OPPO has started taking interest in the truly wireless earbuds segment and has launched a few TWS Earbuds in the past under the Enco series. Earlier, there was the Enco W31 that did produce a good sound quality for the price, but now the OPPO Enco W51 is a premium product that targets a different set of users. These are indeed the first-ever truly wireless earbuds by OPPO that support Active Noise Cancellation and offer water resistance. So, is the OPPO Enco W51 worth its price tag of Rs. 5000? Let’s check it out in the review below.
Design – Sassy and Glossy
The OPPO Enco W51 has a very glossy finish to it and may appeal to bear a design similar to the Apple Airpods. But, it’s different in its own style. The Enco W51 has a capsule-shaped design that fits in your ears in the ear-ear style. These sit adequately in your ears, not too deep, not too far, just the perfect fit that makes it comfortable to wear. Each earbud is very lightweight at just 4 grams.
The capsule shape does seem to give them a bigger look, but it’s only when you put these in your ears when you realize how lightweight these are. They are even IP54 Water and Dust Resistant. These come with 3 sets of swappable ear tips in the box, each of different sizes. We found the default ones to fit our ears perfectly. These do not fall off your ears easily, but again just like all other TWS Earbuds, if you move your head and body too much then even the Enco W51s are no exception to falling off your ears. In our usage, it really didn’t slip out on its own but only did when we pushed it too hard off-limits. Overall, the Enco W51 is very comfortable for ears even in extended sessions of watching movies and doesn’t cause an itch.
The case itself again is glossy and comes in a square shape, but easily fits most jeans pockets. This case supports wireless charging which is a very big plus point, and that’s not it! Wireless Charging is not the only way you can charge them, the case also comes with a USB Type-C port for charging so goodie points to OPPO for including wireless charging. The earbuds fit in the case tightly and don’t shake when you walk with the earbuds are placed inside the case and the case in your pockets. The OPPO Enco W51 has a very ergonomic and modern design, both for the earbuds and the case, which we liked. The gloss finish although comes at a personal preference as some may not appreciate it, but the footprint, 10/10 for it OPPO!
Sound Quality – Can’t hear you buddy as my earbuds have Noise Cancellation!
The OPPO Enco W51 has 7mm dynamic drivers in each earbud with Dual TPU composite graphene diaphragms. OPPO says that they have focused on overall acoustics rather than a single factor like Bass or Treble, and we say they were right, only to an extent. The W51 delivered vocal Bollywood Sounds really well with its support for SBC and AAC codecs, but when we shifted to metal, things changed. The bass was just fine, actually much flatter as coming after testing other earphones but it made its presence felt. the Enco W51 does not allow change and customize sound modes, which you could on the Enco W31. So if you want to give your own touch to your favorite songs, you will have to use an equalizer on your device for the same.
TLDR – The OPPO Enco W51 has a very balanced sound profile for vocals, with adequate bass and treble perfect enough for vocal and relaxing music.
Noise Cancellation, or we must say Active Noise Cancellation present on the Enco W51 is hard to find feature in the price range the earbuds are launched at. These are equipped with a total of 6 microphones that provide ANC up to 35dB. The ANC effect is noticeable right away once you activate it, and cancels out most passive noises in the lower frequencies. However, when it comes to large, high intensity sounds like the honking of vehicles, you will surely hear them through your earbuds. Although we would never recommend using earbuds when you are talking across a road with jam-packed traffic, we felt this as a point worth mentioning. The ANC does a very good job of removing static and light noises and you surely won’t be able to hear your roommate calling you from the other side of your room while you are listening to something with the Enco W51.
Range, Latency, and Gestures!
The Enco W51 runs on Bluetooth 5.0 and also features a low-transmission mode for faster trainers with lower latency. This might help in certain tasks like gaming, but we really did not find any significant difference in latency when the low-transmission mode was on. The Enco W51 surely cannot provide wired-like latency while gaming, but when it comes to media consumption, these can sync really well with the video.
Even during rigorously forwarding, and revering Youtube videos, the Enco W51 was able to deliver audio in perfect sync with the video which was impressive. The range of these is even good but nothing exceptional. We were able to receive audio with your device placed in another room a few meters apart, but with thick walls and doors in between, the audio gets dwindled. But when placed anywhere between a meter apart from the host device, the Enco W51 never breaks a sweat in range.
The lack of Qualcomm aptX audio does not get noticed with the Enco W51 with typical usages. Calls were handled pretty well and we never heard the other party complaining of audio reception issues while answering calls on these. The Enco W51 also offers a few gestures to trigger Google Assistant, skip tracks, and toggle ANC. Double tapping the left earbud toggles ANC, double-tapping the right earbud skips to the next track and triple tapping either of the buds will trigger the Google Assistant. Sweet!
Battery Life
The OPPO Enco W51 has 25mAh batteries equipped in each earbud. Let’s hear what OPPO claims as to the battery life for these. The official website says a battery life of 3.5 hours with ANC and 4 hours without ANC, and…. OPPO was honest. During our testing, the battery life kept tinkering between 3-4 hours, and at times touched 5 hours when we continuously used these earbuds. With ANC activated, the battery life does take a 10-15% hit but that’s expected. When we combine the case, we were able to charge the W51 earbuds 3-4 times making an effective battery life of 20 hours. Battery life is subject to usage patterns of yours but this should give you an idea of how long the Enco W51 entertains you.
The case of the OPPO Enco W51 charges at 10W with the USB Type-C port and takes around an hour to charge fully. The case does not come with any battery life indicator and one is left with the only option of Android’s Battery Life Indicator which does not have a good reputation of being accurate. While you can plug in your case charging, you can also throw your case on any Qi Wireless Charger and the case will charge itself in around 2 hours. Overall, with the lightweight form-factor, we were really happy with the battery life on the Enco W51.
Verdict
At Rs. 5000, the OPPO Enco W51 offers a lot of features that other competitors can’t even come close to in this price range. Active Noise Cancellation, Wireless Charging, such are features one can find on the likes of Huawei Buds 3i which are priced way more at Rs. 9900, that’s double the price of the W51. With a very lightweight design, a balanced sound profile, and ANC, the OPPO Enco W51 does justify its price tag in our opinion.
