I own a number of different wireless ear buds, wired/wireless headphones such as AirPods, AirPod Pro’s, Soundcore Life P2i, Sony MDR-ZX220BT, Sony WF-1000XM3, Beats Studio Buds, and Audio-Technica M20x which I use for editing.
So I was very excited about having the opportunity to review the Nothing Ear(1).
Design: 5
I really like the design of the case and ear bubs, having a transparent charging case gives it a unique look compared to other charging cases on the market
A mix of white, black and transparent plastic on the handles of the ear buds gives a modern design look. I personally like the small touch of having a small white dot on the left ear bud and a small red dot on the right ear bud.
The case has a dip in the l id for your thumb which allows you to hold it without slipping out of your hand. I also found placing the ear buds in the charging case so satisfying as they just lock into place via magnets.
Fit/comfort: 4.5
I have small ears but the Nothing Earbuds fitted really well and felt comfortable, after about 5 minutes of use I even forgot I was wearing them.
The only change I made was to replace the pre installed Large silicone ears tips to small to give a even more sung fit in my ear.
Set up/Pairing: 5
Pairing the Nothing Earbuds with an iPhone was really straight forward and painless.
Enable Bluetooth, Scan the QR code inside the user guide which downloads the Nothing Ear App, open the case and press the pair button until the LED lights start to flash and that’s it
The whole process only took a few minutes.
Sound Quality: 4.5
Personally I find the sound quality really good! The music sounds clear, punchy and loud. There is a Equalizer option to personalise the sound via the App which give 4 options; Balanced, More Treble, More Bass and Voice.
I left the option Balanced as I thought it gave an good all round sound quality to my music. I found the Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) feature to be a little hit and miss to being with, especially when having transparency activated I could hear an intermittent hissing noise every few minutes.
I had this feature switched off and only ever used it once I was on the underground train. The gesture controls are a nice added feature once I got use to using them, double tapping to play/pause or sliding on the stem to increase or decrease the volume.
Call quality - Microphone: 5
I made and receive calls through out the day for work and personal purposes using the Nothing Ear(1), calls were clear, with no crackling and the microphone worked very well.
Battery Life: 5
The battery life is great on the Nothing Earbuds and gets me through the day comfortably. The Earbuds take 1.5 hours to fully charge using the USB-C charging cable (included) and the case takes just under an hour to charge. The charging case can also be charged wirelessly with any QI compatible chargers.
You get roughly 5 hours listening time, I have my earbuds in but not constantly listening to music as I also make/receive calls, and 34 hours with the case with Active noise cancelling turned off.
Overall experience: 4.5
Using these Nothing Earbuds everyday has been a very enjoyable experience, I really like the design of the earbuds and the case. The ear buds fit very comfortably and you soon forget your wearing them.
The set up process is very quick and easy, the sound quality is great with some options to personalise to your taste. The call quality were clear and I didn’t experience any connectivity issues.
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) I personally switched off due to an intermittent hissing sound when Transparency was active, and I found the earbuds defaulting to the factory settings each time I placed the earbuds back into the charging case. This was fixed with a update in the app.
The battery life is very good, I use a mix of listening to music, taking phone calls, watching entertainment, mobile gaming and the battery got me through the day comfortably. This is The first Generation Nothing Ear (1) and I look forward to seeing the next Generation earbuds they release and see what improvements they make.
