Oppo Enco X4 review: AirPods-rivalling sound, ANC and features under Rs 20000

Indian consumers are becoming more aspirational and increasingly willing to spend more for a better experience. This is particularly evident in the audio segment, where premium earbuds promise better sound quality, more effective noise cancellation and everyday conveniences that the lower-end alternatives often lack. Oppo seems to be targeting this growing audience with the Enco X4. The Enco series has already built a reputation for delivering quality true wireless earbuds. With the Oppo Enco X4, the company is taking a more ambitious step into the premium segment. The new earbuds bring dual drivers, Dynaudio tuning, adaptive noise cancellation and wireless lossless audio to the table at Rs 19,999.

There is plenty of hardware to justify Oppo's ambitions. But how much of that translates into a better everyday listening experience? And does the Enco X4 offer enough to justify that premium price? Let's find out in this review.

Comfortable and classy design

The Oppo Enco X4 follows a familiar stem-style design. It does not attempt to look radically different from other premium TWS earbuds, which I appreciate. It looks more refined and premium than the AirPods Pro 3 and OnePlus Buds Pro 3. Oppo has given a mix of matte and glossy surfaces with metallic accents and subtle Dynaudio branding. Even the case, despite its familiar pebble shape, has a handsome appearance.

Both the buds and the case are light and portable. The buds in particular, thanks to the stems, stay put in my ears, and the AirPods-inspired touch and press gestures are easy and responsive to use.

The silicone eartips are also comfortable and offer a good seal for passive isolation.

The earbuds carry an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance. This makes them suitable for regular workouts and outdoor use, although the charging case does not have an official IP rating.

A different beast with the right sound tuning

Oppo has equipped each earbud with an 11mm TRF diaphragm woofer and a 6mm planar diaphragm tweeter. The two drivers handle different parts of the frequency range, with a dedicated DAC for each. Add Danish audio manufacturer Dynaudio's acoustic tuning to the mix, and there is plenty of potential for impressive sound.

However, my listening experience with the Enco X4 had two distinct phases, before and after tweaking the sound settings. Initially, I used the Dynaudio Original Sound profile, and the tuning felt bloated. Had I stuck with this profile, my impression of the earbuds would have been considerably less favourable, particularly when compared with the AirPods Pro 3.

Things changed substantially when I switched to Dynaudio High-Resolution and created a personalised sound profile using the Golden Sound feature, which analyses the characteristics of my ear canal. The difference was considerable. The sound became cleaner, with better clarity and instrumental separation. In this configuration, I actually preferred the Enco X4 over the AirPods Pro 3. The High-Resolution profile brings out more instrumental detail, while the bass remains sufficiently weighty without needing the additional BassWave enhancement.

The Enco X4 has a mildly bass-emphasised sound signature. Tracks such as 'Ravana Tandav' from Ramayana (2026), 'No Favours' by Dhanda Nyoliwala, 'Bhootni Ka' from Udta Teer (2026) and 'Leavemealone' by Fred again benefit from the additional weight in the low-end drums and beats. Importantly, the bass does not completely take over, and vocals and other instruments retain ample presence.

The midrange stays close to the neutral target in our frequency response measurements. This helps vocals and instruments maintain their presence, even in complex arrangements. I could clearly distinguish Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal's voices, along with the different instrumental layers, in 'Mangal Rang' from Ramayana (2026). On a vocal-centric track such as 'Colour' by Imon, the singer's voice sounded intimate, with its breathy texture coming through more clearly than on the AirPods Pro 3.

That said, the bass emphasis is not always beneficial. While listening to 'Easy Street' by Queens of the Stone Age, I found that the earbuds' inherent boominess could overshadow some of the subtler elements in the opening.

At times, the Enco X4's presentation can feel somewhat congested. While I could hear most of the individual instruments and finer details, they didn't always have enough room to stand apart. Everything seemed to play out at once. This made it harder to follow the different layers without straining my ears, and the presentation could become somewhat fatiguing during extended listening.

This fatigue is also caused by the tendency for instruments to sound shrill at higher volumes. I sometimes use 80% volume while testing earbuds, and the Enco X4 can get fairly loud. In regular use, however, I would recommend keeping the volume below 60%.

Similarly, the highs also have an energetic presentation. But the shrillness at high volume is the only tradeoff to note.

Now, one of the Enco X4's strengths is the extent of sound customisation on offer. Apart from the Dynaudio Original Sound and High-Resolution profiles, you can choose Pure Vocals, Crisp Highs and Thundering Bass, depending on your listening preferences. There is also a 10-band Sound Master EQ for those who prefer finer control. You can adjust individual frequency bands, save custom profiles and share them with other users.

With compatible Find X10 series smartphones, the earbuds also support LHDC Lossless audio, with a wireless transmission bitrate of up to 2.3Mbps and support for 24-bit/48kHz audio.

The Enco X4 also supports spatial audio with fixed and head-tracking modes. These create a wider, more expansive sound presentation, but I did not find the experience as natural or immersive as the spatial audio on the AirPods Pro 3.

Overall, it is a beast with the right settings. You get weighty and detailed sound, but can get congested and fatiguing in complex tracks at high volume.

Also Read: Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 review: Lively sound and a focus on longevity

Impressive noise handling

I was comparing the Enco X4's active noise cancellation and transparency mode to the AirPods Pro 3, and the ANC was quite comparable. On both earbuds, you can hear if people are talking loudly around you. Similarly, sudden loud noises can seep through. But unlike Apple, you get more options with respect to controlling the noise handling in the Oppo earphones. You can choose between different levels of noise reduction, or Transparency Mode for greater environmental awareness or go with Adaptive mode that automatically adjusts the balance between noise cancellation and ambient awareness.

While using ANC on our office floor without music, I could only hear faint noises of people's chatter. This was sufficient for me to concentrate on what I am working on or say play games requiring focus. On the other hand, the Transparency mode lets me hear announcements or speak to people without removing the earbuds. Voices sounded fairly natural, if anything, slightly louder than they would normally. But Apple still has the clearest transparency mode.

There is even a Conversation Awareness mode on the Oppo earphones that detects when I start speaking and lowers the media playback volume as well as switches to Transparency mode. Once I stop talking, the earbuds return to the previous listening state. This is very usable. I say this after comparing it with the similar feature on AirPods.

So, largely positive things to talk about here.

Fine call quality and connectivity

Both parties could hear each other properly. But I heard my voice as if I was speaking from inside a small, tight room. That observation aside, I didn't have any problem taking calls with these earbuds, and they are fairly usable for this purpose.

As for general connectivity, I had no issues pairing it to any of my devices or faced any random dropouts. It supports Bluetooth 6.1 and audio codecs like AAC, SBC, LHDC and LC3 codecs with a wireless range of up to 10 metres.

Sensible collection of features

The Enco X4 packs more features than most buyers are likely to use regularly. There are the regulars like EQ presets, a custom EQ option, and also an ability to import an equaliser profile.

In the audio effects section, there is Spatial Audio, including Head Tracking mode.

Then, as mentioned already, there is a multi-option ANC controls section. Besides Audio and noise, there are several utilities, such as dual connection, in-ear detection, swift pairing with Android and Windows, customisable gesture controls, neck posture monitoring reminders, sleep tracking, which pauses playback when you fall asleep, Sound Space for white noise, low game latency mode, earbud fit test, AI Live Translation, and Google Gemini access.

Now, if you have an Oppo Find series phone, then you can use the earbuds' built-in mics for clear audio recording, which can be useful in vlogging.

So, a barrage of features and options means there's something for everyone here.

Serviceable battery life with convenient charging

In our testing involve continous playback of a FLAC music file at 80% volume with AAC codec, and noise cancellation off, the battery lasted for 12 hours and 15 minutes. And with ANC on, the runtime will be lower.

You can see below the official Enco X4 laboratory figures, measured at 50% volume:

So, your mileage may vary with the features and codecs you use. The runtimes could have been better. Anyways, with the charging case, the advertised playback time rises to 53 hours, which should be enough for a weekend outing.

As for charging, wired charging is said to take around 55 minutes for the earbuds and 65 minutes for both the case and buds combined. There's wireless charging too, which is said to take approximately 150 minutes. For the price you are paying, it's good to have such conveniences.

Should you buy Oppo Enco X4?

The OPPO Enco X4 is a serious attempt at making a premium pair of TWS earbuds, and it gets several things right. The sound quality, in particular, can be excellent, but you need to spend some time experimenting with the sound profiles. I was not particularly impressed with the default Dynaudio Original Sound tuning. Switching to High-Resolution and creating a personalised Golden Sound profile made a considerable difference. In fact, I preferred the resulting sound over the AirPods Pro 3.

The noise cancellation is also comparable to Apple's offering. Conversation Awareness and Transparency mode works well, and the earbuds are comfortable to wear. You also get extensive sound customisation, multipoint connectivity, spatial audio, wireless charging and several useful software features.

There are, however, a few areas where the Enco X4 could do better. The bass can occasionally sound boomy, the instruments in the upper mids and treble can get shrill at higher volumes, and call quality, while perfectly usable, could be more natural. Battery life is respectable, but enabling ANC and high-resolution audio will reduce endurance. Also, while the core experience remains accessible across platforms, Android gets a few more features, and Oppo's own phones get the lossless audio feature and some AI capabilities.

So at a price of Rs 19,999, this is an ambitious product which has come across as well-equipped and capable in our evaluation. But at that price, it competes against the flagships from other brands and even lower-priced options like the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, which shares much of its underlying acoustic architecture.

I recommend the Oppo Enco X4 if you value sound customisation, effective noise cancellation and a comprehensive set of features. However, you will get the most out of these earbuds with an Oppo smartphone, particularly one from the Find X10 series. If you use a phone from another brand, I would suggest comparing the Enco X4 with its competition before making a purchase.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar reviews.

Also Read: Apple AirPods 5 review: Best everyday earbuds for those who dislike in-ear designs