The JBL Tour One M3 are comfortable to wear for long durations. Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET
The JBL Tour One M3 may go under the radar in discussions about the best headphones. After all, the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are solid 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. They are now at 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's XM6 and Bose's QC Ultra 2. 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 longer than other leading flagship headphones.
However, to be of any use, a long-lasting battery life would, by default, require the audio device to be comfortable to wear, produce 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. Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET
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 undoubtedly flagship-level sound performance. 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.
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