these are the pros and cons

OPPO releases a new pair of wireless earphones, the Enco Air. If we look at the price of 99 euros, it concerns wearables from the mid-range, and in this review you will discover what you get in exchange for that amount.

OPPO Enco Air

Many telephone manufacturers are entering the wireless earphone market. In the first place because the sale of such earphones is on the rise, but also because they can develop additional functions for the earphones in combination with their smartphones.

OPPO also wants to make a difference with its Enco Air with that strategy, and we introduced Jibbe Schietecatte to these wireless earphones. Jibbe has been a tester for some time in our AW Beta Team, the group of volunteer product testers at Androidworld. He wrote down his findings, and you can discover them here. Are the OPPO Enco Air for you?

OPPO Enco Air – the pluses

1. Little original, but good design

Let’s not beat around the bush, because the design of the Enco Air is very reminiscent of the Apple AirPods. We often see that manufacturers fail to come up with something original themselves and that is no different with the Enco Air.

Apart from that, the ears look sleek and the build quality is good. It is an on-ear design, so without silicone earplugs that go into the ear. Whether you find that more comfortable is personal, but at least the ears stay in place. They are also ipx4 water resistant, which is enough to withstand a heavy rain shower.

In addition, the accompanying case in which you charge the earphones also feels solid. The lid to open the box is sturdy, magnets keep the earphones in place and a status LED shows the remaining battery percentage, but also when the earphones want to pair with a phone. So the case looks good, even with the semi-translucent design, and you can charge it via the usb-c port on the bottom.

2. Rich sound for on-ears

The Enco Air use 12 mm audio drivers, which in most cases provide a good rich sound, even at loud volumes. What is striking is that the voice also sounds particularly good, while the bass tones are slightly too little heard in certain music tracks.

You could possibly compensate for that problem with an equalizer, a tool with which you adjust the sound, but that is not available in the corresponding OPPO app. So you should already be using a third-party alternative. Still, the sound is good considering the price of these earphones, and certainly also in combination with the on-ear design that automatically plays the sound less deep in your ear anyway.

3. Good call quality

The OPPO Enco Air do not have active noise cancellation (ANC), but they do have a function that improves the quality of phone calls. Thanks to the two microphones and ‘Deep Neural Network’ technology, as OPPO calls it, they distinguish background noise from your voice. Your voice will then sound clearer and less robotic. We were enthusiastic about this during our tests, precisely because a lot of earphones in this price range only sound mediocre during calls, so it is really an added value of the Enco Air.

4. Convenient operation, decent app

Most wireless earphones come with touch control, which OPPO has also introduced with the Enco Air. You can tap once, twice, thrice or long press an ear. The Enco Air also work with the Google Assistant and the controls work very consistently and without frustration. You can also easily change these shortcuts. If you have an OPPO phone, you can do this directly in the bluetooth settings, which is very handy. On other phones you need a separate application where you dive into the settings.

We spoke very briefly about the app that accompanies the ears, and that is the HeyMelody app that OnePlus also uses with its Buds and Buds Pro. In the app you can not only adjust the touch controls, but you will also find the remaining battery life of your earphones or the case. You can also update your earphones with a new firmware update. It all works simply, but OPPO lacks popular functions such as detecting lost earphones or an equalizer.

5. Fast charging works well

A battery life of 4 hours for the earphones and 24 hours together with the charging case is rather average. Many compete do better, while there are also those that do less well. The Galaxy Buds Pro is an example of such a pair that does better, totaling 28 hours, while Huawei’s FreeBuds 4 only last 22 hours. The Enco Air also seem to keep that promise.

What is interesting about OPPO’s earphones is the fast charging function, and that is also a feature that the brand is only too happy to bring forward with its phones. The Enco Air can listen to music for 8 hours after 10 minutes in the charging case. That’s a really strong aspect of these earphones.

OPPO Enco Air – the negatives

1. No ANC, but noise detection

The Enco Air can filter out ambient noise and boost voice, but that is not the same as active noise canceling (ANC). It feels like a loss that the Enco Air does not have this feature, especially because we increasingly see ANC in earphones from the middle segment. In public places or in busy environments you will really miss ANC as a user of the Enco Air. The earphones already partly cut off the ambient noise due to their design alone, but that is nothing compared to ANC. Admittedly, active noise canceling usually works better for in-ear earphones, but we’ve already seen it with on-ear earphones like the FreeBuds 4.

2. Missing useful features

We already talked about interesting features from the HeyMelody app that are missing, as well as ANC, but there are even more extras that we are missing. Each one features that many of OPPO’s competitors do offer.

First of all, there is no support for multipoint connection, that is, the ability to pair multiple bluetooth devices at the same time. The advantage of this is that you can switch seamlessly between devices, for example when you suddenly get a phone call on your phone while using the earphones while gaming on a tablet. It’s a shame that the Enco Air doesn’t have this, because it is a typical function that works with bluetooth 5.2, the new standard that the earphones use.

Another feature we miss is the automatic media pause when you remove the earphones. The earbuds do not detect when they are removed, and therefore media cannot be paused automatically. Quite annoying, especially if you are used to this function.

Finally, there is no support for Android Fast Pair, the function that helps you to connect quickly on the basis of a notification. It works on all Andorid phones, but OPPO opts for a different connection function that only works on devices with ColorOS 11.0 or a later version. OPPO calls it ‘Open-Up Flash Connect’. This way you can connect even before the earbuds are in your ear. Nice, if you have an OPPO smartphone.

Conclusion

The Enco Air are essentially fine wireless earphones. The manufacturer opts for an on-ear appearance here and the design is also very well-maintained, as is the quality of the ears. It is also important that they sound good in most cases, and given the price of 99 euros you will not be disappointed by the sound.

The Enco Air really excels in two areas. First of all because of the quality of telephone calls, but also because of the fast charging. After minutes of charging, you can listen to music again for 8 hours, which is really a skill that users of these earphones will appreciate.

However, there are other skills that you will really miss. Multipoint support, for example, wear detection and automatic pause, an equalizer in the app, a function to find your lost earphones or Fast Pair if you don’t have an OPPO phone. In addition, there is more than sufficient competition in the market. The Enco Air does come with a number of assets and it’s not entirely fair to call them one in a dozen, but OPPO could attract more people if its Enco Air were more distinctive and offered a more complete package of features.

Alternatives to the OPPO Enco Air are the Huawei FreeBuds 4 (149.99 euros), OnePlus Buds (99 euros), the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 (149 euros) and the JBL Tune 225 TWS (99 euros).

Buy OPPO Enco Air

The OPPO Enco Air is available in a white or black shade from 99 euros. You can find them at Bol.com, Amazon.nl and the OPPO e-store.