JBL tour Pro 2 review: what can the in-ears with smart case do?
A TEST REPORT from Jonas Wilhelm 
on August 26, 2023, 12:00 pm | Write a comment
Last year at the IFA in Berlin, JBL presented their new in-ear top model, the JBL Tour Pro 2. You can read below how the new headphones have fared in everyday life over the past few months.
In addition to the new design, which is somewhat reminiscent of AirPods, they also offer a so-called smart case with a display. You can read here what the new case is all about and how I find the headphones.
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tl; dr
The JBL tour Pro 2 are along with the AirPods Pro 2 of my favorites when it comes to premium in-ears. They offer an extremely good sound, very good ANC and an excellentpronice design. The smart case doesn't offer huge added value, but it has often been unexpectedly useful. The battery life is also on a very high level and was able to convince me. The app is also very well implemented, which is typical for JBL, and I really like it. Overall, I recommend the tour Pro 2 without hesitation to anyone who is looking for in-ears in the price range up to 250 euros.
Unboxing & scope of delivery
Like the Tour One M2, the JBL Tour is coming Pro 2 in dark gray packaging with orange accents, showing itself and some of its features. The scope of delivery is kept fairly manageable. In addition to the headphones themselves, the packaging contains a charging cable, rubber attachments of different sizes and the usual paperwork.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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Design & processing
The design of the tour Pro 2 I like quite a bit. They are mostly made of matt plastic, but also offer shiny accents. Weighing about 6 grams pro Headphones are the tour Pro 2 are not very light, but not extremely heavy either, which is why they still sit well in the ear. The smart case, on the other hand, is quite heavy and unwieldy compared to other in-ears with its size and weight of around 73 grams. However, that didn't bother me much in everyday life.
Picture: TechnikNews
Like the earphones themselves, the case is mostly made of matte plastic. There is only a slightly rubberized surface on the back so that it cannot simply slip. But the highlight is on the front of the case. JBL uses a 1,45-inch display to control the headphones, which is pretty well integrated. The magnets of the headphones and the charging case are very strong, so everything is held in place well. Overall, everything looks very high quality and stable, which I really liked.
Operation & comfort
The tour will be served Pro 2 over touch surfaces at the top of the stems. By default, a long tap controls noise canceling modes and a short tap controls media playback. This can also be changed via the app if desired. However, the default setting should be sufficient for most people. JBL also offers the ability to use Alexa through the headphones, which could be a cool feature for some people who already use Alexa on a daily basis.
The headphones also feature wear detection, which automatically pauses and resumes the music when you take the headphones out of your ear or put them in. This is a pretty great and useful feature that I wouldn't want to be without anymore. Comfort is quite high thanks to the soft rubber tips, although they are a little heavier than average in my opinion. I was able to wear the headphones for a very long time without finding them annoying.
Sound Quality, Adaptive ANC & Transparency Modes
JBL installed in the Tour Pro 2, each with a 10 millimeter driver for a dynamic sound, which I personally really like. The sound is very clear and balanced, although the bass is not neglected. If desired, the user can personalize the sound using the equalizer in the app and, for example, get significantly more bass out of the headphones. Sonically, I would do the tour Pro 2 even something about the AirPods Pro 2 because they offer more bass and also get a little louder.
They reliably filter out almost all noise and suppress it to varying degrees depending on how loud the environment is, which I find quite impressive. Only with high frequencies and wind noise do the tour Pro 2 a little heavy, which could be improved in the future. Of course, the in-ears also offer a transparency mode, which is surprisingly good, as well as a TalkThru mode, which is supposed to make voices more clearly audible, which always worked well. You don't feel like you're not wearing headphones, but you can understand the person you're talking to very well, for example during a conversation. In transparency mode, I can see the AirPods slightly in front, but that doesn't mean that the Tour Pro 2 perform poorly here. The AirPods simply have the clearer and more natural transparency mode, whereas the ANC of the two is about on par.
Smart case
At the tours Pro2, JBL offers something it hasn't seen before: a smart case with a 1,45-inch display. When I first saw the headphones and their case, I thought that the smart case is a pretty unnecessary feature that you use a few times but doesn't get any real value from it.- Well, I was wrong. The smart case was quite often useful in everyday life to use functions that are normally only controllable via the app, such as controlling the equalizer or even all sound modes. You can also see the battery status of the headphones and the case itself, which I think is good. However, I find it somewhat unnecessary that the notifications of the connected device are also shown on the display, as they are often cut off and confusing. I really liked the call control. Otherwise I really like the smart case and its user interfaceprochen well.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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Charge the battery
The battery life of the tour Pro 2 is unfortunately only average and could be better. With ANC enabled, the headphones offer around 4-5 hours of audio playback. Without ANC, the value increases to about 6 hours. The headphones can be fully charged about 4 times via the case, which is again a good value. Once the headphones and the case are completely empty, they can be fully charged in about 2 hours via the USB-C connection. Happily provide the tour Pro 2 also feature wireless charging, which fully charges them in about 3,5 hours.
JBL Headphones app
Of course feature the tour Pro 2, like most premium headphones, also via an app called JBL Headphones here. The user can use these to control all the functions of the headphones and more. The app also has an equalizer, for example, with which the user can adjust the sound of the headphones according to their personal taste, or use one of the ready-made equalizers. The control gestures of the touch surfaces can also be adjusted.
Picture: TechnikNews
The smart case can of course also be controlled via the app. For example, the user can set their own images as the background image for the lock screen or select the functions that they want to see on the display. The app is available for both iOS and Android and I really liked it.
Picture: TechnikNews
Prices & Availability
You can purchase the JBL Tour Pro 2 for a price of around 230 euros, which is a fair bit less than the comparable AirPods Pro 2 is I think the price is very reasonable for what is offered. You can buy them at all common electronics stores, such as MediaMarkt, Saturn and Amazon, or even at JBL itself.
- JBL tour Pro Buy 2 from JBL
- JBL tour Pro Buy 2 at MediaMarkt
- JBL tour Pro Buy 2 at Saturn
- JBL tour Pro Buy 2 from Amazon
