The Noble Fokus Apollo isn’t just another pair of true wireless headphones tossed into an already overcrowded market. Noble Audio has been around the block, but until now, they’ve played exclusively in the in-ear arena. The company was born in 2013 when Dr. John Moulton—an audiologist with a thing for music—decided to step out from the hearing aid world and build something of his own. With models like the Katana, Khan, Encore, Sultan, and Prestige, Noble quickly carved out a reputation for building some of the best in-ears money could buy. His brother James eventually joined in as co-owner, and the brand expanded into both custom and universal designs, wired and wireless, with plenty of “Headphone of the Year” nods to prove they weren’t just tinkering in the garage.
But here’s the thing: Noble never made an over-ear headphone. Not once. From 2013 all the way up until late 2024, they were strictly in-ear evangelists. That changed with the Fokus Apollo—Noble’s first swing at the over-ear category and, conveniently, the industry’s first hybrid wireless headphone combining a dynamic driver with a planar driver. Toss in Bluetooth LE support, and you’ve got something that doesn’t fit neatly into the “yet another TWS” box. At $649, the Fokus Apollo steps into the ring with heavyweights like Bowers & Wilkins’ Px8 and Focal’s Bathys.
Unboxing the Noble Fokus Apollo: Premium or Just Pricey?
The box itself comes wrapped in a graphic slipcover over a bi-fold style inner box. Crack open the doors and you’re greeted by a carrying case that takes up nearly the entire footprint. There’s a reason for that—these headphones don’t fold flat, and Noble skipped hinges at the gimbals, so you’re getting full-size cans in full-size form.
Inside the case, you’ll find more than just the headphones. Noble packs in a 3.5mm aux cable, a USB Type-C charge/connect cable, an airline adapter (yes, apparently people still use those), a 6.35mm adapter, a 3.5mm to 4.4mm balanced adapter, and even a detachable boom mic. It’s basically a connectivity buffet.
What I like here is the flexibility: run them wired via 3.5mm, wired via USB, or wireless. Use the built-in mic if you’re trying to keep things low-key, or snap on the boom mic when call clarity actually matters. That’s been the Achilles’ heel of most gaming headsets—because let’s be honest, wearing a full boom mic on a plane or subway just screams “this guy is either gaming mid-flight or narrating his own podcast.”
Turning to the headphones themselves, the Noble Fokus Apollo come in at a respectable 328g. That plants them right between the AirPods Max (a neck workout at 380g) and Sony’s WH-1000XM5 (a featherweight 250g). The difference is, the Apollo’s build actually feels like it belongs on a $649 headphone.
You’re looking at aluminum cups with a cloth overlay on the outer portion, aluminum gimbals and adjustment arms, plus a steel headband wrapped in cloth up top and Alcantara with memory foam underneath. The pads are memory foam wrapped in protein leather. My ears did brush the inner side of the pads, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or pinchy—more of a soft nudge than a clamp.
Branding is… restrained, at least by modern standards. Each cup carries a large Noble crown logo, and the forward-facing portion of the cups adds another crown plus the word “Noble.” Thankfully, the finish is muted enough that it doesn’t scream at you. Unlike some competitors, the headband isn’t covered in billboard-sized lettering in fluorescent white, which feels more “airport duty-free fashion brand” than “premium headphone.” In fact, if not for the crowns on the cups, you could easily mistake the Fokus Apollo for something from Bowers & Wilkins—the shape and materials are that similar.
Noble Fokus Apollo Technology: Hybrid Drivers, Bluetooth LE, and Advanced Connectivity
Once you look inside the cups, any B&W comparisons go straight out the window. The Noble Fokus Apollo runs a hybrid setup with both a 40mm dynamic driver and a 14.5mm planar magnetic driver working together. Noble doesn’t publish the crossover point, but based on my testing it seems to land somewhere between 1.5–2kHz. Not your standard off-the-shelf driver config.
On the wireless side, the Apollo packs Bluetooth 5.4 and, unlike most “LE-capable” headphones that fall back on older codecs, it actually defaulted to LC3 and Bluetooth LE when paired with both my phone and laptop. That’s still rare in 2025. (And if your laptop is stuck in the codec stone age, grab a Creative BT-W6—it’s $78 well spent to drag old hardware into modern Bluetooth.)
Codec support is extensive: LC3, LDAC, aptX HD, AAC, SBC, and even aptX Lossless when supported. That’s all thanks to Qualcomm’s QCC3084 chipset, which brings a programmable architecture, dedicated DSP processor, dual-core main processor, 24/96 support, aptX Adaptive, hybrid ANC, and dual-mic cVc for cleaner calls. Noble layers in an additional ADI chip that ties together three mics per side for even stronger ANC performance.
Battery life is equally impressive: with ANC on, I saw close to 60 hours of playback. Turn ANC off and lean on Bluetooth LE, and you’re pushing 80 hours—basically two work weeks without hunting for a charger. Legacy codecs cost a bit more juice, but still comfortably outlast most competitors.
Comfort and Fit: Ergonomics, Ear Pads, and Headband Design
The Noble Fokus Apollo cups are clearly marked L and R on the inside, with controls conveniently running down the back of each cup, so you won’t be fumbling to figure out orientation. The cups themselves are medium-sized; anyone with larger ears may notice a bit of contact with the pads, as I did, but thanks to decent pad depth, my lobule didn’t feel squished.
Comfort over long sessions is solid once you tweak the clamping force. Like many ANC headphones, the Apollo comes out of the box with a fairly tight grip. Rather than waiting for break-in time, I gently bent the headband to get a moderate clamp right away. Heat build-up is manageable, though inevitable with closed cups and leather pads.
Weight is well distributed, but the headband padding is relatively thin, so the wear experience is similar to an AirPods Max—just a bit lighter. I didn’t experience fatigue during extended listening, but if you’re coming from lighter cans like the Bose NC 700 or Sony XM5, the Apollo may feel a little hefty on the head.
The supplied case deserves its own mention. It’s solidly built and provides excellent protection for the headphones, but it’s a whopper—easily twice the size of something like the B&W Px7 S3 or Sony XM5 case. That makes it fantastic for storage and keeping your investment safe, but less ideal for travel. Toss it in a backpack alongside a Miter DAP case and a laptop, and suddenly your bag is both full and heavy—basically, hope you’re in good shape before heading out.
One other quirk I noticed with the Noble Fokus Apollo: when ANC is active, a sudden motion that breaks the seal of the cups can briefly cause audio clipping. My best guess is that both sides’ microphones suddenly pick up the same sound spikes, overloading the ANC processing and creating a short glitch.
In practice, this was rare—happening only once or twice during normal use—and I could reproduce it deliberately by jumping to simulate a hard step-down. For 99% of listening time, it’s a non-event, but it’s worth mentioning so anyone else who notices it doesn’t panic.
Noble Fokus Apollo Controls and App
Physical controls on the Fokus Apollo are concentrated on the right cup, while the left handles the mic mute switch, the charging port at the bottom, and the boom mic port at the lower front.
On the right, you’ve got the 3.5mm port at the bottom, three adjacent buttons for reverse/decrease, play/pause, and increase/forward, followed by a small gap and then the ANC function button. The play/pause button features a raised central bar for tactile recognition, and the mute switch on the left is a two-position tactile switch—so you can be absolutely certain you’re actually muted and not just pretending.
The Noble App is straightforward and easy to navigate, essentially mirroring most of the headphone’s physical controls—minus the mute button, which remains a hardware-only option. The main screen covers back, play/pause, forward, and ANC mode.
A drop-down menu in the upper-right corner gives access to Equalizer, settings, firmware updates, and disconnect options. The Equalizer is robust, offering a 10-band customizable EQ alongside presets for classical, pop, folk, jazz, and rap. Each preset includes a graphic showing exactly what it’s doing, so if you like a preset but want a slight tweak here or there, creating a custom profile is simple.
The settings menu is clean and uncluttered, with options for prompt tones, a phone volume slider (hardware buttons still work during calls), language selection, and whether to display ANC on the main screen. There’s no option to remap physical buttons, but given that all essential functions are already covered, most users won’t miss it.
Connectivity: Bluetooth LE, Multi-Device, and Wired Options
Most users will pair the Noble Fokus Apollo wirelessly, and with support for LDAC, aptX, AAC, and LE Audio, compatibility is broad. Quick pairing and multi-point support make connecting and switching between devices painless.
That said, wired options exist too. The Apollo can run via a 3.5mm connection or USB, giving audiophiles a chance to bypass Bluetooth entirely. If you’ve got a high-end home setup or a DAP, it’s worth comparing 3.5mm wired sound to wireless. The onboard DAC is solid, but it’s not going to outshine an Astell&Kern SP3000T or FiiO M17. That said, the drivers themselves scale well, so feeding them a top-tier source can yield noticeable improvements. Because yes, sometimes Bluetooth convenience just isn’t enough for serious listening.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) Performance and Features
ANC has become the headline feature in the wireless headphone world, with every manufacturer chasing a few decibels of market advantage. The Noble Fokus Apollo uses hybrid ANC, combining feed-forward and feed-back mechanisms via microphones on both the outside and inside of the cups. This setup lets the DSP target noises that aren’t already blocked by passive isolation, giving more cancellation with less overall effort. The payoff: stronger noise reduction and longer battery life.
The Apollo offers On, Off, and Transparent modes, and even with ANC off, passive isolation already tames a lot of ambient noise. During testing, the difference with ANC on was clear: low-level distractions, like a TV in the background, were largely eliminated, with only high-pitched voices sneaking through—still much quieter than with ANC off.
Transparent mode is a bit of a mixed bag. Voices are boosted, which is useful, but unless you’re playing music at very low volume, your tunes still dominate the conversation around you. So yes, it works—but don’t expect magic; it’s more about convenience than invisibility.
Noble Fokus Apollo Sound Performance
The Noble Fokus Apollo delivers sub-bass with good extension and a gentle lift, giving deep tracks plenty of rumble without overwhelming tracks that don’t lean on low frequencies. The texture in the lows reaches down toward 30Hz, making rumble as much felt as heard—adding a visceral punch alongside the auditory one.
Mid-bass sits around 150Hz before tapering off gradually. This gives the sound a touch of warmth and plenty of slam, which will thrill fans of bass-forward genres like EDM. Those chasing a more neutral signature might want to apply a touch of EQ to rein it in.
There’s a bit of mid-bass bleed into the lower mids, which adds warmth but can occasionally overshadow the lower-mids. It’s subtle, but audiophiles chasing perfect neutrality might notice it.
The Fokus Apollo has lower-mids that are mildly recessed. Lower-pitched vocals carry weight but occasionally fail to cut through as cleanly as female vocals, thanks to that dip. Guitars deliver enough rasp and growl to sound engaging, though they’re not quite as detailed as they could be.
The real stars are the upper and lower ends of the spectrum, with the mids mostly gluing those highlights together rather than taking center stage. Tonality remains solid, and the recess isn’t so severe that it detracts from overall enjoyment. True mids have a touch more energy than the lower-mids, though they still sit behind the mid-bass, only rising to near mid-bass levels as the upper-mids transition into lower treble. Strings carry good energy without being overly accented. Overall, the mids avoid the artificial boost that some headphones lean on to make vocals “pop,” keeping the sound natural and balanced.
The headphone offers a lifted lower treble, though it never surpasses the mid-bass in level, giving the headphones a V-shaped signature with a long lower leg and a shorter upper one. The planar driver shines in this range: clean, fast, and detailed without needing any artificial boost to stand out in the mix.
Upper vocals benefit from the lower-treble lift, cutting through more easily than their lower-pitched counterparts, while percussion gains added snap and definition. There’s a sense of air at the top, though as with most ANC headphones, sparkling highs are somewhat restrained.
A notable quirk: this treble region is also where the hearing-test EQ preset has the most influence. Depending on how you answer those questions, your listening experience could differ considerably from mine—so your mileage may vary.
Soundstage on the Noble Fokus Apollo is proportional but not massive. Width and depth create the feel of a small venue with a hint of height, but don’t expect the expansiveness of an open-back headphone. Imaging is somewhat limited, with positions in space not quite as tightly defined as some competitors.
That said, instrument separation is above average. Even if spatial placement isn’t laser-sharp, there’s no overlap, so everything remains distinct. And honestly, this is what you’d expect from a headphone packing this much processing for noise reduction—soundstage and imaging often take a backseat to ANC and driver management.
The Bottom Line
Noble has long earned its reputation with in-ear monitors and, more recently, TWS in-ears. Reviewing the Fokus Apollo, it’s easy to forget this is their first full-sized headphone—wired or wireless. Tackling a new design challenge while entering one of the most competitive segments in audio takes real guts. Get it right, and you gain instant credibility. Get it wrong, and climbing back is an uphill battle.
Noble got it right. The Fokus Apollo is one of the best wireless headphones on the market today and arguably the best compromise between price, build quality, and sound quality. Smart inclusions like Bluetooth LE future-proof the headphones as more devices adopt the standard, while support for aptX, AAC, and LDAC ensures compatibility with older gear. The 10-band EQ allows users to fine-tune the sound—out of the box it leans a touch bass-heavy with recessed mids, but a few quick tweaks get it into a sweet spot.
With the Fokus Apollo, a new player has arrived in the over-ear ANC space—and they mean business. The name is Noble.
Pros:
- Hybrid driver design delivers deep slam from the dynamic driver and clarity/detail from the planar driver
- Exceptional battery life: up to 80 hours with ANC off and Bluetooth LE
- Engaging V-shaped sound signature, adjustable via 10-band EQ
- 10-band EQ is effective and easy to customize
- Bluetooth LE, aptX, LDAC, and AAC support ensures wide device compatibility
Cons:
- Premium price point
- High clamping force typical of ANC headphones
- Slightly bass-heavy out of the box; may require EQ adjustment to taste
Where to buy:
Related Reading:
- Sonos Ace Review: The Goldilocks of Over-Ear Wireless Headphones
- Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 Headphones: Better Sound, Better Noise Cancellation, But At What Cost?
- Sony WH-1000XM6 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones – The New High Bar?
- Focal Bathys MG Wireless Headphones Review: Are They Really Worth The Hype?
