OPPO launched three new TWS (True Wireless Earphones) earlier this year with a price range ranging from A$149 to A$349 – definitely giving consumers more options when picking their audio devices. Don’t really care much about audio quality and prefer an affordable one? You’ve got it.
Or perhaps you want the greatest and latest a device can offer with the best active noise cancelling? You’ve got it too here.
OPPO Enco Air Review
OPPO Enco Air is the entry level TWS earphones in the latest Enco TWS series. It has a 12mm dynamic driver with a frequency response range between 20Hz – 20kHz, Bluetooth Version 5.2 with maximum range of 10 metres, plus battery capacity of 25mAh (earbuds) and 440mAh (charging case). It has an IPX4 dust and water resistance rating. It weighs about 40.4 grams.
The Enco Air earbuds offer 4 hours of music listening non-stop which is great for commuting or exercising. When you reach the office or home, simply place the earbuds inside the charging case and you are set for the next music listening session.
Despite of it being an entry level earphones device, the Enco Air has an 80ms transmission delay in Game Mode. Though the competitor, Razer Hammerhead TWS which is built solely for gaming, has a 20ms difference (at 60ms), it doesn’t have a noise cancelling algorithm like the Enco Air (it’s not exactly an Active Noise Cancelling, but can somehow still reduce background noise through software).
Thanks to the low latency, Enco Air is great for playing games on the phone or even if you use it with the laptop when you are out and about. It is also the world’s first TWS earbuds certified by TÜV Rheinland for high performance and low latency.
But if you are commuting by train, the lack of a proper ANC should make you opt for either the Enco Free2 or Enco X.
Controls are touch based with multiple taps to do different actions. There are only “double tap”, “triple tap” and “touch and hold” actions though that you can customise with an app if you like.
Music listening is alright, your ears won’t be shouting in joy but the earphones aren’t bad either. The Enco Air makes it a great gift for those who don’t have wireless earphones yet and you’d like to introduce to one.
There are no ear tips/gels with different sizes on Enco Air, so it’s more like a one-size-fits-all-hope. Case charging can be done via USB-C cable, no wireless charging support here with that price – only Enco X has it.
OPPO Enco Air is available in Misty White, Misty Black and Misty Blue. It retails for A$149.
OPPO Enco Free2 Review
OPPO Enco Free2 is the mid-range TWS earphones in the latest Enco TWS Series. It has a 10mm dynamic driver with a frequency response range between 20Hz – 20kHz, Bluetooth Version 5.2 with maximum range of 10 metres, and Bluetooth Codec AAC/SBC. It has a battery capacity of 41mAh (earbuds) and 480mAh (charging case). It has an IP54 dust and water resistance rating. It weighs about 47.6 grams.
The Enco Free2 has a slightly better audio thanks to the better Bluetooth Codec. It also has a slightly larger battery capacity and more dust + water resistant compared to the Enco Air. But it’s slightly heavier (7.2 grams heavier) with the case & earbuds combined.
Compared to the Enco Air, the Enco Free2 definitely has better sound quality and signature. It’s designed in partnership with Dynaudio (which is a Danish company that normally makes high-end speakers).
This time, the earbuds have a proper Active Noise Cancelling feature with Triple-Mic Call Noise Cancellation. According to OPPO, its personalised active noise cancellation technology and the three-core chip can cut out up to 42 dB of ambient noise.
I was quite surprised experiencing how good the ANC is, considering this is not the higher-end Enco X. Wind noise and humming background can definitely be supressed by the Free2’s ANC. Unfortunately due to the pandemic and lockdowns, I couldn’t test any of the earphones on the train.
Oh, it also has Transparency Mode so you can hear conversations and your surroundings when triggered.
Similar to Jabra, OPPO Enco Free2 has a personalised sound boost technology which will do a series of sound test and then automatically personalised the audio profile based on your hearings (and whether you are wearing the right eartips). The cool thing is that you can actually see which frequencies/channels are being tweaked on the app.
The earphones offer a much better listening experience compared to the Enco Air for sure.
Plus, I like that the charging case can be opened with a thumb, thanks to the slight concave opening.
OPPO Enco Free2 retails for A$199 and in my opinion, a better buy than the Air.
OPPO Enco X Review
But if you are looking for the best experience possible from OPPO’s latest Enco series, the OPPO Enco X is definitely it.
It has an 11mm dynamic driver + 6mm balanced membrane driver with a frequency response range between 20Hz – 20Khz, Bluetooth Version 5.2 with maximum range of 10 metres, and LHDC/AAC/ SBC codec. It has a battery capacity of 44mAh (earbuds) and 535mAh (charging case, which also supports Qi wireless charging). It has an IP54 dust and water resistance rating. It weighs about 52.5 grams.
Also co-created with Dynaudio, it offers a higher-end audio quality with even better active noise cancellation.
It has four tailored active noise cancellation settings, DBEE (Dynamic Bass Enhanced Engine) 3.0 Acoustic System with a coaxial dual-driver design found in high-end audio devices. The dual dynamic drivers are designed to handle high and low frequencies well, thanks to the complex engineering.
You won’t be bombarded with overly strong, boomy bass and the sound quality can even surpass some low to midrange headphones.
The tap controls can be done on either earbud like the other Enco earphones, but this means the controls are quite limited. For example, you can double tap on either earbud to skip to the next track but by default, there is no way to repeat the track. A better design is to allow a double tap on the left earbud to go to the previous track and on the right earbud to skip to the next track.
The touch and hold action for 1 second is a bit of a hit-and-miss in my tests too. However, sliding up and down on the earbud stem to control volume is pretty cool and natural to do.
The active noise cancelling is also really good in supressing wind noise as I took the Enco X for a run, listening to both music and podcasts. I found that I didn’t need to crank the volume up even during windy days to be able to hear my podcasts clearly.
OPPO Enco X retails for A$349 and should be the earphones of choice if you are looking for the best sounding earphones and active noise cancelling from OPPO.
