One of my biggest bugbears with in-ear buds is the stagnation of the battery life of the buds themselves. Companies can pack as much battery into the case as they like, but the actual, useable battery life, when it sits around 5-6 hours, just isn’t enough.
Thankfully, Chinese brand Oppo has heard my quiet prayers and released a pair of earbuds with some truly epic battery life.
The Enco Air4 are touted to last for 12 hours without a dip back into their charging case. That’s longer than pretty much any other pair of in-ear buds out there — and there are more reasons they could land on our list of the best cheap earbuds.
Premium specs, bargain price
First off — the price. The Air4 are going to cost just $35. That’s an incredible price, especially when you consider what Oppo has managed to pack into the bud’s tiny package. Beyond the epic bud battery, the case will last a class-leading 43 hours. Those two numbers are with ANC turned off, but I’d be willing to forgo some noise canceling in exchange for brilliant battery.
Oh yeah, there’s ANC in the buds too. That would make them some of the cheapest noise-canceling earbuds around — and while it might not take the fight to the far more expensive AirPods Pro 2, it’s a welcome addition for buds so cheap.
Google Fast Pair makes it a cinch to connect your earbuds to your phone, and Bluetooth 5.4 allows for dual connection. There are touch controls on the bud’s stems so that you can skip and pause without taking your phone out of your pocket.
There seems to be some kind of spatial audio implementation in the form of “Oppo Alive Audio”, but this doesn’t seem to play spatial mixes but attempts to spatialize music. I’ll be keeping my eye on this feature — I don’t tend to be a fan.
I think they look great too, especially in the two color options — Fresh Mint and Silky White. We don’t yet have a release date, but we’ll be sure to let you know the moment we get them on the Tom’s Guide testing bench.
