The Enco X has quite a pedigree. It’s the lovechild of the Enzo, the world’s first premium phone, and Dynaudio’s renowned Dynaudio Effect. Not only does the Enco X sound better than the Enzo, it looks better, too. You get the same full-frontal LED light show that was found in the Enzo. The Enco X also features a dedicated EQ for headphone audio, while the Enzo’s headphone audio was only handled by the phone’s own EQ. The Enco X comes in three colors: Blue, Silver, and Black. The Blue version looks exactly like the Enzo, while the Silver and Black versions both feature new finishes, with the Silver version featuring a frosted glass
Oppo is known for its bold, often-over the top, marketing but the Chinese brand has once again surprised with an ad that’s straight-forward, straight-faced and utterly hilarious.
So Oppo’s Enco X is a pretty strange product. It’s an audio product that doesn’t sound particularly appealing on paper, but it does have some interesting features that set it apart from the hodgepodge of smartphone audio solutions on the market today. Let’s see what it’s all about.
If you look at a trend among smartphone makers, you’ll see how they use well-known names to add a particular flair to attract customers, and this has been going on for a long time. But what started out as a plan to collaborate and create better goods turned into a gimmick in which the brand would sell their product regardless of whether it was excellent or not. We’ve used Oppo’s earlier audio products, such as the Enco Q1, and it’s still one of our favorites. With these truly wireless earbuds, the Enco X, we witness their first collaboration with Dynaudio, the Danish audio company. So, if Oppo can produce great products on its own, what does Dynaudio offer to the table?
Thank you for asking: the Oppo Enco X is their lovechild, and here is the Oppo Enco X Review.
Minimalistic Design in the Cupertino Style
It’s lovely to see Oppo maintain their design language simple and elegant – but it does give the sense that it’s quite comparable to what the Cupertino brand we’re all familiar with has to offer. But that’s OK since, in all honesty, there aren’t many ways to make your genuine wireless stand out, and in Oppo’s defense, the case is a lot smaller, thinner, and much easier to carry in pockets without adding weight.
The primary issue I have is not with the design or construction, but rather with the kind of material they chose – a glossy finish that attracts moths to a flame (in this instance, scratches are the moths, and the glossy coat is the flame). So, prepare to attract a slew of little scuffs, but before you buy, we highly suggest picking up a silicon case like the one we have here from Shopee, which costs less than RM10 and includes a loop on the side so you can attach it to any easily accessible place. Oh, and the magnetic opening and shutting is one of my favorite features of the case – it’s extremely addicting if you’re fidgety.
Comfort-wise
As they are Noise Cancelling in-ear Earbuds, these earpieces have stems, thus there’s no better comparison than the AirPods Pro, which has a stem-like construction that comes out and an earpiece with a rubber tip to sit in-ear. Up until this point, we’ve said that True Wireless Earbuds are very subjective; some people may find them to be too tiny or too large for their ears, but in my case, it was just perfect. Unfortunately, owing to the COVID limitations, we were unable to do a routine test, therefore we will have to do so for the time being.
There were a few small tweaks that needed to be made, but for the most part, it was as simple as pulling it out of the case and putting it in your ears. I like how they feel and look, and you get additional tips in the package to connect to your earphones so you can find the perfect fit. The eartip sizes are quite accurate, but not as precise as the Jabra Elite 75t, but most users won’t need to use third-party ear tips to get the Enco X to fit properly.
Specification
The real weight of a partnership, or in this instance, the lovechild between Oppo and Dynaudio, lies in its hardware, as I stated before. These earbuds, however, feature two drivers: a powerful 11mm driver and a balanced magnetic membrane driver measuring 6mm. Now, you may be thinking that it’s a Balanced Armature like the Edifier TWS6, and although it does have a similar type of design in some ways, Oppo refers to it as a Dual-Driver Design.
The entire thing is a little hazy, but considering that we’ve used Balanced Armature previously, it’s fair to assume that this Enco X has one. We talked about what it is and what difference it makes in a separate post, which you can read here. The remainder of the details may be found in the specification below:
- 6mm Balanced Membrane Driver + 11mm Dynamic Driver
- Binaural Low-Latency Transmission with Bluetooth 5.2
- Noise Cancelling Modes with Transparency Mode Support
- LHDC, AAC, and SBC are the three codecs supported.
- Each earbud has a 44mAh battery, while the case has a 535mAh battery.
- Qi Wireless Charging or USB-C Charging
- Headphones with an IP54 rating
Experience with software
We were first worried that the earbuds did not come with an app to manage them since earbuds of this quality typically come with an app that provides you more control than the ones that come out of the box. That said, the Oppo Enco X has an app called HeyMelody in the Play Store that allows you to do a few more things, including keeping your earbuds up to date with the latest version, features, and fixes, customizing the control of the earbuds on the left and right, fit testing to make sure everything is in working order, Noise Cancellation settings, and finally the Equalizer.
Right now, I’m going to get the equalization out of the way since the choices available to users are very restricted. The default setting is available, as well as Dynaudio’s own profiles. I do wish that consumers were given the option of using the graph to build their own settings to fit their preferences. Other than that, the other controls, which were previously restricted to setting two taps to switch between modes and nothing else, have been unlocked with a new update that allows you to personalize the settings a lot more – which is great.
Aside from that, the app is quite simple to use and pleasant enough that you won’t have to flip through a lot of pages to toggle anything off or on.
Sound Quality
Keep in mind that this audio test is conducted using two devices: a Sony Walkman NW-A55 and a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, as well as three distinct music sources: a local FLAC collection, Spotify at its maximum quality, and Tidal HiFi. In terms of codecs, the majority of phones support SBC and AAC (for Apple users), which are available on almost every Android phone you can find, but not LHDC (which we will get to it in a bit).
The Enco X’s default sound signature – I wouldn’t call it neutral, but it’s more tuned to highlight the bass upfront, vocals next, and other components lastly, in one word, “bright.” Given that there are two distinct drivers for two different aspects of the audio – the dynamic driver for mids and lows, and the membrane driver for highs – this is to be expected. Night Air by Jamie Woon is exciting to listen to, with clear vocals that I really like and a great mix of music around it. The bass isn’t too strong, which is a plus in our opinion since powerful bass doesn’t always imply excellent audio. In this instance, the balance is excellent.
Now I’m going to attempt Rendezvous feat. Miraa May by Col3trane, which has been on repeat for me. I have to admit that this is the third true wireless earphones in my list that I have liked listening to this music with. Now everything is in harmony, and I can hear a wide variety of sounds; the voices stand out for the most part, and the music does not drown them out.
The Enco X, despite having enough of everything, lacks a little bit of dynamic range. This isn’t because it can’t produce; it can’t because balanced armature-like drivers can only work well with a limited frequency range, and anything beyond tends to perform a little short, which is why having another driver helps make up as much as it can, in this caliber. If you look at some of the balanced armature IEMs on the market, you’ll see that they have more than one to compensate for the shortcomings.
Starting with Simple and Clear, the Dynaudio’s sound profile sounds crisper with voices, pulls the music down a bit and lowers the bass by a lot; it seems like you’re losing a lot of information, but it feels “balanced.” Warm and Soft, on the other hand, has some bass but not as much as the default, and the sharper voices seem a touch dull as in its pleasant.
This True Wireless Earbuds now support LHDC – if you recall HWA, you’ll know what I’m talking about. This Low Latency High-Def Music codec enables users to stream higher-resolution audio on the go than the SBC’s rated 320 kbps (LHDC streams at 900 kbps, 90 kbps less than Sony’s LDAC format).
The issue is that there aren’t many devices on the market that enable LHDC. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any devices that supported LHDC natively while we were evaluating the Enco X. For the time being, we’ll leave this out, and when we do, we’ll update our results in a follow-up article.
When you start playing music, the Active Noise Cancelling on these genuine Wireless earbuds is very modest, yet it does the job. Now, there are two modes: the one we just discussed and Max Active Noise Cancelling – which I wouldn’t suggest since it creates a “hiss” sound that the ANC regular mode doesn’t, and it causes discomfort as well as a significant loss in audio quality. This has a fantastic transparency mode, and I have no problems with it. It seems as if I’m not wearing any earphones at all, and it’s nearly as good as my Sony WF-1000XM3s.
We’ve put up a special Spotify playlist with Oppo for you to listen to that will help you relax during these turbulent times while also expressing the potential of the Oppo Enco X, which you can access by clicking here.
Conclusion
The Oppo Enco X is the pinnacle of the company’s slew of true wireless earbuds. The issue I have with this earphone, as with other earbuds since there are so many, is whether or not it is money well spent. If you ask me, I believe Oppo could afford to drop the rest of their lineup and focus only on the Enco X. Remember how we were pleased by Oppo’s Enco Q1 when we first tried it? Here, too, we have the same feeling.
Although I wish Oppo had their own distinctive design, the excellent clean finish, great sounding earbuds purely based on hardware, and a software that isn’t too bad to handle updates and functions. This is the sort of lovechild I anticipate from a collaborative effort.
To buy an Oppo Enco X, go to Shopee | Lazada and type in “Oppo Enco X” in the search box.
We’d like to thank OPPO Malaysia for supplying us with the Enco X in exchange for this review.
If you’re an owner of an Oppo Enco X, then chances are you’re also an owner of a pair of Dynaudio speakers. The Enco X is a big phone, even by today’s standards. With its 6.6″, 6-inch screen, the Enco X also happens to be a huge phone, one which can accommodate a pair of your favorite speakers. If you want to listen to music or watch YouTube videos on your phone, then you’re going to want a pair of speakers. If you want to listen to music on your phone, then you’re going to want a pair of speakers.. Read more about oppo enco air review and let us know what you think.
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