Oppo Enco Air4 Pro Review – A little this a little that

TL;DR

This review delves into the Oppo Enco Air4 Pro, examining its build quality, sound performance, and noise cancellation capabilities. The article highlights the earbuds’ strengths and weaknesses, providing valuable insights for potential buyers.

• The Enco Air4 Pro boasts impressive noise cancellation but suffers from unbalanced audio.
• The earbuds feature a comfortable design and premium build quality.
• LHDC codec support offers potential for high-quality audio but is limited by device compatibility.
• The midrange performance is overshadowed by the strong bass and treble.

The Oppo Enco Air4 Pro is the latest iteration of Enco Air series, promising to elevate the series with its ultra-wide noise cancellation, large diaphragms, advanced codec support, and improved call quality.

This review will delve into three key areas: build quality and comfort, sound performance, and noise cancellation performance.

Pearl of a TWS

The Enco Air4 Pro boasts a premium aesthetic with its pearl-finished matte casing, elegantly resisting fingerprints and scratches.

The charging case houses a 440mAh battery, delivering up to 20 hours of playback with noise cancellation enabled. Impressively, a short 10-minute charge toward the earbuds would provide a substantial 4 hours of listening time. 

The earbuds themselves adopt a distinctive teardrop shape with a glossy white finish. While this contrasts the case’s matte texture, they still maintain a visually appealing look.

Internally, Oppo has opted for a single titanium-plated diaphragm driver, a choice that raised my eyebrow concerns about potential audio imbalances. However, the earbuds’ Hi-Res Audio certification and LHDC codec support hint at promising sound quality.

LHDC 5.0, Powerful but limited

LHDC, or Low Latency High-Definition Audio Codec, is a contender for high-resolution audio streaming via Bluetooth, offering comparable specifications to Sony’s LDAC in terms of bitrate and sampling rate:

While technically impressive, LHDC’s potential is significantly curtailed by its limited device compatibility. Unlike LDAC, which enjoys broader adoption, LHDC is primarily supported by Oppo and Nothing smartphones. This restricted ecosystem hampers its accessibility for audio enthusiasts seeking a universal wireless audio solution. As a result, the full benefits of this high-quality codec remain out of reach for most listeners.

We also want to point out LHDC is comparable at this point with the L2HC codec by Huawei, acting as a similar role of proprietary codec to its respective brand.

HeyMelody App

Oppo’s HeyMelody app offers a straightforward interface for managing the Enco Air4 Pro. Users can easily monitor battery levels, switch between noise cancellation, transparency, and off modes. There is also an unique personalized noise cancellation feature that adapts to individual ear canal shapes, providing better comfort comfort level.

While the app provides three fixed equalizer presets (original sound, bass boost, and clear vocals), it unfortunately lacks a user-customizable EQ. Other notable features include game mode, dual device connection, earbud fit test, and a find my earbuds function. Users can also personalize button controls to suit their preferences.

Oppo Enco Air4 Pro Audio Quality (Test LHDC)

I am in a nostalgic mode for the Ace Combat 5 Unsung War game, so all test song is done with Hi-Res file from the game’s OST.

Bass

The LHDC profile delivers deep, resonant bass with palpable vibrations. Tracks like “The Unsung War” by Keiki Kobayashi showcase the earbuds’ ability to generate powerful deep frequencies.

However, this emphasis on bass often overshadows other requency, resulting in a muffled and one-dimensional soundstage. In comparison, the AAC profile presents a flatter, less impactful bass response, lacking the depth and richness of LHDC.

Treble

Sharp, agile, airy, and detailed. This is how I would describe the Enco Air4 Pro’s treble. Listing to the Hanger 1 by Keiki Kobayashi, OST of Ace Combat 5, I can hear the triangle tinkling, bright and fading agilely with no delay.

Mid-range

I would say Mid-range is Enco4 Pro’s quality is very modest. It is rich, natural, and have an auditable crisp to it. Listening to Ice Cage by Keiki Kobayashi, it is notable how its being muffle by other frequency, but during less congested segments it stood out with high level or clarity and fullness in details.

Sound stage.

The Enco Air4 Pro’s soundstage is somewhat constricted, with a forward-leaning presentation that emphasizes the bass. This contributes to a sense of congestion and diminished spatial depth.

Comfortability

Comfortability is something Oppo done really well with the Enco Air4 Pro. It offers a good level of comfort and fit snuggly into my ear. The matte finishing have a good level of breathability, offering good gripping with minimal heat buildup.

Noise Cancellation

The Enco Air4 Pro delivers commendable noise cancellation performance across various levels and modes. As indicated by our test, the earbuds effectively reduce ambient noise, with the “Max” mode offering the most substantial attenuation.

It’s important to note that the effectiveness of noise cancellation can sometimes be accompanied by a noticeable air pressure build-up within the ear canal. To mitigate this discomfort, utilizing the Personalized Noise Cancellation function and selecting the “Smart” mode are recommended. These features can help optimize the noise cancellation experience while minimizing potential side effects.

Oppo Enco Air4 Pro Conclusion: A must get for Oppo phone user

The Oppo Enco Air4 Pro presents a mixed bag of strengths and weaknesses. Its standout features include an impressive noise cancellation system capable of effectively blocking out ambient noise, and a treble response that is crisp, detailed, and airy. Additionally, the earbuds boast a premium build quality and comfortable fit.

However, the audio profile is marred by an bass that often spill over to other frequencies, resulting in a muffled midrange. Also the single driver have likely constructed a constricted soundstage. The lack of a customizable EQ further limits sonic personalization. While the LHDC codec offers high-quality audio when compare to AAC, its limited device compatibility restricts to oppo phone and some of its cousin.

Overall, Priced at MR499, the Oppo Enco Air4 Pro is a capable pair of earbuds with strong noise cancellation capabilities, but its audio performance falls short of delivering a truly balanced and immersive listening experience. With that we award the Oppo Enco Air 4 Pro with our bronze award, and would recommend it for people in market for a strong noise cancellation

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