Having recently unboxed the Oppo Enco Air5, it's time to dive into the new Enco Air5s. Positioned as Oppo's first semi-in-ear earbuds, the Air5s are available in three elegant colors: Lunar White, Midnight Black, and Starlight Purple.
The Enco Air5s come without silicone tips, as the buds are designed to be open-ear.
Oppo Enco Air5s
These earbuds inherit key specifications from the Air5 (and Air5 Pro), including the 12mm dynamic driver. However, the Enco Air5s feature a more compact charging case (with the same 530mAh battery) and smaller in-bud batteries at 40.5mAh compared to 62mAh in the Air5. Consequently, the Air5s provide up to 48 hours of playtime on a single charge, slightly less than the 52 hours offered by the Air5.
One significant advantage of the Enco Air5s over the Air5 is the inclusion of sliding gestures for volume control, in addition to the traditional tapping on the earbuds. This feature is essential for many users, including this editor.
Compact and Lightweight Case
The Enco Air5s emphasize comfort for prolonged use. The design is open-ear (or semi-in-ear, as Oppo refers to it), which means there are no silicone tips that can cause discomfort in the ear canal.
However, the absence of eartips results in minimal passive isolation, meaning the Air5s do not create a vacuum in your ear like traditional in-ear buds. While they do feature active noise cancellation (ANC), Oppo has not specified decibel ratings. The level of ANC does not match that of the Air5; similar to other open-ear models we have tested, the noise cancellation offers only a slight reduction in ambient sounds.
In terms of sound quality, the Enco Air5s appear to match the performance of the Air5, delivering plenty of volume along with a robust midrange and pronounced treble. Due to the less effective passive isolation, bass response is comparatively weaker, which was also a limitation noted in the Air5 right out of the box.
