The ears of the new tech brand Nothing stand out with their quirky transparent design. But can the bluetooth in-ears also make a name for themselves with their wearing comfort, sound quality and other features and thus compete with the Apple AirPods? You can read it in this Nothing Ear(1) review.
Nothing Ear(1)
MSRP €99
Colour transparent-white
Link Bluetooth 5.2
Battery 31 mAh (earpiece), 570 mAh (charging case)
Weight 5 grams (earpiece), 57 grams (charging case)
Features microphone, noise reduction, ambient sound mode, IPX4
Load USB-C, wireless
Website https://nothing.tech
9 Score 90 
- Pros
- Price quality
- Quirky design
- wearing comfort
- Negatives
- Noise reduction could be better
The brand name Nothing makes me smile, because it’s a good source for puns. The new brand was recently founded by Carl Pei, co-founder of smartphone maker OnePlus. Pei left OnePlus in 2020, possibly because he couldn’t find the course his old company was taking. After his departure, he founded Nothing, which plans to launch tech products in various categories. Starting with wireless bluetooth in-ears, headphones comparable to Apple’s AirPods – but with a quirky design and a competitive price of about a hundred euros.
To keep that price as low as possible, Nothing seems to be adopting a marketing strategy similar to the OnePlus days of yore by not spending money on advertising, keeping sales in its own hands, and production low. The disadvantage is that the earphones may remain difficult to obtain. By building close ties with the press, a lot of publicity can still be generated. If you use the press for your publicity, your first product has to be really good. And in that area, the ears from Nothing certainly live up to this. Especially if you consider the price of the Ear(1).
Quirky design
But let’s start at the beginning. The Ear(1) headset is quite similar in shape to the AirPods Pro, but the transparent design has given them a quirky look. That is quite a challenge, because transparent ears also ensure that you have to design the interior beautifully for the eye. We succeeded and it immediately gives a nice look at what has been processed in such a small earpiece. You can see the microphones, the charging plate, touch sensors and a part of the chip board… And then things like the battery are still hidden behind the white plastic part of the earpiece. In addition, the designers have succeeded in making the earphones splash-proof (IPx4).
Just like the AirPods Pro, the earphones have rubber tips that can be exchanged to tailor them to your ear. In addition, the earphones are very light, which means that they have optimal wearing comfort, remain firmly in place and close the hearing well to allow the sound and functions such as noise reduction to work optimally. Indeed, the Nothing Ear(1) has noise suppression and an ambient mode, which allows ambient noise to pass through. Which is useful if, for example, you use your earphones in traffic.
The charging case has a similar design with transparent and white parts. You put the ears back in a bit awkwardly and the box is a bit on the large side. Room has been made for a wireless charging option and a USB-c port. A charged case can fully charge the earbuds about nine times with its battery capacity.
Decent sound quality
The sound quality is also very good for its price range. Of course it has to recognize its multiple in more expensive earphones from brands such as Bose, Apple and Jabra. Still, it’s a challenge to find earphones worth about 100 euros that produce a sound as balanced and powerful as the Ear(1). The sound is well tuned, with especially the low and high tones recognisable. Sometimes some detail is lost in the middle area. This makes the earphones especially suitable for many types of music. But also for speech (such as telephone conversations, audiobooks and podcasts) everything is perfectly intelligible. The powerful sound also doesn’t distort when you turn up the volume.
Although the ambient mode works nicely, you should not expect too much from the noise reduction. For that you unfortunately (still) really have to search in more expensive price ranges. The noise suppression of the Nothing Ear(1) manages to filter out quite a bit of noise, but you keep background noise. People talking in the supermarket, walking on a gravel path or traffic speeding by. You will always get it. However, a difference can be heard.
Battery life and app
The battery life depends on the playback mode. If you do not use noise suppression or ambient mode, the earphones can last for a maximum of six hours with a full battery. If you have the noise reduction on, then only four hours are left. That’s a bit disappointing. That pain is somewhat alleviated by the fact that the charging box fully charges the earbuds nine times.
The app also stands out positively due to its beautiful design. You can also go here for firmware updates, an equalizer and configuring your earphones. For example, the operation with taps on the earpiece.
Alternatives to the Nothing Ear(1)
Nothing likes to compare its ears with Apple AirPods Pro. It is clear that the competition is being sought. However, Apple has things like sound quality and noise reduction in better order. Still, the Ear(1) earphones certainly have a lot to offer. Despite the fact that you lose something in terms of sound quality and noise reduction, the price is a lot more accessible and the design and wearing comfort of the Ear(1) is better.
Compare the Ear(1) with other earphones that cost about the same from brands such as Urbanista, 1More, Huawei and Samsung. Then the Ear(1) ears stand out in almost all areas. At the moment they are the best earphones you can get around a hundred euros.
Conclusion: Buy Nothing Ear(1)?
Nothing’s Ear(1) headphones are not the best earphones you can buy. In terms of sound quality and noise reduction, you can get better. The Nothing Ear(1) are the best wireless in-ears you can get around 100 euros. Moreover, you get a quirky design in return and ears that you can simply wear for a long time because of the wearing comfort.
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