JBL Tour One M3 review: the in-flight entertainment answer

1. Best for in-flight entertainment

JBL Tour One M3

The only headphone here that ships with the answer to the airline-jack problem in the box: the Smart Tx transmitter plugs into the seat and sends the movie to your headphones over Bluetooth.

Our editorial score: 8.7 / 10

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Almost every review of this headphone treats the Smart Tx as a curiosity. For anyone who flies, it is the entire reason to consider it. The single most common frustration in this category is that a wireless headphone cannot connect to a seatback screen, and JBL is the only manufacturer that puts the answer in the box.

The Smart Tx is a small transmitter. It plugs into the airline jack, pairs with the headphones, and the movie plays wirelessly. No cable round the tray table, no adapter to have forgotten.

What works on a plane

• +The Smart Tx transmitter solves in-flight entertainment without a separate purchase
• +Up to 40 rated hours with canceling on, comfortably over a long-haul plus layover
• +Five minutes of charge buys five hours
• +Both a 3.5 mm and a USB-C wired path in the box

What does not

• −The Smart Tx is one more small object to lose, and it needs its own charge
• −278 g sits between the Sony and the Sennheiser without beating either at their own game
• −Noise canceling is very good rather than class-leading

How it scores against the five travel axes

Cabin-noise reduction8.5

Battery on a long-haul9.2

Pack size7.4

Comfort past hour three8.4

Wired / IFE fallback9.9

Published specifications

Spec	Figure	Source
Battery, Bluetooth	Up to 70 hours	JBL
Battery, ANC on	Up to 40 hours	JBL
Quick charge	5 minutes gives 5 hours	JBL
Battery cell	850 mAh, full charge approx. 2 hours	JBL
Weight	278 g	JBL
Smart Tx	Transmitter streams from non-Bluetooth sources including in-flight entertainment	JBL
In the box	USB-C-to-3.5 mm and USB-C-to-USB-C cables, USB-C to USB-A adapter	JBL

Read the full JBL Tour One M3 review →

Buy it if the seatback screen matters to you. If your flying involves long legs where the airline’s film library is how you pass the time, this removes the single most annoying friction in the whole category, and it does it without a separate purchase you have to remember.

Do not buy it if you only ever watch content from your own phone or tablet, because then the Smart Tx is a small object you are charging for no reason, and the Sony WH-1000XM6 is lighter with deeper canceling. Do not buy it if you want the outright quietest headphone, because that is the Bose.

JBL describes the Smart Tx as letting you wirelessly stream from sources that lack Bluetooth, naming in-flight entertainment systems specifically. Mechanically, it is a Bluetooth transmitter with a physical audio connection on one side and a pairing to your headphones on the other.

Why this matters is a piece of aviation infrastructure most passengers never think about. Seatback systems have a wired output and no Bluetooth transmitter, so a wireless headphone has nothing to pair with. The options have always been: plug a cable in, buy a third-party transmitter, or watch with the airline’s own earbuds. JBL collapses that into a thing already in your case.

The Smart Tx is the only feature in this entire category that was obviously designed by somebody who flies.

The honest caveats. It is a separate object, so it can be lost, and it needs its own charge. Any Bluetooth transmitter introduces a small amount of latency, which most people never notice on film audio but which a few find visible on lip sync. And if you would rather buy the function separately and keep your existing headphones, the Twelve South AirFly Pro 2 does the same job for any headphone you own, pairs two sets at once, and is rated at 25+ hours. That comparison is really the whole decision.

The Tour One M3 cancels well. Against the steady low-frequency drone of a cruising cabin it does the job you bought it for, and it sits comfortably in the upper tier without reaching the floor the Bose reaches.

JBL also gives you unusually granular control in its app, with switchable ANC, Ambient Aware and Talk Thru modes and customisable Smart Tx settings. That is a real convenience on a trip where you move between a cabin, a terminal and a taxi, though it is worth saying that granular app control is a different thing from canceling depth.

JBL publishes up to 70 hours of Bluetooth music and calls, and up to 40 hours with ANC on. Five minutes of charge gives five hours. The 850 mAh cell fully charges in about two hours over USB-C.

Forty hours comfortably clears a long-haul plus a layover with real margin, and five hours from a five-minute charge is the best quick-charge figure on this site. Between them they mean the battery is simply not something you manage.

At 278 g the Tour One M3 sits between the Sony and the Sennheiser on weight, and its earcups fold flat rather than folding up. Add the Smart Tx and the two included cables and you are carrying a slightly busier kit than a Sony in its case.

That is the real cost of the feature. The Smart Tx replaces one small problem (no way to reach the screen) with a smaller one (another thing in the pocket of the case). It is a trade most frequent fliers will take happily, but it is a trade. If total packed volume is your priority, best foldable noise-canceling headphones ranks the field on exactly that.

278 g is a sensible middle. The Tour One M3 is comfortable for long sessions without being remarkable at it: better than the Soundcore, not as gentle as the Sennheiser, roughly level with the Bose once the Bose clamp has relaxed. Nothing about it will end a flight early, and nothing about it is the reason to choose it.

Three routes, all included. The Smart Tx for wireless. A USB-C-to-3.5 mm cable for a direct wired connection. A USB-C-to-USB-C cable for a laptop or a modern tablet, plus a USB-C to USB-A adapter for older hardware.

No other headphone on this site covers all three. The Bose includes a 2.5 mm-to-3.5 mm cable; the Sennheiser includes a 1.2 m aux cable; Apple includes nothing. JBL includes the lot, and that is the single most travel-literate box contents in the category. Older twin-socket aircraft still want a two-prong adapter — see airplane headphone jack adapters.

• Twelve South AirFly Pro 2 — buy the function, keep your headphones. Rated at 25+ hours, pairs two sets at once, and works with everything you will ever own.
• Sony WH-1000XM6 — lighter, folds properly, deeper canceling. The better headphone if you do not care about the seat screen.
• Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless — 60 rated hours and a plain aux cable in the box, if endurance beats convenience for you.

Where it sits in our roundups

The Tour One M3 leads best headphones for in-flight entertainment and appears in best wired headphones for flights, best headphones for long-haul flights and best noise-canceling headphones for office calls.