Tronsmart Apollo Bold Review – Dancing In The Moonlight
Pros
Comfortable, light, good build. Well fitting.
Good sound quality for TWS.
Good timbre for acoustic instruments.
Charging case for extra playback (up to 30 hours), up to 10 hours on single charge for the TWS.
ANC.
Strong and easy BT connectivity and range.
Supports voice assistant.
IP45 dust proof and water proof.
Superb for movies due to the subwoofer like subbass.
Volume controller.
Tronsmart has just released an app that supports various EQ profiles and configurations for the TWS buttons. They are continuing development of the app that possibly may have more features like aptX HD support in the future.
Cons:
May be too bassy for some when ANC or ambient mode is on (the just released app has EQ profiles to possibly lower the bass for our bass averse breathen).
Not the best passive isolation, occasional wind noise.
May have muffled sound during calls.
No wireless charging support.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold is a great all rounder TWS set, packing many features, and providing good sound, stable connectivity, long battery life and ANC/Ambient modes. It has IP45 waterproofing and is very comfortable too.
Sound wise, it is a basshead set (when ANC/Ambient mode is on), but the recently released app has EQ profiles to lower bass (for our bass averse friends).
SPECIFICATIONS
- Bluetooth: 5.0 TWS+. Mono or True Stereo. Qualcomm QCC5124 chip with customized LDS antenna (for more stable/longer transmission)
- TWS+ Binaural synchronnus tranmission technology
- Bluetooth codec: SBC, AAC, aptX
- Driver type: Customized graphene driver 10 mm
- Connection distance: Up to 15 meters / 50 feet
- ANC: rated at 35 dB noise cancelling, 360 degrees hybrid noise cancelling via 6 mics
- Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- Impedance: 35 Ω ± 15%
- Waterproof level: IP45 (sweat, light rain and splash proof)
- Playtime: Earbud: up to 10 hours (50% volume); up to 4 hours (100% volume). Charging case: up to 30 hours (50% volume)
- Charging time: Earbud: 2 to 2.5 hours. Charging case: 2.5 hours
- Tested at $99 USD
ACCESSORIES
In addition to the TWS IEM, it comes with:
1) Soft carrying bag
2) Silicone ear tips (3 pairs in total)
3) USB C charging cable
4) Charging case
- On the small side size wise, and can fit in a pocket.
- It can charge earpieces fully 3 times.
- There’s an inner magnet so the earphones won’t drop out when the charging case is held upside down.
- The charging case supports type C quick charging, and one can get about 1 hour usage with 10 minutes charge.
- I like that some aftermarket tips can be put on the Tronsmart Apollo Bold and can still fit inside the charging case and be charged at the same time (some other charging case models won’t charge if the eartip causes poor contact with the charging pins). It may rattle sometimes depending on the aftermarket tip, but one can put padding inside the charging case so as to give a more secure contact with charging pins.
- Unfortunately, it doesn’t support wireless charging.
BUILD/COMFORT
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold is very comfortable, light and ergonomic, no issues using it for hours, you even forget sometimes it’s in use. It doesn’t look too secure, but I was pleasantly surprised the fit is rather secure when in use (it does have a three point structure to secure the fit when worn).
Passive isolation (without ANC mode) on the Tronsmart Apollo Bold is above average but not the best, and wind noise can occasionally get in.
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold has a IP45 waterproof rating (i.e. sweat, light rain and splash proof), so it can be used for gym/exercising too, but probably not for heavy rain or water sports.
FUNCTION/CONNECTIVITY
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold powers on when taking it out of the charging case. Putting them back into the charging case once powers them off. I had no issues with pairing it with BT devices, they recognized the Tronsmart Apollo Bold on the spot.
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold starts music spontaneously when the buds go into the ear (ANC mode is the default mode when first using it out of the box), and they pause automatically when one takes them out of the ear. This might be useful when someone is talking to you when ANC mode is on. The Tronsmart Apollo Bold can be used in mono or stereo usage too.
Function for the Tronsmart Apollo Bold is as per this picture:
BT connectivity on the Tronsmart Apollo Bold is good, it can hit about 10 meters or so with thin walls/obstructions, but I did get a few drop outs in the past 1 month I’ve been using it. On some occasions also, the Tronsmart Apollo Bold did fail to connect to the last device, which necessitated deleting it from the device and re searching for it. But overall, the BT connection and range was pretty stable compared to my TFZ B.V2 TWS set.
Tronsmart just released an app for android and IOS a few days back. You can check out this link on how to install the app: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/goi…e-we-there-yet.861024/page-1738#post-15892622/. This first iteration of the app allows various EQ profiles and to customize what the button touches do. The default EQ mode is still a bass cannon, but the jazz preset is quite good to tame the bass in ANC/ambient mode, especially for our friends who ain’t bassheads. The classical preset is also a tinge lighter in the bass, though I find the mids a bit overcompressed on this preset. There’s future versions of the app to be developed, and Tronsmart is possibly looking into providing aptX HD support in future releases, so as and when there’s further developments in the app, I’ll update this review accordingly.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold supports SBC, AAC and aptX codecs. As above, Tronsmart is supposed to be releasing further iterations of the app that may allow aptX-HD in the future.
Battery life wise, the Tronsmart Apollo Bold is marketed as having up to 10 hours (50% volume) and up to 4 hours (100% volume) in the specs sheet, on a single charge. Indeed, when bringing it out for a spin, I found the battery to last about 4 – 5 hours (ANC on) and about 8 – 9 hours (ANC off). I don’t have iron ear drums to pump the volume to 100%, so these numbers were tested with listening at moderate volumes. If one factors in the charges provided by the charging case, there should be ballpark 12 – 15 hours playback with ANC on, and about 24 – 27 hours without ANC on (dependent on loudness of volume it is used at). I suppose in general the battery life would also decrease subsequently with repeated charges, but these numbers are already quite good for daily use for sure.
The ANC mode blocks out most of the lower frequency noises for me, such as droning traffic, air con sounds, low rumble of construction work etc. It may not block out higher pitch stuff like children’s squeals or intermittent sounds eg dog barks/car horns, but I find it very adequate for ANC purposes. I ever tried some other ANC sets before that gave me giddiness/nausea, and am glad to report the ANC on this set doesn’t.
Ambient Mode allows in some higher frequency environmental sounds, it might be useful say if one wants to have some awareness of their surroundings.
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold boasts 6 mics for noise cancelling, and the sound quality is adequate for calls. Some other callers have fedback that the sound may be occasionally muffled when speaking to me, like as though one were speaking thru a mask, but they said it was still intelligible.
I didn’t detect much latency with videos and music, unlike the TFZ B.V2. I don’t usually do gaming, but I think the latency speed is excellent for this set for non gaming purposes.
Soundwise, the Tronsmart Apollo Bold is a L shaped warm basshead set. Indeed, the bass becomes a bass canon when ANC/ambient mode is used. I’m a basshead and I like the bass quantities, but I suppose some of our friends who prefer a neutralish bass or are bass averse may not. The bass can be jawrattling on some recordings with a visceral grunt in the subbass. The bass slam and attack is very good. Watching movies with sound effects is a real treat as the subwoofer speaker like subbass gives an excellent rumble. Good news for our bass averse friends is that as per above, the jazz and classical preset EQs on the app can help to lower the bass a bit in ANC/ambient mode. Or one can consider using some aftermarket tips with wider bores to lower the bass a bit. With the normal mode on (without ANC/ambient mode), the sound is less bassy and more balanced.
Headroom is good, it can get very loud. Timbre is very good for acoustic instruments, though the bassy tuning may ironically not be that suitable for acoustic genres such as classical and jazz.
The upper mids and treble are a bit tamed and not fatiguing, but there are still quite clear. Despite the copious bass quantities, there’s still room for the mids and trebles to shine, though they aren’t the prominent frequency as discussed, with a slight midbass bleed present on ANC/ambient mode. Soundstage, imaging, details, clarity and instrument separation are good for a TWS, but probably won’t beat some wired gear in this aspect.
CONCLUSIONS
The Tronsmart Apollo Bold is a great all rounder TWS set, packing many features, and providing good sound, stable connectivity, long battery life and ANC/Ambient modes. It has IP45 waterproofing and is very comfortable too.
Sound wise, it is a basshead set (when ANC/Ambient mode is on), but the jazz and classical preset EQs on the app can help to tame the bass a bit.
I’ll write an updated review once future iterations of the app is released. But even currently, the Tronsmart Apollo Bold is already a set I would recommend for those looking for a feature packed TWS with ANC.
MY VERDICT
You find an INDEX of all our earphone reviews HERE.
DISCLAIMER
I would like to thank Joy from Tronsmart for providing this review sample, my views are my own. It can be gotten at $99 USD at multiple sites/shops.
You can check out this link for more details: https://www.tronsmart.com/products/tronsmart-apollo-bold-truewireless-stereo-plus-hybrid-anc-earbuds
Our generic standard disclaimer.
You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.
