OPPO Enco Air2 Pro Review: Great Sound Quality Backed Up By Even Better Bass
July 21, 2022Type: Wireless
Driver: 12.4 mm dynamic driver
Functionally: Bluetooth BT 5.2
Colour: White & Grey
Battery Capacity: 43 mAh (earbuds) / 440 mAh (charging case)
Battery Life: 5h Playtime 20 (ANC ON) / 7h Playtime 28h (ANC OFF)
Active Noise Canceling: Yes
Water & Dust Resistance: IP54
Earbuds Weight: 4.3g (single)
Case Weight: 42.8g
Rating: 8.5/10
Price: RM339.00
Persistence is the key to success, at least that seems to be true in OPPO’s case. A relative newcomer to the wireless earbuds game, the Chinese smartphone maker seems to have found its groove with the Enco Air2 Pro. It’s more expensive than the humble Air2, and also lives up to the “Pro” nomenclature for reasons I’ll eventually get to later.
The Air2 Pro has the same flattened oval case as its forebears, but introduces a bubbled look on the top half. This is made possible by the convex, transparent layer that seems to float over the solid body. It’s meant to create an airy look that helps differentiate it from its competitors.
What’s It like?
The absence of Dynaudio markings on the shell, which were present on last year’s Enco X, leads me to believe that OPPO no longer requires help to develop a good pair of wireless earbuds. It’s a bold move, considering that its last few products weren’t groundbreaking in any way.
I for one am a huge fan of the dimensions because it’s easy to slip into a pocket or pouch without the case creating an unsightly bulge as you walk about. And at 42.8g, it feels light in the hand and easy to carry. This is despite having enough juice to give the earbuds up to 28 hours of battery life.
OPPO only makes the Enco Air2 Pro in white and grey, which may disappoint younger buyers who are looking for more vibrant color options. But it’s a path that the company will probably not deviate from for some time. The appearance of the case and the earbuds themselves are similar to that of their predecessors.
However, the new “smiling” curve design of the case allows the earbuds to be perched up higher than conventional offerings to aid easy removal. Though I haven’t had trouble with the Enco Air2 or Enco X before, it’s definitely easier to grip the Air2 Pro earbuds when in a hurry. Much of the heft is in the upper body, which sits above the case itself.
The earbuds feature a more compact and streamlined design to make them easier to wear and less likely to weigh you down. They feel chunky, which helps anchor them to each ear. OPPO offers a few different-sized silicone eartips and it’s imperative that you use the ones that offer the best fit. Ill-fitting eartips will cause ambient sounds to seep through.
Regardless of how good the active noise cancelling is, the technology won’t be as effective as it’s meant to be due to the improper ear tip fitment. And unlike the Enco X, the Air2 Pro does not have a software feature that assesses how well each earbud fits in your ear. Though that might not sound like a big deal, it can serve as a guide for people who are unfamiliar with the product.
The User Experience
The Hey Meloy app is what you need to pair the Air2 Pro with your smartphone and access various functions and features. Said app will also guide you through the Bluetooth pairing process which is as easy as keeping the case’s top cover open while the app tries to do the rest.
There’s no need to faff about in your smartphone’s Bluetooth settings. Instead, the Hey Melody app automatically finds and pairs the Air2 Pro with your phone. This takes the guesswork out of the whole pairing process. There are also helpful illustrations that offer a step-by-step guide on how to go about it and complete the rest of the setup process.
The body of each earbud houses touch sensors that register single, double and triple taps. You can define how they respond to said touch input via the app. The stems are able to register a single action – press and hold. The default setting for this action helps toggle between ANC and transparency modes. But you can change this if you’d like.
Each earbud features a 12.4mm titanized diaphragm driver with a custom-made rear chamber. This is supposed to result in more prominent bass and a better-balanced audio delivery. In our tests, the Air2 Pro exceeded our expectations. While the Air2 produced a somewhat mediocre experience, the Pro offers punchy bass and clear sounding audio throughout the frequency range.
The Sound Quality
Regardless of what genre of music you listen to, the Air2 Pro earbuds are able to create a surprisingly good soundscape. Though nowhere near as good as the performance of a pair of over-ear headphones, it’s close enough that its portability and ease of use compensate for said deficit.
The mids and the lows propagate towards your ear drums with respectable clarity, which leads me to believe that OPPO was able to remedy the Enco X’s faults. This in itself is an impressive feat since it was achieved without the help of a third-party acoustics company.
Though the Air2 Pro still fails to properly create a 360-degree soundstage, the clarity is good enough that you overlook said shortcoming as well. This encapsulates the appeal of this particular product. Though they miss the mark in terms of 3D depth, heart thumping bass and overall reach, they achieve enough in each area that it’s difficult to pick fault with the quality.
My only qualm with the Air2 Pro is that the highs aren’t that great. The more intense the music is, and the higher the pitch, the more muddled the overall acoustics become. And this is caustic for the bass and vocal clarity as well. That said, this is only evident when the volume is set to maximum and it’s a track where there’s a lot going on in the background.
The Hey Melody app allows you to tune the output of the Air2 Pro to three predefined Enco Live sound effects settings: Original Sound, Bass Boost and Clear Vocals. Though all three serve their intended purposes, the most pleasing of the lot is Bass Boost. It offers the best amplification throughout the frequency range without detriment to other characteristics.
Original Sound dilutes the experience and Clear Vocals drowns out the music while giving prominence to the vocals on the respective track. Neither are as pleasing as Bass Boost. The latter is what makes the Air2 Pro the great performer that it is.
OPPO boasts that its bass tuning technology is what’s responsible for these impressive bass effects. I have no reason to doubt this, because the performance puts the Enco X to shame. The acoustic delivery is simply on a different level.
The Air2 Pro earbuds have a dual-core active noise canceling chip that can effectively reduce low frequency noises but aren’t that great at insulating you from the higher frequency ones. This is the only area where the Enco X edges ahead.
Active Noise Canceling & Transparency Mode
Its ANC technology is far more aggressive at canceling out ambient sounds around you, whether it’s the chatter of colleagues or ear piercing noises from traffic on the streets. But the Air2 Pro is only effective at the lower end of the spectrum, leaving you high and dry when encountering the louder and more annoying noises.
By pressing and holding either earbud stem, you can toggle between active noise canceling and transparency mode. The latter digitally allows ambient sounds in, for situations where you want to be aware of what’s happening around you. It works well and creates a fairly natural experience.
Each time you switch between these modes, the built-in voice assistant notifies you of which one you’ve chosen. This is evident of the effort OPPO put in here, because the speech sounds quite natural. But apart from this, she says very little else throughout the user experience, which is a little disappointing.
There is also dual-mic AI noise cancellation technology built into the Air2 Pro that tries to isolate the ambient sounds while allowing your voice to take prominence over everything else. It isn’t a miracle worker but for the most part it does a good enough job to ensure that your voice remains clear enough for the person on the other end of the call.
Removing either earbud from your ear will pause the music that you’re listening to. Place it back in, and the music resumes. The tech is smart enough to know when you’ve intentionally removed one of them or that you’re just trying to reseat them for a better fit. That said, always hold each earbud at their stem to prevent the earbuds from registering unwanted input.
On a single charge the Air2 Pro should last slightly more than 6 hours, a little more if you lower the volume to 50% or under. Though this is nothing to write home about, it should be enough to power you through your commute to a destination or keep you zoned in during a study session.
Should You Buy It?
I can’t think of a reason not to. For RM799 these are one of the best-sounding wireless earbuds we have tested so far. They may not be suited to audiophiles, but are more than enough for everyone else. The sound experience isn’t biased to a particular genre of music. Instead, they are great at just about anything that you ask of them.
