 |
- DESIGN
First let's get the design area of the buds out of the way. The OPPO Enco M31 is extremely well-built with smooth finish and sleek accents all over the neckband-styled buds. The buds of the device is very well designed, fits snuggly into the ears is extremely comfortable for long wearing sessions. If you talk about the looks, they really look extremely stylish and gives you that premium feel when you give them a glance. The thing is primarily built out of plastic but has two metal panels at the end of the neckband which adds to the premium-ness. The ear-buds don't protrude out of your ear-canal unlike the Bullets Wireless Z which I feel is a major positive which means you can sleep with the ear-buds on , your ears won't hurt even after long working sessions, you can wear them under your helmet and most importantly, the even weight balance ensures that they they do not com out of your ears even with very rigorous workout sessions. They are IPX5 certified too, hence sweat and mild rain won't be able to put an impact on them. I myself have been extremely comfortable with the earbuds owing to it's lightweight and practical design choice.
- FUNCTIONS AND CONTROLS
- AUDIO QUALITY
Coming to the sound-quality, take my word right away , there are no better sounding Bluetooth earphones under Rs. 5000 be it truly-wireless or neckband style earphones than the OPPO ones. The earphones do reproduce a very clinical sort of balanced sound in it's default mode and OPPO has done a magical job in tuning the earbuds and that's the reason why I said, the historical expertise is perfectly reflected on the earbuds. The highs have the right amount of sparkle just like a sennheiser earphone, the mids are crystal clear like a RHA and the bass is punchy too but it doesn't creep into any of the mids and the vocal and instrument separation can be clearly made out. The Bass is there but it is certainly not overpowering unlike Realme and Sony (XB-series) earphones. The sound is pretty rich and I like it very much. But does this mean bass-heads are left out?? Absolutely no. There is a dedicated Bass mode on the device which can be toggled by double tapping the multi-function button. Once the bass mode is toggled , the sound becomes considerably boomy and sounds much more like a Sony XB earphone with crystal clear highs but sacrificed mids . Don't get me wrong, the bass is not all lacking in the balanced mode and is adequately, but bass-heads might feel slightly owing to the fact that a lot of people don't really care much about the balanced sound profile but are more into the boomy thing. No matter what, the OPPO Enco M31 won't let you down either ways. Talking about the specs, there are 9.2mm dynamic drivers under the hood with 32 Ohms of impedance and a frequency response spectrum of 20Hz-20000Khz. There is LDAC support and Hi-res audio certification which ensures your experience is nothing short of spectacular on the OPPO Enco M31.
- BATTERY LIFE
Here let me mention a con however. The battery life on the OPPO Enco M31 is the only that isn't particularly amazing on the OPPO Enco M31. The battery life is strictly average with LDAC on which will give you roughly about 5.5 to 6.5 hours of battery life at around 60-70 percent battery and without LDAC music playback will last for anywhere between 10.5 to 11.5 hours. Without LDAC, the battery isn't really bad to be honest but considering the fact that now we have the Oneplus Bullets Wireless Z in the competition which gives out about 16-17 hours of battery life easily on a single charge is really remarkable. On paper the OPPO Enco M31 has a 88 mAh battery and will easily last you a full working day however. But, if you are someone who mostly stays outdoors and doesn't have enough time to charge the device then you surely will be disappointed. However, there is quick charge support and a 10 minute top up can last you for a couple of hours. Personally I have drained the battery just once, strictly due to testing purposes but practically in day-to-day usage I barely had any problems with the battery life. But then again, my charging habits are quite regular and hence your case might be different. So make an informed decision about the same.
- GAMING AND LATENCY
Lastly when it comes to gaming and day-today usage u won't face any issues with latency provided you use a snapdragon device and u don't look at PUBG. Now, let me explain. The games that I have tried the earphones with include Call of Duty, Modern Combat 5, PUBG, Asphalt 9, Fortnite, Real Cricket and Clash of Clans. The only game where I have noticed latency issues is with PUBG mobile. Even with a windows laptop I haven't noticed any video-audio sync issue but there is considerable audio lag in PUBG mobile which can't be touted as an issue with the earphones themselves. But, if you are a hardcore PUBG, you must forget the OPPO Enco M31 and go with alternatives like the Realme buds Q or the Bullets Wireless Z if u have an Oneplus device. But you will need to give up on audio quality considerably if you choose the other two. There are however no visible latency issues with COD mobile and the experience is quite enjoyable. The most important thing about playing COD with this earphones is that even the faintest of the sounds are reproduced quite clearly making you completely aware of what's going on in the game, all thanks to the LDAC support.
- VERDICT
Coming to the verdict, the OPPO Enco M31 can any day be picked up over it's competition simply owing to its exceptional audio quality and minimal compromises. The main purpose of an earphone is to provide you with good audio and the OPPO Enco M31 delivers on that respect. But the OPPO Enco M31 is definitely not for PUBG players and if you don't have a wired headset at your disposal and you have very minimal budget, I would strictly urge you to stay away from it. That said, take my word you will definitely enjoy the OPPO Enco M31 and won't regret buying one.