Honestly, I don’t envy wireless earphone manufacturers. Nowadays, any new model has to look both sleek and interesting at the same time. The internals need to be modern, but the price shouldn’t be too high. And remember, all this has to fit into a case small enough to fit in your ear. Does the Oppo Enco X3i TWS model manage to balance all these requirements? Let’s find out.
Specifications
- Model: E509A
- Driver: 10.4 mm woofer + 6 mm tweeter
- Driver sensitivity: 110 ± 1.3dB @ 1kHz
- Frequency response range: 15 Hz ~ 40 kHz
- Microphone sensitivity: -38 dBV
- Bluetooth codec: LHDC 5.0/AAC/SBC
- Bluetooth version: 5.3
- Bluetooth range: 10m
- Battery type: Li-ion
- Battery capacity: 58 mAh (earbuds) / 520 mAh (charging case)
- Charging port: USB Type-C
- Water resistance (headphones): IP55
- Weight (headphones): 4,8 г
- Weight (charging case): 40,8 г
- Size (headphones): 31.68×20.22×24.4 mm
- Size (charging case): 58.72×50.15×25.81 mm
Package contents
The Oppo Enco X3i earphones come in a small package. The case is wrapped in a paper sleeve that indicates where the touch controls are located on the earphones. Under the case, there’s a box containing the manual, warranty, extra silicone ear tips, and a Type-C cable.
Market positioning and price
The Oppo Enco X3i is priced at $136 or €127. This model occupies a very interesting position, as it crosses the psychological $100 threshold but doesn’t reach the ultra-premium $200 mark. This means it has to offer more than budget TWS earphones but not everything that flagship models provide.
Given the challenging price niche, the X3i has fewer competitors than I expected. Notable mentions include the JBL Live Pro 2 for $140, Sony LinkBuds S, and the slightly more expensive Anker SoundCore Liberty 3 Pro. Additionally, with a good discount, the Sennheiser CX Plus SE can fall into this price category, though without a discount, they are almost $190. Currently, many stores offer discounts on the Oppo Enco X3i, bringing the price down to $120. Another competitor worth mentioning is the Moto Buds+, which also feature wireless charging at a price of $110.
Read also: Motorola Moto Buds+ TWS Review: High-Quality Hi-Res Audio and “Sound by Bose”
Design, materials, build quality
So, let’s start testing the balance I mentioned earlier. The pricing strategy for the Oppo Enco X3i necessitates an attractive appearance – and in my opinion, the manufacturer has succeeded. How? By styling it to resemble a pearl.
Overall, the headset is available in two colors globally – the solid Meteor Grey and the more vibrant Electric Blue, which I have. The Electric Blue looks like a pearl, with a deep matte color resembling sea blue.
Add to this the combination of a rounded lid and beveled edges, and you get a very cool feel. The case of the Oppo Enco X3i looks like an old-fashioned yet affordable piece of jewelry – both practical and charming at the same time.
The earphones are glossy, designed to look like metal. The last time I saw a matte finish was on the Moto Buds+. Additionally, the glossy surface collects fingerprints much less actively than I expected, while the case almost doesn’t collect them at all.
Overall, if the Oppo Enco X3i has borrowed anything from $200+ flagships, it’s the build quality. The plastic is excellent, the gaps are minimal, and the case weighs just over 40 grams, with each earphone weighing 4.8 grams. This means the model doesn’t weigh down your pocket but doesn’t feel empty in your hand either.
And the shape. I emphasize, this combination is a winner. It’s rounded at the top and bottom, with soft beveled edges and flat sides. At the front, there’s a notch to make opening the lid easier. At the back, there’s a USB Type-C port for charging. Under the lid, you’ll find a multifunction button that handles both resetting (pressing for 10 seconds) and connecting to a second Bluetooth device (pressing for 3 seconds).
The Oppo Enco X3i easily passes the AirPods test, quick and easy. But keep in mind – the case is significantly flatter than it is tall, unlike, for example, the Oppo Enco Air3 Pro, which we’ve reviewed on our site. This, however, means that the case has all the advantages of being tall (fits perfectly in your pocket) while also sitting perfectly on a flat surface, preventing it from falling off due to bumps.
I can describe the earphones using many epithets, but “minimalistic” definitely won’t be one of them. The body itself is glossy plastic designed to look like metal, but the front part is matte blue, matching the silicone ear tips. The body is also adorned with details – noise-canceling microphones, charging contacts, and even visibly marked touch-sensitive areas.
I’ll note the quality of the magnet that holds the earphones in place. I’ll give it the title “flawless” because it’s strong enough to keep them secure when the lid is opened up to a maximum of 90 degrees, yet gentle enough to easily retrieve the earphones with just one hand. This, for those who may not know, is also the AirPods test.
The dimensions of the case are 58.72×50.15×25.81 mm. The earphones measure 31.68×20.22×24.4 mm, and unlike the case, they feature IP55 water resistance.
Comfort of use
I have no complaints here either. The Oppo Enco X3i has a low profile, so sleeping in them is much more comfortable than I expected. For me, this is a significant achievement because I rarely find models that don’t dig into the pillow while I sleep. On the flip side, I’ve noticed that the earbuds’ extended stems can catch on hair, especially if you have long, curly hair or sideburns like mine, which means you may feel jaw movements. However, this is only noticeable when you’re not playing music through the earbuds. Once the music starts, you immediately forget about it.
Don’t worry about the ergonomic fit in the ears – everything is excellent. It’s important to place them slightly forward – this guarantees you maximum sound quality and passive noise isolation. This will be important a little later.
However, there’s a downside to this honey barrel. Namely, how the Oppo Enco X3i behave when you remove them from your ears. They contain a sensor that pauses the music when you take the earbud out. But almost every time I remove the earbud, my fingers touch the touch-sensitive area. So, I take the earbud out – the music stops playing, and then it starts playing again immediately.
Add to that the fact that the touch controls have a delay – and you get a situation where I insert the earbud into my ear, accidentally touching the touch-sensitive area. The earphones detect that they’re in the ear and start playing music. But a second later, they register the touch on the sensitive area and pause playback.
Control
Since we’ve already touched upon control issues, let’s continue. Standardly (and this is important!), the control scheme for both earbuds, left and right, is identical:
– Single tap – pause/play
– Double tap – next track
– Triple tap – previous track
– Slide up/down – adjust volume.
Long press is used to switch between noise cancelling and transparency modes. Again, this is standard functionality.
HeyMelody software
The HeyMelody app, available on both iOS (link) and Android (link), is the reason why I emphasized that the control scheme is standard. This app allows you to customize the controls easily. I recommend using it because it eliminates the issue of accidentally triggering playback when removing the earbuds. Simply disable the single tap function altogether, and you’re good to go.
On double tap, you can set functions like play/pause, skip forward or backward tracks, activate voice assistant, or switch to gaming mode. The option to replace volume adjustment with track skipping forward and backward is particularly intriguing; I’ve never seen that before.
I’ve long dreamed about such settings or similar ones. Many TWS earphone models would earn much higher scores from me if their official apps allowed me to toggle or disable functionalities that bother me.
But that’s not all! Actually, controlling the earphones is just the tip of the iceberg. HeyMelody allows control over the equalizer (with emphasis on vocals, bass, or mid frequencies), dual connectivity, and a gaming mode (with reduced latency). However, in my opinion, the two most important functions are OPPO Live Audio and Golden Sound.
OPPO Live Audio is akin to Spatial Audio. It provides immersive three-dimensional sound, supported in a very limited number of apps and games. However, where supported, it sounds quite good. I’ll note right away—it’s not as impressive as immersive sound on iPhone, but the effect can be felt even in Android media players, indicating prevalence outweighs quality.
And then there’s Golden Sound 2.0. This feature adapts sound to fit your ears, but not in terms of three-dimensional audio scenes, rather in terms of frequencies. You’ll need to specify when each of the five frequency bands disappears in volume for each ear. Repeat this process for both ears, and HeyMelody will create a personalized sound profile for you.
Sound of the Oppo Enco X3i
Lately, I haven’t paid much attention to bare driver specifications and frequency characteristics, but considering the sound quality of the Enco X3i, I decided to double-check the numbers. The earphones feature dual drivers—a 10.4 mm woofer and a 6 mm tweeter. So, it’s a dual-driver model. Its frequency response ranges from 15 to 40000 Hz, and the microphone sensitivity is -38 dB.
And no matter what you think, the Oppo Enco X3i deserve three compliments from me. First, the quality of the three-dimensional soundstage is such that when I hear poorly executed spatial effects, I don’t blame the earphones. I blame the song mastering.
The second compliment is that with these earphones, I hear enough dynamic range to notice extra noises, additional frequencies, and overall, to experience a song differently than how 99% of users hear it. This unfortunately also applies to YouTube videos. The majority of channels I watch and listen to do not cater to audio quality like these earphones do. But you get used to it.
The third compliment is that I don’t want to pause the music to test other headphone functions. The quality is so high, the three-dimensional soundstage so detailed, that the earbuds’ battery life becomes a concern. I’ll elaborate on that later.
Since the main goal of such earphones is to achieve a “consciousness off” mode, which is very beneficial for my mental well-being, I must say that the Oppo Enco X3i excels in this task.
The noise cancellation at 49 dB (which, by the way, offers four settings in HeyMelody) combined with excellent sound depth, ensures that only a significant external disturbance could interrupt your meditative audio experience.
It, like all others, isn’t universal (it can’t block all frequencies), but it’s powerful enough to block out about 99% of the sounds I typically hear when my window is open. If the noise cancellation can almost completely block out bird sounds, I consider it fantastic. The transparency mode is also present and works quite well.
Microphones and headset function
This is interesting. Why? Because neither in the standard control presets nor through the app is there any mention of headset control during calls. The paper manual is extremely basic and doesn’t include any information about controls at all. Presumably, it assumes that the user will immediately install the proprietary app.
Therefore, I had to learn the controls through practice. Research showed that a double tap answers the call, while another double tap ends it. The call quality is excellent, and the microphone performs adequately. Interestingly, the conversation partner’s voice sounds as if they are nearby and up front. I didn’t expect this, as typically spatial sound effects are confined to music and not applied to conversations.
Connections and delays
Let’s talk about the balance issue I mentioned earlier. Despite being a recent model, Oppo Enco X3i supports Bluetooth version 5.3 instead of the 5.4 version I personally expected. Nonetheless, the support for AAC and LHDC 5.0 has a very positive impact on latency, connection stability, and sound quality.
However, editing videos in DaVinci Resolve on a laptop with a Bluetooth 5.4 adapter is significantly less comfortable for me compared to using the headset with the latest Bluetooth version. I’ve been testing Oppo Enco X3i for about half a year now. With them, I notice delays of about half a second, which is a death sentence for rhythmic video editing—something I’ve been exclusively focused on in recent years.
Double pairing works like this – you press the button on the case, and the Oppo Enco X3i appears in the list of available Bluetooth devices. Switching between one source to another happens automatically. What I mean is, if you have both a laptop and a smartphone connected, and both are playing music, the switch won’t happen automatically. To make it happen, you need to pause both players and then play the one you want.
It seems like this is a nuance in how different devices handle Bluetooth connections (like the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G and the ASUS ROG Scar 15 with the Ugreen Bluetooth 5.4 adapter). For my colleague’s Oppo Air 3 Pro, automatic audio channel switching happens seamlessly. Additionally, call interception on a smartphone while connected to a PC does trigger automatic switching, typically within about 3 seconds.
Battery life of Oppo Enco X3i
The manufacturer promises that the Oppo Enco X3i earbuds will last up to 6.5 hours on a single charge when playing with the AAC codec, and one hour less with LHDC. The case provides an additional 28 and 24 hours respectively. These figures are based on 50% volume, which personally felt a bit loud to me. At around 40% volume, I achieved close to 7 hours of battery life across all modes.
However, there’s a nuance regarding battery life with the ANC mode activated. Without ANC, you can add another 25% on top. This means the Oppo Enco X3i can last up to 10 hours, which I consider suitable for my personal use.
The case charges fully in about an hour, and the earbuds themselves charge quickly too. In just 10 minutes in the case, they gain over 2 hours of playback autonomy. It’s also worth noting that while the case is charging, the earbuds charge simultaneously. This means that a combined 10-minute charge for both components of the Oppo Enco X3i gives a total of over 7 hours of battery life. However, the case does not support wireless charging.
Conclusions
In my opinion, the Oppo Enco X3i balance all their characteristics very well. They have a sleek exterior, are comfortably designed, and are of high quality and thoughtfully engineered. The technical specifications are balanced as well, covering modern needs with advanced codecs where necessary.
The autonomy is reasonable, and the controls are well thought out and versatile, which is significantly important. The only drawbacks I can mention are the simplicity of the included instructions and the lack of explanations for call controls. Also, the absence of wireless charging is notable. In all other aspects, I highly recommend them!
Read also:
- OPPO Enco Air3 Pro Review: Mid-budget TWS Earbuds with Premium Sound
- Realme Buds Air 5 TWS Headphones Review
- Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Review: Most Affordable TWS Earbuds from Company