Expensive, but many possibilities: The JBL Tour One M3 aims to be at the top of the headphone market

The basic version of the JBL Tour One M3 costs €300, which clearly indicates that it's meant to be a premium model. It offers a range of features, and our practical test shows whether these Bluetooth headphones are truly top-notch.

If you look at Stiftung Warentest's list of the best headphones , you'll find several excellently positioned JBL headsets that have one thing in common: They're affordable. The JBL 770NC, which came in second with an overall score of 1.8, costs an average of just €84. The top model, the JBL Tour One M2, also performed well, but with a quality rating of 2.3, it was significantly weaker than its cheaper stablemate. Now its successor is on the market, and ntv.de tested whether the headphones are now truly top-notch, living up to their high price of just under €350.

JBL has left the classic design virtually unchanged. Although the Tour One M3 is made entirely of plastic, it feels high-quality and robust. It folds up and comes in a compact, equally well-made carrying case.

The headphones, weighing just under 280 grams, fit tightly but comfortably. The firm contact pressure also ensures a good seal between the synthetic leather cushions and the earcups, which already provides a high level of passive attenuation. Even with thick glasses frames, they didn't experience any problems in our tests. As befits a headphone in this price range, the cushions can be replaced as needed.

Good controls

JBL has done a great job with the controls. To pause and start songs, or skip forward or back, you tap a touch surface on the outside of the right earcup once, twice, or three times. Holding your finger there for a longer time launches a digital assistant. The touch surface is also used for phone calls.

Easily accessible with your thumb, there's an action button on the bottom that toggles between active noise cancellation and transparency mode. Double-pressing it pauses the music and amplifies outside noise (Talk Thru). Above the action button is the power switch, which also initiates Bluetooth pairing. The volume is controlled with your thumb via a rocker on the left earcup.

Beautiful, sometimes too relaxed sound

The sound of the JBL Tour One M3 is characterized by cleanly defined mids and crystal-clear, detailed highs. The bass is elastic and reaches deep. Overall, the sound is very neutral, and the headphones perform well in any style of music. However, especially with older songs that aren't particularly dynamic, the sound seems a bit too restrained. The bass, in particular, could use a bit more oomph, and the highs occasionally lack a bit of bite.

Fortunately, the JBL app includes a comprehensive equalizer that lets you fine-tune the sound using presets or manually. Most of the time, simply turning it on is enough, as it immediately boosts the bass slightly. If you want to listen to music quietly, the app offers a dedicated dynamic equalizer. Overall, though, the sound is great, and it's better to be restrained out of the box than overly intrusive, which is much more difficult to balance.

The app also includes a hearing test that allows you to adjust the sound to your own hearing ability. Depending on the user, this can make a big difference.

Strong cable offering

The JBL Tour One M3 supports the high-resolution LDAC codec alongside SBC, AAC, and LC3 for compatible smartphones and songs, which significantly improves sound quality. Unfortunately, some features, such as the dynamic equalizer and hearing adjustment, are disabled.

However, thanks to an integrated digital-to-analog converter (DAC), you can also listen to music losslessly via cable. JBL not only includes a USB-C to jack and a USB-C to USB-C cable, but also a USB-C to USB-A adapter with a safety loop. Great!

If you want, you can purchase an additional transmitter for €50. The Smart Tx then lets you connect the headphones to devices that don't have Bluetooth. The small device also supports Auracast . ntv.de tested the headphones without a transmitter.

The Tour One M3 itself supports spatial audio, allowing it to add a spatial sound to even normal stereo tracks. This often sounds really good, but sometimes it sounds a bit "wrong." Furthermore, you have to deactivate LDAC for this effect. You can also use head tracking, which makes the music source appear to stay in place when you turn your head.

Excellent ANC

The active noise cancellation (ANC) is excellent, especially at higher frequencies. It adapts to the ear canal as desired, and automatically to the environment if desired. The headphones filter out steady noise on airplanes or trains almost completely. Even on busy streets, you'll have a largely quiet environment. Also impressive is how effectively the Tour One M3 dampens voices or clattering keyboards in the office and how effortlessly it handles strong winds.

The noise cancellation also works well during phone calls. What's interesting here is that you can adjust the sound of your own voice and that of your callers in the app. You can also adjust how loudly you hear yourself.

The transparency mode is also excellent. It sounds natural, and you can continuously adjust the level of ambient noise. The background noise is low even at the highest setting. Great: You can also use the headphones with individual settings to compensate for hearing loss in noisy environments.

Relaxed extras, enormous endurance

The excellent, comprehensive app offers a welcome extra: a relaxation mode. It lets you listen to five different nature sounds, such as pouring rain or a rustling campfire, individually or in a mix, for a set period of time. If you want to fall asleep while listening, you can set the headphones to turn off after a certain time.

For undisturbed naps, there's also "SilentNow." This disconnects the Bluetooth connection and activates ANC. An alarm clock is integrated to ensure you don't oversleep.

According to JBL, the headphones last up to 40 hours with ANC enabled, and 70 hours without. Based on the test hours, these figures are perfectly plausible. Should the battery ever run out, you can listen to music for another five hours after just five minutes of charging.

Conclusion

The JBL Tour One M3 are very good headphones that impress, above all, with their wide range of features. Their active noise cancellation is beyond reproach, and their endurance is impressive. Whether you consider the Tour One M3 to be absolutely top-notch depends on whether you appreciate their beautiful, if somewhat timid, sound and are willing to invest some time in optimizing it.