OPPO Enco X2 Review: Worthy successor to Enco X


OPPO launched Enco X2, the company’s new true wireless earphones in India last month as the successor to the Enco X. The earbuds retain IP54 splash-resistant body, improves Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation to 45dB depth and 4000Hz width, has Bluetooth 5.2 with LHDC and LDAC and Wireless charging. Price has also increased a bit compared to the older model. Is this worth the price? I have been using the earbuds for a month now. Let us dive into the review to find out.

Box Contents

  • OPPO Enco X2 in White Colour
  • USB Type-C charging cable
  • Ear tips in Small and Large sizes (Medium pre-installed)
  • Quick start guide and Safety guide
Design and Build Quality

Starting with the design, the headset comes in a round charging case that fits in your pocket. The case is shiny and attracts fingerprints. The white version gets dirty easily, so I would prefer the Black colour. The charging case measures 66×49.3×22.7mm and weighs just 47 grams.

The charge indicator is actually present on the inside when you open the case. This glows in green, yellow and red colours. The function key is present on the right side.

USB Type-C port is on the bottom, along with a charging indicator.

The headset has a plastic finish that is shiny, which is prone to small scratches. The earbuds weigh about 4.7 grams, which is light. The earbuds feature an in-ear design and also come with medium-sized ear tips pre-installed. You can change to bundled Large or Small sized ear tips if you wish. There is an Optical Sensor for Wear Detection so that it can automatically pause the audio when you remove it from your ears and play when you put it back.

There is a microphone on the back of the headset for noise cancellation, and the bottom microphone is used for calls. You can also see the contacts for charging in the stem.

Instead of touch controls on the back, this has a sensitive force sensor that is used to let you control the earbuds easily and prevent mistouches. You can press the sensor to play or pause audio, double-press to skip forward, triple-press to skip back, press and hold to switch between noise control modes, and slide to adjust the volume.

The headset offers a good build quality and fits your ears perfectly so that they don’t fall off your ears easily even when running or cycling. The earphones also have IP54 ratings for dust and water resistance, so it can withstand splashes or light rain, but you can’t use it when swimming.

Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls

The OPPO Enco X2 supports Bluetooth 5.2 with LHDC Hi-Res audio codec for HD sound quality on supported devices, it also supports AAC codec that works in phones that have it. There is also LDAC support that got added in an update.

The pairing process is very easy, simply press and hold the function button on the case for 3 to 5 seconds until the status light blinks white, this means that the headset is now ready to be paired to a device. Now open the Bluetooth settings on the phone, and it shows up as OPPO Enco X2, and you can connect to it. As soon as the connection is established, the blinking LED should go off. You can take the earbuds out of the case and start using.

Since it has fast pairing mode that supports compatible OPPO phones, it automatically pairs to the phone when you bring the case with the headset close to the phone with Bluetooth turned on. We tested it on the iQOO 9T and Pixel 6a, and never faced any pairing related issue. Even though the phone pairs with the case and not the headset, you can repair or turn the headset on with a long press if it’s disconnected from the phone.

You can enable dual connection option that lets you connect to two devices at the same time and switch the audio playback between them. The sensitive force controls are easy to access and are very sensitive to touch.

Function Left earphone (L) Right earphone (R)
Answer call / Hang calls, Play / Pause Single Squeeze
Switch between max noise cancellation and Transparency Squeeze and hold for 1 second
Play next track or decline calls Double Squeeze
Play previous track Triple Squeeze
Increase / Decrease volume Slide up / down
Switch between two most recently connected devices Touch and hold for 3 seconds

You can customize the controls from the settings in the Hey Melody app on Android and iOS. You can change the quick squeeze, double squeeze, triple squeeze and slide for left and right earbuds easily.

The Earbuds fit test option plays music to ensure that your ear tips make a good seal with your ear canal for better noise-cancelling. You also get frequent firmware updates for the headset that improves the quality and adds new features.

Audio Quality, Call Performance and Noise Cancellation

The OPPO Enco X2 pack a 11mm dynamic driver + 6mm planar diaphragm driver with new SuperDBEE coaxial dual-driver sound system, co-developed with Dynaudio—made for high-end audio reproduction.

The earbuds adopt the classic planar diaphragm that has an ultra-wide frequency range and high resolution for a more detailed treble
performance, which has been improved by 10% compared to Enco X, capable of reaching an impressive 40kHz, according to the company.

With the LHDC 4.0 enabled, audio quality is good with clear vocals and good amount of bass, thanks to the 6mm magnetic balanced membrane driver handles high frequencies, while the triple-layer 11mm composite dynamic driver handles middle and low frequencies. LHDC 4.0 offers wireless transmissions up to 900kbps, with a sampling rate of 90kHz at 24 bits. In AAC, the audio quality is decent, but not immersive. Several latest smartphones support LHDC. There is also LDAC support, which is an added advantage.

You can select different EQ modes – Dynaudio Real, Dynaudio Simple & Clear, Dynaudio Punchy and Enco X Classic. Golden Sound lets you customize the audio based on the ear canal and hearing characteristics.

The earbuds offer a good amount of noise isolation, and triple microphones help when it comes to voice clarity during calls.

Regarding the Noise cancellation, the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) blocks the ambient sound that helps in most cases. You can feel the difference when you are listening outdoors. For the price, it does a good job. Compared to 35db ANC in Enco X, this offers 45dB ANC and also has 4000Hz Ultra-Wide Frequency ultra-deep personalized ANC. There are Smart, Max, Moderate and Mild modes.

The earphones also reduce the background noise during calls to a great extent that helps in a crowded or noisy environment and also cuts out the wind when you are travelling. This is acheived with three highly sensitive microphones, and two of the out-of-ear microphones are for beamforming, so it can accurately recognize voices (the user) and avoid surrounding noise.

Additionally, the OPPO Enco X2 earbuds also feature a bone voiceprint AI call noise reduction algorithm that picks up and enhance the voice of the user by identifying the voice of the person wearing the microphone as well as the ambient noise through bone vibrations to enhance the call quality.

This also has a Transparency mode that allows you to listen to ambient sound so that you can recognize the surrounding situation and any potential risks. This is a useful feature that every headset should have. It has binaural transmission technology that substantially improves audiovisual synchronization, connectivity issues and reduces in-game lags since the latency is less. There is also a dedicated Game Mode.

Battery Life

The earphones pack 57mAh battery that promises about 9.5h (AAC) / 6.5h (LHDC) / 5h (max ANC + LHDC) standalone battery life. During my use with LHDC and noise cancellation enabled, I got about 5 and half hours with mixed use of with and without noise cancellation in about 60% volume, so it is decent.

It also has fast charging support, which offers up to 6 hours (2 hours with ANC + LHDC) of music playback on a 5-minute charge. This is more useful since the predecessor lacked it.

With the 566mAh charging case, it promises up to 40h (AAC) / 27h (ANC) battery life. The green light in the case indicates that the battery is full, the yellow light represents it medium, and when it turns red, it is low. You can also see the charge left in the case in the HeyMelody app when the earbuds are placed in the case.

Charging the case fully with the earbuds take about 1 hour, and the total time for charging that case and the buds is about 1 and half hours. The charging case also offers wireless charging, so you can simply drop your earbuds onto a charging pad, and there is an indicator next to the USB Type-C port.

Conclusion

Overall, the OPPO Enco X2 is a good improvement compared to the predecessor in terms of audio quality, call quality, battery life, wireless charging and what not. If you have the budget, the Enco X2 is worth getting, if you need a more balanced high quality audio experience. If you need a punchy bass, then the OnePlus Buds Pro is a good option.

Priced at Rs. 10,999, it is available from Flipkart, OPPO online store and offline stores.

Pros

  • Good audio quality with LHDC and LDAC support
  • Excellent call quality
  • Excellent ANC
  • Good battery life with support for fast charging, wireless charging

Cons

  • Battery life takes a hit if you make a lot of calls or use ANC + LHDC
  • Slightly expensive compared to Enco X

Author: Srivatsan Sridhar

Srivatsan Sridhar is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps. He uses the phones he reviews as his main phone. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram