OPPO launched its latest budget true wireless earbuds — the OPPO Enco Air2 in India last week. This has a 13.4mm dynamic drivers, improves the battery life, has a 80ms low latency game mode, and comes with the latest Bluetooth 5.2 with AAC audio codec. So, are these good TWS earbuds in range? Let us find out in this review.
Box Contents
The box includes only the earbuds with the case and a user manual. Since these are half-in ear buds, there are no ear tips, and the box doesn’t have a USB Type-C cable.
Starting with the design, the headset comes in an oval shaped charging case that fits in your pocket. You can see the top half of the case is transparent, so that you can see the earbuds even when the case is closed. The case has a matte finish, so it doesn’t attract fingerprints, but the white colour we have gets dirty easily. Even the Blue colour gets dirty easily. Wish the company had launched a black version.
The charging case measures 53.95×62.7×24.2 and weighs 39.9g (Charging Case+Buds), which makes it compact. You can see the specifications of the case on the other side, and the USB Type-C port is present on the back.
Since the case doesn’t have a function key, you need to pair the buds directly to the phone.
The headset has a plastic build and comes with a glossy finish and resembles the AirPds. You can see the microphone on the outside. The earbuds weigh just 3.5 grams, so you don’t feel like you are wearing them. These feature half in-ear design, but the fit is good, so they don’t fall off your ears easily, even when running or cycling. The earbuds also have IPX4 splash resistant, so these can withstand splashes and sweat in everyday use scenarios, but you can’t use them when swimming.
Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls
The OPPO Enco Air2 support Bluetooth 5.2 with AAC high quality audio codec. The connection range is around 10 meters, which is common in most headsets, and the connection quality is good. The pairing process is very easy, simply open the case with the earbuds. Now open the Bluetooth settings on the phone, and it shows up as OPPO Enco Air2, and you can connect to it.
It doesn’t have Google fast pairing mode or dual pairing to pair two devices at a time, which is fine since you can’t expect it in the price range. The touch controls are easy to access since the stem of the earbuds are long.
| Function | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Answer call / Hang calls | Double tap | |
| Play previous or next track | Double tap | |
| Increase volume | Touch and Hold | |
| Decrease volume | Touch and Hold | |
Volume control is a good addition, but there is no single tap control for play and pause, which would have been useful since the headset doesn’t have Smart wear detection. You will have to remap the double tap or triple tap feature for play/pause. You can also double tap any bud to take a photo when you open the camera, but it requires a OPPO phone running ColorOS 11.3+.
You can customize the controls from the settings in the Hey Melody app on Android or iOS. This works without a separate app in OPPO phones running ColorOS 11 or later. Double-tap and triple tap controls can be customized. The triple tap is set to enable game mode by default.
Audio and Call Quality
The OPPO Enco Air2 pack a 13.4mm dynamic driver that offer bass driven sound, so this offers a punchy bass, but the mids and highs are just average. Sound from the earbuds are loud. Other than the default settings, there are Bass boost option, if you need more bass for music, or you can select clear vocals option if you are listening to podcasts or talk shows. Since these are not in-ear buds with a tight seal like ear tips, you will clearly hear the outside noise if you are near a crowded environment.
The low-latency gaming mode is useful when gaming since it reduces the latency. The company says that the latency is reduced to 80ms in the gaming mode during internal testing. It is also easy to enter the gaming mode when you triple tap the right earbud. You get a notification when you enter and exit the mode.
OPPO says that the Enco Air2 feature AI Noise Cancellation to distinguish human voices from background noises when you’re on a call. Voice clarity was good for calls indoors, but it doesn’t cut out wind noise or traffic noise when you use if for calls outdoors. Overall, these have good audio quality and average call quality for the price.
Battery Life
The earbuds pack a 27mAh battery that promise about 4 hours of standalone battery life. During my use with AAC, I got over 3 and half hours of battery life in 50 to 60% volume. If you disable AAC, you get a better battery life in SBC. If you make a lot of calls, then the battery life will be less. It takes over one and half hours to charge the earbuds, and there is no fast charging. The company’s own Enco Buds offer a better standalone battery life and have fast charging support.
With the 440mAh charging case, it promises up to 24 hours of battery life. I got over 5 additional charges with AAC enabled. It takes close to 2 hours to charge the case fully with the earbuds over USB Type-C. Even though the case doesn’t pair with the phone, you can see the charge left in the case in the app when you place at least one ear buds in the case.
Conclusion
Overall, the OPPO Enco Air2 is a decent entry-level Bluetooth TWS earbuds for the price that offers loud, bass driven audio, two custom sound effect options, IPX4 ratings, customizable controls, including volume controls and a long total battery life, but the call quality is just average and the design might not impress everyone.
The OPPO Enco Air2, come in white and blue colours, is priced at Rs. 2,499. As a part of launch offer, it is available from OPPO online store and Flipkart at an offer price of Rs. 1,999 for a limited period.
Pros
- Bluetooth 5.2 with AAC codec
- Good audio quality with a couple of sound effect options
- Light-weight design
- Long battery life with the case
Cons
- Standalone battery life is less
- Call quality is average
- No passive noise cancellation with half in-ear design