Earbuds seem to be everywhere – even here on Geekzone, we had many for review. Even I moved away from using over-the-ear headphones daily to using earbuds most of the time while on the go, reserving the headphones for listening to music at home.
Over the last few years, we saw small improvements that turned these button-size speakers into high-quality personal audio devices.
JBL (interestingly founded in 1946, currently owned by Harman International, a Samsung subsidiary) is pretty active in the home and professional markets – and quite prolific at adding those incremental changes to its line-up.
The new JBL Tour Pro 2 bring features we like, such as active noise cancellation, gesture controls, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa smart assistant support, wireless charging and more.
But the JBL Tour Pro 2 also introduces a feature that will change the way you might be using your phone when listening to music or answering phone calls: a full 1.45-inch touchscreen display on the charging case that gives you control of your music playback and earbuds features, the ability to answer calls and read notifications, noise cancellation control and more.
And this new feature doesn’t make the case significantly larger or heavier than other models while keeping an impressive battery life.
The display is responsive and colourful. The device automatically locks access to the feature controls after a few seconds, and you only need to touch the display to bring it to life. You still need to slide your finger over it to unlock the menus, just something to prevent unwanted things from happening. The back of the charging case has a rubber surface, so it stays nicely in place on your desk for quick access to controls without having to pick it up and also to keep it in place when on a wireless charging surface.
You have a few options for the locking screen wallpaper (but no custom option yet), and you access each menu option by sliding your finger left or right on the screen.
The first line on the screen shows the current Bluetooth connection status, case and individual earbuds battery levels, plus current time. The rest of the interface is easy to use, with good-sized elements on the screen (the buttons, switches and arrows).
You can control practically everything from the case, with some settings that you need to change from the mobile app.
Everyone’s hearing changes over time. The older you get, the less you can hear. The mobile app brings a feature that allows you to customise the sound to your hearing levels. It starts the test by asking your age, followed by testing each ear by generating sounds that you then tell the app (by pushing an on-screen button) you can hear. The app shows you a graph of your hearing and the option to normalise the sound to enhance some areas. You should give it a try, and it really makes a difference.
The active noise cancellation has options to monitor and compensate for sound leakage and automatic level for surrounding noise, plus the Ambient Aware option to mix ambient sound at different levels so that you can be safe by being aware of your surroundings, and the TalkThru option so that you can still have a conversation while wearing your earbuds.
A Spatial Sound option is available to optimise the audio, giving you the sensation of being surrounded by it, with options for movie, music and gaming situations.
And if you talk a lot on the phone, a VoiceAware option will let you determine how much of your voice you hear as feedback during calls.
But the most interesting feature is the new SilentNow option. It will disconnect Bluetooth and give you just silence, with no notification sounds and no other interference. You can use the app to set when it starts (now or after a certain time) and how long it lasts, with an option for an alarm at the end. This is great to give you some time to concentrate or just to have a power nap without noise disturbing you.
The battery lasts a good eight hours if using the JBL Tour Pro 2 with active noise cancellation options, and I had it going well during full work hours. The specs say you can get up to ten hours if the active noise cancellation is turned off, but I always have this function on. You get an extra thirty hours from the case charge before you have to plug it in or drop it on a wireless charger.
The sound you get is great, with distinct bass and treble giving you a great sound experience. In addition to the whole personalisation features, you also have the option to manually set an equaliser with custom options for jazz, vocal, bass, club, studio and a personal option.
JBL has really pushed the envelope on small earbuds' performance here, and the current price tag of around NZ$ 350 is not even in the high-end range for these types of audio experiences.
