I've seen loads of different ways of improving Bluetooth connections in a pair of headphones in my time, but none quite as fascinating as the JBL Tour ONE M3. These headphones, just announced at CES 2025, promise to provide "the ultimate blend of innovative audio technology and seamless connectivity" thanks to a little box with a screen that JBL is calling the "JBL SMART Tx".
What does it do? The black box is a wireless audio transmitter which can be used to add Bluetooth to a device that doesn't feature the standard. You could plug into the USB-C port of a TV, for example, or the headphones socket of your airplane seat. The screen lets you control different device settings without having to dip into the app, such as EQ and broadcast to Auracast devices.
The headphones at the core of the experience
The biggest thing you get when you order the headphones isn't going to be the little audio streaming box though — it's the Tour One M3 headphones themselves. Reading through their specs sheet, they look to be a very impressive pair of headphones for a very reasonable price.
There's "JBL 360" on board for Spatial Audio representation, which should be interesting to see. This sounds, much like the Bose "Immersive Audio" option, to be an implementation that makes its own Spatial Audio versions of music you're listening to rather than using pre-mixed tracks from the likes of Tidal or Apple Music. Head tracking is also on board — we'll have to see how it all works when we get the headphones in our hands (or on our heads).
There's noise canceling on board in the form of JBL's True Adaptive Noise Canceling 2.0, which will monitor outside noise and then adjust accordingly. That's a very premium ANC feature missing from some of the competition at a similar price, so it's be interesting to see how well its implemented. Then there's so called Ambient Aware and TalkThru modes to help you stay engaged with your surroundings.
Sound wise, we're looking at a pair of 40mm drivers, which seems to be becoming the norm for over-ear headphones as 2025 beds in. Battery life is looking to be a highlight though, and really shows how the AirPods Max 2 and the Sony WH-1000XM6 will need to step their game up — you'll get up to 70 hours of playback with the Tour ONE M3.
You'll be able to order a pair starting April 15th, and they'll cost £379 ($TBA) with the JBL Smart Tx box. If you want to save some money and don't need to add Bluetooth to everything, then you'll be paying £329 ($TBA) — which undercuts their biggest rivals in the Sony WH-1000XM5 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones. We'll be thoroughly testing them to see if they make the cut for the best wireless headphones.
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