Nothing’s new earbuds prove that it can (mostly) hang with the heavyweights

Nothing is churning retired caller earbuds astatine a faster clip than smartphones. The institution conscionable introduced nan Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a), priced astatine $149 and $99, respectively. Together, they people Nothing’s 4th and 5th products successful nan headphone category. First came the original Ear 1, which stood retired for its partially transparent creation but suffered from bugs and inconsistent audio performance. Then, Nothing went aft a different assemblage pinch nan open-style (and oddly named) Ear Stick. And a twelvemonth ago, nan institution shored up reliability and sound value concerns with nan Ear 2. Now it’s backmost for different go-round. 

And conjecture what? Yep, they still look beautiful overmuch precisely nan same.

The Nothing Ear and Ear (a) some sphere nan creation that debuted successful 2021, pinch nan improvements again focused connected day-to-day performance. On nan flagship Ear buds, nan sound floor plan was tweaked erstwhile much and includes caller personalization options, and their artillery life has been extended by 25 percent. And there’s a caller Bass Enhance mounting for giving nan debased extremity immoderate other footwear erstwhile desired. 

Meanwhile, nan much affordable Nothing Ear (a) adds a scatter of colour to a Nothing instrumentality for nan first time: they’re disposable successful yellowish successful a hue that’s alternatively adjacent to the adorable Playdate. But nan earbuds themselves look conscionable for illustration nan pricier Ears, correct down to nan components you tin spot done nan transparent portion of nan stem. And they consciousness identical to nan Ear 2 erstwhile you put them in. They’re comfortable, but Nothing only includes 3 sizes of silicone tips, which doesn’t ever screen nan afloat dispersed of receptor sizes.

And nan similarities widen to really they function. Both person nan aforesaid spot of progressive sound cancellation and are capable to muffle retired up to 45dB of noise, which is doubly what nan Ear 2 were tin of. Both pairs of earbuds are IP54 particulate and water-resistant, though nan Ear’s lawsuit is much resilient, pinch a IP55 standing compared to IPX2 standing for nan smaller Ear (a) case. Spending much connected nan Nothing Ear besides nets you wireless charging. But successful position of feel, I for illustration nan much compact Ear (a) case, which nan institution says was inspired by “everyday pill packets.” It’s much fun! Nothing has improved sound telephone capacity and AI sound isolation connected some sets of buds, arsenic well.

Where nan Nothing Ears triumph retired is successful audio fidelity and nan level of customization you tin use to it. Nothing says nan Ear has its “most advanced” driver strategy yet, which uses a ceramic diaphragm “rarely seen successful audio products” for improved richness. It besides collaborated pinch a institution called Mimi for a proceeding trial successful nan Nothing X app that creates a individual sound floor plan for your unsocial proceeding traits. I’ve mostly stuck pinch nan “advanced” EQ, which lets you set a graphical interface and create profiles for different philharmonic genres. Once nan Nothing Ears are out, you’ll beryllium capable to stock your preferred presets pinch different owners (and import theirs) by measurement of QR code. 

So far, I’ve been very satisfied by really nan Nothing Ears sound. The Ear 2 were already connected nan mark, truthful these aren’t excessively different. Can they compete pinch each instrumentality that Apple, Samsung, Google, and others are offering? No. There’s nary caput search spatial audio, for example.

But from an audio value perspective, they’re going toed to toed pinch earbuds from companies pinch acold much resources. And that’s not to opportunity that nan Ear (a) sounds bad by comparison. It’s honestly successful nan aforesaid ballpark, truthful you’re not sacrificing overmuch if you really want Nothing’s colorful buds.

And you’re still getting multipoint, Fast Pair (for Android), Microsoft Swift Pair, and a low-latency gaming mode successful nan cheaper buds. That’s a batch of worldly crammed successful for $99. Battery life has besides been wholly sufficient, lasting for complete 5 hours connected some buds pinch ANC enabled aliases good complete 8 hours if you tin spell without it. 

So arsenic it stands correct now, some of Nothing’s caller earbuds are a very coagulated value. And they’ll go much tin successful nan months to come: nan institution plans to adhd ChatGPT integration to its smartphones and earbuds, which will fto you query nan AI done sound erstwhile connected nan move. I deliberation earbuds are a much compelling conveyance for these interactions, truthful I’m excited to trial really it each comes together erstwhile that update is available.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge