JBL Tour One M2 Review

JBL's been building a legacy of sound since 1946, but this time, the tune falls flat.

Sound Quality

After testing dozens of wireless headphones side-by-side, the Tour One M2's sound is among the worst. Even cheaper budget competitors outperform it. You can get much better audio quality for far less money.

Sound Quality Ratings

Product	Bass	Mid-Range	Treble
Best	9.5	9.4	8.8
Average	7	7.2	6.4
JBL Tour One M2	4.5	5.0	5.8
Worst	4.3	4.0	2.5

For casual listeners, the sound is punchy and decent enough, but critical ears will immediately notice the lack of detail, clarity, and power. One tester described it as “the audio equivalent of astigmatism; everything's there, but slightly out of focus.” We listened a few notches above the midline to get adequate volume, when typically the midline is the sweet spot. Any lower, and the bass fades away and gets lost in the mix.

The overall mix is sculpted, leaning towards that ever-so-popular fun, bass-heavy sound that plays well with pop, rock, dance, alternative, and hip-hop genres. However, the bass and treble are inconsistent in their delivery, which can be distorting. The lows sounded muddied in percussion-driven hop-hop tracks like “Lo Tengo” by Trueno & JID, but swell in more poppy synth tracks like “Hometown Girl” by Zhu. Likewise, the highs fluctuated from sounding glistening to glaring to masked, basically the full range of expression.

The M2's redeeming quality is that the mids, like vocals, have decent clarity and are consistent. They remain present, even in bass-heavy songs.

Soundstage

The M2s don't feel very immersive. The audio lacks height and depth and sounds like it's being funneled into your ears from a pinpoint — there's no mistaking you're listening to tiny speakers, not a live performance.

Soundstage Ratings

Product	Expert ear Soundstage Score
Best	9.5
Average	6.8
JBL Tour One M2	5.3
Worst	3.0

One audiophile put it best: “Listening to music with the JBL Tour is like chilling in a boxy shed with some dusty windows.” It needs more detail to sound real and inspiring.

Frequency Response

Our head simulator provides a frequency response curve that shows how the JBLs are tuned.

Relative to our in-house Target Response curve, which portrays what we think is the ideal balance, the M2 has elevated lows and erratic highs. What does this mean? Well, just as we heard while listening in, the bass comes off as bold and dramatic, giving that thumpy, head-bobbing feel. On the other hand, the highs are more temperamental, sometimes underwhelming, and sometimes overpowering. The profile is adjustable in the app, but none of the adjustments improved the sound, in our opinion.

Comfort and Fit

The thin padding, strong clamping force, and heat-trapping material limit total wear time. Only one tester could wear the M2 for four hours, while another said 30 minutes was the limit.

Many reported their ears were sore, sweaty, and overworked. Thin padding causes sensitive pressure points on the ears and headband, which is even more uncomfortable for glasses or earring wearers. Plus, despite the strong clamping force, the headphones easily slide around with moderate head movements, making them a poor choice for working out. They also have a lingering off-gassing that didn't go away and made our face and hair smell long after the headphones were removed.

Noise Cancellation

The Tour One M2 does have active noise cancelling (ANC) capabilities, and it is effective at dampening ambient sounds, but it doesn't fully block them out. Several low-priced competitors create more of an oasis for a fraction of the price.

The M2's ANC primarily works in the bass and mid-frequency range, where common urban sounds like traffic and chatter occur. With the ANC on, we barely heard keyboard clacking and others talking.

High-pitch sounds like microwave beeps and clanky dishes came through louder, which is not surprising since ANC isn't entirely effective in this range. Instead, the padding and materials' passive sound-isolating properties offer relief for high-hitting annoyances.

JBL's transparency mode was even more disappointing; think “robotic,” “unpleasant,” and “artificial” to describe the sound. It has a loud, synthetic quality that is off-putting. The Personal Sound Amplification slider lets you adjust the volume to a more comfortable level of awareness, but it doesn't fix the artificial sound. We wouldn't suggest these headphones for staying aware in public spaces.

Ease of Use and Controls

The Tour One M2 has a hit-or-miss user experience. The accompanying app is loaded with useful features to personalize the listening experience.

The button and touch controls are easy to use, but they're fairly sensitive. At least two testers complained that the touch controls were finicky. They randomly pause music or skip a track after subtle movements like brushing the earcup too close to the shoulder.

Customization

Customization is one area where the JBLs mostly shine. The JBL Headphones App is packed with useful features. Spatial audio promises a three-dimensional listening experience, while the PersoniFi-2.0 test offers a customized sound based on your personal hearing preferences. Unfortunately, the hearing test, adjustable equalizer (EQ), and presets didn't noticeably improve the sound quality.

The app also has nifty features like a volume limiter to ensure safe listening, head detection to pause the music when headphones are off, and Smart Talk to mute the sound when you speak automatically. Additionally, the noise-cancelling and awareness modes are fully customizable, allowing a precise amount of ambient sound to be chosen. We weren't impressed with the authenticity of the Ambient Sound mode. Every feature you could want is here, but they aren't that effective.

Connectivity

The JBL wirelessly connects up to two devices via Bluetooth. Whether connecting to an Apple or Android, we didn't experience any connectivity problems. We wish the headphones automatically switched audio between the two connected devices, so we could swap between a laptop and phone more seamlessly. Still, switching between devices is easy enough in the app.

We checked Amazon reviews to see if others had the same experience. 0.77% of one-star reviews mention connectivity problems, which is slightly above average.

Battery

JBL's listed battery life is 30 hours with the ANC on, but we measured 45.5 hours. This is impressive as ANC tends to drain the battery quickly; most ANC-supporting headphones have a 20-30-hour battery life, making 45.5 hours one of the longest.

These headphones also support passive playback, so if your battery dies, you can continue listening by plugging in the included audio cable.

Call Quality

While the M2 disappoints in most metrics, they are one of the best for making phone calls. Whether calling from a quiet private space or a noisy public setting, voices sound clear with very limited interference.

The simulated subway test is the toughest challenge. It measures how well the microphones and software can pick out your voice from all the blaring chaos. The background subway whirs and loudspeaker announcements are nearly inaudible, and the caller's voice remains loud and easy to understand.

The simulated office test is less aggressive than the subway test, with mid-level background noise. The M2 impresses here, removing nearly all background noise with no voice distortion.

The simulated baseline test gives a sense of the voice quality in a quiet, controlled setting. Without background interference, voices are clear, with a hint of fuzz.

During live phone calls, the Tour One M2s voice quality was outstanding for both participants. We appreciated the ability to adjust the volume of our own voices because not hearing one's own voice can be disorienting for some.

Should You Buy the JBL Tour One M2?

The only reason to consider the Tour One M2 is if you need top-of-the-line call quality; otherwise, we'd pass. They're uncomfortable to wear for more than a few hours, and the audio and noise-canceling features aren't impressive. Their average price may make you think you're getting higher quality than the budget tier, but the experience doesn't rise above more affordable models in many ways.

What Other Wireless Headphones Should You Consider?

If your budget can stretch but you aren't ready for a premium price, the Sony WH-1000XM4 and Bose QuietComfort are better values. They both offer higher-quality sound, ANC, and user experience, though they both take a hit to the call quality. If calling is job one, the XM4 is the better choice. If you're looking to save money, the 1More SonoFlow is one of our favorite budget models, bringing better audio, noise canceling, and comfort than the JBL for a lower price. If you skip ANC, the Sony WHCH520 is an affordable choice with exceptional call quality.