TechAudioHeadphonesOppo Enco Free2 review: affordable yet feature-packed true wireless earbudsThe Oppo Enco Free2 are great value for money but there are a few things that could be improvedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictThe Oppo Enco Free2 are packed with features, properly made and have several very usable control options. But their battery life is underwhelming and the sound they is far from natural - which means you don’t have to look hard to find better alternatives.Reasons to buy+Great spec for the money+Eloquent midrange sound+Good control optionsReasons to avoid-Lack bass expression and treble smoothness-So-so battery life-Don’t feel all that secure-Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
TechAudioHeadphonesOppo Enco Free2 review: affordable yet feature-packed true wireless earbudsThe Oppo Enco Free2 are great value for money but there are a few things that could be improvedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictThe Oppo Enco Free2 are packed with features, properly made and have several very usable control options. But their battery life is underwhelming and the sound they is far from natural - which means you don’t have to look hard to find better alternatives.Reasons to buy+Great spec for the money+Eloquent midrange sound+Good control optionsReasons to avoid-Lack bass expression and treble smoothness-So-so battery life-Don’t feel all that secure-Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
The Oppo Enco Free2 are great value for money but there are a few things that could be improved
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictThe Oppo Enco Free2 are packed with features, properly made and have several very usable control options. But their battery life is underwhelming and the sound they is far from natural - which means you don’t have to look hard to find better alternatives.Reasons to buy+Great spec for the money+Eloquent midrange sound+Good control optionsReasons to avoid-Lack bass expression and treble smoothness-So-so battery life-Don’t feel all that secure-
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
T3 VerdictThe Oppo Enco Free2 are packed with features, properly made and have several very usable control options. But their battery life is underwhelming and the sound they is far from natural - which means you don’t have to look hard to find better alternatives.Reasons to buy+Great spec for the money+Eloquent midrange sound+Good control optionsReasons to avoid-Lack bass expression and treble smoothness-So-so battery life-Don’t feel all that secure-
T3 VerdictThe Oppo Enco Free2 are packed with features, properly made and have several very usable control options. But their battery life is underwhelming and the sound they is far from natural - which means you don’t have to look hard to find better alternatives.
T3 Verdict
The Oppo Enco Free2 are packed with features, properly made and have several very usable control options. But their battery life is underwhelming and the sound they is far from natural - which means you don’t have to look hard to find better alternatives.
Reasons to buy+Great spec for the money+Eloquent midrange sound+Good control optionsReasons to avoid-Lack bass expression and treble smoothness-So-so battery life-Don’t feel all that secure-
Reasons to buy+Great spec for the money+Eloquent midrange sound+Good control options
Great spec for the money
Eloquent midrange sound
Good control options
Reasons to avoid-Lack bass expression and treble smoothness-So-so battery life-Don’t feel all that secure-
Lack bass expression and treble smoothness
So-so battery life
Don’t feel all that secure
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Oppo Enco Free2 deals
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What you can take away from this Oppo Enco Free2 review is that while these may not compete against thebest true wireless earbudsin the world, they do offera lotfor not much money.
Ever since Oppo decided it wanted to be a big noise in the world of smartphones, it’s been producing headphones to act as accessories, and its focus has largely been on competing with thebest cheap headphones.
The Enco Free2 certainly fit the bill, on paper at least - they’re extensively specified, feature sonic fettling from Dynaudio, and are deep in the Oppo smartphone ecosystem. And the price is most definitely right, too…
Oppo Enco Free2 review: price and release date
The Oppo Enco Free2 are on sale now, and in the UK they’re priced at £89. You’ll pay $89 in the United States and AU$199 in Australia.
The world’s far from short of true wireless in-ear headphones at this sort of money, but it’s quite a bit shorter of alternatives with quite such an impressive spec-sheet. But then again, we all know the battle isn’t won on paper…
Oppo Enco Free2 review: features and what’s new
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The Enco Free2 use Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connectivity, which does its bit in a) providing a true 10m connectivity range, and b) delivering an entirely unspectacular battery life of somewhere between 24 and 36 hours. With active noise-cancellation switched on, the earbuds themselves are good for around four hours of playback, and there are another five full charges in the case. Switch ANC off and that number rises to more like six hours.
Despite Bluetooth 5.2’s modernity, though, the Oppo are only compatible with SBC and AAC codecs. Yes, these are affordable earbuds - but some rivals add in aptX or LDAC compatibility, and make themselves truly hi-res in the process.
Oppo Enco Free2 review: design and fit
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
There are, it seems, only two ways for true wireless in-ear headphones to look. Oppo has gone with theApple-inspired ‘dangly stem’ design rather than the ‘lozenge’ alternative, which we always think is the slightly more ostentatious option.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with the way the Enco Free2 are put together. But despite the choice of ‘S’, ‘M’ or ‘L’ eartips in the packaging, it’s difficult to achieve a fit that feels better than ‘a little bit vague’. There’s not quite the ‘open’ sensation of a pair of AppleAirPods, sure, but the way the Oppo feel doesn’t inspire confidence.
The stem area does at least allow for a large capacitive touch-surface on each earbud, and it proves reliable and predictable in operation. The exact functionality of each earbud’s touch-controls can be defined in the third-party ‘Hey Melody’ control app (foriOSandAndroid) or in the Bluetooth settings of any Oppo smartphone.
The app also has some EQ presets, a battery-status indicator, and the ability to take a hearing test to help the earbuds trim both their sound and their active noise-cancellation to your specific hearing profile. Options for noise-cancellation run to ‘on’ (or ‘personal’), ‘off’ or ‘transparency’.
The touch-surface can also let you wake your source player’s native voice-assistant. The triple-mic array integrated into each earbud proves sharp-eared and responsive, so using a voice-assistant is no hardship whatsoever.
Oppo Enco Free2 review: sound and performance
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Yes, as the star-rating at the top of the review indicates, everything is not well with the way the Oppo Enco Free2 sound. But that’s not the same as suggesting they don’t have some areas of genuine sonic expertise.
Almost everything the Oppo do well centres around the midrange. They communicate in absolute torrents where singers are concerned: detail levels are dizzily high, there’s subtlety and nuance at every turn, and if you’re in any doubt as to a vocalist’s intentions after hearing them through the Enco Free2 we’ll have to put that down to your own lack of imagination. If a singer has character, is feeling emotion, or has a discernible attitude, you can rely on these earbuds to inform you of it.
They’re similarly (though not quite as lavishly) adept where soundstaging and dynamics are concerned. The stage the Oppo describe is always sizeable, always coherently laid out and (if the recording allows it) exists in three audio dimensions - so specific elements of a recording have their own space in which to operate. They never sound estranged for the other elements, though, so the sense of unity or performance doesn’t suffer. Dynamically, too, the Enco Free2 are confident and accomplished - they’re alert to harmonic variations just as much as big dynamic shifts.
Well, they are except for in the lower frequencies. The Oppo certainly dig deep, hit hard, and control the attack and decay of low-frequency sounds well - but the nuance and detail that makes their midrange reproduction so thrilling goes missing where bass sounds are concerned. The low end just thumps, with precious little light and shade to bring it to life. So despite its alacrity, it nevertheless sounds both remote from and a hindrance to what’s going on above it.
At the opposite end, things are differently but equally problematic. The Oppo fairly pile into treble sounds, making them absolutely as hard and bright as is acceptable - and given the wrong material to work with, or the wrong source player in the first place, the top end can become painfully spiky. We’re all for attack and verve in our treble sounds, but the way the Enco Free2 reproduce them is borderline feral.
After that remarkable game of three halves, it’s nice to be able to report the active noise-cancellation here is much more of a single piece. It’s a fairly unusual feature on earbuds as affordable as these, and so we shouldn’t really expect a system the equal of more expensiveBoseorSonyearbuds - but the Enco Free2 handle external sounds confidently, banishing them to a great extent and no really changing their sonic attitude (for both better and worse) as they do so.
Oppo Enco Free2 review: verdict
Ultimately, the Oppo Enco Free2 are a peculiar product. The specification highlights, the control options, the build quality and, especially, the midrange reproduction all impress.
But they’re undeniably flawed at the frequency extremes, their battery life is nothing special and the way they fit isn’t the most reassuring either. They’re a diverting option, but hard to recommend.
Oppo Enco Free2 review: also consider
For keeping costs down and audio enjoyment levels high, we keep coming back to Cambridge Audio’s exemplaryMelomania 1+. No, they’re nothing much to look at and no, they’re not the last word in comfort - but they sound great where the Oppo sound wonky, and their battery life is epic where the Oppo’s is mediocre. On paper, they’re giving specification away to the Enco Free2 - but in practice they’re a cut or two above.
If you’re wondering how we test our gadgets and believe us, we do cover an awful lot – then head over to ourHow We Testpage for the full lowdown on our process and ethics.
Oppo Enco Free2: Price Comparison
410 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆
410 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆
☆☆☆☆☆
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price information
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We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
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