JBL Tour One M3 Smart TX: Bluetooth and wired headphones with Auracast transmitter

An affordable alternative to the AirPods Max, with great battery life and support for new Bluetooth tech that enables more than one device to share audio.

- BY CLIFF JOSEPH

Despite the huge success of its AirPods range, Apple has always been a bit slow to adopt new audio technologies. It took years to bring high-res audio to the Apple Music streaming service, and even the wildly expensive AirPods Max wasn't able to play lossless or high-res audio (fave.co/3JEkRbP) until after an update in March 2025.

Apple's also lagging behind some of its rivals with support for new Bluetooth features, such as the Auracast broadcasting technology. Auracast allows one device or audio source to transmit Bluetooth audio to multiple sets Of headphones, as well as Auracast-compatible hearing aids and cochlear implants.

That broadcasting ability makes Auracast great for public announcement and entertainment systems, as well as being a useful accessibility feature for people with hearing problems. At a recent event promoting its accessibility technologies, Apple staff reportedly said that it is “excited” by the potential of Auracast, although the company has not given any indication of when it will add Auracast to its own products.

One solution to this has recently arrived in the form of JBL’s new Tour One M3, priced at $449.95/£379.99. Available in a variety of colors, the M3 over-ear headphones also include a separate Smart TX—a small transmitter that can be connected to a wired audio source such as a laptop computer or an in-flight entertainment system on a plane. It can then transmit wireless audio directly to the M3 using ordinary Bluetooth, or use Auracast to transmit to multiple sets of nearby headphones (as long as those headphones also support Auracast too).