OPPO Enco X3i review: Up against stiff competition

Note: This review was first published on 10 March 2025.

True wireless earbuds are launching one after another these few months, and we’re taking a look at the OPPO Enco X3i earbuds today. These are OPPO’s new flagship-level true wireless earbuds, with dual drivers, support for the LHDC high-res codec, personalised sound, ANC, and more. Can those features help it stand out in a highly competitive and crowded market? Let’s find out.

TL;DR:

If you want earbuds with good battery life, sound personalisation, and support for a high-res codec, the OPPO Enco X3i offers all that at a decent price tag.

Note: You can find the OPPO Enco X3i at OPPO’s Official Online Store, Shopee and Lazada.

OPPO has done a great job with the design of the Enco X3i. The charging case is completely matte black except for a glossy debossed OPPO logo, and it holds up well to fingerprints and oil smudges. It’s also really slim at just around 2.5cm thick so you can slip it into a pocket without any awkward bulges.

The earbuds themselves are glossy, with a small matte area that demarcates where the touch control panel resides. It’s a visually appealing way to go about it, but it’s not quite as intuitive as a tactile marker like the indentation you find on the Apple AirPods Pro 2.

The earbuds are quite lightweight at 4.8 grams each, and they sit securely in the ear. There’s IP55 dust and water resistance (read what it means here) for the earbuds, which means you won’t have to worry about getting these earbuds a little wet with sweat or in light drizzles. 

Features

We paired the Enco X3i with the OPPO Reno13 Pro 5G that we’re currently reviewing for optimal connectivity since not every Android phone supports the high-res LHDC codec. The HeyMelody app isn’t downloaded on the phone by default, so we had to grab it off the Google Play Store. 

Surprisingly, after connecting to the HeyMelody app, the app just informs us that the complete collection of settings can be found in the phone’s Bluetooth settings. It seems as if there’s no need for the HeyMelody app at all if you’re using an OPPO phone – which is definitely a convenient feature if you happen to own an OPPO phone. Other Android phones do need to download the HeyMelody app to control the full range of features. 

Regardless, features like OPPO Alive Audio, EQ, Hi-Res mode, Golden Sound 2.0, and touch control customisation can be found simply by going to the Bluetooth menu, tapping on the info icon next to the OPPO Enco X3i device, and selecting “Earbud functions” if you’re using an OPPO phone.

Here, you’ll be able to switch between Noise Cancellation, Transparency, and everything off. You can also customise your hearing profile using the Golden Sound feature and choose if you want spatial audio in OPPO Alive Audio. The Enco Master EQ feature is rather limited, with only four presets, Original sound, Bass boost, Clear vocals, and Bold.

There’s also a BassWave feature which boosts the bass response, and cranking it all the way up definitely provides a much deeper bass that has more rumble and texture. However, this does come at the price of a slightly muddier response that isn’t as tight and clean. If you want more oomph, setting it to level 2 or 3 seems to be a good balance.

We’ve tried OPPO Alive Audio before when testing the OPPO Enco Air3s, and this time, it does feel like there’s definitely a more obvious difference in terms of the soundstage. Music feels a little flatter if you don’t have it turned on, so it’s a nice improvement. 

As for touch controls, they’re very responsive. Out of the box, you get double tap, triple tap, touch and hold as well as slide controls. Single tap is turned off by default, but this can be set to control play/pause. Something new is the slide gesture to control volume, which is very handy.

The active noise cancellation is supposed to be able to cancel out up to 49dB of environmental noise, and it does a very good job of removing most common noises. With music playing at a moderate volume of 30%, I could barely hear my keyboard clacking, and at 40% it was completely inaudible. Commute noises are generally handled well, with lower-pitched rumbles and noises unable to be heard over the music.

Wind noise isn’t a large problem either, with OPPO managing to eliminate the buzzing that’s usually encountered if ANC is turned on and you’re in a windy environment. I had to stick my head right next to the fan to get a mild buzz, and there was no wind noise at all with my head positioned about 50cm away from the fan.

Battery life is pretty good with up to 10 hours on a single charge if you’re listening with ANC off, or up to 6.5 hours with ANC on. I managed to clock about 6 hours with ANC turned on, which isn’t bad at all especially when you consider I was doing so while streaming over LHDC and at 40% volume. With the charging case, you should be able to get up to around 28 hours of total battery life. The case can be charged by USB-C, but there’s no wireless charging capability here, unfortunately.

Wireless and audio performance

The Enco X3i runs on Bluetooth 5.3 and supports the SBC, AAC, and LHDC 5.0 codecs, along with Dual Connection (otherwise known as multipoint) for connectivity to two devices at once. Equipped with a 10.4mm dynamic woofer and 6mm dynamic tweeter in an integrated coaxial design, the earbuds provide a good listening experience.

The bass response is slightly boosted with good thump and weight in the low end, particularly if you have BassWave turned on. Listening to tracks in the House genre was very satisfying, with thumpy basslines that have a good amount of rumble.

The mids are relatively balanced, but because there’s not much of a boost in this area, it might get overshadowed and muddied by the bass if you decide to turn on BassWave. Without BassWave however, the Original sound preset does a pretty good job of portraying guitars, percussion, and other instruments in this range accurately.

There’s also a decent boost to the treble, so high frequencies do have a good amount of energy and shine to them. Wind and string instruments like flutes and violins are rendered with a good amount of air and detail. At higher volumes, there can be a tiny bit of sibilance in tracks like Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, but I don’t recommend listening at these levels for long periods if you want to preserve your hearing.

Conclusion

The OPPO Enco X3i earbuds provide pretty good sound at a decent price point. At S$189, these are by no means the cheapest earbuds, and it’s possible to find cheaper options with a similar feature set – the Nothing Ear (a) and the new Creative Aurvana Ace Mimi come to mind. However, it does have some advantages, like the Golden Sound 2.0 sound personalisation which is very nicely done, excellent ANC performance, and high-res streaming support.

If you don’t have a phone that can support the LHDC 5.0 high-res codec, it might be worth looking at the Nothing Ear (a) instead as that can support the LDAC codec, which is slightly more common. While the Nothing Ear (a) might not sound quite as good, it’s cheaper, still supports a high-res codec, and can be found with a significant discounts these days (currently on sale for just S$119 at the time of writing).

But if you value the sound personalisation and very long battery life that the Enco X3i offers, it’s actually a great option, particularly if you’re using an OPPO phone.

Note: You can find the OPPO Enco X3i at OPPO’s Official Online Store, Shopee and Lazada.