Verdict
JBL ’s flagship radio receiver over - ears offer an enormous number of features to make the commute more pleasurable , with fine strait , effective noise cancellation and an excellent wireless public presentation . But the contest they ’re up against is problematical .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
JBL make a gazillion phone and speakers each class . Just latterly it annunciate it had trade 200 million headphones , make the company the numero uno brand in the overall phone market .
The JBL Tour One M2 are the company ’s latest flagship over - ears , and in its own words , outperforms its previous phone . Ticking the requisite box seat for a headphone in 2023 , there is adaptative haphazardness cancellation , personalized sound , spacial audio backing and long battery spirit provide in a lightweight design .
We ’ve come across a few headphone that are jack of many patronage but master of only a few . Could that same description apply to the Tour One M2 ?
Design
There ’s a definite lack of flash lamp to the Tour One M2 ’s show , their only real indulgence to way are the shiny highlights on the earcups and headband . Otherwise , these headphones are here to do a job , which is to sit down on your head without causing uncomfortableness .
And it ’s commission accomplished , as they ’re light on the pass , causing very little bother . That ’s unlike the previous JBL over - ear I tested in theClub One , which had a nasty clamping force and bulky size . The Tour One M2 is positively light by comparing .
They ’re comfortable in the right piazza , the padding on the undersurface of the headband and earcups is nice and supple , the earcups are wide and the clamp violence is gracious and snug . I ca n’t find anything to complain about . I have n’t noticed flatus disturbance to be a factor in interrupt theANC performance .
control are a concoction of forcible buttons ( world power / Bluetooth , interference cancelling and volume ) and touch control ( playback ) . Power button is a Pseudemys scripta , a somewhat flimsy one that you might unexpectedly swipe down on it as I did when grabbing the headphones . It can also be a petty difficult to turn them off with the headphones on the head word ; I had to travail my fingernails in to comfort the slider up .
Touch controls are well implemented : one hydrant to pause , another to hop-skip forward and three to skip back . The dissonance cancel button is on the unexpended earcup and that allows for toggling between ANC on and go past - through modes . This is another aspect of the headphones I ca n’t encounter much to grumble with .
The headphones are also collapsible , which is a change from 2022 ’s course of non - foldable earphone , which means you could pack them easily into a bag or put them into the carry suit , which also has a pocket for storing cables / accessories ( a 3.5 millimetre transmission line , USB - Ccharging and airplane transcriber ) . They also come in a more taking silver finish ( at least from the promotional photos ) .
Features
JBL does like to compact headphones with as many features as possible , and the Tour One M2 are no unlike . The adaptive noise cancelling is the highlight , and the execution is respectable , if not quite emphasised .
They do clear out a lot of surround noise , from people walk past on a late Nox in Shoreditch ( voices in effect subdue ) to railroad car , bus topology and vans going by , but there ’s still some haphazardness peeking through .
I did notice the level of theadaptive disturbance cancellingwas not always consistent , which you would expect since it’sadaptive , but oftentimes it let through more interference than the ‘ standard ’ ANC style .
Compared to the likes of theSony WH-1000XM5andBose QuietComfort 45 , the Tour One M2 ca n’t tally both distich ’s eery sense of composure .
They ’re also not too efficacious at dealing with the disturbance on the Tube when it starts to get ‘ loud ’ . I ’ve used these headphones on the Northern , District and Jubilee telephone line and as soon as the howl of the wind picks up , euphony tend to take a background knowledge seat until it die out down . you’re able to , obviously , raise the bulk to combat it , so it ’s not all doomsday and gloom .
It does , at least , exercise its haphazardness delete flawlessly , with none of that ‘ whooshing ’ sound as cars go by or that ANC whine . It also does n’t noticeably alter the pure tone of audio being play , so I ’d describe the noise cancelling as effectual , but you’re able to get adept around the £ 300 mark .
The transparency is another effective feature of speech , amplifying surrounding sounds so I can hear announcements on the train easily . As is the pillow slip with JBL headphones , the Tour One M2 has two different versions in Ambient Aware and TalkThru .
The former fathom clearer and adopts a more instinctive tone – it ’s the standard ambient mode that grant majuscule transparency to sounds around you , the strength of which can be altered in the app . The response sliding from low to high ambiance is clamant .
TalkThru mutes music and focuses on citizenry ’s voice , and it does this very well . Used on the train , the earphone desex their focus on people ’s voices across the carriage , include the whisper of a bag which was amplified so much I finger it was happening right beside me .
For call the JBL use a 4 - mic readiness - up with JBL ’s Voice Aware technology , and the performance was excellent . The person I called commented they could find out me clearly and that background noise was kept to a minimum . They could hear people nearby but not to the point where he could make out what they were saying . That ’s a very in effect operation in my Christian Bible .
Battery life is state as 30 hour with disturbance cancelling on and 50 hours with it off . There ’s no mention of fast charging but filling up the stamp battery from deadened reportedly withdraw two hours .
turn over into the JBL Headphones app and there ’s a choice between enabling Google Assistant , Amazon Alexaor accessing a mobile machine ’s native phonation help . The Equalizer comes with five presets and the option to make a 10 - band custom EQ .
Or you could swear on the Personi - Fi to craft your own individualized audio frequency visibility . It reach this by transmit a test that measures how well you hear a serial of receding blips for your left and right ear . The Low Volume Dynamic EQ hike highs and first when listening at low volumes .
There is JBL ’s take on Spatial Sound with Movie , Music and Game profiles , and you could qualify controller for the Action Button ( left earcup ) and the touch panel , though that only refers to disabling it .
Smart Talk is like Sony ’s Speak to Chat , mechanically turn on the TalkThru mode when it sense you ’re speaking and lower music book . It not only reacts rapidly when I take off talking but is prompt to return to music . The pep pill at which music resume can be set in the app .
The Smart Audio & Video feature presents the dependable audio timbre with euphony ( in what way it does n’t specify ) as well as ameliorate lip - sync performance with video . interchange between them call for the JBL headphones re - connecting with the author machine , and I must admit that watching video on Prime Video and YouTube , I could n’t say if there was a pronounced difference of opinion between the two musical mode . What I did notice was a couple more dropout on YouTube with Video mood than I did in the Audio style .
The SilentNow feature film disconnects the Bluetooth connection and turns on the disturbance cancel , so you may catch 40 wink and not be upset . you may set up when it starts , how long it go for and whether you want a notification to wake you up .
The Personal Sound Amplification seems to attain a similar objective as the Ambient Aware lineament , which shit me ponder why it ’s included . At least it put up a different set of customisations by shift the balance from left spike to right .
Elsewhere there ’s Auto Power Off , Auto Play & Pause ( which is quick ) and a Max Volume Limiter that protect your hearing . All the means at the bottom of the app is the mean value to update the firmware .
The earpiece supportBluetooth 5.3with SBC and AAC codecs patronage . Connectivity has been excellent , there has n’t been any dropout , meaning or otherwise , whether walking through populated areas like Soho or in officious ecstasy hubs such as Victoria train place .
Sound Quality
In a similar vein to JBL’sLive Pro 2wireless earbud , the Tour One M2 take a balanced approach to sound that may happen upon some as suave . On the default volume they do auditory sensation reticent , the soundstage is rendered little and its sensation of energy lacks ‘ fizz ’ . But just two nudge on the volume ascendence and the JBL give a much good explanation of itself .
With GoGoPenguin ’s efface by Sunlight there ’s lucidness to the earphone ’ treble public presentation and salutary tonal mutant of the piano notes throughout the song . you’re able to sense how much pressure is applied to each piano note , the sound of the trailing edge as it lingers ; the brightness of each greenback is an melioration on the Club One ’s mute performance .
I would n’t say the JBL offers the biggest bass performance . There ’s weight provided to the drum hits in the Smashing Pumpkins ’ fastball with Butterfly Wings , but a phone such as Sennheiser’sMomentum 4 Wirelessexpresses it with more profundity and heft .
You get with the JBL a roomy , slightly wider and clearer carrying into action , but the sense of energy and drive half - room through the track in its frenzied guitar section is n’t as vivid on the JBL as it is with the Sennheiser or even the Club One .
Dynamically , the earpiece feel broad in price of key out the difference between a track ’s high and Sir David Low , a shade less sprightly in channel the nicety of singers . The two-channel image it offers of Tune - Yards ’ Hypnotized is also not as vividly realise as on theSony WH-1000XM4 , I smell out more depth to the Sony ’s performance than the JBL can offer .
With vocals there ’s a clarity that ’s mayhap advantageously than either the Sennheiser or Sony ’s smoother approach takes . The difference with the Spinners ’ Could It Be I ’m fall in Love is laborious to judge , but I cerebrate there ’s more character and a shred more presence to the lead vocals on the Sony .
It matches up to what I think of the JBL ’s mid - range operation , which is clear and elaborate , but the other earpiece dig out more definition of instruments for a more musical performance .
That said , the JBL holds up well to both the Sennheiser and Sony . Its more inert , perhaps even clinical attack does n’t have the fertility of either the Momentum or WH-1000XM4 , but some listeners may prefer that approach .
The JBL also offers spacial sound within the JBL Headphones app and that come to a wide soundstage with vocals recessed to create a sense of depth . I ’d stick with the nonpayment audio as all this really does is make the soundstage bigger rather than the sense of sound being around you .
The Personi - Fi individualise sound recording is something that will differ with each soul . I favor to have it off than on , the slight emphasis on the midrange that I find out come across as too serve and giving voices a pure tone that felt unreal .
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Should you buy it?
Everybody has their taste when it come to audio recording . There are many ways to process a cartroad to your pinna , and if you prefer a balanced , more neutral approach to audio that ’s what the Tour One M2 offering .
You ’ve got effort from Sony , Bose , Sennheiser , and Shure , all around the same price and they swan from being middling safe to excellent . There ’s lots of choice to choose from , specially for better dissonance cancelling .
Final Thoughts
The JBL Tour One M2 are a brace of headphones that mark 8/10 in many class and 9/10 in a few , which made deciding on a grade a tad more difficult than bear .
As an overall package , they ’re very competitive with wish to the contention . Their wireless performance is pretty faultless , as is their call character public presentation . They sound very practiced but not magnificent , and perhaps the want of any high-pitched - res audio codecs goes against them . But for those who opt a balanced sound then they ’re a duet to seek below the £ 300 mark .
Their dissonance cancelling is not class - lead – theBose QuietComfort 45are better in this instance – but they ’re upright for the commute and locomotion , and the levels of consolation the headphones offer is finely tuned . The inclination of feature is extensive , and some will probably never use half of them , but there ’s something for everyone who enjoy euphony , games or TV on - the - go .
I ’ve found the Tour One M2 have been a very reliable pair of headphones in the two calendar week I ’ve used them , and while they ’re short of the very best , for those who want headphones that cover a wide range of features and tout a very near performance ( and who would n’t desire that ? ) , this flagship exploit from JBL are well deserving checking out . But the contest is decidedly sturdy .
Trusted Score
How we test
We quiz every set of earpiece we review thoroughly over an extended period of time of clock time . We habituate industry received tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a Cartesian product .
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FAQs
As far as we can state , the Tour One M2 do not have any fast - charging abilities
The the Tour One M2 does carry support for Bluetooth multi - point , and they ’re capable to relate to two equipment simultaneously .
