Tom’s Guide Verdict
You wont be disappointed by the JBL Tour One M2s wired sound quality.
When you listen via aux, you miss out on the app features, but its a worthy sacrifice.
The spatial audio feature really messes with the sound quality, and the EQs arent great.
But these headphones connected via aux?
TheJBLTour One M2 headphones have what it takes to be one of thebest headphonesin 2025.
However, the Tour One M2 headphones are a little… lackluster.
Theres no LDAC or aptX support.
Could these be the right headphones for you?
Ill discuss everything in full in this JBL Tour One M2 headphones review.
If youre in the U.S., these cans are$299 at JBL U.S.. but if youre in the rainy British isles, youre getting a much better deal.
Our best overall headphones are theSony WH-1000XM5, which are available for$399 at Amazon.
$299 makes the Tour One M2 headphones relatively expensive, but a cheaper option thanBoseor Apple products.
The touch controls are easy to use and customizable in the JBL app.
Its worth noting that if youre listening in wired mode, you dont get touch controls.
I did enjoy the Personi-Fi feature in the JBL Headphones app.
This is basically a hearing test that creates an optimal EQ to suit your particular hearing ability.
For music-listening, spatial audio massively affects audio quality and makes everything sound warped and metallic.
So Id switch it off for music sessions.
My colleagues reported the mic distorted my words and enhanced the deeper tones in my voice.
The general consensus was that my MacBook Air microphone was superior.
I would not buy these headphones based on mic quality alone.
Youll be audible, but you wont sound good.
I absolutely rinsed these during testing: I listened for three days straight.
I charged them right out of the box, and then never again.
This was with ANC enabled the whole time, and I listen to my music at around 60dB.
Then, obviously, during wired playback, the battery did not drain at all.
Whether you want to enable those features or not is up to you.
I found that spatial audio massively affected sound quality, so I turned that off right away.
The JBL app is a good addition to these headphones, but I wouldnt say its a necessity.
You also dont get app access if youre listening via wired connection.
I quickly put in my AirPods Pro 2 earbuds to check it wasnt my ears.
The Tour One M2 was turning the stylistically-scratchy guitar and percussion… grating.
I switched genre to something a bit more bassy to give the JBL Tour One M2s a fair fight.
I listened to my usual bass-testing track, flight fm by Joy Orbison.
Ive said it before and Ill say it again: this track is almost entirely bass.
Overall, I really wasnt that impressed with the Bluetooth audio quality.
What you see (hear) is what you get but its so much better.
I listened to Holiday + Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day to start off.
Next, I switched to hip-hop with Doechiis NISSAN ALTIMA.
The heavy bass squelched and vibrated through my eardrums and Doechiis voice was balanced yet emotive.
I also played Sky Ferrerias Leash.
If youre not impressed by these headphones Bluetooth performance, connect them via headphone jack.
For this price, I really do expect fantastic Bluetooth quality.
I was really surprised to find no hi-res codecs like LDAC or aptX.
Are these good headphones?
Yes, butonlywith the aux plugged in.
So if you need wireless, youd be better off with something else.
