The $99 Apple AirPods Killers

Lou, I want something like AirPods, but I don't want to spend $150, $160, $200

I actually get this question asked frequently, and so that's where this product comes in

We just received the new Oppo & Co. 3, and they are true wireless earbuds

Of course, they look a lot like AirPods. I feel like we're in a situation now where it's a kind of ain't broke, don't fix it mentality

where the AirPods have been so successful that it's impossible to imagine

some other kind of form factor emerging. This is what people want

People want AirPods, so headphones are gonna look like AirPods. Now, I have a couple of other earbuds on the table, obviously

We have the classic AirPods. Those are both AirPods too. These ones are just painted black

This is from a previous episode where we checked out the new Galaxy Buds

They fit in between from a price perspective. uh obviously around 130 bucks something like that but these new enco frees are going to be

the cheapest of the bunch on the table they're around 100 bucks so i think that's a pretty

substantial savings and if you're in the market for something like this i think it's worth paying

attention to and that's why we're here what does it say for features here binaural simultaneous

Bluetooth transmission. Okay, full wireless. Ultra dynamic speaker powered by a 13.4 millimeter

ultra dynamic equipped with FPC positioning system. AI uplink noise cancellation during calls. So

noise cancellation but only during calls, not during music. And the coolest feature is slide

and tap. So all the controls for the buds are going to be right along the earbud itself. I have

intuitively myself with airpods at times reached up to interact with them and then remembered oh

i can't do certain functions that i would with over the ear headphones other models that i use

where you can tap the side and do things turn to volume and so forth these ones do that that's

pretty cool this actually comes with flexible silicone tips as well and battery life is five

plus 20 hours five hours and then 20 hours inside the case okay so it's all it's all fairly promising

at the moment and i think a hundred dollars is a is a pretty nice price point uh it's the upper

end of what a person who is just sort of casually looking to improve their headphones i think a

hundred bucks is kind of where some people draw the line so to get it in under a hundred i think

will attract some people inside the package quick start true wireless cool this is the case

So it's a little bit bigger than AirPods, but I don't think that's a huge deal

For most people that's still tremendously portable. Huge advantage for me right away, which is the fact that it charges over USB Type-C

Now I don't believe it has wireless charging. Maybe Will can look into that for us I doubt it at this price point but of course the AirPods did get the wireless charging and the Galaxy Buds have the wireless charging So if that important to you it doesn have wireless charging

If that's important to you, you probably have to look at those ones. The package has a pearlescent look to it

So the finish is actually different than it is on AirPods. This is your standard AirPod finish, which of course is just this glossy white

This is a bit more matte, so it should be maybe more resistant to micro scratches or fingerprints

It's just got a pearlescent look to it. There's a single button on the side

Oppo logo on the front. An LED light. It's got what you need on it

Open and close. I mean, it's all there. Fatter than the AirPods

That's one AirPod height. Two AirPods. Yeah, I mean, here's a nice advantage over AirPods

Interchangeable tips. that fit onto the earbuds. So it's got a tiny little ear tip included

You know, this is kind of nice, not just for getting the right fit

but also for cleaning them. These things get nasty, you can pull that off

clean it very easily. So this is nice, this is already an improvement

A lot of people tell me that they can't wear AirPods because they don't fit in their ears

and then they have to buy some aftermarket accessory or they have to step up to the AirPods Pro

or purchase something like the Galaxy Buds to get interchangeable tips. You get that over here and this is substantially cheaper

So that's definitely some points in this direction. But also if you use them for physical activities

if you're jumping around, running around, maybe we'll give him the Kirk for the test. He likes to shake his head around

The small is the only one with the integrated fit. By the time you step up to the medium

you can see it kind of lifts off the structure a little bit. does not bug me and does not impact the charging

they've accommodated for that extra bit right there. So that's no big deal

So I'm gonna put medium on both. No, you know I'm not

I'm gonna do medium on one small on one. I'm gonna actually compare the difference. How about we do that instead

Type C to A cable to charge them up. Now we gotta listen to them and see how they stack up

Now, of course, I've been using the Galaxy S20 Ultra, so I'll be trying them out with this device

though they'll work on any device that supports the Bluetooth. You may have some extra integration if you use with an Oppo device

I'm not sure. All right. So first up, the medium ear tip on the right earbud

Okay. Medium feels pretty good. Small ear tip on the left earbud

All right. So the effect here, this feels more like a traditional AirPod

I can hear my surroundings. there's less isolation but it also feels like it could fall out easier so it's it's halfway between

it's kind of the best of both if you choose to leave the pre-installed ear tip you have a very

air pod in and out experience if you want something more fitted you put the bigger ear tip on and of course that impact your sound a little bit too The greater the seal you make the better the representation especially in the low frequencies

So maybe it's kind of a good idea for me to have one of each when I go listen to some music here

Let's just discover and see what happens here. I might say right now it's discernible to me the right left ear situation so I'm just gonna

get on with it and swap out this ear tip too because the better seal is evident I'm just

getting a much fuller sound on the medium ear tip it goes to show you how much of this earbud

experience it is uh has to do with just the fit getting the right fit and how many people are

walking around there with a bad fit it's a lot of people walking around in public they got a bad

earbud fit and they're not even using the full potential of the bud i'm gonna go up to medium

on this one as well okay yeah that's much better oh by the way i just triggered the play on there

was it a tap or a swipe oh so okay so it's a tap to pause play

works perfectly how about if i swipe so swiping down goes forward

and up goes back. It's very fast. And this is incredibly convenient

That touch pad, it's intuitive. It's like, it's what you, your brain intuitively wants to do that

Show them, Jack. Show them how quickly. I swipe, it goes. So fast

It's almost instant with my touch. Look, I'm gonna go down here. Watch. now what happens on the left hand side if i do the same thing it's going to be volume oh there's

different colors okay so you can get them in black they just sent us the white ones the airpod the

most airpod version i would of course pick them up in black if it was up to me i know a lot of

people that really wanted airpods but didn't like the price went out and bought a variety of tws

earphones earbuds that were out there on the market that were kind of replicas of airpods or

diff or or even if they looked a little bit different and the problem with a lot of those

models it's hard for me to ever truly recommend them because of the connection issues where you

would have one ear pairs up and then the other bud pairs to that ear so with the higher end earbuds

they would both instantly connect immediately, like Galaxy Buds or AirPods. It looks like they've got similar tech in here

with the simultaneous Bluetooth transmission instead of pairing one earbud then to the next

The earliest fully wireless earbuds I ever tested on a channel were like that and I would have dropouts on one ear because your head in the middle and it trying to connect across your you know what i saying will and in my case a lot of density

there some quick feedback on a sound i think there is a little bit of a hit in sound quality uh in

volume they're not sounding to me quite at the level of these other two options yeah they gotta

to sound good it got to sound better than wired earbuds you're spending some money on them but

there's way better sounding headphones for 100 bucks if you aren't in this for convenience you

can get a set plenty of sets of over-ear headphones and an adapter and get way better sound so these to

me are convenience products first and then the sound is it's also there but it's further down

the list so i still think for this type of product it's in the realm of acceptability probably worth

the value associated with this price point for a lot of people and the convenience of the touchpad

on the side. Now, apparently they put a lot of effort into the phone call functionality and

quality as well, as well as the noise canceling during the phone call. So I'm going to do a quick

test. I'm going to call Will real quick. Yo. Hey, how do I sound? Pretty good. I mean, they're going to

touched the echo over there i mean there's not much low end but it's pretty clear yeah yeah yeah

i know these things are hit and miss with the headsets but i think you're right it sounds okay

all right so i did mention earlier we did we do have to check this with kirk's shake test because

of the jumping jacks and the whatnot that he gets himself into on most weekdays in the mornings it's

an apple juice some oatmeal and then straight into the jumping jacks so we're going to give him a

quick test, it's the medium ear tips. I don't know what type of cs you're working with

Yeah, that should be good. There he goes, okay. Is that as rowdy as you get though

I feel like last time when you had the Galaxy Buds, you were way more rugged

Give it a shake, I know you don't. These are better. Oh, they're better

Yeah, they're good. I think we may have found a thing I can recommend to people

if they don't want to spend the Apple Premium or for whatever reason

they're not interested in the Galaxy Buds. Obviously, it's a lot like the Galaxy Buds, this product

I would give the Galaxy Buds an edge in sound, but I'd give these ones an edge in convenience

because of these touch pads on the side, which are just really intuitive and natural to use

They just make a lot of sense. And then, of course, the price, right? These are a hundred bucks, around a hundred bucks

I think it's a, it could be a win. It could be a 2020 technology win

The Oppo Enco Free True Wireless Earbuds. I'd probably just get them in black if it was for me