Nothing Ear (1) review: A clear winner

Our Verdict

The Aught Ear (i)'southward transparent blueprint volition take hold of your attention, merely it's the comfy fit, balanced sound, useful features and low cost that will hold it.

For

Interesting pattern
Nifty sound
ANC with Transparency way
Affordable

Against

Weak battery life
Not the most secure fit

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

The Nothing Ear (1)'s transparent pattern will grab your attention, but it's the comfy fit, balanced sound, useful features and depression price that will hold it.

Pros

+
Interesting design
+
Great sound
+
ANC with Transparency mode
+
Affordable

Cons

-
Weak bombardment life
-
Not the most secure fit

Nothing Ear (one) specs

Price: $99
Colors: Transparent
Battery life (rated): four hours ANC on), 27 hours (ANC on with charging case); v.7 hours (ANC off), 38 hours (ANC off with charging case)
Connectivity: Bluetooth five.2
Processor: Not stated
Size: 1.ane 10 0.8 x 0.9 inches (per bud); ii.iii x 2.3 x 0.nine inches (charging instance)
Weight: 0.2 ounces (per bud), ii ounces (charging example)

The Nothing Ear (i) clearly wants to be a rarity among the increasingly crowded rabble of true wireless earbuds. Its nigh obvious try to stand out is its transparent casing, parts and circuit boards peering out from inside, just information technology's also something else we seldom get to run across: a quality 1st-gen product from a brand new company.

Aught was formed by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, and the Ear (1) is its first-e'er product. And yet instead of about-prototypical shoddiness with the kind of "aspirational" pricing you lot'd wait from a tech startup, this pair of buds is both well-made and attractively affordable. Information technology'southward even got active noise cancellation (ANC), microphones that produce stellar call quality, and music performance is on par with some of the best wireless earbuds.

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It's not perfect — the loose fit won't suit runners, and battery life underwhelms — simply more often than not, this is ane seriously potent debut. Keep reading our Nil Ear (1) review to find out why.

Cipher Ear (1) review: Price and availability

$99 MSRP, sold directly from Zero
Express release in July, full release in August

At $99, the Nothing Ear (one) is firmly within budget earbud territory. It's even cheaper than the standard Apple AirPods, let alone the AirPods Pro that it'south seemingly trying to compete with on features.

Nada has two launches planned for the Ear (1): a express release on July 31, and a general release on August 17. In other words, don't worry if you miss out on stock the first time. Either way, you'll have to purchase direct from Zilch.

Nothing Ear (1) review: Blueprint and comfort

Unique transparent styling
Comfortable, merely not particularly secure

The see-through plastic on the Ear (1)'s stems is arguably its signature feature. In truth this is non as disruptive and utterly singular a pair of headphones equally some of Nothing's pre-release hype would suggest — if the plastic was white it could be mistaken for just another AirPods clone — simply I do genuinely like how it shows off the circuitry underneath.

Nothing Ear (1) review — (Image credit: Tom'due south Guide)

There's an attending to particular here you lot just don't become on most earbuds, from the tiny printed lettering on each stalk to the clearly visible touch sensors.

The earbuds also feel more than solid than a lot of inexpensive wireless models, which might have something to do with their IPX4 rating — the same level of sweat resistance and splash-proofing that the premium AirPods Pro enjoys.

The Ear (1)'south replaceable eartips also share the slightly oval shape of the AirPods Pro tips. Whether intentional or not, this results in a similarly comfy feel, and I easily went hours without needing to relieve whatever pressure level.

However, runners and gym-goers be warned: this is a comfy set of buds, but not a very secure ane. I sometimes institute them working loose on long walks, and while fleeing a sudden torrential downpour, I had to stop to pick up one bud that had fallen out entirely. Still, at least that incident proved the water resistance worked.

Nix Ear (i) review: Controls and digital assistant

Touch sensors are reliable
No built-in digital assistant back up, though

Those visible touch sensors do a very proficient job of registering tap and swipe gestures, which as the Anker Soundcore Life P3 has shown, isn't always the instance with cheaper truthful wireless buds. There's no single tap input, which is unusual, merely double and triple tap, tap and concur and slide upwards/down inputs allow for a decent range of control. That includes volume adjustment, a minor win over the AirPods Pro.

A less pleasant surprise is the disability to summon digital assistants similar Google Assistant and Siri. Y'all tin still use your respective AI helper by activating information technology from your telephone, and the Ear (1)'south microphones helped accurately parse my vocalisation commands, only you can't wake them upward with a tap.

I rarely utilise my digital assistant and then this wasn't much of a problem for me, but it'south worth bearing in listen if you're a regular vocalisation control user.

Zip Ear (1) review: Sound quality

Counterbalanced merely powerful sound
Some EQ presets available, but aren't necessary

Zippo went for a balanced sound signature on the Ear (1), which to my ears was a expert call. There'southward a healthy amount of low-end — the bassline on Muse's "Uprising" sounded as rich equally information technology was slathered in fuzz effects — and vocals cut through cleanly.

If anything, the Ear (1) reminds me of (what else?) the AirPods Pro, in how information technology manages to nowadays a lively soundstage that's under control but never as well muted or flat. In that location's plenty of detail on display as well, like the subtle sound of guitar fretting movements on Lorde's "Stoned at the Blast Salon."

If yous really want, you can use the app — more on this in a moment — to switch between 4 different EQ presets. I recommend sticking with the default "Counterbalanced" profile for the most part, though. "More treble" sounds more hollow than sparkling, "More bass" is a little too boomy and "Vocalization" merely makes everything sound similar information technology'south coming out of an old radio. Even podcasts, which consist of nothing simply voices, sound worse.

Nothing Ear (1) review: Agile noise counterfoil

Skilful for the coin, with multiple modes
Not as constructive as more expensive rivals

As cool as it is to become ANC on a cheap pair of wireless buds, individual implementations pretty much never compare to the likes of the AirPods Pro or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.

Sure enough, the Ear (1)'s sound-silencing tech won't win whatever awards. Loud subway trains can overwhelm the result, and fifty-fifty indoors you tin can't completely cake out TVs and keyboards without simultaneously playing music at a reasonably loftier volume.

Nonetheless, am I happy it's here? Sure. The ANC might not be world-leading but it works well enough to quieten passing traffic, or allow me to piece of work in peace with a window open.

At that place are two levels, Calorie-free and Maximum. Light can suffice for the distracting sounds of habitation life, but if you're out and well-nigh, Maximum is noticeably more than constructive. There's as well a Transparency fashion, which is useful too. It makes picking upward speech easier without inadvertently boosting the volume of droning sounds like Air-conditioning units.

Cypher Ear (ane) review: App and features

Mix of essential and potential useful utilities
Observe My Earbud allows curt-range locating

The Ear (1) app is a worthwhile download. Its main entreatment is making the touch controls customizable, at to the lowest degree to an extent: the tap and concur gesture can only cycle through ANC modes, though the triple tap gesture can exist assigned to a variety of tasks.

If you want to leap to a specific ANC manner instead of cycling through them one by one, the app's got you covered there too. In that location'due south even a Find My Earbud tool; this won't help you locate a lost pair across town, merely if you're within the general area of the Ear (1) you can have both earbuds emit a piercing, continuous beep. Yet again, information technology's another fashion that Nothing'due south buds offer AirPods Pro adequacy at a much lower price.

That said, at that place's nothing here to equal the Apple buds'south spatial audio style, or instant switching betwixt devices. There's supposed to be fast pairing with Android devices, though this wasn't enabled on my review unit at the fourth dimension of testing.

You do go on-ear detection, though, and this works flawlessly. Music is paused almost instantly upon removing an earbud, and resumes chop-chop once it's back in identify.

Nothing Ear (1) review: Battery life

Per-charge uptime is brusque
Nonetheless, tin can exceed official estimates

On paper, the Ear (1)'s battery life is zilch special: Nothing promises a mere 4 hours with ANC on, or an oddly specific 5.7 hours with it off. The charging example pushes things closer to the manufacture boilerplate, with grand totals of 24 hours with ANC or 34 hours without.

The good news is that the Ear (1) overperformed in our testing. With ANC on the Maximum setting and volume at 50%, it took four hours 51 minutes for the right earbud to run dry, followed by the left bud another 16 minutes later.

The bad news is that this still isn't all that peachy. It beats the four hours 30 minutes of the AirPods Pro, which is worth commending, but even cheaper ANC earbuds tin hit 6 hours between charges.

The Ear (1)'s charging case gets some goodwill back, though. It tin can refuel over USB-C or wireless charging, the latter being another college-cease feature not normally seen on affordable models.

Nothing Ear (ane) review: Call quality and connectivity

Excellent telephone call performance
Bluetooth five.ii works well

One surprise highlight of the Ear (1) is how well it handles phone calls. To test, I phoned a friend twice, using the AirPods Pro immediately followed by the Ear (1). And, although Apple's buds are amidst the best headphones with a mic for vox and video calls, the aural difference was negligible.

Exterior, a tiny touch of background dissonance was more evident on the Zippo buds, and indoors I was told I sounded slightly more echoey. But again, the difference was extremely minor, and my vocalization came through clearly in both environments. On my stop, I too thought my friend sounded louder and clearer on the Ear (1).

It helped that the Bluetooth 5.2 connexion stayed strong throughout, though audiophiles may decry the lack of support for whatever aptX codecs.

Null Ear (one) review: Verdict

Pei has described the Ear (1) as "a breath of fresh air in a cluttered and indifferent marketplace." While it's not actually as groundbreaking as that might suggest, finding a pair of wireless earbuds that delivers this level of performance for under $100 is a very rare thing indeed.

The Ear (one) sounds better than the average entry-level buds, while having an awful lot more features, and is drastically more affordable than its noise-cancelling peers. The short battery life and loose fit hateful nosotros'd like a refined follow-up even more, but right now the Nothing Ear (one) is notwithstanding one of the all-time deals in headphones.

James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, but before that was Audio Editor at Tom'south Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes racket. A PC enthusiast, he too wrote computing and gaming news for TG, normally relating to how hard it is to find graphics card stock.