analysis of the new Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear headphones (a)

The British manufacturer Nothing has succeeded in a few years in carving out a place for itself in the consumer electronics sector. betting on something that many other brands do not take into account, design. The company founded by Carl Pei has managed to differentiate itself from its competitors with an aesthetic based on neutral colors and transparencies.

This is what we saw in its first launch, the Nothing Ear (1), a headset that also attracted attention due to its price, very tight at the moment. They have since released other models, like the Nothing Ear (2) and the Nothing Ear Stick, as well as cell phones, the latter of which we recently reviewed.

The company’s latest initiative has left us with two additional products, two headphones designed for two different audiences but which maintain the aesthetic line to which the company has accustomed us. Are the Nothing Ear, successors to Nothing Ear (2) and Nothing Ear (a), successors to Nothing Ear (1). Along the way, there is the model without pads, which is more complex to manufacture and which has not had as much impact.

Both models are already on pre-sale and can be received from April 22. The new generation Nothing Ear has a price of 149 dollars, being the company’s most advanced headset to date. For its part, The Nothing Ear (a) are launched at 99 dollarsa much more competitive price that comes with certain absences, none of which pose a problem for the average user, as we will see in this analysis.

Design and ergonomics

One of Nothing’s fixations is maintain a design line very consistent with what they have done so far, which allows them to have a powerful brand image, which is almost an advertisement in itself. This is something many businesses seek and few achieve. In fact, making products with transparent parts is very complicated, but it also allows great differentiation at a glance.

Analysis of ear nothing and ear nothing (a)

Alvarez del Vayo

The new Nothing Ears have a virtually identical design to their predecessors, with the same housing and shape, the differences being on the inside, notably in the new ceramic diaphragm and a hearing grid with a different perforated mesh. These headphones allow better air recirculation, to reduce sound distortion. The Nothing Ear has IP54 on the earbuds and IP55 on the case while the Nothing Ear (a) has IP54 on the earbuds but only IPX2 on the case.

The Nothing Ear (a) are the economic bet of the company for 2024, and they arrive with technology halfway between that of the Nothing Ear (1) and the Nothing Ear (2). The biggest difference is that In this model there is a really striking yellow color variantbeing the first Nothing product that is neither black nor white, beyond those launched under the CMF brand.

Its body also stands out, smaller than that of its big brother, with less loading capacity but much more comfortable to transport. One of the few downsides of this company’s headphones is that the charging case was quite bulky.

Better sound, better codecs

Los Nothing Ear and Los Nothing Ear (a) They mainly differ in sound quality.. The former has a more powerful sound with greater dynamic range. Additionally, it supports more codecs, such as high-resolution audio, and offers better bass. This is something that is noticeable if we do a direct comparison, but the average user will barely notice it.

Furthermore, To get the most out of Nothing Ear, it is advisable to use a music streaming service that offers high quality., because in the normal models that most buyers use, the differences are not so visible. Where differences are seen is in the equalizer since the Nothing Ear has a Pro mode and allows you to calibrate the software so that it adapts to each person independently.

Both have active and adaptive noise cancellation up to 45 dB, which works very well with background noise and even distant voices. It can be activated from the app or from the headphones themselves, which maintain the gestures that previous models already had, with a pinch, two, long presses, etc. At Nothing they confirmed to us that they have not opted for touch because it avoids accidental clicks, as well as the discomfort that some people feel when clicking on something placed in their ear.

Nothing Ear features new microphones with better call quality, as well as a double connection in case we want to pair them with two devices at the same time. The latter is also present in the Nothing Ear (a), as both have Bluetooth 5.3 technology.

Eventually, We must highlight the integration with ChatGPT. Nothing has included it in Nothing OS, the operating system of its mobile phones, and if one of these two headphones is used with these phones, ChatGPT can be used from these accessories. Of course, this will only work if we have a branded mobile.

Autonomy and recharging

The Nothing earbuds’ battery has never been one of the standouts or one that has been a problem. However, In the Nothing Ear, the company has significantly improved this with 25% more battery life than the Nothing Ear (2), reaching 40 hours with the charging case and up to 8.5 hours with each charge of the headphones. Obviously, this duration is shorter if you use noise cancellation or if you increase the volume very quickly.

Fast charging allows you to have 10 hours of battery life in the box with only 10 minutes of charging, which can also be done wirelessly. This is one of the absences of the Nothing Ear (a), which only has wired charging. The reality is that not everyone who owns wireless charging headphones uses them.

Which one should I buy?

This is the first time Nothing has announced two such similar headphones simultaneously, but it makes sense. The Nothing Ear are a minor evolution of the Nothing Ear (2)with a new name and changes in sound quality and battery life, probably the two most important parts of wireless headphones.

Nothing Ear (a) is even more important. They have a price just below the psychological limit of 100 dollars, and they offer a new very suitable color (available only on the web and at FNAC) for the youngest. Despite this, they do not leave aside a very striking design, active noise cancellation or good autonomy.

For most users, the Nothing Ear (a) are the safe betwith an adequate price, a very good design and functionality at the level of what we expect in this type of product in 2024. For the most audiophiles, the Nothing Ear are betterbecause they do not cost the same as more professional proposals but they offer functions of this type of headphones, which only the most music lovers will appreciate but which also do not require a big expense.