Nothing Ear Review: Upgraded Sound, Premium Cost

After the Ear (1) in 2021 and the Ear (2) last year, Nothing launched the Ear, the company launched its latest flagship TWS earbuds last week.  The Ear carries over the eye-catching transparent design for the case and the earbuds, retains Bluetooth 5.3 and LHDC 5.0 audio codec, and also comes with LDAC codec, and improved 45dB ANC.

With all these, the price has also been increased. So, are these ANC earbuds worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.

Box Contents

• Nothing ear in White colour
• Ear tips in Small and Large sizes (Medium pre-installed)
• Braided USB Type-C cable
• User guide

Design and Build Quality

Starting with the design, the headset comes in a familiar eye-catching transparent design, the same as the ear (1) and (2), developed by Stockholm-based teenage engineering. The centre part of the case has a white covering, while the other parts are transparent so that you can view the earbuds clearly. The case has magnets, so that it locks securely. There is also a magnet connecting the two parts of the case, and the earbuds also have a strong magnet that secures them in its place.

The base of the case has some specs for the case. The plastic white part on the top of the clear plastic on the bottom prevents it from getting scratched easily, but the top of the case still gets scratches if you carry the case with other items. There is a function key and a USB Type-C port on the side of the case.

The charging case measures 55.5×55.5×22mm and weighs 51.9 grams, exactly the same as the ear (2). There is a tiny LED light on the case that glows in white, green and red colours. The case also has IP55 ratings for dust and water resistance.

The in-ear earbuds have a transparent design for the stem. The earbuds weigh about 4.62 grams, which is 0.12 heavier than the predecessor, and measure 29.4 x 21.7 x 24.1mm, making it slightly bigger than the predecessor.

There is an optical sensor for wear detection so that it can automatically pause the audio when you remove it from your ears and play when you put it back.

You can also see the NOTHING ear branding on the outside where the touch-sensitive area is present that lets you control play/pause, ANC and volume.  The earphones have IP54 ratings for dust and water resistance. It can withstand splashes or light rain, but you can’t use it when swimming.

The fit was perfect, and it doesn’t come out easily, even during strenuous activities like running or workout. The Earbuds fit test option plays music to ensure that your ear tips make a good seal with your ear canal for better noise-cancelling.

Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls

The Nothing Ear supports Bluetooth 5.3 with LHDC 5.0 and LDAC Hi-Res audio codecs for HD sound quality on supported devices, it also supports AAC codec that works in phones that have it. The LHDC 5.0 offers a transmission rate of up to 1Mbps for 4 times better detail, and transmitting frequencies up to 24 bit/192 kHz.  The LDAC offers transmission rate of up to 990 kbps at 32 bits/96 kHz.

The pairing process is very easy. Just enable Bluetooth on the phone, open the charging case of the buds, place the charging case close to the phone, and follow the prompts. To connect to other devices, place the Buds into the charging case with the cover opened. Press and hold the setup button in the case for 2 seconds to enter Bluetooth settings. Then, select the Nothing Ear.

There is a fast pair option which works in latest Android phones. We tested it on the Nothing Phone (2), OPPO Find X7 Ultra, and more devices and never faced any pairing or disconnection issues. There is also Microsoft Swift Pair to connect it to Windows. Since the phone pairs with the case and not the headset, you will need the case if you want to reconnect it or even turn on the headset if it’s disconnected from the phone.

You can enable dual connection option that lets you connect to two devices at the same time and switch the audio playback between them. Since the phone pairs with the case and not the headset, you will need the case if you want to reconnect it or even turn on the headset if it’s disconnected from the phone.

These have press controls, as the ear (2), so you can avoid any accidental touches and discomfort of tapping into the ear canal. This lets you skip tracks, switch between noise cancellation modes, and adjust volume – all with a press. The controls can be customised in the Nothing X app.

You can customise these with the Nothing X app on Android and iPhone. You can change actions for Triple Pinch, Pinch and Hold and Pinch and Hold for each bud, but you can’t customise single or double pinch.

You can disable in-ear Detection from the settings. The company has also added ChatGPT integration when you use it with Nothing phones.

Audio Quality

The Nothing Ear has a new 11mm dynamic driver with improved stack layout, improving vibration amplitude of the Nothing Ear by 110% promising better bass. It has two vents for improved airflow for less distortion, and the ceramic diaphragm promises more clarity.

LHDC and LDAC worked with Nothing Phone (2), OPPO Find X7 Ultra and other devices, but some devices won’t support it.

The audio quality is crisp with clear vocals, deeper low frequencies and clear high frequencies, thanks to the dual chamber design and the new ceramic diaphragm. Mid-range and the upper midrange are better than the Ear (2), there is room for improvement.

It features four equalizer presets – Balanced (default), More Bass, More Treble and Voice – so that every song can be heard how it should. There is a Bass enhance feature that lets you set levels from 1 to 5.

You can also create custom EQ. There is a new 8-band Equalizer that lets you customise the audio to your liking, which is useful. The Profile Sharing lets you share the custom EQ with other Nothing users.

The Personal Sound Profile with hearing ID lets you adjust the equaliser settings in real-time to match the user’s hearing for an optimal listening experience. Overall, the Nothing Ear offers an impressive audio experience with a lot of customization options.

Noise Cancellation and Call Performance

Regarding the Noise cancellation, the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) blocks the ambient sound up to 45dB with 5000Hz frequency range, compared to 40db in the ear (1) and ear (2). The quality is good compared to the older models. You can feel the difference when you are listening in doors and outdoors.

There are four modes, Low, Mid, High and Adaptive Mode that automatically adjusts the noise reduction level based on your environment in real-time. There is also personalised ANC option that calibrates ANC based on the exact shape of a user’s ear canal based on 7 audio filters. You can switch between noise cancellation, transparency and no noise cancellation with a pinch and hold on the earbuds.

The Transparency mode allows you to listen to ambient sound so that you can recognize the surrounding situation and any potential risks. The low-latency gaming mode, which is called low lag mode, works automatically with the Nothing Phones in Game Mode, but you need to enable it from the settings for other devices. Without the low lag mode, the latency is too high, but it is decent with the mode enabled, which the company claims is 120ms.

Coming to the call noise cancellation, it uses Clear Voice Technology for calls that uses three high-definition microphones to cut external noise. The company says that it has talk mic and extra airway on the stem for wind to pass through, so interference is reduced by 60% compared 
to Ear (2).

Based on my use, the call quality has improved a lot, and the wind noise was completely cut out to the receiver, and the traffic noise were faintly audible.

Battery Life

The earphones pack a 46mAh battery that promises about 8.5 hours of standalone battery life without ANC and 5.2 hours with ANC. During my use with LHDC and noise cancellation enabled, I got slightly over 4 hours in about 60% volume, which is good. With AAC and noise cancellation fully off in 50% volume, it lasted for close to 7.5 hours, which is good. For calls, it lasts only for 4 hours with ANC since it uses call noise cancellation tech.

With the 500mAh charging case, smaller than the 570mAh in the ear (1), and is slightly bigger than the ear (2) it promises up to 40.5 hours of total battery life without ANC and 24 hours of total battery life with noise cancellation enabled. Overall, the battery life is good.

Charging the case fully with the earbuds takes about 1 and half hours. It also has fast charge, so that you get 10 hours (charging case + earbuds combined) of playback without ANC with 10 minutes of charging. The charging case also offers wireless charging, so you can simply drop your earbuds onto a Qi Wireless charging pad or on the back of a phone with reverse wireless charging.

Conclusion

Overall, Nothing Ear is a good upgrade to the Ear (2). The earbuds come in a familiar design, offer better audio quality, a lot of codecs, improved ANC and call noise cancellation. The price has also increased

Priced at Rs. 11,999, which is Rs. 2000 more than the Ear (2), it will be available from Flipkart as well as select offline stores such as Croma and Vijay sales starting April 29th. There is a Rs. 1000 launch discount.

Alternatives

The equally-good OnePlus Buds Pro 2 now selling at a cheaper rate is an alternative.

Pros

• Good audio quality, LDAC and LHDC codecs
• Custom 8-band EQ with sharing
• Brilliant call quality
• Good ANC with customizable modes
• IP54 for buds and IP55 for case

Cons

• Priced slightly on the higher side