Oppo Enco Air5s unboxing and ears-on | Infinium-tech

Now that we’ve unboxed the Oppo Enco Air5, it’s time for the new Enco Air5s. Touted as Oppo’s first semi-in-ear earbuds, the Air5s come in Lunar White, Midnight Black, and Starlight Purple.

Because the buds are open-ear, there are no silicone tips in the box.

Oppo Enco Air5s

The Enco Air5s share some of the key features of the Air5 (and Air5 Pro), such as 12mm dynamic drivers. However, these buds have a smaller case (with the same 530mAh battery) and a smaller in-bud battery of 40.5mAh (vs. 62mAh on the Air5). As a result, you’re getting up to 48 hours on a charge, compared to 52 hours on the Air5.

One thing the Enco Air5s do have over the Air5 is support for sliding gestures for volume controls in addition to tapping on the buds. This is necessary for some users (including this editor).

Very light and compact case

The Enco Air5s are comfortable to wear for long periods of time. It starts with the design of the buds – they’re open-ear (Oppo calls it semi-in-ear), meaning there are no silicone tips to dig into your ear canal.

On the other hand, the lack of eartips means the Air5s don’t create a vacuum in your ears and have much weaker passive isolation than typical in-ear buds.

Still, you get active noise cancellation, although Oppo doesn’t claim decibel numbers. The ANC is nowhere near the level of the Air5. Like other open-ear buds we’ve tested, the noise cancellation only barely takes the edge off your environment.

The sound quality seems to match the Air5 – there’s plenty of volume and a very strong midrange with an emphasis on treble. Due to less effective passive isolation, you’re getting less impressive bass, which wasn’t as impressive on the Air5 out of the box to begin with.