Tronsmart Apollo Air Review Bass Heavy ANC Earbuds
Apollo is the Olympian god of the sun and light and also the name of the new Tronsmart Apollo Air true wireless earbuds! Apollo Air are stem style earbuds that look like a pair of quirky hair-dryers with a thick, 2cm long stem and large barrel-shaped body chamber containing a single 10mm dynamic driver, as well as a Qualcomm bluetooth 5.2 chip (QCC304) - same as the Onyx Prime earbuds. The Apollo Air earbuds also integrate a single 35 mAh battery (one per earbud) and two anc (active noise cancellation) microphones for feedforward and feedback active noise cancellation.
During calls, the anc mics kick in to suppress background noise and letting the voice come in loud loud and clear, although a substantial amount of background noise still gets picked up during calls. That said, the location of all the mics is very good, built-in on the underside of the earbud so, they're less prone to wind noise.
The Apollo Air earbud neck nozzle is short and stompy with an oval mesh tip. Despite the oval shape of the nozzle tip, you can fit standard round bore eartips without problem. Speaking of fit, the Apollo Air earbuds don't fit as snugly inside the ear canal as most in-ear earphones so, they should fit comfortably in most ears. That said, being slightly on the bulky side it could be an issue if you have very small ear canals. The earbuds protrude a little bit outward but they do stay in the ears, thanks the to the grippy glossy plastic finish and low weight (4.5 grams per earbud)
The Apollo Air charging case has a tall frame reminiscent of a small treasure chest with rounded edges and is finished with matte coating that doesn't mark easily with fingerprint smudges. The word "Tronsmart" has been carved on top of the lid, which has a single hinge built-in. The hinge has very little resistance, which makes the lid wobble a bit. The Apollo Air charging case is compact and low weight (32 grams) so, it's pocketable.
The USB-C charging port is on the backside. There is a single status led on the front of the charging case to feedback battery status of the charging case. The battery status led for the earbuds is located inside the charging case on the docking area. The Apollo Air charging case has a flat bottom base so, you can place it upright on a desk. The Apollo Air case measures 6cm long, 3.5cm high, 3cm thick.
Compared to most budget earbuds on the market, the Tronsmart Apollo Air earbuds stand out, thanks to the premium packaging and eye catching font lettering. The included user guide is also very nice, It is a full color user guide printed in glossy paper. Touch controls are very responsive, requiring only a slight touch (no tapping) to activate functions. The sensitivity is a little high so, any slight accidental touch on the control area will activate it, although it can be an advantage when wearing thin gloves.
Apollo Air can be paired and connected whilst inside the charging case. The bluetooth chip supports absolute bluetooth volume and aptX, SBC, AAC codecs but no multipoint connection. The earbuds turn on automatically when opening the charging case lid. Stereo/mono listening switching is seamless, although there is a 5 second re-connection delay after taking the earbuds out of the charging case. The Apollo Air earbuds can work independently too so, you can pair them with separate devices.
You will hear an audio beep when reaching max volume, as well as voice prompts for ambient mode, noise cancellation (anc). There is an "off" option to disable anc and ambient sound, which is nice if you don't want a boosted bass. Most anc earbuds boost the bass when turning on anc because of the active noise cancellation signal generated, which enhances the bass. Apollo Air's ambient mode also boosts the bass slightly, which is interesting because this is something yo don't get with most anc earbuds with ambient mode.
With anc off, the Apollo Air earbuds don't sound as bassy, falling behind the vocals and instruments. With anc on, the bass is noticeably punchier but the bass rides nicely alongside the vocals and instruments so, it doesn't muddle the audio. Apollo Air's anc performance is good for budget anc earbuds. It drowns out mostly low frequency sounds like bassy music and traffic noise. Higher frequency sounds like clanking of weights and voices of people talking not so much.
Another neat feature that seals the deal for the Apollo Air earbuds, it's mobile app support via the Tronsmart mobile application. The Tronsmart app works really well and has a nice user-friendly interface. No account registration is required and privacy is not as invasive as other apps, which is a plus. The app lets you check battery status of each earbud, as well as control anc/ambient modes, choose preset sound modes (up to 7).
There is also button remapping too so, you can change the default arrangement of the touch control tap gestures. There are a total of 5 gestures, including single tap, double tap, tap once/hold, long press and triple tap. The volume function is set to single tap by default but you can change it to a long press if you want to, which is neat. Apollo Air's app support is comprehensive but has no equalizer to customize your own sound signature.
Apollo Air earbuds and charging case both recharge within 2.5 hours. There is no quick charge support. With anc on at 50% volume, the playtime is about 5 hours. With anc off, 7 hours. With the charging case, the playtime can be up to 20 hours. You can buy the Tronsmart Apollo Air from amazon and get up to 50% off. No promo code is needed but the offer expires on 31st December 2021.
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