7 hours ago
26
The JBL Tour One M3 are comfortable to wear for long durations.
The JBL Tour One M3 might go under the radar when we talk about the best headphones. After all, the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are good improvements over their predecessors. But you shouldn't sleep on the JBL headphones this year. The company is pushing boundaries in what you can expect from a pair of $449 headphones.
The JBL Tour One M3 have a novelty feature alongside everything that you'd expect from top-end headphones -- comfortable fit, impressive sound, good ANC performance, and a battery life that puts others to shame. And they are down to an all-time low price on Amazon for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. You can purchase these for as low as $380, which is cheaper than Sony XM6s and Bose QC Ultras. After a solid 16% discount, these are one of my top picks in the audio category this Black Friday.
Also: Best Black Friday headphones deals
All the essentials and then some more
The JBL Tour One M3 boast 70 hours of battery life. This is roughly 40 hours more than the Sony XM6, Bose QC Ultra, and Sonos Ace, and 50 more than Apple's AirPods Max. In real-world usage, they will likely last you two times more than other leading flagship headphones.
But to be of any use, a long-lasting battery life, by default, would require the audio device to be comfortable to wear, have non-fatiguing sound, and be easy to carry. The Tour One M3 check all of these boxes.
Instead of going for a flashy design, JBL used a plastic build and faux leather ear pads that are thick and plush. You get padding to curb ear fatigue and its lightweight design makes sure you can wear it for hours without any discomfort. They fit me very well, and I don't get the urge to adjust the fit constantly. Plus, the earcups are foldable, making them easy to carry.
The JBL Tour One M3 fit me very well.
The JBL Tour One M3 sound impressive. As ZDNET's Jada Jones wrote in her review, "The M3's 40mm dynamic drivers wonderfully reproduce deep lows and bright highs." The mids could be clearer but this is flagship-level sound performance without a doubt. If you want to adjust the default sound signature, you can use the companion app to choose from preset EQ modes or create your own using a 10-band equalizer.
The app also helps you create a personalized hearing profile using a Personi-Fi hearing test. Add a little bass, and they sound livelier than ever without compromising the vocals. The highs are strong without being too sharp.
JBL's new headphones offer a proprietary spatial audio format into the M3, so you can listen to anything in spatial audio. It's a mixed bag, where some songs might sound better than others. That said, the spatial audio works well on supported media.
As for active noise cancellation, I would put Sony and Bose above these. The JBL Tour One M3 can reduce traffic noise in commutes, but they aren't as good as the XM6s and QC Ultras of the world. You can also adjust noise cancellation levels on these headphones. The transparency mode works fine, and audio is clear on voice calls. I didn't have any issues during my Zoom calls or WhatsApp video calls.
These JBL flagship headphones have a nice sidekick.
The JBL Tour One M3 come with a sidekick companion, the Smart Tx transmitter, which you won't find on any other pair of headphones. It is small, and you need to be careful about not losing it. It adds a few nice-to-have features, like Auracast, external controls, and more.
For instance, you can plug the Smart Tx into an audio source to share the audio with someone nearby with an Auracast-enabled smartphone and headphones. Turn on the receiver mode, and you can now connect it to an Auracast stream to hear the audio through the M3 headphones. It is a handy feature that is waiting for industry-wide adoption. Apart from this headline feature, you can adjust settings like volume, Spatial Sound, ANC, among other things.
You should pick this JBL product if you are in the market for a pair of flagship headphones that last long and are comfortable to wear for hours, while also sounding top-notch. If you want the best-in-class ANC performance, the Sony XM6 and Bose QC Ultra might suit you better but I love the overall value on these headphones. At $380, the JBL Tour One M3 is one of the best deals this holiday season.
How we rated this deal
The JBL Tour One Me are a great buy for people who want impeccable comfort and sound from their next pair of headphones. This Black Friday discount is the lowest price we've seen these headphones since their launch. For those reasons, we give this deal a 3/5 Editor's deal rating.
When will this deal expire?
This deal should be active till Black Friday and maybe extend until Cyber Monday. But if you are picking up these headphones, we suggest you act now because most deals are live till stocks last.
How do we rate deals at ZDNET?
We aim to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter. ZDNET offers 33 years of experience, 30 hands-on product reviewers, and 10,000 square feet of lab space to ensure we bring you the best of tech.
In 2025, we refined our approach to deals, developing a measurable system for sharing savings with readers like you. Our editor's deal rating badges are affixed to most of our deal content, making it easy to interpret our expertise to help you make the best purchase decision.
At the core of this approach is a percentage-off-based system to classify savings offered on top-tech products, combined with a sliding-scale system based on our team members' expertise and several factors like frequency, brand or product recognition, and more. The result? Hand-crafted deals chosen specifically for ZDNET readers like you, fully backed by our experts.
English (US) ·