The Black Friday Headphones Deal That's Outsmarting Sony And Bose

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Prakhar Khanna wearing nan JBL Tour One M3 headphones.

The JBL Tour One M3 are comfortable to deterioration for agelong durations.

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

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The JBL Tour One M3 whitethorn spell nether nan radar successful discussions astir the best headphones. After all, nan Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are coagulated improvements complete their predecessors. But you shouldn't slumber connected nan JBL headphones this year. The institution is pushing boundaries successful what you tin expect from a brace of $449 headphones. 

The JBL Tour One M3 person a novelty characteristic alongside everything that you'd expect from top-end headphones -- comfortable fit, awesome sound, bully ANC performance, and a artillery life that puts others to shame. They are now astatine an all-time debased value connected Amazon for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. 

You tin acquisition these for arsenic debased arsenic $380, which is cheaper than Sony's XM6 and Bose's QC Ultra 2. After a coagulated 16% discount, these are 1 of my apical picks successful nan audio class this Black Friday.

Also: Best Black Friday headphones deals

All nan essentials and past immoderate more

The JBL Tour One M3 boast 70 hours of artillery life. This is astir 40 hours much than nan Sony XM6, Bose QC Ultra, and Sonos Ace, and 50 much than Apple's AirPods Max. In real-world usage, they will apt past you 2 times longer than different starring flagship headphones.

However, to beryllium of immoderate use, a long-lasting artillery life would, by default, require nan audio instrumentality to beryllium comfortable to wear, nutrient non-fatiguing sound, and beryllium easy to carry. The Tour One M3 cheque each of these boxes.

Also: I compared Bose and Sony's champion noise-cancelling headphones - here's nan victor successful 2025

Instead of going for a flashy design, JBL utilized a integrative build and faux leather receptor pads that are heavy and plush. You get padding to curb receptor fatigue, and its lightweight creation makes judge you tin deterioration it for hours without immoderate discomfort. They fresh maine very well, and I don't get nan impulse to set nan fresh constantly. Plus, nan earcups are foldable, making them easy to carry.

Prakhar Khanna wearing nan JBL Tour One M3.

The JBL Tour One M3 fresh maine very well.

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

The JBL Tour One M3 sound impressive. As ZDNET's Jada Jones wrote successful her review, "The M3's 40mm move drivers wonderfully reproduce heavy lows and agleam highs." The mids could beryllium clearer, but this is undoubtedly flagship-level sound performance. If you want to set nan default sound signature, you tin usage nan companion app to take from preset EQ modes aliases create your ain utilizing a 10-band equalizer.

The app besides helps you create a personalized proceeding floor plan utilizing a Personi-Fi proceeding test. Add a small bass, and they sound livelier than ever without compromising nan vocals. The highs are beardown without being excessively sharp.

Also: I tested JBL's newest premium headphones - Bose and Sony should watch out

JBL's caller headphones connection a proprietary spatial audio format, allowing you to perceive to immoderate contented successful spatial audio. It's a mixed bag, wherever immoderate songs mightiness sound amended than others. That said, nan spatial audio useful good connected supported media.

As for progressive sound cancellation, I would put Sony and Bose supra these. The JBL Tour One M3 tin trim postulation sound successful commutes, but they aren't arsenic bully arsenic nan XM6 and QC Ultra of nan world. You tin besides set sound cancellation levels connected these headphones. The transparency mode useful fine, and audio is clear connected sound calls. I didn't person immoderate issues during my Zoom calls aliases WhatsApp video calls.

Prakhar Khanna holding nan JBL Smart Tx.

These JBL flagship headphones person a bully sidekick.

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

The JBL Tour One M3 travel pinch a sidekick companion, nan Smart Tx transmitter, which you won't find connected immoderate different brace of headphones. It is small, truthful you request to beryllium observant not to suffer it. It adds a fewer nice-to-have features, for illustration Auracast, outer controls, and more.

For instance, you tin plug nan Smart Tx into an audio root to stock nan audio pinch personification adjacent pinch an Auracast-enabled smartphone and headphones. Turn connected nan receiver mode, and you tin now link it to an Auracast watercourse to perceive nan audio done nan M3 headphones. It is simply a useful characteristic that is waiting for industry-wide adoption. Apart from this header feature, you tin set settings specified arsenic volume, Spatial Sound, ANC, and different options.

Also: The apical 10 headphones readers bought successful 2025 (and they're not Beats, Sony, aliases Bose)

You should see nan JBL Tour One M3 if you are successful nan marketplace for a brace of flagship headphones that past long, are comfortable to deterioration for hours, and sound top-notch. If you're looking for nan best-in-class ANC performance, nan Sony XM6 and Bose QC Ultra mightiness beryllium amended suited for you, but I admit nan wide worth of these headphones. At $380, nan JBL Tour One M3's woody is 1 of nan champion this vacation season.

How we rated this deal

The JBL Tour One M3 are a awesome bargain for group who want impeccable comfortableness and sound from their adjacent brace of headphones. This Black Friday discount is nan lowest value we've seen these headphones since their motorboat earlier this year. For those reasons, we springiness this woody a 3/5 Editor's woody rating. 

When will this woody expire?

According to JBL, this woody expires connected Friday, Nov. 28. However, nan Tour One M3's woody could proceed done nan vacation play astatine different retailers specified arsenic Best Buy and Amazon. 

How do we complaint deals astatine ZDNET?

We purpose to present nan astir meticulous proposal to thief you shop smarter. ZDNET offers 33 years of experience, 30 hands-on merchandise reviewers, and 10,000 quadrate feet of laboratory abstraction to guarantee we bring you nan champion of tech.

In 2025, we refined our attack to deals, processing a measurable strategy for sharing savings pinch readers for illustration you. Our editor's woody standing badges are affixed to astir of our woody content, making it easy to construe our expertise to thief you make nan champion acquisition decision.

At nan halfway of this attack is simply a percentage-off-based strategy to categorize savings offered connected top-tech products, mixed pinch a sliding-scale strategy based connected our squad members' expertise and respective factors for illustration frequency, marque aliases merchandise recognition, and more. The result? Hand-crafted deals chosen specifically for ZDNET readers for illustration you, afloat backed by our experts.

Also: How we complaint deals astatine ZDNET successful 2025

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