The test: JBL Tour Pro 2 – a headphone with a touch screen in the box

The main idea is that through the display on the case you should be able to control the various settings of the headphones when using them with a PC, for example, where an associated app is not available.

I start testing the headphones by plugging them into my smartwatch and then going for a run. After a few kilometers, when I’m moving around a bit, one of the earphones pops out of my ear, even though I’ve fitted the rubber pads to fit better. When I lift the earphone off the floor, I notice that the rubber plug doesn’t stay there, but is stuck inside the ear. After some fiddling I happily pulled it out, but around the same time I do, the sound on the other earbud says headphone is now off. No matter how I press the headset after that, I can’t get it to work.

Once I get home, the headphones wake up as soon as I put them in the headphone case and I can listen to music from the computer, which is probably where these headphones and the functions of the case are best suited. And of course it’s easy to toggle noise reduction on and off right on the headset when I’m sitting in front of the computer. This is the advantage of this solution, to give access to settings that are too complex to handle with the headset itself. On the screen in the case, I get a better visual overview of the functions I control, rather than learning complex combinations of repeated presses or holding down the headset’s touch surface for a long time.

The headphone case can do more than that. When I’m in a video meeting with Google Meet in my computer’s browser, I wonder why the headset clipboard says what appears to be a call in progress. It turns out they’re controls for the video meeting itself, so I can mute the mic right on the case instead of digging through the Google Meet interface.

Other times, notifications from the phone show up on the status’s small screen. For example, if you receive an SMS message to the phone, the text from it will appear on the screen. However, I do not see the message. Other notifications from other apps also appear after this, but they happen sporadically and sometimes with a delay of several minutes. So unreliable.

The interface on the small touchscreen is clearly worth mentioning. I can customize and have a personal background with my own photo if I want. This setting is made in the app on the phone. Since, of course, JBL has an application with which you can configure the headphone and case. The touchscreen on the case is designed for easy access when you’d rather not have an app. This assumes that the status interface is simpler than that of the app, which is not always the case. To control something with the case’s touch screen, I first have to swipe to unlock the screen, and then there are between 8 and 14 steps with different settings, some of which can be removed. And no matter what you choose, the interface once you want to reach something more than two steps away is insufficient. Responsiveness in the screen is also half-baked, so I happen to swipe or tap with no reaction.

Whenever there is a firmware update during testing, I notice how much the case actually does. System updates are delivered separately, one for the headset and one for the headset. After installing them, I think the active noise reduction gets better, and the case gets some new features. As for the audio otherwise in the headphones themselves, the people I videoconference with think I hear pretty well. On the other hand, when I am on calls outside with more wind and other noises around me, I hear my voice come on and off as if the sound easily becomes crunchy and disappears for a short moment.

When I mentioned JBL about my initial failure when the headphone fell out of my ear during a jogging session, they implied that these headphones are not meant for working out. After testing them in various situations, it was concluded that they are highly specialized. Because despite the case’s functions for control, notifications, etc., the headset assumes that you have the phone with you. The case is never self-contained, but all functions require a phone nearby, so a phone with its larger screen always provides easier access to functions.