it’s a big deal on paper. JBL claims that the aforementioned AI algorithm plus the company’s True Adaptive Noise Cancellation 2.0 with “smart calibration” should actually be able to handle what it calls “incident noises” (think a crying baby on a train) in addition to the low-level, steady drone that most solutions these days can handle with relative ease. I haven’t tested it thoroughly yet, but I can tell you that I was in a blissful bubble of silence in the office after receiving it.
Battery life? The claim is up to 44 hours of music playback; 11 hours from the buds plus three more full charges with ANC off, or 8 hours plus three more full charges with ANC on – or a total of 32 hours if you always have ANC on. And you can apparently squeeze an additional three hours of listening in with a quick 10-minute speed charge.
Price? Sure, but brace yourself: £279.99 / €299.99 (that’s around $364 or AU$540). For the record, the older Tour Pro 2 launched in January 2023 with an RRP of $249.95 / £220 / AU$350, so there’s been a price hike, though given the listed specs, it’s not unreasonable.
This is, again, not a full review. But that is in the pipeline, I promise…