I’ve reviewed a lot of true wireless earbuds in my time and one thing is for sure, what was good five years ago is no longer anywhere near good enough.  One other thing I’ve noticed is that you get what you pay for.  

The most expensive consumer earbuds, the Airpods Pro are the best I’ve tested but then the A&K UW100 MKII earphones are more expensive again and sound even better – these are designed mostly for audiophiles though and have less of the everyday features most users want.

The OPPO Enco Buds2 Pro are priced at $99 so we don’t expect them to match the Airpods Pro in sound quality but at a fraction of the price they certainly should not be expected to.  While they are cheap there is no point buying cheap if the earbuds sound like junk.  With that in mind we put the OPPO Enco Buds2 Pro to the test.

Design and fit

The design of the Enco Buds2 Pro is like so many other true wireless earbuds – an inner ear section and a stem out of the ear.  The Buds2 Pro are slightly different with their stem being a flat surface.  

The top of each earbud has a grey dot which is the touch control surface.  These are used to control your media along with phone calls, just as so many earbuds do.  The “buttons” are a capacitive touch making them easy to use without affecting the fit in the ear.

Inside the ear the earbuds sit comfortably although without the wedge-in they aren’t as secure as some of the more expensive earbuds.  I did feel myself adjusting them more than I would my more expensive Jabras which wedge a bit more firmly into the ear canal and are thus more secure.  In saying that the OPPO earbuds did not fall out while at the gym at any time.

The OPPO Enco Buds2 Pro do come with three different sized silicon tips to allow you to get the best fit inside your ear canals. They just don’t seem to wedge in as much as some other earbuds — in saying that they are super comfortable probably because of this.

The charging case is standard size neither large nor small but the earbuds slot in nicely without having to think about how they go in.  Somehow though OPPO has included an extra 38 hours of music playback in the case.  Add that on to the near eight hours of playback in the earbuds and you have a good 45 hours of music playback if you leave the house with them both fully charged.

With my use I did get close to the battery life that OPPO state you should expect with these earbuds so I was very happy with that.

Sound quality

Now when we consider the audio quality of the OPPO Enco Buds2 Pro we need to keep in mind that they are a sub- $100 set of earbuds.  As such we should be tempering our expectations.

I have a lot of sets of earbuds across the entire price range that I normally compare review buds to.  For that reason, I talk about relative sound quality.

The OPPO earbuds have decent mid and upper range sound although they lack the fine detail of the more expensive higher quality earbuds on the market.  This is predominantly where the sound lies with these earbuds, in the mid to upper end with the lower end or bass being nearly non-existent.

You need to consider whether you need this for the type of music you listen to.  It is less noticeable with a Taylor Swift or Christina Aguilera type music but play any hip-hop or metal music and you can hear straight away the lack of bass coming out of these earbuds.

So how does this compare to other earbuds of similar price?  I have a few sets of earbuds which lie in about that price range, the Skullcandy MOD true wireless earbuds ($99.95RRP), the Skullcandy Rail earbuds and now that they have seen a price reduction, the JBL Live Pro 2.

The OPPO Enco Buds2 Pro earbuds are crisper, clearer, and louder than the same-priced Skullcandy MOD earbuds and although the MOD earbuds have some bass it is not good bass but instead muffled sounds.    

The JBL earbuds are out of this world when it comes to value for money. They offer much better bass and mid to high end sounds that are clearer and louder along with an app that can be used to customise the earbuds to your ears. The OPPO earbuds aren’t even in the same hemisphere as the JBL — but once again, the price difference is large.

The Skullcandy Rail earbuds have better bass and sound louder and clearer in the mid to upper end and are overall better earbuds – but you will pay nearly twice as much for them ($169.95RRP).  That’s the problem with playing in this price range – the OPPO earbuds are only $100 and although the Rail are just $70 more, that is nearly twice the price.  Such a dilemma. 

Value for money for sure but you get what you pay for

At $100 though the OPPO Enco Buds2 Pro earbuds are great value with decent, clear sound – they just lack bass. They aren’t anywhere near as good as earbuds costing $200 or more but the price is nowhere near it as well.  If $100 really is your absolute upper limit, then the OPPO Enco Buds2 Pro are for you.