Verdict
A feature - fertile set of wireless phone that comfortably outmatch an already tempting price point . The Nothing Ear ( a ) strait secure whatever you ’re listen to , have a mostly successful ANC system of rules and come take with extra features .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Budget on-key wireless earbuds are become better , and the Nothing Ear ( a ) are one of the very serious sets I have ever used .
launch alongside theNothing Ear , a successor to theEar ( 2 ) , the Ear ( a ) supercede Nothing ’s premature budget set – theEar ( joystick ) . While I appreciate Nothing ’s simplistic naming scheme , thing are already a mo perplexing .
All you really need to have it off is that at £ 99/$99 , the Nothing Ear ( a ) are great , whether it ’s with a packed feature article list or audio lineament . They also look singular , something I could n’t say about most of thebest headphoneson the market .
Design
Nothing has only been around for a couple of year and has unblock less than 10 products , yet the London - base brand has already crafted a unassailable visual identity .
All of its flagship product have adopted a guileless build , allow the internal ingredient add an heart - catch design element .
I have always had a subdued spot for vapourous technical school , go as far back as the Game Boy Colour . With the Nothing Ear ( a ) , the top of the example is clear , permit you stare upon the buds inside . The prolonged capitulum stems are made of clean plastic too , with the interior mostly visible . It make for a very distinct look that ’s both forward-looking and retro in adequate cadence .
These buds come in three coloring material : black , white and the lily-livered I am using for this review . The yellowness is instantly the best option , and the colouring run across the bud and the case .
Speaking of the case , it ’s dinky and easier to bag than the very square case that the higher - close Nothing Buds come in , though not quite as unequaled as the subway case of the Nothing Ear ( stick ) . There ’s a physical partner off button on the inside and aUSB - Cport on the back . It is constructed from plastic , but it feel sturdy and has an IPX2 rating for protection from junk and body of water .
The bud themselves have a elbow grease - repellent IP54 paygrade and go for that stem - toting aim that ’ll be familiar to anyone who has usedAirPodsbefore . I imagine the stem adds a little more bread and butter to the buds when compared to something like theSony WF-1000XM5and I incur the fit is ordinarily studier .
The longer stem also collapse a spectacular place to put the gesture control area , rather than forcing you to tap on the bud while it ’s in your ear . Nothing uses a series of pinches here , with a double pinch skipping forward and a longer pinch toggling on and off the active noise cancelling ( ANC ) .
Inside the Nothing X app there ’s a way to fine-tune what each nip does , with the option to add together book control too . However , having to double pinch the buds to move the volume up ( or down ) slightly was very unreliable in my testing and I end up just turning this option off .
They ’re not the comfiest buds though , grind in far more than theAirPods Proand making my ears a little sore after stretch forth manipulation . There ’s every hazard this will change with use , but I could n’t find a tantrum that was completely well-heeled with any of the three include tips
Features
consider the £ 99/$99 price , there ’s a fantastic amount of feature article available on the Nothing Ear ( a ) .
Of naturally , there ’s ANC – not always a given at this price but becoming far more common – to block out pesky commuter noise or an to a fault garrulous office staff , but there ’s alsoLDAC(along with the usual SBC and AAC ) support for high - timbre streaming on Android , in - ear detection with machine gambol / pause and a low lag mode aimed at gamers . There is multi - point audio , allowing the buds to touch base to two twist simultaneously .
With the ANC , there ’s a fairish bit of control over how it works . It can be set to High , Mid , Low or Adaptive – the latter of which is supposed to find the optimum story for your surroundings . There are three mics in each bud to help block out randomness plus some extra software program jiggery-pokery in the backend .
During the first few days of examination , I jump between the mood often before determine to just leave it on Adaptive in the Leslie Townes Hope that would remove any guessing . In realism , I plant the Adaptive mode did very short , and the best result were to be had from just leave the ANC set to High .
The noise - cancellation is effectual in most spot , well efface office chatter and the high - pitch squeal of machinery out of doors . Walking down a busy route , the sound of onrushing vehicles was diminished to a respectable floor .
The ANC was less successful on the London Underground and with gaudy public transport , where I often had to double check over I had n’t accidentally turn it off . Once again the low Leontyne Price needs to be taken into account and for the outgo , the ANC is efficient and a welcome improver .
You do need a very firm seal for the ANC to work effectively , and I often fight to get the buds to stay in place well enough to consistently benefit from the cancellation . This will alter depending on your ears though , but I have used a lot of wireless bud and I have never had fit issue like this before .
The ANC can also be turned off wholly , or coiffe to a Transparency mode that let through some sounds , including voices . The Transparency is equal , but it does n’t remain firm out . Voices come through a petty robotlike and I had better outcome just turning ANC off whole when I was speaking to anyone or wanted to hear , for example , a train announcement .
Nothing X is useable on iOS and Android and is a well - design app that sport visual constituent you ’ll find across Nothing ’s Android tegument , The Android version has a few more features , like enabling LDAC streaming ( something not supported on iOS ) but mostly the apps are the same .
There ’s a mere equaliser for customising audio frequency and four presets ( Balanced , More Bass , More triplex , Voice ) that can quickly be tapped if you ’re not bothered about fussing around . None of these tweaks made a huge difference to the sound recording and I just leave it in the default state for the best , most balanced speech sound .
Nothing has claimed the buds should last for around 5.5 hours per charge , and the font should be able-bodied to charge them up just about five times . Turn the ANC off and this call nearly doubles – over 9 hours per bud . I did my own exam on the battery sprightliness and my finding were standardised to Nothing ’s , although with the ANC set to High I would typically get below 5 hour before demand to pop the bud back in the face . A assault and battery drainpipe for an 60 minutes with a bulk at 50 % took the battery down 19 % .
This amount charge is perfectly fine – there are n’t many instances when I would apply the bud for five hours straight – however it ’s on the lower end of the competition . The excellentCambridge Audio Melomania M100can last around 10 hr , which is double that of the Nothing Ear ( a ) .
Charging is via the USB - deoxycytidine monophosphate porthole on the back only , although you ’ll need to pay the extra £ 30/$50 for the regular Ear to get the benefit of Qi radio .
Sound Quality
There ’s certainly a lot to like about the Nothing Ear ( a ) . If you ’ve got this far down the review thinking that Nothing went big on the feature lean only to scant on the audio then you ’re misguided .
I ’ve spent the preceding week being exhaustively affect by the audio here , sputter to find much geological fault with the £ 99/$99 buds . I ’ve tested them with Spotify files from an iPhone plus high - res Apple Music files through the LDAC codec from an Android phone , and the Ear ( a ) handles everything with rest and a pleasing neutrality that ’s not too dissimilar to Apple ’s AirPods Pro .
They have an adorable , talkative strait that gives real depth to song . There ’s plentifulness of item to vocal , with the XX ’s Islands come across crisp and clear , without being dominate by bass . There ’s perhaps not quite as much clarity as the AirPods Pro – but these buds are less than half the price .
When bass part is required , it is there – and there ’s a Bass Enhance tool in the app that can append more weight unit if needed . Billie Eilish ’s You Should See Me in a Crown is a outstanding test for the bass skills of these buds and they pass , with the pounding chorus growl in with just the right amount of lick .
Bright , energetic tracks like Olivia Rodrigo ’s Obsessed have stack of pop even if they can fall down more or less when high frequency , official document - heavy segments arrive and matter can get a little messy . The accession of ANC can also dull some of the well-grounded quality , though not to the same horizontal surface our reviewer found with the Nothing auricle .
There ’s no support for spacial audio , although I do n’t think that tech is quite there yet to make that much of a negative .
On the whole , the audio here is very good for the cost and there are n’t many buds on the market that offer better sound caliber for less than £ 100/$100 .
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Should you buy it?
For the price , there is n’t much better . The standout design , dear speech sound , and often excellent ANC make for a enticing bargain .
The fit is very much down to the wearer and my experience might be very different from yours – but I feel the Nothing Ear ( a ) to be a small uncomfortable and the uneven tantrum often made the ANC spoilt .
Final Thoughts
It ’s hard not to be impress by the Nothing Ear ( a ) buds . They are a lineament - rich set of wireless headphones that well outperform an already beguiling toll point . They sound good whatever you ’re heed to , have a mostly successful ANC system and derive packed with supererogatory lineament like multi - point audio .
TheNothing auricle – the replacement to the Ear ( 2 ) – are a piffling pricier and while they pack wireless charging , I do n’t think the audio is much better and the font is n’t as well design . You ’ll find splendid rivals in theJBL Live Pro 2andCambridge Audio Melomania M100for somewhat more money offering a similar software package , although the design of Nothing ’s buds wins out for me every individual time .
I ’d like a slightly tighter and more comfortable fit – possibly with more varied atomic number 14 cap size of it – plus a slimly more successful adaptative ANC mode , but these are an easy recommendation for anyone bet for an fantabulous budget pair of wireless earbuds .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every Seth of earpiece we go over good over an extended period of metre . We use industry standard tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we discover . We never , ever , accept money to refresh a product .
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FAQs
you may get 24.5 hours ( including the charging case ) from the Nothing Ear ( a ) with ANC work on . reverse ANC off and that stretch out bombardment life to 42.5 hour .
