Gimmick or Game Changer? | JBL Tour Pro 2 Earbuds Review

Reviewing the JBL Tour Pro 2 True Wireless Earbuds, with a charging case display that acts as a remote control. They're among the most expensive buds of 2023 but are the JBL Tour Pro 2 also one of the best? I've been testing these noise cancelling TWS earbuds for a week now so here's my review!

The USP of these Bluetooth earphones is of course the touchscreen display on the charging case. This allows you to tweak the ANC, audio and settings of the JBL Tour Pro 2 TWS without opening the app on your phone. However, it's not really much of a time saver and you still have those touch controls on the earbuds.

Sound quality is good if not truly competitive vs the Sony and Bose buds. that noise cancellation works well, while the battery life is excellent. But is the JBL Tour Pro 2 really worth £250 UK? Well, if you're a fan of gimmicks like that charging case, you'll probably love these TWS. Personally I'd say spend your money on Sony instead, to get improved audio and ANC.

JBL Tour Pro 2 Review Chapters:
0:00 - Oooh fancy
0:29 - Design
1:27 - JBL app & setup
2:07 - Charging case
3:46 - Touch controls
4:43 - Audio
5:42 - ANC
6:32 - Mic test
7:06 - Battery life
7:48 - Verdict

[jbl]

thanks for reviewing our "Tour Pro 2s" 😎

[amirrezarezaie]

I guarantee Apple will make something like this soon and will call it the most revolutionary way to use Airpods.

[rafaeltavares]

This actually looks like a very intelligent way to use the free space from the case

Very nice

[elplagiato]

Interesting review. I think the display and his functions is very closely bound to the way you want to use the earbuds. If you plan to use it with a phone, yes, the case might not be much of a use. But when you want to use them like I do as multipurpose, say connecting to the PC and TV the case makes a lot of sense because I don't need to seach for my phone to make a change, i can simply grab the case and push two buttons and done. I think it's a good idea but surely not for everybody a must-have.

[sreeramj]

I think the Huewei's idea of slapping the tws to the watch is much more bigger innovative idea. With proper battery backups and good headsets that should be the ones companies should be looking towards for the future. One single solution.

[JohnvanCapel]

I think the little display on the case is a good idea, but the execution of it isn't the best. Could have done with less menu-scrolling and it feels like more of a battery-drain than it needs to be (an e-ink display would have been more fit for purpose IMO), but I do like not *needing* to have Yet Another Single-Device Settings App on my phone.

I want to be able to access at least the basic functions while I have these things connected to my Linux PC or my Switch, and this little screen gives me that.

[CleverMunkey]

It would be great if the display uses e-ink display like on the pebble watch. That would be energy efficient

[thomasfinnigan]

I checked JBL Tour Pro 2, Sony XM5, and the New Bose Quiet Comfort in the store. The Bose did nothing for me. The Sony's were good, but these were on par or even better than the Sony's with even louder volume. JBL has a fantastic sound and impact, so i ordered the JBLs. In the country I live in, they were about $100 cheaper than the Sony XM5s, as well.

[Adam-ubnu]

You know, the case becomes a lot less gimmicky when you're connected to a device that may not support the app like a Windows laptop or a TV.

[mrmurdock]

It's a game changer. I have one and be able to change settings when pairing with devices without UI is fantastic. I would never replace this for another without a touch screen. JBL is the best.

[jrock]

Samsung made gear iconx wireless earphones and it had a feature in which they gave 4gb of storage on the buds and u can store music in that so now u don't have to connect the earphones to ur phone(which would save a lot of battery) and u can listen to all the music in the earphones with the touch controls

Honestly i loved this feature but samsung killed this feature in the next model and i was really sad about it

Anyway the storage option would actually work with this as it would a stand alone device to listen music and u can control or change the music through the touchscreen

[Isho_]

This isn't gimmicky at all it's way more convenient than grabbing a phone to change volume it's a smart idea and I think other companies will follow suit.

[unfa]

Are you sure they reproduce frequencies up to 10kHz, and not 20kHz? That'd be quite a bold move, to slash the frequency spectrum in half and throw out all the top highs all together.

[jenifonh.]

I got these recommended at my local electronics store after my sennheiser tw3 broke after only 4 months. Excited for the buds to arrive!

[nicknick_nick]

It would be killer with removable storage so you could have your songs on your buds and just no longer need your phone

[GFourGadget]

A display on the charging case? Count me in 😍

[craigwoodgate]

I think the only thing that has put me off buying them is not having pair of JBL earphones before and not wanting to pay that much when not having paid that much before

[GreeboandGaspode]

I can't see the point in the case display, unless the case doubled as a media storage device where you could download music, podcasts, books etc direct to it so you could leave your phone at home if you desired for whatever reason?

[igortodorovic]

What Sony or Bose earpods are you talking about that are comparably better then the JBL Pro Tour 2? For that same or similar price ?

[rizaadon]

I'll wait a couple more generations before getting something like this. Hopefully there will be one with built-in storage to store songs without connecting to your phone/laptop/etc.