Review: Oppo Enco X ANC True Wireless Earbuds

Oppo isn’t new to the audio scene and already has a few audio products in its line up but the new Oppo Enco X is made to be a premium true wireless earbuds. The Oppo Enco X is co-engineered with top Danish speaker manufacturer Dynaudio, and features Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology as well. It retails for S$259.

Unboxing

In the box, you’ll find the following items:

• Oppo Enco X ANC earbuds
• Charging case
• Ear tips x3 (S to L)
• USB-C to USB-A cable
• User manual

Tech specs

Design, build quality and features

Oppo Enco X comes in two colours – white or black. The unit I have is the black colour model. The case reminds me of the Huawei FreeBuds Pro, which is inspired by Apple’s AirPods Pro. Comparing to the Huawei FreeBuds Pro, the case of the Oppo Enco X is smaller and slimmer.

The case has a glossy black finish which picks up fingerprints quite easily. It has a space grey metal fame around the middle of the case which adds a nice deign touch. I like how slim and pocketable the case is. I can put the Enco X in my pocket without uncomfortable bulging.

As for the earbuds, they also feature a glossy black finish with the end of the stem having a reflective pin which is probably the charging connector. The earbuds are made from plastic and they are rather lightweight at just 4.8g each.The earbuds are also rated IP54 water resistance rating.

One great feature of the Oppo Enco X is its Bluetooth device switching, with switches between the last two connected devices. The device switching function can be enabled on the Hey Melody app. It is toggled via a long hold on the touch panel for about 3 seconds.

Controls and Hey Melody App

The Oppo Enco X employs touch controls. Oppo decided not register a single tap for any controls because they want to avoid accidental touches, which I really appreciate. The touch point is that the tip of the earbud, and the touch actions you can make are double tap, triple tap, touch and hold, and long touch and hold.

With the Hey Melody app installed, you can customise the touch controls. However, each touch action has its fixed set of actions that you can configure. For example, triple touch only allows you to choose between voice assistant or nothing at all. Due to limited choices, you cannot customise to have play/pause, volume control, and back/forward all it once – you have to choose between play/pause or back or forward. You are also limited to choose 2 out of 4 possible surrounding settings mode (ie. ANC, max ANC, transparency, none).

Having said that, the touch controls are generally easy to learn and use. The taps are responsive and I have no issues getting the Enco X to do what I want to do. Adjusting volume by sliding up/down the stem does take a while to get used to.

As of now, the Hey Melody app is only available for Android devices, but Oppo says that the iOS version would be launching soon in Q2 of 2021.

Transparency mode

Transparency mode allows you to hear what is going around your surroundings. I find the Enco X’s implementation of transparency mode to be fairly natural. It is not like “not wearing any earbuds” kind of natural, but it does not sound overly robotic. Higher frequencies sound and buzz are slightly amplified, so when you’re in a mall, crowd noises appear louder than they are in real life. Having said that, I am still able to clearly to distinguish what is going around in the background.

Battery life

You can get up to 4 hours of music playtime with ANC turned on, and 5.5 hours with ANC turned off. It’s not the longest battery life, but on a pair of earbuds which is rather small it is expected. The charging case additional 20 hours of play time.

You can charge the Oppo Enco X wired through USB-C or wirelessly with an Qi wireless charger.

Fit and comfort

The Oppo Enco X is comfortable to wear. The design of the earbuds is such that it rests lightly with the ear tips providing the seal. The fit is very similar to Huawei FreeBuds Pro, where it stays light and comfortable instead of snug. If you prefer a fit which is unobtrusive, then the fit of the Enco X is likely for you. As the Oppo Enco X are also very lightweight, it helps to make the overall wearing even more comfortable.

Sound quality

Oppo in collaboration with Dynaudio, have equipped the Enco X with coaxial dual drivers. Bass is tight, well-defined and natural sounding. It is a powerful sounding bass but never feeling too bloated such that it creeps up in the mids. The Hills by the Weekend shows off the dual drivers where the sub-bass hits hard with the vocals and instruments still retaining its clarity.

Midrange is detailed and balanced. I would have liked the mids to go a little more forward for my liking, especially in the lower-mids range. As for treble, it has great clarity and offers a bright sound which sparkles without sounding overly sibilant. Soundstage is decent and comfortable close. When ANC is turned on, the audio tuning does seem to push the highs a little further forward, but not that much that’ll you notice unless you repeatedly switch between the two modes.

When compared to the Huawei FreeBuds Pro, the Enco X sounds brighter and offers more clarity in the upper frequencies while the Huawei FreeBuds Pro delivers a warmer sound while more emphasis on bass.

ANC performance

There are two modes of ANC on the Oppo Enco X – noise cancellation, and max noise cancellation. For the purpose of this review, I have tested the max noise cancellation. The ANC is on the Enco X is pretty impressive. I would say it is on par with the Huawei FreeBuds Pro. Be it the high pitched whooshes in MRT train tunnels or the loud rumbles at the back of the bus, the ANC is able to snuff a large portion of the noise.

Microphone quality

The microphone on the Enco X is average in my opinion. My voice tended to have more emphasis on the lower end and sounded a little rough, but still clear enough for anyone on the receiving end to understand what I’m saying. In noisy environments, the Enco X actually does a great job in snuffing out the background noise such that they sound like light static white noise. My voice still remains audible, just that it sounds much rougher than before.

It would be good though if transparency mode was automatically enabled when a phone call comes through. But if you’d like you can easily toggle the transparency mode on/off via a long tap (if that is how you setup your Enco X in the app).

Pairing, connectivity, and latency

Pairing is pretty straightforward – simply open the case and the earbuds will be ready to pair. If you want to pair a second device, simply press and hold the button on the side of the case to get the Enco X into pairing mode.

Oppo decided to use the latest Bluetooth 5.2 transmission and the connection during my time of testing was stable and I didn’t experience any dropouts. You can use either side if you wish to wear just one earbud. When you’re wearing just one earbud, the Enco X automatically goes into transparency mode so you don’t feel like one of your ear is being stuffed.

As for latency, there was no audio-video lag when watching YouTube videos from the YouTube app on my iPhone 11.

Conclusion

Oppo has packed lots of great features in the Enco X, making it a very appealing option in a highly competitive true wireless earbuds market. Enco X provides a comfortable fit, effective ANC, and have great sound quality thanks to their dual drivers. Furthermore, the case is slim and also wireless charging capable. At S$259, it is by no means affordable but it sure ticks many boxes to compete with other true wireless earbuds offering similar feature set.