As I spend my days researching the best in-ears and high-quality headphones, nothing excites me more than a pair of headphones with the latest features And reasonably priced. If you’re like me, then you’ll love the JBL Tour One M2, which promises smooth listening, all-day comfort, and high-quality sound.
With the new Tour One M2, JBL has improved the main features of the 2021 Tour One headphones, including active noise reduction (or ANC, Active Noise Cancellation) and spatial sound.
To test the headphones, I spent several workdays listening to my morning playlist of classical music. I’m happy to say that the ANC impressed me by isolating sound well enough to help me immerse myself in my work or give me some quiet time.
For better or worse, the ANC is powerful enough
With 40mm diameter drivers and a wide frequency response range, the Tour One M2 headphones reproduce robust sound that registers well below and beyond the audible level of the human ear. In fact, you’ll hear all the instruments and voices exactly as the author of the title intended.
While reading Back on 74 from Jungle, the JBL headphones produced deep bass and crisp vocals. The sound from these headphones is incredibly clear and has made every album listened to an audio delight. So much so that the songs and the immersive sound of the headphones immersed me during my eight hours spent at the office in the atmosphere of a private ball. That’s how good it was.
For better or worse, the ANC is loud enough that it’s difficult to hear and communicate with people or be aware of your surroundings with these headphones. I wore it in the metro to test the different audio modes, Environmental awareness (Ambient Aware) and ANC, and I found that the headset was much better suited to moderately noisy environments than very noisy environments like the subway.
A low volume problem
In spaces that are too noisy, I noticed that the Tour One M2 struggled to cancel out all the noise and delivered poorer sound quality when the volume was lower. Ambient Aware mode, which was created for busy environments that require extra attention, reflects far too much background noise and complicates the listening experience. For this reason, I rarely used this function.
Nina Raemont/ZDNET
I was particularly impressed by the comfort of the headset after spending a few weeks with the Tour One M2: I could wear it for an entire work day without feeling ear fatigue. The headset is lightweight, which I noticed immediately. The shells rotate to adapt to the shape of the head and ears. So there is less rigidity and therefore less irritation and pain around the upper part of the ear compared to other headphones without this flexibility.
One of the features I particularly like on the Tour One M2 is the Smart Talk feature. Activated via the JBL Headphones app, it automatically pauses your music when you start talking to someone. When the headset registers that you have stopped speaking, it will restart your music after five, 15, or 20 seconds.
Smart Talk is very convenient for quick conversations between colleagues
Smart Talk is very handy for quick conversations between office colleagues, when you don’t want to fumble with pause and play controls. In this regard, the touch controls of this headset are very responsive: with quick presses on the right shell, they pause the sound or start playback.
The JBL headphone app offers an impressive range of EQ settings to help you get the most out of your music. You can customize the equalizer for bass-heavy songs, jazz, club, etc.
When ANC is turned off, the battery can last up to 50 hours. With ANC enabled, battery life is around 30 hours, which is still longer than Apple’s AirPods Max or Sony’s WH-1000XM5. This great autonomy of the Tour One M2 makes it an exceptional headset for gaming all day, listening to music regularly and participating in long online conferences. Plus, with a five-minute quick charge, the headphones can work for three hours.
Nina Raemont/ZDNET
Lack of IP rating means the Tour One M2 is not waterproof
If there weren’t already enough reasons to make these JBL Tour One M2 perfect workday headphones, let me tell you about JBL’s SilentNow feature, a unique feature that I really like. This function disconnects the headset from Bluetooth and activates ANC for a customizable duration in order to limit distractions by creating a bubble of silence around you to facilitate your productivity.
If you need to write a business proposal or update a convoluted spreadsheet that requires your full attention, this feature is amazing and encourages focused work.
But the picture is not yet heavenly. The touch controls are easy to use when sitting and working, but when running outside on a windier day, they were less responsive. Ditto, the volume buttons on the right shell had difficulty moving up and down during my run.
Additionally, the lack of an IP rating means that the Tour One M2 is not waterproof or, at least, less sweat-resistant. The Tour One M2 is therefore better suited to stationary activities.
ZDNET’s purchasing advice for the JBL Tour One M2 headphones
The JBL headphones impressed me with the breadth of their features that make music more immersive and isolate you from outside noise. For 300 euros, you benefit from the latest version of Bluetooth, greater autonomy than most wireless headsets on the market, excellent ANC, the practical Smart Talk function and spatial sound, the all in a light and comfortable helmet.
Video gamers, EQ manipulators and office workers who listen to music all day and those who want to isolate themselves in a bubble to work better will love the Tour One M2 headphones, taking advantage of everything it can give.
Source: “ZDNet.com”