Oppo Enco Buds Review: Focus On Ease-Of-Use Rather Than Sound Quality

The Enco Buds ship in a tiny cobble-shaped case with a glossy finish. The case is pocketable and weighs a mere 37 grams. You will find an LED indicator at the front and a Type-C charging port at the back. The lid doesn't feel flimsy and the buds stay at their place even if you hold the case upside down with the lid open. The buds flaunt a mix of a glossy and matte finish and are nicely built.

There's no pairing button on the case, which is a bit of a hassle. If the buds don't show up in the Bluetooth settings, press the touch area of both the buds for 4-seconds to initiate the process. Moving on, the buds are IP54 water-dust resistant making them functional during a rainy day run or while working out in the gym. The earpieces feel comfortable in the ears and offer a secure fit.

It is worth mentioning that the charging case lacks any form of water-dust resistance and must be protected from any possible damage. Overall, the build quality of both the case and buds seems pretty good for a pair of TWS buds that cost Rs. 1,999. The Type-C charging port and IP54 water-dust resistance at Rs. 1,999 is appreciable.

Oppo Enco Buds Touch Controls

Like most TWS earbuds, the Enco Buds also has touch-sensitive zones on the earpieces allowing you to control basic functions. In addition to the most basic functions, these budget TWS earbuds also let you control the volume from the earpieces, which is extremely hard to find on a pair of budget TWS earbuds. Good job Oppo. Realme, Dizo, Xiaomi and OnePlus should make a note.

Below are the supported functions.

• Tap once on either side to play/pause music.
• Double-tap to skip to the next track.
• Tap thrice to enable the low-latency game mode.
• Touch and hold the left or right earpiece to control volume levels.

The touch gestures are fairly functional and responsive. You can also customize them as per convenience via the HeyMelody companion app.

Audio Performance

The earpieces are fitted with 8mm dynamic drivers and stream audio with support for SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs. We tested these budget TWS earbuds with a range of devices including Windows PCs, Android TVs, flagship Oppo and Vivo handsets, mid-range Xiaomi and Realme handsets and the recently announced Realme budget tablet. We faced no issues with the connectivity. These budget TWS buds maintain a stable connection (Bluetooth 5.2) across the devices.

Sound Signature

As far as the sound delivery is concerned, the 8mm drivers produce loud and engaging audio, but at the cost of sounding shrill. At max volume, the vocal-heavy tracks became quite unpleasing and I could easily feel the sound getting distorted, thus deteriorating the overall listening experience. These budget earbuds offer their best performance at 70-85% volume level, especially while tuning in to tracks with pronounced highs and treble.

The overall sound signature remains warm allowing you to enjoy tracks with a heavy emphasis on low-end frequencies. However, I couldn't ignore the overbearing bass that often leaked into other frequencies creating an unpleasing listening experience. Oppo could have tuned these budget buds well as the overall listening experience failed to impress us. A good equalizer is a must to enjoy music on these pair of budget TWS earbuds.

The passive noise cancellation is pretty good, thanks to the good in-canal fit. These earbuds work just fine for voice calling for hassle-free hands-free calls in the day-to-day routine. Gaming isn't extremely fun since the 80ms latency will make you feel the audio delay while playing high-action games like the BGMI.

Oppo Enco Buds Battery Life

The Oppo Enco Buds lasted for a little less than five hours on one full charge. Add three charge cycles and you get a total music playback time of around 20 hours, which is enough to get you through a day. The earbuds have 40mAh batteries and the case comes equipped with a 400mAh battery. Notably, fast charging is not supported, which is a bummer.

Verdict

The Enco buds focus more on features and ease of use rather than the sound delivery, something expected from a pair of TWS earbuds. These buds can be your gateway to the TWS earbuds market allowing you to enjoy hassle-free music and voice calls with some high-end features and a decent music playback time.

The sale price of the Oppo Enco Buds is Rs. 1,999 but these TWS buds are selling for as low as Rs. 1,249 on Flipkart during the Big Billion Days sale at the time of writing this review. This is an excellent price for a pair of TWS earbuds that offer Bluetooth 5.2, touch volume controls, IP54 water-dust resistance, comfortable fit and up to 20-hour music playback time.