OPPO Enco Clip2 - Turning My Earbud Priorities Upside Down

Wireless charging and Active Noise Cancelling.

The two features I absolutely insist on with a set of earbuds.

It's non-negotiable.

I want everything else blocked out and once you've had the convenience of just plonking your earbuds case down on any available wireless charging pad, you can never go back.

End of story.

There's nothing that could change my mind. Not ever.

Except, over the last few days I've been using the OPPO Enco Clip2 open earbuds and well... I might have to reconsider my priorities.

For a long time now I've put the convenience of wireless charging and the isolationism of ANC ahead of other concerns like comfort, secure fit and yes, even just basic sound quality. Which is not to say I don't value those things too.

So when a rig like the Enco Clip2 puts those things first instead, it makes for an interesting quandary.

You may not be familiar with this particular form-factor - I wasn't either until I tried a similar set of buds recently. Essentially, what we're dealing with here is an open-ear design that sits over your ear canal rather than on it or in it. So right away, this is the obvious solution for the many prospective users out there who've been put off earbuds in the past because they could never get them to fit properly, or just found them horribly uncomfortable to wear.

Conversely, it's my opinion that this clip design is easily the most comfortable anyone has come up with to date. That's because not only is there zero weight or pressure anywhere near the sensitive opening to your ear canal, there's not even anything to cause rubbing or friction over the top of your ears as there certainly can be with another popular shape - the over-ear hook option often favoured by runners and cyclists.

Instead, the Enco Clip2s are held together by a strip of nitinol alloy, which is allegedly even more resilient than titanium. The larger bulb nestles behind your ear while the smaller one, which contains the dual full-range drivers, sits above your ear canal, without the need to create a claustrophobically tight seal. The nitinol band works as a kind of spring to hold each bud in place, which it does so with supreme comfort and infallible security.

I haven't even had to adjust either bud's position once in all the hours I've been wearing them. They simply do not fall out or cause any discomfort whatsoever.

Yet, if somehow one did bobble out, you'll get an immediate warning tone and voice notification to let you know its happened. I suppose if you were machete-ing your way through dense jungle there could be an outside chance a stray vine or branch might manage to hook and dislodge one of your buds - but that doesn't seem likely during my usual business day.

Funny thing - when I first took them out of the case to photograph, I couldn't tell which one was left and which was right. Amazingly, it turns out it doesn't matter! They've been designed to be symmetrical and the buds themselves figure out which one is in which ear. How clever is that?

So the Clip2 buds have absolutely smashed the comfort and secure fit categories. How about sound quality? Surely an open fit like this couldn't deliver much, could it?

Well, OPPO teamed up with Danish sound gurus, Dynaudio to make sure it does just that.

Although not compulsory (you can pair the Enco Clip2 buds to your device just by selecting them from your list of available bluetooth devices) the HeyMelody app offers quite a list of tweaks and customisations. You can listen in Hi-Res Audio with LHDC 5.0 if you're playing from a compatible device, there are several preset Dynaudio EQ settings to choose from and you can activate OPPO Alive audio or Holo Audio for a more "spatial" or 3D listening experience.

And it's good. Very good.

To start with, "Casualty (acoustic-ish)" by Lawrence is just an incredible piece of audio production. The recording standard is clean but not sterile. The track gets big without becoming cluttered and as for those duo lead-singers... well, I'm struggling to think of another band with a double vocal attack as sublime as them. And the Clip2 buds absolutely do it all justice. 

Likewise, my favourite artist of all time, Richard Julian, is the master of restraint, holding back just when you think he's going to go hard, like on the track, "Your Thing" which is, for the most part, just his voice, his guitar, drums and, you guessed it, a tuba. Again, the way the dual DACs in each bud convert the digital signal from the source device to a rich, acoustic, live vibe is quite remarkable.

There is one slight aural limitation; I've trialled a few big bass tracks - "Seven Nation Army" and the like - and the result, although still tonally accurate, definitely lacks the powerful bass thump I've only ever really experienced from sealed-fit, in-ear buds. And full-sized over-ear headphones, obviously. I think this is just basic physics - there's only so much even a Danish audio engineer can do to pump up the bass with a form-factor like this.

But what a sexy-looking form-factor it is. The Enco Clip2s come in Slate Grey or Luminous Gold and are supposed to look more like jewellery than audio accessories. They're IP55 resistant against dust and water and because they stay in so well, they're the ideal pick for extreme outdoor adventures or extreme indoor exercise.

They also do things I wasn't even aware were things yet. They'll connect via Bluetooth 6.1 - assuming you have something that's also running Bluetooth 6.1. I've currently got them paired with the OPPO Reno 16 Pro, which I'll be reviewing in the next week or so. Although that handset only has Bluetooth 5.4, the connection still happens almost instantly, is very lag-free and the range is astonishing. I was putting washing in the dryer down in the garage last night and completely forgot I'd left my phone upstairs in the bedroom. It made no difference - the connection held strong.

There's even a new onboard control, to go with the usual single, double and triple taps you would have expected. You can now swipe forward and back on the flat surface of either bud to raise and lower the volume.

I'm starting to forget what I wanted from these things that they didn't have...

Oh, that's right; wireless charging. Who cares? They'll play for up to 9.5 hours on a full charge - a total of 40 hours including the charge in the case. So I'm only going to have to plug them in about once a week anyway.

And although there's no Active Noise Cancelling (virtually impossible with an open fit) a process known as dipole sound field technology emits reverse sound waves from the rear vent, reducing any leakage dramatically.

As for mic quality for phone and video calls - watch the video below and tell me you're not impressed.

I know I am. The Enco Clip2 buds have proven how good they are at the things I thought were less important than the things they don't have. In fact, they've made me reconsider just how important those things were in the first place.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the OPPO Enco Clip2.