Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus Review
Following the successful Tronsmart Apollo Bold wireless earbuds, the company decided to update its Apollo line. Today we will talk about a new headphone – Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus. These are unique headphones that have received many interesting features, which we will talk about today.
The first thing that makes the headphones stand out is, of course, the presence of the ANC active noise cancellation function. The device also received a Qualcomm chipset with aptX™ Adaptive (this is one of the differences with the younger model Tronsmart Apollo Air that supports usual aptX). Also added new wireless Bluetooth 5.2 version, is dust and water-resistant under the IP45 standard. Well, the headphones clearly have wide functionality and great potential. Now let’s take a closer look at Apollo Air Plus to find out the real possibilities of the new model from the Tronsmart brand.
Contents:
- Specifications
- Packaging
- Design, build quality and materials
- Connections and controls
- Sound and noise cancelling
aptX™ Adaptive codec - Baterry
- Conclusions
Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus Specifications
Model | Apollo Air+ |
Colors | Black & White |
Input | 5V/500mA Max |
Chip | Qualcomm® QCC3046 |
Bluetooth Version | 5.2 |
Bluetooth Compatibility | HFP/HSP/AVRCP/A2DP |
Water Resistant | IP45 |
Play Time | Up to 20 hours |
Charging Time | About 2.5 hours |
Driver Unit | 10mm |
Impedance | 32Ω |
Dimension | 2.36 x 1.27 x 1.46 inches |
Net Weight | 43g |
Package Contents | 1 x Apollo Air+, 1 x Warranty card, 1 x User manual, 4 x Extra pair of ear tips , 1 x Type-C cable, 1* PU bag |
Packaging
Like any Tronsmart product, the new Apollo Air Plus came for review in a very bright package. This is a rectangular box with a drawing of headphones and a charging box on the front. There are also icons with basic characteristics and features.
What’s in the box
- Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus
- Warranty card
- User manual
- Extra pair of ear tips
- Type-C cable
- PU bag
In general, the packaging turned out to be standard, but it has everything you need for full use and listening. But now let’s check build quality, and how comfortably the Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus sit in the ear.
Design, build quality and materials
The charging case Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus is the first difference from the younger Tronsmart Apollo Air model, visually it is the same case, the difference is only in support for wireless charging. Air Plus charging case resembles the Apple Airpods Pro case, although the headsets themselves are positioned differently. The body is made of matte plastic, which is not easily soiled and does not leave fingerprints. The dimensions of the case are quite compact and are 6×3.7×3.2cm. The total weight with earphones is 40 grams.
There is an LED indicator on the front side. When the battery is charged from 0 to 10%, the LED glows red, and from 10 to 100% – blue. Simple and straightforward.
The rear panel a USB-C port for charging and a Bluetooth enable button.
The lid of the case bears the Tronsmart brand name. The lid closes with a magnetic latch, holds well, but not as firmly as on AirPods.
Under the lid there are two horizontal seats for headsets. Headphones are held by magnets, the hold is reliable. Also, each headset is labeled with L and R channels.
As for the earphones, they are also made of plastic, but not matte, but glossy. The build quality is nice, the overall design is trendy. On the inside of the foot are two gold metal contacts for charging and a talking microphone. In the upper part of the headset, on the outside, there is a touch area, it is marked with a pattern in the form of dots. There are two more microphones near it, one slightly higher and one lower and to the left. They are needed for active noise canceling to work properly.
The sound guide is oval, its outlet is covered with a plastic mesh to protect it from debris.
In terms of size, the earphones look a little larger than their competitors, but at the same time they are quite light. Their weight is only 4.5 grams. In the ears, Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus are held quite securely, do not fall out and they can be used for sports without the slightest problems. Moreover, they have an IP45 certificate.
Connections and controls
Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus uses modern Bluetooth 5.2 wireless technology. It is characterized by fast and reliable communication, without failures and interruptions. At the same time, the range of high-quality communication reaches 10 meters. As soon as you open the charger, the earbuds will automatically connect to your smartphone. This means that they are ready to use, you only need to insert them into your ears.
Touch controls are used to control the headphones. Here, as with most wireless TWS models, the touch area is on the outside of the headset. The control works competently, the touch is precise.
- One touch of the right sensor – increase the sound
- One touch of the left sensor – reduce the sound
- Two touches of any sensor – play / pause or answer / hang up
- Three touches lead to to select different ANC sound modes
- Holding the right sensor for 2 seconds – the next track
- Holding the left sensor for 2 seconds – the previous track.
Sound and noise cancelling
Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus sound quality is controlled by large 10mm customized graphene dynamic driver. It also uses aptX™ Adaptive codec support (this is the second difference from the younger model Tronsmart Apollo Air, which only supports the usual aptX codec), which provides less audio compression and higher signal quality.
aptX™ Adaptive codec:
An important feature of aptX Adaptive codec is its ability to adapt signal quality. When the connection quality is poor, the bitrate of aptX Adaptive can be dynamically reduced to 279 kbps, but due to the new compression algorithms it will sound exactly like the legacy 384 kbps aptX. When the connection is good, the bit rate can go up to 420 kbps and sound better at the same time aptX HD with a bit rate of 576 kbps.
In addition, aptX Adaptive uses the same 24 bits for frequency encoding as aptX HD, while basic aptX uses only 16 bits.
The aptX Adaptive codec is backward compatible with aptX and aptX HD. That is, if your headphones only support aptX Adaptive, and the smartphone does not have this codec, the headphones will be able to use either aptX or aptX HD. There is no backward compatibility with the aptX LL codec. That is, headphones with aptX Low Latency support will not be able to connect to a smartphone with the aptX Adaptive codec.
The overall sound experience is excellent. The earbuds have tight bass that gives the music a good LF kick and allows you to fully enjoy strong genres of music.
The mids are slightly recessed, at high volumes they have a neutral flow, but this does not prevent them from having a clear and warm sound. At lower volumes, the mids reveal their full potential. They are very warm, pleasant and fully convey the possibilities of all musical genres.
The high frequencies perfectly balanced, they are pretty sharp but not cutting, dynamic and add a special rhythm to the music. The vocal performance is filled with various intonations, the sound does not merge, all the nuances are heard. You can fully enjoy a wide range of genres.
We were pleased with the overall sound quality, although sonic characteristics strongly resemble the previous Apollo Bold.
As for active noise cancellation, it is perhaps the most popular in these headphones. This becomes clear as soon as you activate it. Unlike previous models, here ANC does not change the sound of the headphones too much, but it significantly reduces the noise around you. Therefore, in a noisy environment, it is better to turn on noise cancellation and completely isolate yourself from the outside world. Noise and hum will not distract you from the music.
Baterry
Each Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus earphone is equipped with a 35mAh battery that can provide you with music for 5 hours. Also in the charging case is an additional 300mAh battery. This allows you to charge the earbuds 3-4 more times and get a total battery life of about 20 hours. The result is quite good.
Charging the case battery takes about 2.5 hours via the Type-C port. Wireless charging takes about 4 hours.
Conclusions
Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus Wireless Headphones have a beautiful design, comfortable fit, good sound with strong bass and excellent noise canceling performance. There is also IP45 protection, which allows you not to be afraid of light rain and sweat and use the headphones for sports. Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus are an excellent choice for everyday use, especially if you travel a lot or stay in noisy places.
Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus is currently $99 in the official store on Aliexpress, and perhaps no one offers such a set of functionality and sound quality for this price today. Highly recommend.
Buy Tronsmart Apollo Air Plus on the official website.