introduction
Oppo’s flagship wireless earbuds for this year are available and promise to deliver the best sound and noise cancellation from the brand to date. Developed in collaboration with Danish audio experts Dynaudio, Oppo’s Enco X2 offers nearly every TWS earbud feature imaginable you could think of. There’s active noise cancellation, pairing two devices, support for the LHDC audio codec, an IP54 rating, wireless charging, and a combined battery life rated at 40 hours of listening time.
Last year we reviewed the first generation Oppo Enco X earbuds and found them to be one of the best TWS earbuds on the market with their rich audio and compelling feature set. Are the upgrades on the Enco X2 enough to justify the asking price of $ 200 / € 200? Let’s find out.
Design
Oppo Enco X2 looks like an evolution of the Enco X. You still have an in-ear design with ear tips that now have a special anti-germ coating. The stems of the buds have a pressure-sensitive area used to control media playback. The inside of each bud bears the letters L and R so you don’t accidentally insert one into the wrong ear. Enco X2 sits comfortably in my ears and managed to create a pretty good seal. The case looks solid and is well built and the only complaint I have is that it collects lint in my pocket pretty hard.
The case design is mostly unchanged from last year’s model and is still made from glossy plastic, which isn’t a problem on our white model, although the black color variant sure smears the moment you put it in. fingers on top. There is a small Oppo branding on the top of the case lid while the back shows a silver Dynaudio logo. The battery charge indicator is located at the bottom of the case, next to the USB-C port, while a second LED for pairing is located under the lid of the case. Speaking of the lid, it’s sturdy and can support the weight of the entire case on its own as it closes with a firm snap.
Oppo Enco X2 and their case come in at a total of 56.4 grams while each earphone amounts to less than 5 grams. The earbuds are IP54 water and dust resistant just like their predecessors, so you shouldn’t worry about rain or sweat damaging the earbuds.
Features
The Oppo Enco X2 offers almost all the features you could want from a pair of wireless earbuds in 2022. They are Hi-Res Audio certified and get 900 kbps audio bit rate thanks to LHDC codec support. Legacy AAC and SBC codecs are supported even if your device is not LHDC ready. The buds connect via Bluetooth 5.2 with support for low latency binaural Bluetooth transmission on Android and iOS devices up to a range of 10 meters.
Oppo is also promoting a Bluetooth connection that is up to three times more stable in LHDC mode than the Enco X earbuds. I can confidently say that there were no connection drops during my tests and the buds managed to maintain a stable connection even as I went. around the office on opposite ends of my connected phone.
Oppo says its improved ANC this year is expected to muffle up to 45dB of noise around you and with ultra-wide frequency tuning and three microphones on each bud. Noise cancellation is available in mild, moderate, maximum and intelligent modes. The first two are less than ideal for blocking out noises around you while the max mode is as expected more powerful and the one I used during my tests. Smart mode automatically selects the other three modes depending on your environment.
The noise cancellation managed to block static sounds quite well in the low-end spectrum and also worked decently in an office setting. With music playing at least 20% of maximum volume, low-range noises are barely noticeable. I could definitely notice the coffee machine, the water dispenser and the taps of my keyboard without the music playing. To sum it up, the ANC on the Enco X2 isn’t the most powerful noise canceling I’ve tested and it’s a step backwards from premium competitors like Apple and Sony.
Also new to Enco X2 is bone conduction AI noise cancellation that extrapolates the vibrations of your voice for clearer sounding calls. environments compared to traditional microphones.
During my tests, voice detection was excellent even on busy roads with enough cars starting their engines, you’d think you were on the track. The new wind noise duct design and intelligent anti-wind noise algorithm handled better than any other pair of earbuds I’ve tested recently. If you make a lot of calls on a regular basis, the Enco X2 won’t let you down.
Touch controls also work great. You have to squeeze the stem which is a two finger ordeal but is well done. There are also built-in volume controls that work by sliding your fingers up or down on one of the earbuds. The built-in volume controls are a welcome addition and not offered by most competitors.
Oppo’s HeyMelody app is available on both Android and iOS and offers a great user experience on both platforms with numerous audio and customization options. There are switches for ANC intensity, five EQ audio profiles, custom ANC, game modes, dual device connection, and remappable touch controls. You get several Dynaudio audio profiles which I’ll talk about more in the Sound Quality section.
The dual device connection works albeit with a few seconds delay when switching between devices. Game Mode reduces latency to 94ms, a welcome addition during gameplay, but there is still a noticeable delay between pressing a button on the screen and hearing the action on the buds. The latency when watching videos is barely noticeable.
Enco X2 is equipped with a triple-core chipset developed by Oppo which includes a standalone DAC chip. These are the first Dolby binaural recording earphones on the market, which means you can record the sounds from the earphones in rich detail. This feature is exclusive to the Oppo Find X5 series and is more of a gimmick than anything else. Oppo phones also get the added benefit of using the earbuds as a remote camera shutter – useful if you want to take a group photo.
Sound quality and fit
The Oppo Enco X2 offers two coaxial speakers with 11mm dynamic drivers paired with 6mm planar diaphragm drivers. Oppo claims that the Enco X2 offers a frequency response of 20Hz to 40kHz compared to the Enco X’s maximum 20kHz output. While I couldn’t compare the values between the two earbuds, I have to say that I like the way they do it. Oppo has tuned the X2s.
The sound is rich with well balanced mids and highs, while the bass is also noticeable although not overwhelming. The Samsung, Apple, and Realme earbuds certainly sound louder at similar volume levels, although the Oppo’s lower volume isn’t an issue. Bass is present even though it does not overpower other elements or distort the overall sound profile. The mids are crystal clear, the instruments and vocals are heard in full glory with enough oomph.
The podcast audio is clear and the voices are well detailed. As with other noise canceling headphones, it’s best to listen to music without ANC as it tends to distort sounds, creating a strange effect underwater. Listening at higher volume levels is still sufficiently balanced and does not present major distortions as on other wireless earphones.
Oppo’s HeyMelody app has three Dynaudio audio profiles ranging from Punchy which acts as a bass booster to Real which emphasizes vocals and treble, and a Simple and Clear mode which is somewhere in between the two. Additionally, there is a special EQ mode tuned by Japanese composer Joe Hisashi that finds the best balance of all available EQ settings and is the one I mostly used during my tests.
Oppo HeyMelody interface and Enco Master EQ mode
A small side note: Joe Hisashi mode is only available in the Chinese version of the HeyMelody app, which is easily accessible once the App Store region is changed.
LHDC mode sounds best in all scenarios when I tested it on an Oppo Find X5 Pro, although not many other phones support the feature and it would be hard to notice the difference when streaming music. I spent most of my time paired with an iPhone 13 and can tell that all features (without LHDC) and controls worked just as well as on the Find X5 Pro.
The in-ear fit is good with the default size M earphones, although the Realme Buds Air 3 I recently tested managed to fit more comfortably than the Enco X2 and were more comfortable for longer sessions. I’ve also had a few occasions where the Enco X2 was about to fall out of my ears as I walked which could be the fault of the extremely thin surface of the silicone tip on the tops.
Battery life
Oppo claims the Enco X2 can last up to 9.5 hours without ANC and around 5.5 with activated. Combined with the charging case, you get up to 40 hours of listening with ANC off and 22 hours with ANC on. In my tests, these values held up quite well. Using and turning off the earbuds for a week drained the case battery by up to 20%.
Enco X2 supports charging speeds of up to 10W via USB-C. A full recharge of the buds takes one hour while topping up the case from 0 to 100% takes 90 minutes. Wireless charging takes longer and varies depending on the charger.
Verdict
Oppo has made sure to pack the Enco X2 to the brim in terms of features and offer high-end audio quality along with a premium build and arguably the best microphone performance of any non-Apple wireless headset. The Enco X2’s $ 200 / € 200 retail price is a lot for a pair of wireless earbuds, no matter how good they sound. At the time of writing, Apple’s AirPods Pro have currently dropped to € 199 and Sony’s WF-1000XM4 are available for € 220.
The price and features make the Enco X2 a viable alternative in the premium segment, even if Oppo’s buds are in the noise cancellation department. Sound is a subjective matter so you might as well go in favor of the other two competitors depending on your preference.
The Enco X2’s balanced audio profile, rich feature set and great microphone work equally well on Android and iOS devices. If you’re not tied to the Apple ecosystem and the benefits you get with AirPods and high-end noise cancellation aren’t your top priority, you can give the Enco X2 a try.
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