OPPO Enco Air2 Review: Great Value For Money
March 3, 2022
Type: Wireless
Functionally: Bluetooth BT 5.2,
Colour: White & Blue
Battery Life: 4 hrs (earphone) / 24 hrs (entire device)
Active Noise Canceling: Yes
Water & Dust Resistance: IPX4
Rating: 9/10
Weight: 3.5g Each Buds (39.9g case)
Price: RM249
These days, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a pair of wireless earbuds. Just about every smartphone maker has at least one of such devices. OPPO is a prime example of this, but what separates it from the competition is its ability to price them affordably. This won’t be considered news to anyone because the company is known for its reputation of undercutting the competition.
The Enco Air2 is a compact yet useful pair of earbuds that’s priced at RM249. Though it bares more than a passing resemblance to Apple’s creation, They feature more pronounced stems that are slim enough not to be bothersome, but have enough heft to serve as the earbud’s anchor point.
Related article: Enco Air2 Unboxing & First Impressions
Each earbud head is molded to fit snugly in your ear without feeling intrusive. It avoids the inherent problem affecting most earphones, which is exacerbated by the presence of silicone eartips. Admittedly said eartips are an effective way of passively isolating ambient noises from affecting music quality, but the discomfort that they introduce cannot be overstated.
That’s the draw of the Enco Air2. The head and steam have been constructed well enough that it clings to the ear, yet offers just a smidgen of breathing room to alleviate discomfort. As such, you should be able to wear them for an extended period of time without feeling irritated.
Since the stem helps anchor each earbud to your ear, the chances of either one falling out during a brisk walk or due to sudden head movements is low. Each weighs 3.5g, which is enough to have them stay put. Though they aren’t marketed as sports earbuds, they should remain planted on your ears during a quick jog around the park or light workout sessions.
But there’s a price to pay for such comfort. Since each earbud rests on the opening to your ear canal instead of forming a perfect seal, the Enco Air2 is more susceptible to ambient noise leakage than earbuds with silicone eartips. But it’s a trade off that I can learn to accept, because of the relative comfort that I enjoy throughout the day.
Due to how the Enco Air2 buds are molded, they should fit most ears without falling out or causing much discomfort. This is why they don’t need the assistance of varying ear tip sizes. That said, the somewhat “controversial” design might not be to everyone’s liking but only to those who are willing to accept the aforementioned trade offs.
Each stem is fitted with touch sensors that accomplish a variety of functions based on the number of times they are tapped and the duration of each tap (single taps do nothing). Said sensors only pick up input made on the top half of the stem. Tapping on the bottom section of either one does absolutely nothing. I personally welcome this, because it offers a dead area that I can hold to reseat each earbud.
Touch gestures:
To enter pairing mode, press and hold the touch sensitive area on both left and right earbuds for 4 seconds, to initiate Bluetooth pairing.
Double tap the left or right stem to play the next/previous song as well as to answer or hang-up a call.
Double tap to take a picture with your paired smartphone.
Tap either stem three times to activate the voice assistant or enable game mode.
Press and hold the right earbud for 1 second to increase the volume. Do the same on the left one to reduce said volume.
Inside the earbud is a 13.4mm driver that is fitted with a composite titanium-plated diaphragm. The dome is 19μm in size and is PET titanium-plated. This construction is supposed to help offer stronger thrust to drive the intended vibrations. In the real world, they offer a decent blend of clarity and depth. Most music tracks come across as fairly crisp and filled with detail.
There’s a somewhat clear distinction between the music coming from the background to that playing in the foreground. It’s a decent result considering the Enco Air2’s price. The lows, mids and highs are accounted for, but clarity diminishes somewhat as you reach the higher frequencies. It’s a sign that you’re asking too much of said speaker drivers.
The experience is comparable to similar earbuds priced between RM300-RM500, so the Enco Air2 is punching above its weight. But even at this level, the sound quality cannot be compared to a pair of audiophile earbuds. There is simply no comparison, and if you find this to be a deal breaker, then you’re missing the point entirely.
OPPO’s Enco Air2 is a relatively affordable offering meant to bring decent sounding acoustics to the masses. It doesn’t claim to offer active noise canceling, spatial audio features and the like. Instead it promises to deliver decent music quality thanks to larger drivers and fairly good ear fitment. If you’re able to accept this, then you’ll enjoy the ownership experience.
This device brings just a sliver of the audiophile experience to the average Joe, but not the entire ensemble. While the sound delivery is quite good, the general clarity, depth and bass is about a quarter that of what you’d experience with something like the WF-1000XM4, not bad for the price.
Through the use of the OPPO app, you can adjust the settings to allow the Enco Air2 to favor one of two options: bass boost or clarity. The former allows music to sound fairly punchy, regardless of the genre. The latter allows the vocals to overshadow the instruments or music in general. It works, but I doubt many would like this because of the way it subdues most of the output.
It would be most suitable for vocal dominant tracks with relatively few instruments or music wafting from the background. For everything else, select bass boost because it delivers the most enjoyable music listening experience of the two settings.
If you own a OPPO smartphone, then the dedicated app should provide you with the necessary options to toggle between bass boost, check battery levels, select what touch gestures accomplish the predefined tasks.
Even if you don’t own an OPPO smartphone, you’ll still be able to access these settings via the Hey Melody app. It’s available on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. The app also allows you to swap gestures for right and left earbuds and toggle between the limited tasks that are available.
The standard sound generated by the earbuds sans Hey Melody, isn’t as good as that with bass boost enabled. That’s why it’s essential that you have the app to enable the setting. It’s rare that you’d need the app after the initial setup phase, but it could prove useful if you need to know the battery information and charge status.
Instead of double tapping to select the next song, you can choose to have said gesture play/pause your music. The same is true for triple taps. That said, I find it surprising that single tap gestures do not accomplish anything and neither could I enable them within the app. Though it seemed bizarre to me at first, I eventually understood the forethought behind this decision.
Reseating your earbuds, which is something we do constantly, may be misconstrued as a single tap gesture. I have fallen victim to this on multiple occasions with more expensive earbuds. While trying to readjust a dislodged earbud, I would accidentally trigger a single tap function, which usually is set to pause my music. Good on OPPO for this.
Game mode can be enabled within said app and the effect is supposed to bring what you’re hearing in sync with the action that’s happening on your phone screen. It’s also supposed to reduce the likelihood of encountering connection interference or disconnections.
In my experience, I couldn’t tell the difference because as standard, the Enco Air2 maintains a decent connection and response rate. Game mode will probably deliver what promised for competitive gaming sessions, but for the average Joe, this won’t matter an iota.
Call quality is pretty decent as well. OPPO boasts that the Enco Air2 supports low-latency binaural synchronous transmission, which helps to maintain a stable connection with your smartphone. In addition to this, the earbuds also have AI deep call noise cancellation, which helps separate your voice from the ambient noise around to deliver a clearer and coherent call experience.
It works as advertised because I’ve been told on multiple occasions that when on a call, my voice can be heard clearly even when driving or working down a busy street. That said, the experience isn’t as good as OPPO’s own Enco X or Samsung’s Buds Pro, but the delivery isn’t far off either.
The gist of it is, the Enco Air2 is more than good enough to handle calls for work and pleasure without causing any problems. It’s decent all around experience, which is something not usually uttered for wireless earbuds below RM300.
These earbuds come in a shell-like case, similar to the Enco Air. The top cover is made of a semi-translucent plastic that is supposed to mimic the appearance of jelly. It’s available in two colors: Misty Morning White and Sky-Bright Blue. The color choice only affects the bottom half of the case and the earbuds themselves.
I’m not a fan of the translucent look but it may win over others. I prefer the more solid appearance of the Enco X. However, this “jelly” structure contributes a lot to weight saving. In total, the case weighs 33.3g, which feels featherlight in the hand.
This coupled with the clamshell appearance, allow you to slip into your pocket and not have it be much of a bother. It’s far less bulky than most of its competition, which is a major point in its favor. Consumers who are on the fence about purchasing a pair of wireless earbuds are usually swayed either way by the relative size of the case. The Enco Air2 should win here.
This case has a tiny LED charge indicator on the front that tells you the battery charge status of the earbuds as well as how much of said charge is left in the case itself. Depending on this, the LED changes color from green, yellow to red.
On a single charge, you should get close to 4 hours of music listening time. The case by itself can deliver about 24 hours of juice. Depending on usage and based on our experience (6 hours of use daily), we only needed to charge the case once every 4 to 5 days. And said case only needs to spend about 1.5 hours connected to an outlet to acquire 100% charge.
Should You Buy It?
If you’re looking for a relatively affordable pair of wireless earbuds that will offer a good music listening experience as well as guarantee decent call quality, then this is probably what you want. Though it doesn’t deliver audiophile level quality, it’s good enough to make most music tracks sound good without exhibiting bias to a single genre.
This is one of the better options for an average Joe who is looking for wireless earbuds that won’t break the bank and isn’t tethered to a single smartphone maker or operating system. The OPPO Enco Air2 plays nicely with major OS ecosystems – it’s basically a worry free purchase.
