JBL Tour Pro 3 Earbuds Review: Low Price and Attractive Upgrades

When they are released, back in the fall of 2024, JBL’s flagship Tour Pro 3 the earbuds cost $330. While they have a touch screen LCD in their charging case, which doubles as a Bluetooth dongle, I thought they were overpriced for what they finally delivered.

But over time, the price has come down (generally $250 or less sometimes), which makes it better. Plus, they now have the distinction of receiving our first CNET Labs award for most accurate frequency response, as they’ve tested closely with the Harman Target Curve. Combine that with the added benefit of other firmware updates that have improved their performance, and it’s easy to recommend them today. They face stiff competition, however, from the likes Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 again Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro.

Read more: The Best Wireless Earbuds of 2026

JBL Tour Pro 3 design

The Tour Pro 3 earbuds have a premium charging case, but I wasn’t sure the design of the buds themselves was premium enough when I first encountered the $330 Tour Pro 3. While the buds feel powerful, sporting dual drivers inside, their plastic chrome seals make them look a little cheap to me — even if they don’t look as refined as some premium buds. They are IP55 resistant and dustproof.

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With their low price, it’s easy to be a little nitpicky. See there is comfortable to wear and relatively light at 5.6 grams per bud. By comparison, JBL’s Beam 3 drop-in buds, with a single 10-millimeter dynamic driver, weigh 5 grams each. They, too, have a touchscreen LCD in their charging case (it’s a little smaller at 1.5 inches compared to the Tour Pro 3’s 1.6-inch touchscreen), and I decided to recommend that model because it’s a lot less expensive — it is. $150 today — with only a small step to work.

Besides the large touchscreen of the Tour Pro 3 and the dual driver design, the one main difference between it and the Beam 3 is its charging case turns into a Bluetooth transceiver, so you can plug it into the headphone port of the inflight entertainment system and transfer audio to your buds wirelessly (you can connect the case to any audio outlet and transfer it via USB-C). Only a few earbuds, including prices Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 earbuds, provide this feature.

The touchscreen is responsive and acts as a remote control for the buds, so you can skip tracks forward and backward and adjust settings, including sound modes and equalizer settings, without touching your phone. It’s a nice feature, but putting the touchscreen in the charging case makes it bulky and bulky, which some people may struggle with; the charging case weighs 71.8 grams or about 2.5 ounces compared to 44 grams or 1.6 ounces for the AirPods Pro 3 charging case.

Features of JBL Tour Pro 3

Upgraded to Bluetooth 6.0 via a firmware update, the Tour Pro 3 has a robust feature set, including the aforementioned smart charging case and ear sensors to automatically mute the sound when you remove the bud, location audio with tracking, Bluetooth multipoint, the basic Find My Buds feature, calibration settings and support for AppleAC Auracast audio devices for Android.

Like other buds these days, the Pro 3s have a personal sound feature called Personi-Fi 3.0. It’s available in the JBL Headphones companion app for iOS and Android and creates a unique sound profile tailored to your hearing (and hearing taste). I also enjoy JBL’s VoiceAware feature that lets you control how much of your voice you hear through your earbuds during a call.

Also, the buds have a feature — SmartTalk — that hears your voice when you start having a conversation with someone and automatically lowers the volume of your music and switches from noise cancellation to surround awareness modes (on a smart touch screen, you enable TalkThru for the feature to work). This is similar to Apple AirPods Pro 3’s Conversation Awareness and Sony WF-1000XM6 the talk-talk feature.

JBL Tour Pro 3 noise cancellation

The JBL Tour Pro 3’s noise cancellation works well, especially if you can get a solid seal on one of the six pairs of earbuds that come in the box, including a set of foam tips. I wouldn’t rate the noise cancellation as high as it is on the Sony WF-1000XM6, AirPods Pro 3 and Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra (Gen 2), but it’s just a little step behind (I’d write it a B-plus or maybe an A-minus).

JBL Tour Pro 3 sound quality

As I mentioned earlier, the Tour Pro 3s is equipped with a dual-driver design. They have a 10.2mm dynamic driver for bass and mids (vocal) combined with a balanced 5.1x-2.8mm armature driver dedicated to the treble. They sound great, with a rich sound, balanced detail and good depth to them. As advertised, the bass is meaty and punchy, and has plenty of kick to it without sounding boomy.

Our labs have just started testing the frequency response of many high-end earbuds right now. As noted, the JBL Tour Pro 3 wireless earbuds received a CNET Labs award for best frequency response, which means their frequency response is very close to the Harman Target Curve, a “scientifically-backed” target frequency response for optimal tonal balance for headphones and earphones. This is not so surprising because JBL is a subsidiary of Harman, which is owned by Samsung.

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All that said, while the Tour Pro 3s are great earbuds, I can’t say they really surprised me (I’d rate them at A-minus on the sound front). For pure sound quality, I’d take the Sony WF-1000XM6 or newer The Noble Osprey ($200), which also features a dual-driver design, over the JBL Tour Pro 3. Those earbuds sound more premium than the Tour Pro 3 buds, offering a more pure, natural sound. In the case of the Noble Osprey, its triple performance is a step up from the Tour Pro 3s, with more sparkle and clarity.

JBL Tour Pro 3 audio performance and battery life

I’ve generally been pleased with JBL’s performance of earbuds over the past few years, and the Tour Pro 3 is excellent in the audio department (it has three microphones in each earbud). Callers said they only heard a faint background noise when I spoke to them on the noisy streets of New York. They say that my voice sounds clear, even though it’s a bit muffled.

The voice performance is still not up to par with what you get The new series of Anker’s Liberty Pro 5 buds or Sony’s WF-1000XM6 (AirPods Pro 3’s and Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro’s voice-calling performance is also top-tier), but it’s pretty good overall. I’ll take it out on A.

The Tour Pro 3s is rated for up to 8 hours of battery life with noise cancellation at medium volume levels, which is good (up to 11 hours with ANC off). The case adds about 32 hours of battery life with noise cancelling.

Final thoughts on the JBL Tour Pro 3

When they first came out, I thought the Tour Pro 3 were great earbuds, but they fell short of my expectations for the price ($330). Now that they’ve been out for over 18 months and their price is closer to $250 (again sometimes closer to $200 during the flash sale) and receive firmware updates that improve performance, are very attractive. That’s especially true if you appreciate the smart charging case features (including a Bluetooth transceiver feature) that help set it apart from other premium earbuds. I still think some competing models offer more pleasing sound quality, but their overall performance package (sound quality, noise cancellation and voice acting) is impressive. Even if they’re approaching two years old, they’re worth considering, especially if they dip into $200.

The Live Beam 3 earbuds look the same as before Live Buds Pro 2which I liked a lot, especially when it is sold for less than $ 100. Actually, they can compete with JBL’s AirPods Pro 2, and their distinguishing feature is the 1.5-inch touchscreen LCD combined with a charging case that works as a remote control for the buds and allows you to access their features. Equipped with 10mm drivers, not only does it provide clear, well-defined sound with punchy bass, but its noise cancellation and voice performance are solid. Their battery is great too — they offer 10 hours of battery life with ANC on and 12 hours off at medium volume (a 10-minute charge gives you 4 hours of battery life). Available in four color options, it is IP55 splash-proof and dust-resistant.

Note that JBL’s Flagship Tour Pro 3 earbuds also have an integrated LCD but with dual drivers, delivering even better sound than these buds with more depth and detail. However, the Live Beam 3s usually sell for $50 off their $200 list price, making them a better deal overall.