The OPPO Enco Buds3 are a $99 half In-ear Pod design with up to 9.5 hours of battery and 3 minutes for 10 hours of play fast charge.
This is a mini-review.
OPPO Enco Buds3 specs
- Website
- Quick Guide
- Price: $99 in Snow White
- Warranty: 12 months
- Half in-ear Pod design (open back with a pod-style stalk
- BT 5.4m SBC and AAC, and Google Fast Pair (Will pair to iOS)
- IP55
- OPPO bonus features when paired with OPPO-compatible phones include tap to take a photo, AI translate, OPPO Alive Audio, and ultra-low latency
- 1000-cycle battery before retaining an 80% charge
- Claimed battery life 43mAh 9.5 hours, AAC codec, 50% volume
- Claimed total life with case 530mAh 48 hours
- USB-C Charge for case 5V/1A/5W
- 12.5mm driver
- Single mic per bud with AI conversational noise reduction
- 3.8g per bud and 39.2g for the case
- Firmware test: 101.101.100 App version 115.11.00
- Privacy: No email required.
To be clear, they do not have ANC, ear tips, nor passive noise reduction (open back)
The OPPO Hey Melody App
- EQ Presets Original Sound, Bass Boost, Clear Vocals
- Game Mode: Sync Audio and video
- Multi-point to two devices
- Find my buds
- Alert sound and volume
- Battery percentage
The app reflects the price. There are no fancy hearing tests, EQ, auto-off, etc.
Comfort – Pass
Being half in-ear and a hard tip (like the Apple iPods), you know it is there. But as it is open back and there is nothing in the ear canal, it is great for Pulsatile tinnitus, hay fever, and itchy ear suffers.
I felt comfortable, and they did not fall out in eight hours of wearing tests, which incidentally matched the battery life.
Battery tests – Pass+
Two tests gave 7.9 hours and 9.1 hours at 70% volume.
Charge time for buds was 65 minutes, and the case took about 90 minutes.
Hands-free – Passable
It does not have real ANC but more of a slight ability to focus on your voice and reduce external sounds. It’s not a good hands-free set.
Sound – Pass
Amazingly listenable for such a small bud. There is enough mid-high bass to satisfy (slightly muddy), good, clear vocals (1-4kHz) and good treble.
The sound signature, however, is odd.
| Frequency | OPPO Enco Buds3 |
| Deep Bass 20-40Hz | Nil and not expected |
| Middle Bass 40-100Hz | Starts at 40Hz with a linear build to 100Hz – good |
| High Bass 100-200Hz | Flattens at 100 to 1kHz |
| Low Mid 200-400Hz | Flat |
| Mid 400-1kHz | Flat |
| High Mid 1-2kHz | Huge linear jump |
| Low Treble 2-4kHz | Flat |
| Mid Treble 4-6kHz | Dip at 5kHz is to reduce treble harshness. |
| High Treble 6-10kHz | Flat to 14kHz |
| Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | Flat to 14kHz then off the cliff. |
| Volume | 80dB (maximum BT volume) |
| Sound Signature type | It has no deep bass Mid bass starts at 40Hz and builds nicely, giving it most of the musically important bass and some oomph. Upper bass is good, as it is on most BT headphones. Mid (low jumps between 1 and 2kHz. Mid (mid and high) focusing on clear voice. Treble (low and mid) is excellent in defining the music’s character. Treble (high) is sufficient to add that sense of air, as if you are there. |
| Soundstage stereo | This is an open-back design, so the sound comes from outside your ears. Pulsatile tinnitus sufferers should love this. |
| Soundstage Spatial | Spatial is in the Android BT setting, but it does little to add depth or height. |
| Comment | While the signature is odd and has bright vocal characteristics, it’s quite listenable with just enough mid and high bass. |
| BT (headphones) | The BT SBC or AAC codec slightly crushes the mid-bass and high treble. |
| USB-C | Capable of 16-bit/44100kHz |
| Read | How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key – guide). |
CyberShack’s view: OPPO Enco Buds3 are low-cost and meant for OPPO users
OPPO makes some exceptional buds like its Enco X2, which at $349 puts any of the big guys on notice.
This is at the other end of the price, not the quality scale. $99 for a very listenable device with good battery life and open back design. But it is clear that OPPO is focusing on its user base because some features only work with late-model OPPOs.
Rating
While we could rate it against other open-back buds (and it would rate very well), we won’t formally rate it as it’s more OPPO-user-specific.
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