A few years back we saw a shift in the smartphone world, now the same is happening with the audio segment. More and more manufacturers are bringing out products with premium features at a bargain.
We saw Oppo rapidly expand their audio product line-up in India in the past few months and now they have their premium Enco W51 truly wireless earbuds in the market as well. These come at a sticker price of INR 4,999 and promise to offer impressive audio quality, features, and support Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), something that is unheard of at this price point from a name brand.
We have been using the Enco W51 for a little over 10 days now and here’s our full review.
Key Specifications
- Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity
- 7mm audio drivers
- Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
- Touch controls
- In-built triple mic
- 25mAh battery (buds)
- 480mAh battery (case)
- Music Playtime- 3.5 hours (ANC on), 4 hours (ANC off)
- The case provides an extra four charges
- Wireless charging case
Box Contents
A complete list of items you get inside the box:
- Oppo Enco W51 truly wireless earphones
- Ear tips
- USB Type-C charging cable
- User instruction manual
Design
Starting with the case first, it’s got a pebble-like design with rounded edges giving it a distinct look in a sea of AirPods copycats. This design is functional, fits the pockets easily, and is quite grippy overall. The buds are being offered in two color choices, white and midnight blue. In our opinion going with the White variant will be a sensible choice as it will hide most of the scratches, while the blue color has some gold accents on the buds that look a bit too much in our opinion.
The entire construction is done in high-quality polycarbonate which is strong but the finish is not up to the mark. Looking at the overall feature list, it is understandable that to bring down the cost, Oppo needed to pull back on certain aspects. The buds lay flat inside the case, with the lid opening upwards. We get to see the notification LED on the back while the pairing/reset button is inside the case, which is certainly an odd placement. Right below the LED lies the Type C charging port.
Coming to the earphones, they sport an in-ear design with silicon tips for added grip. This is certainly a better design than the Apple AirPods which is a hit among other OEMs. The buds have a contoured angled fit which should be comfortable for most ear-shapes. The stem is not that long and houses the touch controls. On the inner side are the golden contact pads which are used to charge the inbuilt battery.
There is a set of triple built-in microphones on each of the units which further aides with the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). In terms of weight, the buds are a mere 4.5gm each and are quite light on the ears.
Performance
Pairing these is a breeze, as soon as you open the case, the earbuds are active, and upon pulling them out of the case, they are already in pairing mode if aren’t paired with any device. For Oppo phones, there is a special pop-up that lets you easily pair the earbuds and provides battery info for each bud and the case just like we see on iOS.
The Enco W51 comes with a 7mm dynamic driver on each side, coupled with a 6-mics system overall. The earbuds are loud and have a wider soundstage. They aren’t bass-heavy but provide a soothing audio experience overall. The vocals are clear with a focus on mids while keeping the highs in check.
The W51 adopts the newest Bluetooth low-latency binaural transmission standard to greatly reduce any audio delay. Now this delay is not noticeable enough while video consumption but is noticeable when gaming. As previously mentioned, Oppo has stuffed 6 mics overall on the W51 which works in tandem with their Dual-core custom processor to deliver a pleasant experience over calls.
These have what we call soft Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) meaning certain sound frequencies are controlled while letting low frequency sounds to pass through. This applies both to the calls and music. It’s not the best ANC in the market but looking at the price, it’s more than good. Talking about the touch controls, you get some single and double-tap actions on either side of the earbuds. Oppo smartphone users get the additional ability to re-map these controls which is a plus.
During our testing period, we found the controls to be decent at best. There are occasional hit and misses but you get used to and the error rates decline. One thing to note here is, the call quality on these is perhaps one of the best we’ve seen in sub INR 5,000 buds. They come with an IP54 rating and can survive occasional drizzles.
Talking about the battery, the earbuds come with a 25mAh battery on each side which gives about 3 hours of backup with the ANC turned on and about 4 hours with the ANC off. This figure somewhat matches the figures put out by the brand. These have an additional 480mAh battery in the case which is sufficient to charge the earbuds four times. Add to the fact that the charging times on these are quite less and they do support wireless charging.
Verdict – Should you go for it?
At INR 4,999, the Oppo Enco W51 just draws you themselves. They’ve got decent sound output, ANC, wear detection, IP54 water and dust resistance, Qi wireless charging, and more. They’re somethings we didn’t like, the gesture controls and the quick pairing and stats are only limited to Oppo phones. Would be great if oppo releases a standalone app that brings these features to non-Oppo phones.
Regardless, the call quality and ANC alone can justify the 5k price, and recommending it is a no brainer.
