Nothing Ear (open): One minute evaluation
I began testing for this Nothing Ear (open) evaluation below the impression that, like different open ear headphones, they have been designed for health use. Over the previous few years open earbuds, or air conduction headphones, have grow to be a preferred sort of sports activities headphone to allow you to hear your environment whereas operating, biking or figuring out outside.
When judged in opposition to this use case, although, the Nothing Ear (open) fly removed from the mark, they usually’re not ideally suited for happening walks alongside roads both, and it’s all from one questionable design resolution. I discovered them irritating to make use of and needed to pressure myself to place them on my ear each time I used to be going to hit the health club or go on a run.
It’s a disgrace, as a result of Nothing has grow to be a dependable identify in earbuds in the previous few years. Its Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) from earlier in 2024 have been each spectacular and inexpensive earbuds with wonderful bass and distinctive characteristic units, and there have been excessive hopes for the Ear (open), which mark the corporate’s first foray into the open-ear headphones market.
I’d wait till the second foray to purchase a few of these buds although, as a result of as I stated one design difficulty ruins the person expertise with these buds. That difficulty is within the band hook, which loops over your ears to attach the physique of the bud (which matches over your ear, offering the music), with the remainder of it which matches behind your ear.
This band is manufactured from a really versatile materials which does a poor job at holding the bud and counterweight nonetheless. Because of this once you’re shifting; say, happening a run or bending down on the health club to choose up some weights, and even strolling, it wobbles. Wobbles sufficient to vary how the music sounds for somewhat second, and wobbles sufficient to slap in opposition to the tragus of your ear (that’s the sticky-outy bit in your ear) should you’re shifting quickly or repeatedly.
Going for exercises with the Nothing Ear (open), then, was an train in persistence: may I survive the tap-tap-tap of the wobbling bud for lengthy sufficient to finish a course or a exercise routine? For the needs of this evaluation I endured it, however I don’t suppose I’d have if not for that!
Placing apart health use, it was additionally a difficulty once I was strolling at any velocity (although it was extra pronounced the faster my tempo), and provided that the complete level of open ear buds is which you could hear your environment when strolling on roads, this implies they miss the mark as non-fitness earbuds too.
Past the annoying design, the Ear (open) would must be extremely spectacular to get an honest evaluation, and sadly it missed that prime bar. Primarily, the audio wasn’t on par with different open-ear headphones I’ve examined, notably within the quantity division — this latter is important to fight surrounding sounds once you’re in busy areas.
I did like a number of facets of the buds: the case is the principle one, because it’s fairly slender in comparison with different open-ear headphone instances and was enticing all issues thought-about. Plus the contact controls on the earbuds have been helpful to make use of, and there was no sound leakage which fixes an issue I’ve confronted in different earbuds (open-ear and never).
These parts present that Nothing is heading in the right direction with the Ear (open), however I solely see these shopping for a worthwhile purchase should you’re not into your train. For those who merely need earbuds you’ll be able to put on in public with out being unaware whereas crossing roads, it may very well be an honest choice — so long as your strolling tempo isn’t too fast!
Nothing Ear (open) evaluation: Specs
Part | Worth |
Water-proof | IP54 |
Battery life | 8 hours (earbuds), 30 hours (complete) |
Bluetooth sort | Bluetooth 5.3 |
Weight | 8.1g / Charging case: 63.8g |
Frequency response | Not said |
Nothing Ear (open) evaluation: Value and availability
- Introduced and launched in September 2024
- Priced at $149 / £129 / AU$249
- Middling value for this type of tech
The Nothing Ear (open) prices an inexpensive $149 / £129 / AU$249, and was each introduced and launched in September 2024.
That value places them slap-bang in the course of a number of different open ear headphones on our record of one of the best open ear headphones (excusing the exceedingly-premium Bose Extremely Open, which prices twice as a lot).
The Nothing roughly matches the $149.99 / £149.99 (about AU$290) 1More Match Open Earbuds S50, a competitor with which the Ear (open) has loads in widespread (specifically, a poor match). If you wish to spend somewhat extra you’ll be able to go for the Shokz Openfit at $179.95 / £179.99 / AU$289 however if you wish to lower your expenses, the OpenRock Professional go for $129.99 / £119.99 (roughly AU$185).
Keep in mind that open ear headphone tech is in its infancy, so that you’re paying a premium it doesn’t matter what you go for; should you’re aware about value, choosing ‘customary’ headphones will get you superior audio high quality at a a lot lower cost.
Nothing Ear (open) evaluation: Design
- Flexible hook makes buds wobble
- IP54 ranking and light-weight weight
- Case is good and slender
I’ll begin with the case, as a result of you’ll too once you take the buds out of the field.
For those who’ve tried different ear-hook headphones, you’ll know that the instances typically find yourself being fairly massive to deal with the hook. The Nothing Ear (open)’s case is relatively small, as a consequence of its thickness of solely 2cm. Its complete dimensions are 12.6 x 4.4 x 2 cm and it weighs 63.8g – I discovered it extra pocketable than many different open ear headphone instances that I’ve examined.
Like most different Nothing headphone instances, this one has a see-through entrance, so it’s straightforward to double-check whether or not the devices are in there or not.
The headphones additionally resemble Nothing earbuds, in that they’re small and see-through with rounded designs, however with the addition of a protracted silicon hook to go round your ear and a counter-weight on the finish. The buds weigh 8.1g every, in order that they’re lighter than many rivals, which is clearly actually essential for health earbuds.
By way of an IP ranking you’re taking a look at IP54: safety in opposition to mud ingress and sprays of water, however not full immersion in liquid. The essential factor, although, is that they’re sweat-proof.
I’ve typically touted Nothing’s buds as having a few of the finest contact controls: they’re pinch-controlled, so that you get a pleasant haptic ‘click on’ once you set off the operate. Whereas the Ear (open) don’t present this similar click on, they’re additionally pinch-controlled – they’re straightforward to make use of however unimaginable to by accident set off.
That’s lots of reward for the Nothing Ear (open)’s design, and also you’ve (presumably) already learn on this evaluation’s introduction that design is the Achilles Heel of the earbuds. And that’s appropriate.
As I discussed earlier, the hook is comprised of silicon, a really weak and flimsy materials being utilized in a really skinny hook. The results of that is that, once you transfer about, the physique of the bud isn’t held in place – it bounces round horizontally which is absolutely annoying to really feel and impacts the sound high quality you’re getting. Generally, poor match might be justified by a reviewers’ ears not matching the scale of the buds, however provided that this is a matter with the construct, it’s loads much less subjective than that.
The match is loads much less inflexible than on different open ear headphones I’ve tried, which I can see some individuals hailing as making them snug, however this simply exacerbated the problems that I confronted. I’d relatively firm-feeling wearables than ones that hold flicking me!
This floppy construct high quality made the Nothing Ear (open) infuriating to make use of when on a run, because the physique would bounce up and down, and on the health club, as bending down to choose up weights or leaning again on a bench would see the gravity pull the physique away from my ear. That’s why I stated these aren’t health headphones – I discovered myself opting to listen to the clunks and grunts of my health club than endure the Ear (open) wobbling round close to my ears.
An issue like this doesn’t solely have an effect on train although, and it was even an issue when happening walks. It’s arduous to not view these as a ‘draft one’ model of the earbud, if the issue is that this pronounced.
Nothing Ear (open) evaluation: Options
- 8-hour battery life, as much as 30 if counting case
- Minimal characteristic set however equalizer current
- ChatGPT operate for sure customers
In its advertising and marketing, Nothing loudly cites that the Ear (open) has a 30-hour battery life, however you must delve into the small-text to appreciate that this refers back to the mixed lasting energy of the earbuds and the case.
On their very own, the earbuds final for 8 hours of listening time earlier than they must be charged, which is barely above common in comparison with different earbuds — the dearth of ANC helps right here. The case holds 22 hours, for a grand complete of 30, which is somewhat on the low aspect in comparison with another bud instances available on the market nevertheless it’s not a horrible determine.
In headphone evaluations, ANC normally goes within the ‘options’ part, so I ought to contact on it for anybody utilizing CTRL-F: there may be none, after all, as a result of nature of open earbuds. You don’t wish to cancel noise, you need as a lot of it as attainable!
By way of the remainder of the characteristic set, the Nothing Ear (open) has a number of taken from different Nothing earbuds, however a number of lacking too. Utilizing the Nothing X app you’ll be able to change what the contact controls do, play with an equalizer, activate a low-latency mode (for gaming, which doesn’t appear to be one thing you’d wish to do on open-ear buds?), and set off a ‘discover my earbud’ alert which makes them play a loud chirping sound should you’ve misplaced them.
The equalizer is the principle characteristic there, and it’s simply as intuitive as Nothing followers can be used to. It’s default choice is a three-band customization mannequin between mid, bass and treble, however there’s a complicated choice with an eight-band equalizer for individuals who know their approach round EQ.
Within the default Easy mode, there are three 4 presets in addition to the power to customise your individual combine, which I feel most individuals will go for. Just a few Nothing options like Bass Improve mode and Listening Take a look at are lacking, however that’s not surprising given the character of those headphones.
For those who personal a Nothing or CMF telephone you get an additional characteristic: you should utilize ChatGPT as your sensible assistant from the buds. You may simply squeeze the button and ask your buds what the climate’s like, what the time is or what number of kilometres are in a marathon — provided that it’s ChatGPT, although, there are not any ensures that the reply can be appropriate!
Nothing Ear (open) evaluation: Efficiency
- Max quantity is not excessive sufficient
- Missing bass and mid
- Little sound leaking
You may’t count on unimaginable audio high quality in open-ear headphones, as a result of approach they work — it’s simply the character of the beast, and a trade-off you get with the elevated situational consciousness of carrying them. That’s not even factoring in how background sounds will get in the way in which of your tunes.
Nevertheless even with this in thoughts, I wasn’t blown away with how the Nothing Ear (open) sounded. I’ve sometimes discovered Nothing earbuds to offer overwhelming bass and admirable treble and mid, however that wasn’t the case right here.
The earbuds did not provide as a lot bass as fitness-bud followers can be accustomed to, and whereas they did fare loads higher within the treble division, mid was left within the wayside. There was fairly a little bit of peaking and distorting too, notably on drums nevertheless it affected different devices to a noticeable diploma too.
A few of these points may very well be mounted with the EQ, and I squeezed sufficient additional bass into tunes to emphasise some exercise tracks, however was all the time conscious that I may get a greater sound high quality purely by altering to a different pair of earbuds (regular, exercise or open).
A gripe I’ve had with earlier Nothing earbuds reared its head, in that the utmost quantity wasn’t that prime. I listened at max quantity for many of my listening, and plenty of the time once I was outside I may barely hear my music.
One factor I do admire — although it may very well be a knock-on from the quantity difficulty — is that there’s little or no audio bleed. Individuals round you gained’t be pestered by the tunes you’re listening to.
Nothing Ear (open) evaluation: scorecard
Class | Remark | Rating |
Worth | You are paying a excessive charge for the tech, nevertheless it’s not the priciest choice on the market. | 3/5 |
Design | Whereas the case is well-designed, the earbud hooks are a significant difficulty. | 2/5 |
Options | A minimal characteristic set, however higher than in another over-ear headphones. | 3.5/5 |
Efficiency | With a low max quantity and iffy sound high quality, it is arduous to get enthusiastic about music. | 3/5 |
Nothing Ear (open): Ought to I purchase?
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Additionally think about
Part | Nothing Ear (open) | OpenRock Professional | 1More Match Open Earbuds S50 |
Water-proof | IP54 | IPX4 | IPX7 |
Battery life | 8 hours (earbuds), 30 hours (complete) | 19 hours (earbuds), 46 hours (complete) | 10-11 hours (earbuds), 38 hours (case) |
Bluetooth sort | Bluetooth 5.3 | Bluetooth 5.2 | Bluetooth 5.3 |
Weight | 8.1g / Charging case: 63.8g | 13g / Charging case: 64g | 10g / Charging case: 63g |
Frequency response | Not said | 20Hz-20kHz | Not said |
How I examined
To write down this evaluation, I used the Nothing Ear (open) for roughly three weeks. In the course of the first two weeks of that, I solely used them for train: on a run or on the health club (so maybe 5 hours per week), however for the ultimate week I made positive to make use of them much more.
This latter testing concerned use at house, at my workplace, on walks in numerous areas and on public transport. Most of my testing was accomplished utilizing Spotify and Tidal although I watched a number of movies and performed video games to see how they fared. It was paired with an Android telephone through the course of.
I have been reviewing expertise for TechRadar for nearly six years as of penning this, which incorporates many audio and health units. I’ve additionally examined open-ear headphones and different Nothing earbuds previous to the Nothing Ear (open).