JBL’s Tour One M3 headphones come with a touchscreen transmitter

Keeping its annual tradition of announcing a literal ton of audio products at CES, JBL has loads of new devices for 2025. Amongst the earbuds and speakers, the company is debuting a set of premium over-ear headphones with an interesting feature. The Tour One M3 headphones will ship with what JBL calls the Smart Tx audio transmitter.

This wireless device allows the Bluetooth headphones to play audio from sources like inflight entertainment systems and analog wired connections. Plus, the Smart Tx has touchscreen controls, offering access to playback and volume adjustments as well as EQ settings and Auracast. That last item allows you to broadcast audio to an unlimited amount of Auracast-enabled devices, like headphones, earbuds and speakers. This isn’t the first time JBL has offered a wireless transmitter as the Tour Pro 3 earbuds case doubles as one. However, it is a company first for headphones.

The Tour One M3 is powered by 40mm Mica Dome drivers that JBL says are “precisely tuned to deliver deep bass, balanced mids and crystal-clear highs.” High-resolution Bluetooth and lossless over USB-C are available onboard, as is JBL’s Spatial 360 tech with head tracking. The company’s take on spatial audio is similar to Bose, taking any audio source and turning it into “a truly immersive sound experience.”

If you don’t like the stock tuning on the Tour One M3, JBL’s Personi-Fi 3.0 tool can help you adjust the sound based on a quick hearing test in the JBL Headphones app. The company says a new algorithm makes this feature “more accurate than ever” when it comes to matching your listening preferences. For further audio tweaks, there’s a 12-band EQ and separate left/right balance controls.

The Tour One M3 comes with JBL’s True Adaptive Noise Cancelling 2.0 tech as well. This feature monitors external sound and adjusts the audio in real time. An eight-microphone setup enables the noise blocking, and there are Ambient Aware and TalkThru modes when you want to be in tune with your surroundings. JBL promises that adaptive beamforming tech in four mics will also provide “crystal-clear voice clarity” for calls, as all headphone companies do.

Lastly, when it comes to battery life, you can expect up to 70 hours of use on a charge. But, the company doesn’t specify if that’s with active noise cancellation (ANC) enabled. A quick-charge feature offers up to five hours of playback in five minutes. You can also enable a SmartTalk tool that automatically pauses music and activates ambient sound when the Tour One M3 detects your voice.

The JBL Tour One M3 will be available on April 13 in Black, Blue and Mocha for a pricey $399.95. That’s $100 more than the M2 model was at launch.