Oppo Enco X Review: Burdenless design, great ANC and ₹10K price tag

Oppo has finally launched the Enco X TWS earphones alongside its flagship Reno5 Pro 5G smartphone in India, making a huge splash in two popular categories. Keeping the Reno5 Pro 5G aside for a while, we dived into Enco X truly-wireless earbuds for all that it has to offer to Indian consumers. Of late, we've seen the TWS market buzzing with new entrants and the Enco X might be the latest one but definitely not just another one.

Oppo Enco X: Specifications

Here's a look at Oppo Enco X specs before we get into the details of our review:

Oppo Enco X Review: Overview

Oppo Enco X is doing wonders in the TWS space with a mix of everything it has got. From some ANC greatness to balanced sound quality and a familiar design - all at a price that's appealing to the masses, Oppo might have a winner at its hands. But is it absolutely perfect? Not quite. It is not devoid of flaws, but those flaws aren't so big that they become a deal-breaker for most who are in the market looking for a solid pair of truly wireless earphones.

Design and comfort

Oppo Enco X has a familiar design in the TWS segment. Oppo has gone with the classic trend of protruding stems and the in-ear tip makes a whole lot of difference. But the best part about Enco X is that they are incredibly light and wearing them for long hours will not wear your ears down. It is a feat achieved by few and one widely cherished.

The in-ear tip of the Enco X makes for a solid grip. We had the opportunity to test them while riding bike, jogging, working out and even lying down in the bed. Guess what? They stick to your ears. With most TWS, we find sleeping on one side can be challenging as they tend to pop out and pause a playing video. Oppo Enco X is not completely immune to this problem, but find the right position and you'll find them to have a better grip than others. The secret is choosing the right ear-tip then don't hesitate to buy a new one that you find the ones in the box unsatisfactory.

Wearing the Enco X in public will grab the attention and it is possible that the black shade is something of an attention-grabber. Apple doesn't make AirPods Pro in black and the Enco X is a nice substitute for those who love the dark shade.

The overall design and comfort of the Oppo Enco X is one of the biggest USPs of the new TWS earphones.

Audio and ANC

This is where all the money goes while considering a pair of - be it headphones or in this case TWS earphones. Oppo Enco X is one of the best sounding earbuds you could invest and offers a consistent and satisfying audio performance. The incredible ANC is just something you'll have to test it to believe it. It's the best we've experienced in a TWS pair priced so low.

The active noise cancelling allows the earbuds to actively hunt for noise so it can be cancelled. We were thankful for this feature while being stuck in traffic and the vehicles would constantly honk at the sight of signal turning green. The ANC kicks in almost instantly, making all that noise pollution a lot less annoying. There are Max, Regular and also a transparency mode in the ANC, which perform as they suggest, but the Max is where all the attention is. The noise cancelling is almost as good as AirPods Pro. Almost.

Now that we've established the ANC feature in the Enco X is a strong USP, it's worth noting that you get your penny's worth from immersive music experience. You pick your music genre and you'll find it to be delivering great sound, detailed notes, identifiable instruments and powerful bass. The lows and mids were just as good and punchy. Amidst all the capturing of overpowering musical instruments, never did the vocals got lost, which rather stood quite distinct.

If you stick to bass, instrumental, electronic and jazz genres, the Enco X is going to demonstrate at par excellence.

Oppo Enco X was also good with calls – on both sides. The triple mic system in the earbuds made sure the recipient was able to hear us loud and clear without any complaints, even outdoors. Streaming videos did not show any signs of latency in relaying sound to the earbuds.

In full disclosure, the Enco X was used with iPhone 12 Pro Max initially before switching to OnePlus 8T (AAC supported). Won't say there was any stark difference, but the app to customise controls on the Enco X using Hey Melody isn't available for iOS just yet. We had to use the settings for what they were.

Gestures and connectivity

Oppo Enco X supports LHDC, AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs and use Bluetooth 5.2 for connectivity. There is no LDAC and aptX support, which is a more widely-accepted standard for wireless audio products. Due to the limited LHDC supported devices, you'll often be seen using the AAC, which as you use won't feel much of a difference. There was no drop in connectivity or any latency. We even tested the earphones for games in iPhone 12 Pro Max and found the earbuds to be quite in sync.

Even with the option to customise settings, there's only so much you can. This is one area we felt Oppo could've done better. But again, this isn't a deal-breaker for many. The double-tap, triple-tap and slide up and down gestures will cover most of your controls. Then there is a short press and a long press as well, the latter used for switching ANC modes. We loved the volume control just by swiping up and down the earbuds, which worked accurately and without errors.

It is the double and triple tap settings, which we wished were customisable. The double-tap can be used to skip tracks and the triple tap invokes phone's assistant, which would have been better if there was voice support.

The charging case is a circular shaped one with Type-C port for charging. It supports wireless charging and Dynaudio etched on it, which is an important collaboration.

The X-Factor

Dynaudio is a high-end Danish audio manufacturer and lending its name to the Oppo Enco X isn't just a gimmick. The earbuds pack a 6mm driver for high-end audio and a secondary 11mm triple-layer dynamic driver that makes those lows and mids so pleasing to the ears. It is not every day we get to see dual drivers in a single earpiece and that is where Dynaudio comes in with all of its expertise.

The mechanical excellence achieved by Oppo and Dynaudio in Enco X is obvious in the audio produced. If anything, this is worth a lot more than Oppo's asking price.

Battery

Oppo Enco X battery is as per the company claims. We tested the Enco X with ANC and without it and the difference isn't huge. We managed to get 4 hours with noise-calling and an added hour when the noise-cancelling feature was turned off. The charging case holds at least four full charges, so you're good for 20-24 hours with a fully charged Enco X. This isn't great, but it is as good as it gets in the TWS world.

The wireless charging support is a nice addition at this price. But for wired charging via USB Type-C will fully charge the earbuds and the case in under 90 minutes.

Verdict

Oppo Enco X has many things going in its favour, making it easy to recommend for those who can afford it. The lack of aptX, and limited gesture customisation aside, the Enco X is worth your money's spend. From delivering a pristine audio experience to capturing the trendy and comfortable design, Enco X is an overall package. All this at Rs 9,990 makes the Enco X a competitive product in the TWS arena.