Tronsmart Apollo Air Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds
RRP £50
ANC is a term you may have seen thrown around a fair bit in headphone and earbud reviews. Referring to Active Noise Cancellation, it differs from Passive Noise Cancellation by countering sound using microphones, speakers and general audio magic rather than PNC’s approach of using well designed ear cups to simply seal out external sound. The Apollo Airs from Tronsmart are all about active noise cancellation, emblazoning the acronym on the product box. However, like many other well-designed earbuds these days, this noise cancellation isn’t all or nothing – it's far more versatile than that.
The Apollo Air comes with three noise cancelling settings: ANC On, ANC Off, or Ambient Sound Mode. This last mode is an all-important one for keeping you say as you navigate traffic – if you’re walking or cycling, you need to be aware of the world around you, which is far harder to achieve successfully using effective PNC. This ANC can block up to 35dB of sound, which is a substantial amount – especially as this applies to all frequencies. Unlike PNC, you also have the ability to fully turn your noise cancelling off, which you can only achieve with PNC earbuds by removing one of them (and thus losing half of your music experience).
Like any good set of wireless headphones, Apollo Airs use True Wireless Mirroring technology, which keeps your connection seamless between both earbuds and allows you to swap between either without issue. This is combined with Bluetooth 5.2, meaning pairing was nice and fast and I didn’t experience any dropping or complications. This Bluetooth also means low latency, aka not much delay between real time sound and the sound you hear. This isn’t an issue when listening to your music, but if you’re on a Zoom or phone call, you’ll appreciate this lack of lag.
To throw some more jargon at you, these earbuds use a Qualcomm QCC3046 chip, high quality Qualcomm® Aptx™ audio decoding, a customized graphene driver for better sound quality and Stereo Plus binaural synchronous transmission technology. They have six microphones in their stems – three in each ear - to ensure that your voice comes through crisp and clear when taking calls. These mics use cVc 8.0 technology and do a great job of picking out your voice against ambient noise.
Including charge from the charging case, it has 20 hours of total play time. This isn’t as much as some competitors, but it’s also not a bad figure at all. This lasted me a good few days’ use before I needed to remember to charge the case, and that’s the important thing! In terms of water and dust resistance, they have a rating of IP45 rating. Again, this isn’t the absolute highest on the market, but it’s more than enough to protect them in the rain or on the road.
As mid-range earbuds, in terms of price, the Apollo Airs are a very good entry. Their output sounds ranged and solid, their input is clear and crisp, and their varied ANC provides the right level of noise cancelling as and when you need it. Their packaging isn’t the most decadent and their battery life isn’t insane, but these earbuds provide everything that you actually need, and they do it reliably and well.
4/5
Pros
Three ANC modes
True Wireless Mirroring
Good battery life
Six microphones
Qualcomm® Aptx™ Audio Decoding
Bluetooth 5.2
Decent price
35dB hybrid active noise cancelling
Intelligent APP Control
Six microphones
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