Oppo Enco X

These headphones, available in black and white, weigh only about 4.8 grams each and offer dust and water resistance to IP54 standards. Thanks to three included silicone earpieces in sizes S, M, L, these tiny headphones can be adjusted according to your own needs. In general, we can only say good things about the fit. If you are already familiar with the fit of the AirPods Pro will also be happy with these, because the Enco X look almost like Apple’s in-ears, but are a bit smaller. In the cold season, only the tightest fitting of hats will cause any pressure discomfort.

The charging case, which can be charged via USB-C or wirelessly according to the Qi standard, also leaves an impeccable impression: A matte, anthracite-coloured seam including the manufacturer’s logo surrounds the glossy black case, which looks classy, but unfortunately is also susceptible to fingerprints. The lid snaps open and closed tightly thanks to the magnetic closure, and a logo on the back once again boasts of the collaboration with Dynaudio.

Pair and operate

The Enco X come with Bluetooth 5.2 and are thus up to date. In terms of codecs, the in-ears are wireless with SBC, AAC and LHDC (up to 24-bit and 96 kHz), although the latter can only be used in conjunction with a correspondingly compatible device such as the in-house Find X2 and Find X2 Pro Smartphones. Due to a lack of corresponding hardware, we unfortunately could not take this into account in this test.

Pairing is done by opening the charging case, but this option is only available with Oppo smartphones with ColorOS 7.0 and higher, otherwise, it can be done by pressing the button on the side. The latter is quick, and if you own an Android smartphone you can then load the “Hey Melody” app from the Google Play Store, which allows you to make some adjustments. iOS users are currently still out in the cold, a suitable app is supposed to arrive in the first quarter of 2021, but until then there is still no possibility of Apple users being able to reassign the touch functions.

By default, both earphones are assigned the same actions, these are worth changing because the Enco X can then be almost completely controlled. Changing the volume, track skipping, call management – everything is possible, except for fast-forwarding or rewinding a track. These headphones are not capable of multipoint, but the Enco X can quickly jump back and forth between the last two connected devices with a touch gesture, and this worked reliably between iPhone, Android and iMac in our test.

Last but not least, firmware updates and an earphones fit test can be carried out in the app.

Noise cancelling and transparency mode

Thanks to the dual-core processor and two microphones, the Active Noise Cancelling works extremely effectively and impressed us in our test. The two-stage noise cancellation filters out low-frequency noise in particular, but this system also works well in the mid-range and therefore comes out slightly ahead of the Apple AirPods Pro in a direct comparison. The latter, in turn, have a lower noise floor than the Oppos, although we never really noticed this as something negative in our test.

In addition, the Enco X have a transparency mode on board, which can be alternated with noise-cancelling by pressing and holding for one second. This mode also does what it is supposed to and does its job well, but in direct comparison to the AirPods Pro, it does not sound as natural and raises the background noise slightly.

Sound

We were curious to see whether the collaboration with Dynaudio was worth it. And the first few seconds of music already showed it: the dual-driver system reproduces warm, natural and deep sound. The bass range is able to reproduce sub-bass adequately and, in appropriate productions, it is broad. However, it never becomes spongy or undefined, which we liked extremely. The midrange blends in harmoniously and never seems loud, metal fans might wish for a little more “punch” – the buzz of electric guitars, but also synths (e.g. “Strobe” by Deadmau5), is rather subtle. There are also only positive things to report at the top of the frequency range. This is also slightly reduced, which is why sibilance is fortunately not an issue and audio material rich in treble can be listened to over a long period without signs of fatigue.

The Enco X reproduce sound events precisely, they can be clearly located, and reverberation tails and other spatial effects appear vivid and natural. Fine details, such as the bowing of strings or the gentle resonance of a cajon’s spiral strings, are not swallowed up or masked.

Finally, we rate the speech quality as good to very good. Enco uses what the manufacturer calls a “triple microphone noise cancellation algorithm”, these in-ears also have an adaptive filter with wind detection, which works well, but occasionally produces distortions in the background noise of the person on the other end of the phone.