OPPO’s earphone offerings never cease to amaze me and despite reentering the space only a couple of years ago, the company has already established itself as a key player in the market. In fact, the brand’s Enco range has wowed the audience (and critics) time and again with products like the Enco M31, and the flagship Enco X (review) TWS headset too, both of which punch way above their weight and sound terrific, even today. That’s partly why I was elated to test the brand’s all-new Enco X2 headset which, to my understanding, is the only TWS earphone in its segment to ship with a dual-driver array comprising a pair of planar magnetic drivers and a set of dynamic drivers. So then, should you spend Rs 10,999 on the pair or look for other alternatives? Well, let’s find out in this review.
The lowdown
OPPO hasn’t toyed with the design of its latest buds all that much. In fact, from a distance, the earphones look eerily similar to the Enco X buds launched almost a year ago. Understandably, the newer model resembles Apple’s AirPods as well, and barring the Dynaudio branding on the case, the Enco X2 lacks any discernable traits which help it stand out. Be that as it may, the earphones are incredibly comfortable to wear day in and day out. In fact, the individual earbuds measure in at just X grams and I didn’t feel any wear fatigue set in during my time with the pair. What’s more, the earpieces ship with a tiny stem, and therefore, you can even wear the buds to bed without feeling the stem or the earpieces press against / bite your cheeks or ears. I’d also like to add that the earphones come with IP54 certification and as such, can outlast your sweatiest workouts too.
Much like the OnePlus Buds Pro (review), the OPPO Enco X2 also ships with force touch controls. For the uninitiated, the earphones respond to a squeeze of sorts and you can toggle various music playback controls or invoke the Google Assistant by pinching the stem of the buds. The controls can be finetuned in the companion HeyMelody app, and they work as advertised, so no complaints here.
Speaking of which, you can access the complete suite of features for the Enco X2 earbuds via the HeyMelody companion app, including niceties like a game mode, which reduces audio-video delay in games and videos, and dual connection, which allows the buds to connect to two devices at once. Do note that the latter only works with the Buds operating at AAC codec. Moving on, the earphones can also map a user’s ear canal structure to relay the best possible audio tailor-made for the listener’s ears. Lastly, the app lets users sift between the Enco X2’s ANC and transparency mode, and choose from one of four EQ presets should they wish to tweak the earbuds’ sound profile.
So then, how do the earphones sound? Well, before I talk about the pair’s sound quality, let me run some specs by you. To wit, the Enco X2 features a pair of drivers positioned inside each earpiece comprising an 11mm dynamic driver and a 6mm planar magnetic driver. The earphones can operate across a frequency spectrum of 20Hz – 40KHz and support AAC, SBC, LHDC, and LDAC codecs. Do note that my testing was limited to lossless streams from Apple Music over the LDAC codec.
Interestingly, the Enco X2 sound quite balanced and the earphones resolve different frequencies amicably. The unit’s dual-driver array gels superbly with high-fidelity codecs to deliver extremely detailed music across all genres. What’s more, the low-end frequencies sound extremely tight and offer minimal decay, so you won’t hear a beat linger on for longer than it was intended. The same is substantiated in Park Circus’ Millennial Whoop wherein, the kick drums at the start of the track relay a satisfying slam. As the song progresses, more chaotic beats and instruments are introduced to the mix. Even then, the playback doesn’t feel muddy and you can clearly tell the track’s bass line, from the energetic vocals and the beats.
Understandably, a lot of earphones offer good imaging and instrument separation, however, the Enco X2’s dual-driver array segregates and distills different facets of an audio track unlike anything in its price segment. Ant Saunder’s Yellow Hearts is a good example of the same wherein, the earphones don’t take anything away from the slam from the kick drums to accommodate the artist’s melodic voice or the strums of the acoustic guitar – it’s like fine dining, only the delicacies aren’t portioned across different courses and you can snack on all of them at once.
The X2s reciprocate mids to a tee too, which is evident in vocal-heavy tracks including Atif Aslam’s Tajdar-E-Haram, Billy Raffoul’s Easy Tiger, and Lewis Capaldi’s Before You Go. All the songs sound blissful when relayed through the Enco X2 earbuds and the pair captures the soulfulness in each artist’s voice elegantly. Adding to the list of pros, the Enco X2 does justice to songs from the rock genre as well. Now, I tend to gravitate towards treble that has a bite to it. Consequently, while the Enco X2 sounds incredible out of the box, I’d recommend you switch to Dynaudio’s Simple and Clear EQ preset as it accentuates the highs ever so slightly. Once done, instruments like a cymbal sounded a tad more sparkly and energetic, which was evident during the first verse of Mr. Brightside by the Killers as well.
OPPO has furnished its latest offering with ANC smarts too and buyers opting for the Enco X2 will be able to choose from three different active noise cancelation profiles of varying strengths. I was content with the ‘Max’ ANC preset, which drowned out most of the environmental noise when I was out and about, or in an office setting. As for the battery backup, the earbuds can last up to five hours off a single charge should you relay media via LDAC with ANC enabled. The case features a 566mAh cell which can refuel the buds at least twice, so you can go a couple of days between charges. You can even plonk the Enco X2 on a Qi wireless charger as the case supports wireless charging, which is great.
Verdict
The OPPO Enco X2 retail for Rs 10,999 in India and for the price, sound terrific, to say the least. The earphones’ musical experience is replete with detail and the audio relayed by the X2s sounds unblemished, for the most part. That’s not all, as the pair offers a comfortable, all-day wear design along with other niceties like support for ANC, wireless charging, and IP54 rating. Pool everything together and the Enco X2 is, without a doubt, one of the best (if not the best) TWS headsets in its price range.
Editor’s rating: 4.5 / 5
Pros:
- Impeccable audio output
- Comfortable, all-day wear design
- Good battery backup
- IP54 rated
Cons:
- Humdrum design
