Nothing Ear(A) Review: Great Looks, Good Sound, Solid Price

The Nothing Ear(a) are very good mid-range earbuds that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. They just look great and sounds good.

Nothing’s newest earbuds, the Ear(a), continues the trendy tech firm’s strategy of releasing functional products with sleek and stylish designs and performance that, while not groundbreaking, is quite good for the price point.

At $99, it’s really hard to find faults with the Nothing Ear(a) other than “there are some other $75 earbuds that sound as good.” The Ear(a) looks great, sounds pretty good, with solid ANC and battery life.

The reality is every tech brand or OEM has become very good at making wireless earbuds, and everything in that $75-$160 range (which would be considered mid-tier in the earbuds space) mostly have similar audio quality or features Whether the Nothing Ear(a) appeals to you over, say, the OnePlus Buds 3, or the Jabra Elite 4, or the dozens of affordable buds from the likes of Xiaomi/Oppo/Huawei/Samsung, depends on if Nothing’s too-cool attitude and design aesthetics appeal to you.

About this review: This review was written with a self-purchased pair of Nothing Ear(a). Nothing had no input in this article.

Nothing Ear(a)

Great earbuds

Stylish and affordable

The Nothing Ear(a) continues Nothing’s approach of releasing very stylish looking products that perform well, at a good price. There’s nothing groundbreaking here in terms of audio quality, noise cancellation or special features, but the price is very appealing.

Battery Life

5.5 hours

Charging Case Included?

Yes

Microphones

6

Supported codecs

AAC, SBC, LDAC

Bluetooth

5.1

Price

$99

IP Rating

IP54 (buds) IPX4 (case)

Solo bid mode?

Yes

Driver Size

11mm

Charging type

USB-C

Weight

4.8g (per bud) 39g (case)

Dimensions and weight (case)

47.6 mm x 63.3 mm x 22.7 mm

Colors

White, black, yellow

Noise Cancellation

ANC

Pros

• Stylish, eye-catching design
• Comfortbale fit, sleek case
• Good audio and ANC quality for the price

Cons

• Case is slightly harder to open than other earbuds
• The custom EQ doesn’t provide as wide range of adjustment
• No swipe gesture on the earbuds

Nothing Ear(a): Pricing and Availability

The Nothing Ear(a) is available for purchase now around the world. It comes in three colors: white, black, or yellow, which is the unit I purchased. The Ear(a) is priced at $99 in the US, and about the same equivalent around the world.

Hardware overview

The Nothing Ear(a) has a similar design to the excellent Nothing Ear(2), with a case with a top lid that flips open like an engagement ring box. The earbuds are in the typical AirPods shape with elongated stems. The semi-transparent design is still here, but there’s a coat of paint over a chunk of the case and earbuds — perhaps this helps reduce production/manufacturing costs. The case lid can be slightly different to open, as you have to find the small groove in the middle to lift the lid.

The earbuds weigh 4.8g per bud, with removable silicon tips (there are three other sizes in the retail box), thick slightly thick stems housing a touch sensitive panel with precise haptic feedback. The transparent design of the stems is quite visually pleasing to my eyes.

Each bud houses an 11mm driver along with three microphones (for six in total) to help with active noise cancelation. With active noise cancelation on, the earbuds can play for a bit above five hours on a single charge. The case adds another four charges.

If you’re wondering what the differences are between the Ear(a) and the Ear(2) or the confusingly named third-generation Nothing Ear, it mostly comes down to the chip, with the Ear(a) having a weaker silicon that results in weaker ANC, and no dynamic EQ.

Related

Nothing Ear Stick review: Looks great, sounds good

Nothing’s new earbuds offer a half-in-ear design that could be more comfortable for some.

What I like

The Nothing Ear(a) pumps out pleasing audio that’s a bit on the warm side. While the bass isn’t the strongest, the mid-tones and high-ends sound clean and dynamic. I also find the earbuds very comfortable to wear, and I’m someone with very sensitive ear canals. For example, the Sony WF-1000XM5s may pump out excellent audio, I never liked how the foam tips fit in my ears, no matter which size I tried.

Active noise cancelation is decent, able to silence some ambient noise. It’s nowhere close to the level to more expensive earbuds from Apple, Sony, Bose or Huawei, but as I said, those earbuds each cost at least $100 more. I was able to take a few phone calls with the Ear(a) in noisy streets and the other party said they could hear me fine.

The Nothing X app, which is completely optional, has a stylish look and a fun to play with EQ dial that allows you to drag and adjust the bass, treble, and mid tones.

The earbuds having IP54 water and dust resistance rating for the earbuds and IPX4 (splash proof) for the case is a nice touch. Overall, these earbuds work as they should. The pairing process is easy, connection is sturdy, audio quality good.

What I don’t like

The touch controls on the earbud stem are responsive, able to register single presses, double presses, triple presses, and long holds. But it cannot register swipes, which would have been nice to have for volume adjustment. For now, to adjust volume, you need to do a double tap and hold, which can be a bit tricky to time right.

Another nitpick is that, while the audio quality is good, I have tested slightly cheaper earbuds that pump out basically similar quality. As I said in the beginning, audio quality in wireless earbuds can basically be split into three tiers: premium expensive earbuds (think the AirPods Pro or Bose’s QC Ultra Earbuds) obviously sound the best, and then budget earbuds clearly have compromises, and the mid-tier earbuds all sound pretty similar. The problem with the Nothing Ear(a) is it’s a $99 earbud with audio and ANC quality not noticeably better than $75 earbuds.

Should you buy the Nothing Ear(a)?

You should buy the Nothing Ear(a) if:

• You want a pair of affordable earbuds that also look stylish
• You want a pair of earbuds that look different from most of the others

You should not buy the Nothing Ear(a) if:

• You want stronger ANC and you are fine paying more
• You want the absolute best value — there are slightly cheaper buds with similar performance

The Nothing Ear(a) are good-looking earbuds that don’t break the bank. If you like the look and the price is right, I don’t these will disappoint you. But if you already own another pretty good set of earbuds, these are nothing you haven’t seen before.

Nothing Ear(a)

The Nothing Ear(a) continue the company’s tradition of delivering products that look unique while still packing solid performance for the price. You can find some options that sound better, but you either have to pay more or sacrifice the standout design.