JBL Tour Pro 2 review

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.