Nothing Ear (1)
Nothing’s first ever product is a pair of true wireless earbuds, priced at a headline-grabbing £99. To describe this as next to Nothing might be a stretch, but it’s very reasonable considering the Nothing Ear (1)’s features include three ANC profiles, Bluetooth 5.2, wearer detection and Qi wireless charging. With their decently solid build, Nothing looks to have delivered a lot for the money.
Three eartip options are provided, plus USB-C charging cable. The case reminds us of Apple’s original Earpods packaging, and houses connectors, magnets and batteries, plus Qi wireless charging support. The flip-top lid opens like a compact, with magnets that snap shut reassuringly.
Considering how keen Nothing is to impress upon us the uniqueness of its inaugural proposition, the Ear (1)’s glossy white pill-shaped driver housings and silicon tips are practically identical to those of Apple’s Airpods Pro. Where the stems attach, however, the hue is glossy black and the stems are encased in transparent plastic, showcasing the shiny metallic innards, including the battery connectors, circuitry and mics (three per bud).
Each earpiece weighs 4.7g and feels light and comfortable. Not necessarily secure enough for a heavy metal head-thrash, but the fit is light and pressure-free, even as we switch between noise cancellation profiles. Under the bonnet, there’s a large 11.6mm driver plus Bluetooth 5.2, although there’s no support for aptx higher-res audio. You’ll get just under six hours of play from the buds (five with ANC) and up to a mighty 34 hours in total with the charging case (27 with ANC). A 10-minute charge delivers up to an impressive eight hours of juice.
Good feature set
Ear (1)’s touch controls can be customised in the slick IOS and Android app, including ‘light’ or ‘maximum’ noise cancellation and transparency mode. As we hit the streets, we find these profiles effective and useful. Cars and voices of passers-by are far more readily available to us in transparency mode, but without negatively affecting the music. Noise cancellation is also surprisingly effective, while two levels of ANC is virtually unheard of at this price. Although there’s no three-band EQ stage, under the Equaliser tab you can switch from ‘balanced’ to ‘more treble’, ‘more bass’ or ‘voice’ presets – an excellent addition at this level.
Under the Touch tab, we find the option to customise the triple-tap or long-press of either earpiece to move tracks forward and back, and switch ANC profiles. A single tap performs no function, probably to avoid inadvertent track pausing, but sadly we find double-tapping to play and pause tracks is hit and miss. Volume adjustments can be made by swiping up and down the stem of either earpiece, but we find this hard to do without dislodging the units from our ears. Altering playback with your phone is hardly a deal-breaker at this level, but if controls are included, it’s reasonable to expect them to work satisfactorily.
Confusing presentation
Setting the profile to balanced, we find In
The Fire by Dave expansive, through the opening samples and looped backing voices to Dave’s central and significant verse. Our playlist continues to Can’t
Feel My Face by French The Kid and the brooding, heavily treated vocal sample through the bass registers goes deep, snaking from our left ear to our right, nicely separated from the female “How’s your love life?” sample as the verse starts.
The delivery is far from perfect though. Switching to the original Melomania 1 (now superceded by the 1 Plus), the bass is more impactful and zealous, making the Ear (1) feel altogether lacking precision in terms of timing. While expansive, the Ear (1) suffers from comparative tubbiness through the low end. The post-apocalyptic soundscape intro to Coheed and Cambria’s
The Black Rainbow is more foreboding and dynamically accurate through the Melomania 1. The vocal is more neutral, textured and three-dimensional through the mids with the Cambridge buds too.
The Ear (1)’s tuning emphasises higher midrange vocals, bringing them forwards in the mix to gain detail and excitement, but the resulting sound comes off a little thin and is compressed through the higher frequencies to complete a somewhat confusing presentation overall. As the track builds to a reverb-heavy crescendo, we aren’t feeling the end of days quite as forcefully and cohesively as we might have hoped.
The workmanship is good here, and the feature set, including the likeable app, is even better. At this price, we have yet to experience easier access to noise cancelling, while for many, the Ear (1)’s comely looks, easy fit, ANC, decent battery life, IPX4 splash-proofing and passable sound will suffice.
Ultimately, however, sound quality is the making or breaking of a set of wireless headphones. Here, Nothing Ear (1) falls short of the class leaders in terms of timing and neutrality across the frequencies, as well as for bass grip and accuracy. That said, Nothing is definitely on to something here and we’re excited for future iterations.