There’s a point after you’ve tuned the Noble Fokus Apollo’s EQ where you might utter one or two very appreciative rude words because they sound that good. Equipped for hi-res Bluetooth connections as well as some classic wired action, this is an audiophile pair of headphones that flirts with the gaming scene with its removable boom mic. A single headset solution for all your needs? Absolutely, but thanks to the Fokus Apollo’s ultra-premium pricing (£589/$650) you could buy several other headphones for the same price.
The Noble Fokus Apollo arrives in an exceptionally well-built hard case, emblazoned with the Noble logo, just in case you forget who you gave all your money to. Packed inside is the Fokus Apollo itself, a detachable boom mic, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, and a 3.5mm cable, with a pair of audio adaptors in a felt bag to prevent them from escaping and scratching your beautiful new headset.
The Noble Fokus Apollo certainly look like a premium pair of headphones, though they’re toting a larger profile than other current top-tier consumer headphones like Sony’s XM5s or even Apple’s Pro Max. They’re not quite as large as Corsair’s recent Virtuoso Max though, putting them in a position where you can absolutely wear them out and about as easily as when you’re consuming music, movies and games at home. Just be aware that you’re not going to slip the case into a small bag, unless that’s the only thing you’re taking with you.
The headset itself has been crafted from high-quality materials, with brushed metal across the earpieces and into the headband and joints, all ensuring that they will last you a very long time. No matter how hard I tried to twist or pull them into an unhelpful shape, there wasn’t a single creak from the Fokus Apollo, and they simply returned to their original shape every time I tried to be an idiot with them. The curved arm joints are reminiscent of Bowers and Wilkins’ latest offerings, and that shared design language tells you exactly who Noble are aiming at with the Fokus Apollo.
Elsewhere, there’s black textured fabric running around each earpiece and across the top surface of the headband, adding some interesting sensory responses every time you pick the Fokus Apollo up. It’s something I particularly like here, though I wonder how difficult these sections will be to keep clean in the future.
In terms of comfort, the headband has a thick section of relatively firm memory foam, contrasting with the extremely soft and supple leather of the earpads. As you’d hope, the combination of the two ensures that the Noble Fokus are very comfortable indeed, and while they’re not especially light at 337g, they’re lighter than the Airpods Pro Max at 385g, and the comfort options do a great job of dispersing the weight while you’re wearing them.
Fans of physical controls will be pleased to hear that the Fokus Apollo is fully controllable via a series of buttons, with the right earpiece playing host to a central trio of buttons that pull double duty for power, volume, and track controls. There’s also a separate switch for ANC, with the active noise cancellation proving to be a powerful, if slightly other-worldly, application of the technology. I was disappointed to find that there was no ambient sound mode, though the Fokus Apollo don’t have the strongest passive noise cancellation so you can probably still hear anything important with the ANC switched off.
The buttons feel solid, and there’s a raised section on the centre of the three button run to help you navigate them without taking the headset off. However, the plastic used in the buttons does look and feel a little cheap, and they’re the one blemish on what is otherwise a fantastic-looking pair of headphones.
That premium price is reflected in the stunning audio that the Fokus Apollo is capable of. Now, out of the box, I don’t think the Apollo sound as good as the Bose 700 or Sony XM5. The delivery is too subdued, though it showcases how flat the Apollo is capable of being, if you want to experience audio exactly as the producer intended.
However, when you dive into the EQ settings you can make the Fokus Apollo sound absolutely stunning. The handy app – available for iOS and Android – gives you a 10-band EQ to tinker with, as well as a series of presets. It does run a hearing test for different frequencies too, though the resulting audio was never as good as my own custom EQs.
The app also allows you to update the headphone’s firmware, and given that it’s all achieved via Bluetooth, it’s about as straightforward as you could hope. It doesn’t do much else – there’s no customisation of controls for instance – but it does exactly the job you want of it, with no connection issues.
I started, as you probably should here, by listening to a broad selection of music, and the Fokus Apollo dealt with everything in distinctive and detailed fashion. I’m into the heavier end of things, and you can feel the brutal thump of the drums in the new Architects album, though the Apollo’s hybrid Planar Magnetic drivers kept it contained and focused without becoming overwhelming. That’s said, if you want to EQ that in, you can. Noble have opted for a dual driver setup, so you benefit from all the detail and definition of a planar magnetic driver, without losing the thumping bass of a traditional driver.
Whether it was the distorted guitars of Papa Roach’s new single ‘Even if it Kills Me’ or the piano led NAMD from Sleep Token, the audio from the Fokus Apollo is rich, detailed and simply has to be experienced. That’s just the wireless connection too, with the high-res LDAC codec delivering the best wireless connection possible. Shifting things over to wired, the audio steps up another level, and if you’ve got a system capable of delivering the highest quality music, then the Fokus Apollo will complete the final step to your ears in astounding quality. This is an amazing pair of headphones.
It’s clear that Noble are also gunning for the ultra high-endgaming market here, as the included detachable boom mic turns the Apollo into a full gaming headset. The microphone is crisp and clear, and the boom mic’s arm is a flexible metallic build, that stays put once you’ve set it in place. You can always just use the in-built mics for in-the-moment chats, but they’re not as good or precise as the boom mic’s setup.
The Fokus Apollo is a great wired gaming headset, though if you’re playing via Mobile, PC or Nintendo Switch, you can make use of your platform’s Bluetooth connection. There will be an increase in latency, but a lot of people won’t even know that it’s there. I loved spending time with Xenoblade Chronicles X here, with the headset’s wide soundstage ensuring that the eclectic soundtrack envelops you while the voice work and sound effects cut through above them.
There’s plenty of depth to the Apollo’s delivery, and loud explosions and bassier sounds just felt right. It’s a great sounding headset, no matter what content you’re putting through it, and you can customise and save your own EQ settings using the app for literally everything, whether that’s platform or media-dependent.
There are few headsets that can compete with the Noble Fokus Apollo, though the clearest competitor would come from Audeze Maxwell, which shares the same Planar Magnetic technology and comes with a premium price for it. That said, the build quality of the Maxwell isn’t at the same level as the Noble headset, but that’s balanced by being slightly more affordable. In the commercial headphone space, I’d consider the Airpods Max Pro if you’re an Apple user, but if you’re an Android fan, you want the Fokus Apollo and its ability to use the high-resolution LDAC codec.
