Tronsmart Apollo Q10 ANC Headphones Review

Tronsmart Apollo Q10 App

I admit that I was a bit surprised to see that a budget-friendly pair of headphones had an app, so I had to check it out. The app is called Tronsmart and it is available for both iOS and Android devices. After installing it, I had to give it access to Bluetooth (to connect to the headphones) and to agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy – some of the collected info includes email and account info, the period of time that I was using the headphones, the custom settings, server logs, info about the smartphone and the list goes on (it’s unfortunately, a normalized behavior and it shouldn’t be). Afterwards, I had to choose the type of headphones that I had and, after clicking on Connect, I was taken to a dedicated Home page. Here, I could select the active mode and see the remaining battery amount. The second icon at the bottom of the page is the Equalizer and there are four separate options.

The first is the Deafult, then there’s the Deep Bass which should put more emphasis on the bass, followed by the Hi-Fi and Vocal. There is a noticeable difference between the profiles, but I will, as expected test the headphones using the Deafult profile. I saw that a lot of users require a custom equalizer and I do have to agree that it would be wiser to let the user adjust the headphone’s sound to their liking. They may actually end up sounding far better than expected (as you may have guessed it, the profiles are not that great). The third option is the Controls and this is an interesting addition, since you are allowed to personalize the way the touch-sensitive controls work. I was very pleased with the default controls, but to each its own.

ANC Performance

I do consider that the manufacturers of most budget-friendly headphones should stop trying to add ANC and focus more on the sound quality, but I understand that this is a major selling point. And the people want to have a taste of this new tech even if it’s usually just a gimmick. I have tested what I consider the best ANC headphones and yes, they’re called the Sony WH-1000XM3 (or WH-1000XM4 since they’re pretty much the same device) and no pair of headphones underneath $200 has come even close to that performance. I understand that this is something to be expected, but be aware that ANC headphones were designed to allow the user to have a better flight quality due to the canceling of droning noise. They can also be used for enhancing the music quality without needing to rise the volume to dangerous levels.

Most cheaper headphones fall in the latter category and I do think that the Tronsmart Apollo Q10 also does even if it’s far better than most of its peers. I have checked the ANC performance while wearing the Apollo Q10 and the effect is not subtle, a good amount of droning noise is canceled. And I also liked that there is no hissing (Bluedio T7 Plus, take notes), so after enabling it, the world simply goes more silent. This is something that most manufacturers struggle with since they rely on white noise to enhance the ANC’s abilities at canceling the low-frequency sounds. I have to say that the Tronsmart Apollo Q10 is probably the best pair of ANC headphones in its price range and perhaps even in the sub $100 price bracket which is quite the feat. But, be aware that you will still hear quite a bit of sound and, if you’re on a plane, the motor noise is still going to be fairly dominant. If people are chatting next to you, they’re also going to be heard, but at a lower volume, so you won’t have to raise the volume of your song too high, which is great.

Overall, I found the ANC performance of the Tronsmart Apollo Q10 to be better than the OneOdio A30, the SuperEQ S1 and most other pairs of earbuds that I tested so far, but it’s still well below the Sony WH-1000XM3. This is to be expected considering the colossal price difference, but since I can make a comparison between these two devices shows the advancements of the ANC technology in cheaper devices and how well Tronsmart has managed to implement it.

Sound Quality

I usually start testing the sound quality by running a few ‘more technical’ tests that check the way the drivers perform and the first test checks the driver quality by playing a sweeping low frequency tone. Ideally, there should be no buzzing and the sound was fairly clean, although there was a bit of buzz, very faint. The driver matching test showed that the tone was playing in the middle of my head, so the drivers are matched properly. Next, I wanted to hear how wide the sound stage is and how well Tronsmart has managed to create a good sound imaging. To do so, I listened for some binaural recordings. The sound stage is not very wide, but it’s not that intimate either, just a bit crowded.

The voices seem only a little bit forward and each singer and instrument has a fairly clear position. The imaging is fine for the price tag, since I could tell where the main instruments were located, up to a certain degree since they’re not always that clearly defined. Moving on to some songs, I wanted to see how well the low bass is represented, so I played Zhu Faded. With ANC Off, the low bass is recessed and muted, so I decided to use the app and enable the Deep Bass mode which does give it a bit of emphasis, although there is still a lack of substance and the sound just doesn’t get full enough. The ANC On mode seems to help a bit especially along with the Deep Bass profile since there was a bit more substance to the bass. I also checked the Ambient mode, but it was irrelevant in regards to the sound quality since it just lowers the volume and amplifies the outside noise. This mode should be use only when it’s truly needed since it will have a heavy impact on the sound quality.

The next song was System Of A Down – Mr Jack which has some nuanced bass and, with ANC off, there doesn’t seem to be any substance to the song, it’s not very incisive and won’t startle any emotion. Funny enough, I found the AKG K240 better in terms of bass and they’re known for being anemic in this sense. I was able to improve the performance again by enabling the Deep Bass profile and the ANC, which gave the bass more emphasis and substance, but still remaining recessed nevertheless. The guitars were fairly clear, but everything else sounded bundled together and the sound was quite muddy. Afterwards, I moved to a mid-bass-focused song called Morph The Cat by Donald Fagan and, with ANC off it was a bit better defined and it even got more incisive after enabling the ANC. I did switch to the Deep Bass profile to check if I could get an improved performance and indeed, the bass got better, but the vocals got annoyingly bright.

Déjà Vu Affair by Sofi Tukker has multiple beats and here is where I noticed that the ANC off mode delivered a more organic feel to the beats, while with the ANC on mode was perhaps a bit deeper, but, at the same time felt hollow. Again, the Deep Bass mode helped to get a better bass and it seems that the vocal brightness was not as severe as with the mid-bass (although still brighter than on the Default profile). I then moved to a different type of song, more vocal-based. Playing ‘Vance – She Burns’ I noticed that I preferred the Default mode and the song sounded quite good. The details were there, the bass was recessed, but the voice was properly positioned, not too forward.

The guitar was also properly differentiated, but some cord effects were recessed and didn’t have that much of an impact on the song. Also, the violin seemed slightly pushed in the background. Sail by Awolnation had a fairly full sound with ANC off and the instrument differentiation was actually good in this case. The sound does get a little bit busy at times and the sound stage is a bit narrow still. Moving on to some treble-focused songs, ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine from Guns n Roses’ had the bass severely muted, the vocals are a bit bright, but not enough to cause fatigue; the instruments felt a bit muted and anemic though.

Lastly, I played Bowls by Carribou and, with the ANC on, it sounded better than ANC off mainly in the bass region. With this song, I mainly check for clarity and the instrument differentiation: the sound didn’t get muddy and it was fairly clear but again, I would have liked a wider sound stage to allow the Tronsmart Apollo Q10 to truly shine.
Note: One last thing that I need to mention and it’s very important is that the volume is surprisingly low, especially when compared to other headphones in the same price range.

Call Quality

Although perhaps not the main focus for the headphones manufacturers, but I do think it’s important to have a decent microphone for calls, especially when the headphones are wireless and can be paired to a smartphone. I really liked what OneOdio has done to its series in terms of call quality and I had hopes that Tronsmart went a similar road. To test it out, I paired the Apollo Q10 to my phone and call someone to check the sound quality. I could hear the other person clearly enough and my voice was also decently clear, not as good as when I spoke directly to the phone, but it wasn’t too muffled or too distant. Overall, the call quality is average.

Battery Life

I haven’t really seen a pair of headphones with a battery as big as the one equipped on the Tronsmart Apollo Q10, so I had high hopes that the 1,200mAh battery would be as impressive as I anticipated. The advertised amount is 100 hours when the volume is set to 50% and, in my case, while the volume was set to 70% and with the ANC on, I got close to 65 hours on a single charge which is an excellent performance.

Conclusion

The TronSmart Apollo Q10 is an impressive pair of budget friendly headphones and among the few in the price range to have gotten ANC right. There is no hissing or annoying white noise, just the quiet cancellation of some low-frequency noise (as it should be). The sound quality is alright, in line with the price tag and slightly enhanced by the ANC, depending on the song; there is also an app that you can use to adjust the sound profile. The controls are intuitive and the battery life is definitely impressive. So, overall, the Tronsmart Apollo Q10 is definitely a solid contender to the best ANC headphones under 100 dollars (at the moment of writing).

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