REVIEW: NOTHING EAR (STICK)
You might say some were surprised when super-cool tech start-up Nothing announced its third ever product was… another set of earbuds.
They’d already made a great set with the Nothing Ear (1). The Phone (1) came next, and that was great too. Wouldn’t a smartwatch or tablet make more sense next? Apparently not – the third device in the company’s catalogue is the Nothing Ear (stick).
What we have is a pair of earbuds that sit below the Ear (1) in the range – they do not have noise cancelling and sit in your ears without silicone tips to block out external sounds. In other words, they are to the Ear (1) what the AirPods are to the AirPods Pro.
They are very nice, though – sporting Nothing’s distinctive look, with lots of transparent plastic and black, white and red accents.
They sound magnificent, too. Lots of depth in the bass and definition through the mid and top ranges.
The charging case also has the look – it is cylindrical, and while it doesn’t have wireless charging, it can boost the earbud’s life to 29 hours of listening in total. Not groundbreaking, but good enough for most people. Compatibility is good with all phones, and these obviously work well out of the box with the Nothing phone. If you’re on any other Android device or an iPhone you’ll want the new Nothing X companion app which allows full customisation of audio and gesture controls.
So, what you have are some cool-looking earbuds, they work well, fit comfortably and sound great. Whether they’re for you will depend on whether you’ll use them in noisy environments or not. If you will I’d suggest dropping the extra £50 for the Ear (1) with noise cancelling.
Other than that, these are a compelling, and much cheaper, alternative to the AirPods that everyone else seems to have.
The Nothing Ear (stick) costs £99 from nothing.tech