Tronsmart Apollo Bold review

Tronsmart never ceases to amaze with new headphones (for example, relevant even for today Tronsmart Onyx Free with UV Sterilization). The new Tronsmart Apollo Bold is wireless headphones based on the flagship Qualcomm QCC5124 chip, equipped perhaps one of the best for today active noise cancelling support and more than good autonomy.

And of course the sound is something that Tronsmart has always been able to do optimally for most users, and Apollo Bold probably became the apotheosis of quality in this indicator. Coupled with really good noise cancelling, this fully justifies the new price point, which the company entered for the first time with this model. At the moment, Tronsmart Apollo Bold costs $99 in the official store on Aliexpress.

Packaging

Tronsmart Apollo Bold is delivered in a quality box with colorful printing.

What’s in the box:
Apollo Bold TWS Earbuds with charging case, 3 x Eartip pairs, Charging cable (USB-C), Carrrying Bag, Warranty card and User manual.

Design, Features

Tronsmart Apollo Bold looks beautiful and serious. Neat rounds with a flat outer part and a copper frame give the headphones a completely original and memorable design. On the outside of the headphones are a large touch area with the Tronsmart logo and a light indicator.

On the inside of the earbud, you can find contacts and a proximity sensor that pauses music when the earbuds are taken out of the ears. The sensor is working correctly, no false positives (or failures) were noticed.

The sound guide has an oval shape, the diameter is 5-7 mm (third-party eartip put on without problems).

The charging case is made in a rather unusual round design. The material used is quite ordinary black matte plastic.

The type-c connector is located on the back of the case.

The minor disadvantages of the case include the fact that due to its round shape, it is sometimes not immediately possible to understand which way it opens. We would also like to have a more informative charge level indicator, such as the Tronsmart Onyx Ace.

We liked the fact that the charging case is equipped with a high-capacity battery and has a good charging speed. The important point is that this case allows you to use almost any headphone eartip. We have not yet had TWS headphones that would give more freedom in this regard than Tronsmart Apollo Bold. For example, if you put on the largest size on the Apollo Bold SpinFit CP100, the headphones will easily fit in the case and there will be free space. Something like this has not been observed in any other fully wireless headphones.

Tronsmart Apollo Bold large headphones. Despite this, they sit surprisingly well in the ears: they do not press anywhere, do not fall out, and the ears do not get tired from prolonged use. The anatomically shaped sound guides and the special design of the inner surface of the Apollo Bold headphones ensure good passive sound isolation. Even with ANC off, Tronsmart Apollo Bolds are capable of providing a decent level of sound insulation.

Tronsmart Apollo Bold keeps the connection well and stable, we have not observed any breaks or stutters with any device. The signal delay is minimal. The microphone works fine.

Light indication

Led on the case:

• Flashing red (case is connected to charging): charging in progress
• The led is off (case is connected to charging): charging completed
• Fast blinking red: battery level is below 10%
• Fast blinking white: battery level is over 10%
(When the case is connected to the charging, the LED is constantly on. To activate the LED when the case is not connected to the charger, you need to open the case cover.)

Headphone LED:

• Fast blinking white: The headphones are on but not paired with a device
• Slow blinking white: the headphones are paired with a device
• Flashes red and white alternately: Pairing mode is activated
• Fast blinking red: Low battery and headphones are not paired with a device
• Slow blinking red: Low battery and headphones are paired with a device
• Double fast blinking red (the headphones are in the case): the headphones are charging, the charge level has not reached 10%
• Slow flashing red (headphones in the case): the headphones are charging, the charge level is above 10%

Control

• Double tap any earphone: play / pause
• Long touch the right earbud (2 sec): next song
• Long touch left earbud (2 sec): previous song
• Single tap on the right earbud: increase the volume one level
• Single touch left earphone: lower volume one level
• Double-tap any of the earphones during an incoming call: accept the call
• Double-tap any of the headphones during a call: end the call
• Holding (2 sec) any earphone during an incoming call: reject the call
• Triple-tap any earbud: switch modes (ANC of, ANC on, ambient sound)

Active noise cancellation and ambient sound

Tronsmart Apollo Bold headphones are equipped with ANC Active Noise Cancellation. The principle of operation of this technology is as follows: microphones pick up ambient noise, a chip built into the headphones generates sound with the same amplitude, but with a reverse (inverted) phase, then these two waves are superimposed on each other, this actually leads to a decrease in the noise level.

Active noise canceling is enabled by default. That is, whenever we take the headphones out of the case, the ANC mode will be turned on. Disabling ANC or switching to ambient sound mode is carried out by a triple tap on any of the headphones (the voice in the headphones will notify which mode is activated).

According to our ANC tests, Tronsmart Apollo Bold mutes low and high frequencies by about three or four times. Considering that these are in-ear headphones, we consider the result to be very good.

Ambient sound

“Ambient sound” is like “active noise cancelling” only in reverse. In this mode, additional microphones are used to catch external sounds and transmit them to the listener via headphones. This feature will be useful during a conversation (so that a person can hear their speech), as well as when riding a Bicycle or while Jogging on a busy street (this allows you to hear the sounds of cars, which in turn increases safety). When “ambient sound” is turned on, you can hear background noise like rustling in your headphones. When music is playing, the background noise is almost inaudible.

App

Tronsmart has released a special app for Apollo Bold. Using this app, you can adjust the sound of headphones and change the algorithm of the touch control. At the moment you can download the application from the Tronsmart official website.

Autonomy

The charging time was pleasantly surprised: Tronsmart promised two and a half hours, we got less than two hours of a case and about an hour of headphones. The runtime of the headphones in our test is lower than the official, but this is due to the fact that we listened at a fairly high volume. You should also pay attention to the fact that turning on the ANC mode reduces autonomy by about a third (this is a feature of active noise cancellation).

Sound

Each earphone has a 10mm driver and the first thing you’ll notice is the high volume level. Even at 70% volume, the headphones play quite loudly.
We were pleasantly surprised by the rich and tight bass at low frequencies. It’s well-defined and doesn’t overpower the mid or high frequencies. We can note the presence of purity of sound, good detail in live musical instruments and natural sounding of the vocalist’s voice. We always liked the sound of Tronsmart headphones, they show an excellent balance between pronounced low frequencies and the harmony of the middle and upper range.

ANC removes some details, but the user has a choice: activate the noise reduction and lose a little in details, or turn it off and get more quality.

Conclusion

Tronsmart again produced a comfortable, nicely built set of headphones that also boast excellent battery life and sound. They prove an immensely entertaining listen. There’s no shortage of capable rivals, but in our opinion the Apollo Bold have little to fear. Of course, our choice. ★

Official site: https://www.tronsmart.com/
Buy: on Aliexpress official store.

Specifications

Model: Tronsmart Apollo Bold
Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5.0
Chip: Qualcomm® QCC5124
Audio codec: aptX, AAC, SBC
Bluetooth profile: HFP/HSP/AVRCP/A2DP
Connection distance: Up to 15 meters / 50 feet
Speaker driver: Φ10mm
Impedance: 32Ω±15%
Audio frequency range: 20-20K Hz
Waterproof rating: IP45
Playtime: Earbud: up to 10 hours (50% volume); up to 4 hours (100% volume)
Charging case: up to 30 hours (50% volume)
Earbud battery: 85 mAh
Charging case battery: 500 mAh
Input: 5V/450mA max.
Charging time:
Earbud: 2 to 2.5 hours
Charging case: 2.5 hours
Dimension:
Earbud: 16.86 x 23.13 x 23.96 mm / 0.66 x 0.91 x 0.94 inches
Charging case: 29.45 x 19.03 mm / 1.16 x 0.75 inches
Weight:
Earbud: about 7.0g / 0.24oz
With charging case: about 54.0g / 1.90oz