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When we first saw the JBL Tour Pro 2 with its unique on-case display, we weren’t sure what to think of it. TWS earbuds aren’t as uncommon as they were, say, five years ago, and with the number of screens around us in recent years, you’d think someone would’ve come up with touchscreen earbuds way before this.
But is a smart touchscreen on your earbuds really practical, or it is just a gimmick? Well, there’s only one way to find out.
Design and Build
The JBL Tour Pro 2 earbuds are not as small as other conventional earbuds that touts portability. The case is slightly bulky and reminds us of an iPod Nano, especially with the touchscreen built-in.
In fact, it is bulky enough to stand on its own on a flat surface, which is pretty great, all things considered. We would prefer if the charging case was a little slimmer and take up less space, but of course the added bulk is understandable considering the practicality of the earbuds, which we’ll delve into later.
Features & Performance
The multifunctional smart screen on the JBL Tour Pro 2 is the star of the show, allowing for an array of controls and customizations directly from the charging case. This includes music and volume control, ambient mode adjustments, and more, essentially turning the case into a control hub for the earbuds.
The earbuds also feature fast charging and dual connectivity, so you can connect up to two devices simultaneously. For the purposes of this review, we connected the JBL Tour Pro 2 to a Macbook and the iPhone 15 Pro at the same time, and the earbuds had no trouble switching between the two at all.
Now, back to the screen: remarkably, the versatility of the touchscreen on the charging case makes the earbuds feel like a primitive smartphone. You can change the lock screen wallpaper, set alarms, and even receive notifications when you’re connected to your phone. There’s even a flashlight option on the earbuds itself!
It makes sense: before this, the only way to know whether your wireless earbuds were charged or not was through your phone app or arbitrary blinking lights, which while wasn’t ideal, was the norm. But now, with the JBL Tour Pro 2, the display is capable of controlling everything from music and volume to the equalizer.
But is it strictly necessary? Well, considering that you’d still have to connect the earbuds to your phone to play music, the entire point of having earbuds in the first place, we’d say not really. There’s nothing you can’t do on the earbuds’ screen that you can’t do better on your phone. Then again, it is convenient if you don’t want to fish your smartphone out just to make minute adjustments to your sound and/or audio modes.
We absolutely loved the battery life on the JBL Tour Pro 2. It has the longest battery life we’ve experienced so far, lasting the entire workday on a single charge which is typically about 6 hours (excluding lunch and breaks).
The case is also pretty long-lasting, only requiring recharge about twice a week. It can be charged through a USB-C cable or through wireless charging, which is much more convenient.
Sound
Screen or not, the most important thing about earbuds is the sound quality. In terms of performance, we’d have to say that the JBL Tour Pro 2 earbuds excel across the board. The sound quality is exceptional, with customizable equalizer settings that cater to various listening preferences.
We especially liked to watch movies in Studio mode with Spatial Sound on, as it really feels like watching movies in the cinema with surround sound. The modes can be changed through the touchscreen easily.
Besides that, the JBL Tour Pro 2 has true adaptive noise cancelling and a smart ambience feature, which is very useful in an office setting. This mode is also easily accessible through the touchscreen or just by tapping on the left bud to activate and deactivate.
