Review: JBL Tour PRO 2 True Wireless Earbuds with Touchscreen Case

In today’s competitive true wireless earbuds space, almost all brands have the same feature set and consumers are waiting for the next innovation. JBL Tour PRO 2 are the first on the market to add a interactive touchscreen to its charging case. Along with this, you get the typical JBL flagship feature such as adaptive ANC, ambient noise control, multipoint pairing, personal EQ, JBL spatial sound, and more. The JBL Tour PRO 2 will retail at flagship level price of S$349.

Unboxing

Here’s what you’ll find in the box:

• JBL Live Pro 2 Earbuds
• Charging case
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• Quick start guide
• Ear tips: S, M, L

Tech specs

Build quality and features

The JBL Tour PRO 2 are stem-style pair of true wireless earbuds and is available in two colour options – (1) black, and (2) champagne. The unit I have is the black model. The Tour PRO 2 earbuds have a noticeably flat and wide stem, quite different from other stem-style earbuds on the market. The design is premium, with a two-toned black and shiny stem along with neat detailing on the edges revealing the TOUR branding. As for water resistance, the JBL Tour PRO 2 are rated at IPX5 so light rain and workouts shouldn’t be a problem.

The charging case showcases JBL’s new shiny feature – the 1.5″ LCD touchscreen. The case has similar colour elements as the Live Pro 2, but it is noticeably bigger, heavier, and bulkier. The case uses a clamshell design to open and close the lid. Once you open the lid of the case, the LCD screen turns on to a wallpaper which you can customise it whatever you want. Alternatively, a simple tap on the screen wakes it from standby. After which you’d have to slide your finger to the right to unlock, where you’ll be greeted with different pages/functions.

Here are some of the pages/functions you can access on the charging case:

• Media playback controls
• Volume
• Ambient sound controls
• Equalizer
• Timer (for auto power-off)
• Spatial sound
• Screen brightness
• Lock screen wallpaper
• VoiceAware
• SilentNow
• Auto Play/pause
• Notification settings
• Find My Buds
• Flashlight

By default you can see that there are many pages to be swiping through, so thankfully you are able to remove some pages (underlined above) on the JBL Headphones app. Media playback and volume controls work as though you are adjusting on your mobile phone. It would be nice to be able to see the song that is currently playing on the screen.

However, it still got me thinking – why would I use the case to access such controls if I can do easily on my phone or on the earbuds itself. I’d conclude that the controls you leave on the case should be those that are not easily accessed through the phone or the earbuds. Having said that, this still requires a core habit of taking out the case to make the adjustments. Usage rate would likely be higher if the case was slimmer. What I like about having the LCD screen on the Tour PRO 2 case is the ability to see the exact battery percentage of the case and the earbuds.

Controls

Tour PRO 2 uses touch-based controls, which are located at the top of the stem. I am satisfied with the implementation as the touch controls is reactive and not prone to accidental touches. Folks familiar with the JBL Headphones app will know that the controls are only slightly customisable, where you can the customised gesture in themes of controls. You can take a look at the pictures below to get a better sense of what the customisations are like.

JBL Headphones App

Apart from controls customisation, the amount of settings and features the Tour PRO 2 has in the JBL Headphones app is plenty. For example, there is even a setting to activate spatial sound for different consumption modes. Gaming seems to be the best option if you play mobile games. You can also toggle the ‘Video mode’ to minimize latency, though regular ‘Audio Mode’ works fine. VoiceAware and SilentNow are also quality of life features which you may find useful.

Tour PRO 2 has settings to tune the ANC performance as well such as a feature to compensate for any sound leakage you have based on the fit you have with your ears. There is also “Adaptive ANC” which automatically adjusts the intensity of the noice cancellation depending on the surrounding noise level. If you just want the maximum noise cancellation then just turn this feature off and set the ANC level to the maximum.

Last but not least, you have can adjust the EQ if the stock sound is not to your liking. Overall, there is a whole suite of features and settings the Tour PRO 2 has to amplify the user experience and add customisability for a tailored experience.

Fit and comfort

The Tour PRO 2 has an ergonomically designed oval shape that helps to rest naturally along the contours of my ears. The shape combined with a oval-shaped ear tip help to create a comfortable and snug fit in my ears.

The seal you get would be one that is unobtrusive as the nozzle doesn’t extend too deep. The 6.1g weight each is relatively lightweight, so there I did not experience any ear fatigue after long hours of wearing them.

Sound quality

The sound of the JBL Tour PRO 2 can be adjusted via the custom equalizer of using Personi-fi, but we’ll take a look at the stock sound. The stock tuning is one that is somewhat balanced, with a slight emphasis on mid-bass and treble. Bass is tight and has its impactful response with enough low-end rumble, but comparing it to the Live Pro 2, I’d say the latter has more weight to it.

Midrange is well-balanced in the mix with vocals and instruments sound smooth and crisp. Treble has a decent amount of shine but isn’t what I’ll call expressive. JBL Live Pro 2 offers more colour in this aspect, but those more find it slightly sibilant may prefer what the Tour PRO 2 has to offer. I’d say comparing the Tour PRO 2 to the Live Pro 2, the Tour PRO 2 is less V-shaped.

ANC performance

JBL Tour PRO 2 feature adaptive ANC which senses surrounding noise and adjust them real-time. The ANC performance is effective, where it feels similar to the how much the 1st-gen AirPods Pro can cancel out. It’s definitely at flagship level standards. Engine noise, which are typically low frequency sounds are eliminated effectively, while higher frequency noises such as rail squeal and ambient chatter are reduced to quite a fair extent. I’d say the ANC performance vs the Live Pro 2 is just slightly better, and you’d need to wear them back-to-back to tell a difference.

Microphone quality

The microphones on the Tour PRO 2 is pretty good. I’d wouldn’t say it is at the standards of AirPods or the ATH-TWX9, but it is largely reliable. My voice sounds clear with enough low-end to provide some depth to it. Clarity is noticeably better than one the Live Pro 2.

In noisy environments, JBL Tour PRO 2 was able to remove quite a large chunk of the noise while still keeping my voice relatively clear and forward. Overall, the JBL Live Pro 2 is a reliable pair of earbuds to use for calls and meetings in most environments.

Battery life

JBL Tour PRO 2 is expected to last up to 10 hours of playtime on a full charge if you have ANC turned off, but since most people will use it with ANC turned on – you should expect 6-8 hours to be a fair gauge. 8 hours battery is good amount of length, which should cover all sorts of use case well.

You also have the Speed Charge feature, as on the Live Pro 2, where 15 minutes of charging will give you 4 hours of playtime. You can charge the Tour PRO 2 either wired via USB-C or wireless with an Qi-compatible charger. It takes 2 hours to fully charge it from empty.

Pairing, connectivity, and latency

JBL Tour PRO 2 has the latest Bluetooth 5.3 and pairs to my iPhone very quickly as one unit. The earbuds is also ready for Bluetooth LE audio, which should come as a firmware update. During my time of testing, I did not encounter any connection issues or dropouts. There was also no audio-video lag watching YouTube on my iPhone 11. You can use either side of the earbuds for standalone listening.

JBL Tour PRO 2 also features multipoint pairing, which allows you to pair and connect the earbuds to up to two devices at the same time. Audio input switches seamlessly depending on the device that is playing audio. This is truly a convenient feature and I’m glad JBL seems to make a default feature for their new earbuds.

Conclusion

JBL Tour PRO 2 is absolutely packed with features, and does everything well even adding a novel touchscreen LCD on the case. At the flagship price of S$349, it can be a tough fight with other flagship which are better in certain departments. Props to JBL for adding innovation in a crowded space, hopefully there would be more to come at a more competitive price point.