8.6 Score
The thing about budget-friendly earbuds is that, while the majority of them aim to cram them with so many features which ends up being an absolute miss fail to understand that you don’t have to include all to have a good experience. Nothing seems to get that logic very well and I must say, since its launch, I have been daily-ing the Nothing ear (a) and this is what a proper budget earbuds should perform like.
Nothing ear (a) Review
Looks and Finish
If you are into the techwear genre of fashion and want that cyberpunk-ish feel, this Nothing ear (a) does not disappoint. To be honest, in the sea of earbuds that look vaguely similar to one another, it’s refreshing to have something that stands out. We received the black version, which has a muted, transparent/translucent finish that made me pretty happy just looking at it. The intricate details on them are one worth appreciating. The case shape reminds me of the Impact candy case which you can find at convenience stores.
The entire earbuds are made of polycarbonate and sadly, potentially scratch-prone material – so either you get a case to protect it or just have to choose to live with those micro scratches. I do wish Nothing included a simple case or made an official case available to make life easier to protect it. However, we vaguely remember that they did give a free case for those who pre-ordered. Unfortunately, that case isn’t available for sale. Womp womp. Ah well. So, time to get a third-party case it is.
Comfort and Fit
One of the most crucial factors when it comes to earbuds is that every one of our ears is designed differently. So, I have an acquired taste for earbuds as most earbuds, especially with the stem extending out do not give me a pleasant experience. The Nothing ear (a) is the first exception: They have designed it in such a way that the earpiece that sits inside is more shallow in the sense that it rests well. The stems are not long enough that they would fall off your ears.
The fact that they made the stems more in shape, makes it a lot easier to hold and use them. Overall, when I do wear it for prolonged periods, I do not have any pain or discomfort. Sure there is a bit of that fatigue which is pretty normal but it’s one of the few comfortable earbuds with a stem I have tried so far. Not as comfy as Sony or Jabra but I know I will bring the Nothing ear (a) with me everywhere I go – which I did and left my Sony WF-1000XM5 at home.
Specification
In terms of specification, the Nothing Ear (a) comes with an 11mm dynamic driver which uses PMI+TPU which is the major difference from the Nothing Ear 2 which uses a ceramic diaphragm. It has ANC which supports upto 45 dB with Smart ANC Algorithm, Adaptive ANC and Transparency mode. For connectivity, it comes with Bluetooth 5.3 with support for SBC, AAC and LDAC.
Surprisingly, it has IP54 certification for the earbuds and IPX2 for the Case, with in-ear detection sensors, Dual Connection support, 3 microphones which help with noise cancelling while on call and support for Google Fast and Microsoft Swift Pair. This is by far the most decked-out earbuds we have seen on paper under the RM 500 asking price.
The App
Good earbuds should have proper app support and the Nothing ear (a) comes with the Nothing X app which can be downloaded from the Play Store or App Store. Once you pair the earbuds through the app, you get to see the battery indicator for both the L and R earpieces. At the bottom, there are 4 options: Equalizer, Controls, Noise Control and Bass Enhance.
Equalizer gives you the ability to control three and only three aspects of the audio – Mid, Bass and Treble, and all these are customizable under the custom mode. Other than that, you have 4 presets to choose from: Balanced (which is Nothing’s signature sound), More Bass, More Treble and Voice. I’ll talk more about the experience later.
Under controls, you get to customize both Left and Right controls – from double pinch, triple pinch, pinch and hold, double pinch and hold and single pinch – you can customize however you want. If you pair it with a Nothing phone, you have an extra option to bind ChatGPT. Noise Control gives you access to Noise Cancellation, Transparency and Off and the ability to control the intensity of your ANC.
Finally, Bass Enhance allows you to boost the Bass experience on a level-by-level basis. When you hit the gear icon on the top right, you have access to more features such as In-Ear detection, Low Lag Mode, LDAC, Dual Connection, Find my Earbuds and the Firmware Update button when there’s one.
I would give this app a solid 8 out of 10 for its good experience, clean and straightforward approach and easy understanding even for those who are not well-versed in audio. I am docking 2 points for not including the ability to check the case battery in the app – which I think is more important.
Audio Experience
Let me start with its default EQ because most consumers might not even download the app to calibrate it to their liking. So the balanced tuning has a higher affinity towards treble, followed by bass and finally mids. So, you can kinda tell how it’s going to sound.
We tried Maria Maria feat. The Product G&B by Santana. In my opinion, a great song to appreciate the guitar and vocals. But with Balanced, the higher affinity towards bass muddles the highs and you have these muffled sound settings. This is where we weren’t happy with it. So, immediately tapped Custom and set to the following: Treble +3, Bass -4 and Mid 0. Boy, it sounds pretty improved with the vocals taking a nice precedence, followed by the mids and then the lows which encapsulate the experience.
Then I proceeded to listen to all the songs with the following configuration as I felt it more ideal: Bass -2, Mid 0 and Treble +3. This is where I gave EDM a go, tried Core by RL Grime, and I must say it did the job very well in managing the bass with the other beats taking precedence where it’s required. Once the bass hits, it gives a tasteful reverb that makes the listening enjoyable.
Now we listen to something more palatable, 3AM by HAIM – the vocals in this song are supposed to sound dreamy and I like how it reproduces with the instrument in the right place. The separation with the vocals and instruments is a bit of a hit-and-miss but at this price point, I am willing to forgive because this is probably one of the close-to-best experiences we have had.
By the way, do take note that most of these listening experiences have been with ANC on and with ANC, you are expected to hear more bass as compared to turning it off due to the hardware compression in cancelling noise and isolation.
So, when it’s turned off, 3AM sounds a bit more airy and sounds right. Core sounds exactly how you’d probably hear at Raves with a more sharper treble and Maria Maria sounds more like listening in the backyard whilst dancing with your Maria – if you have one. What I am trying to say, it sounds like someone is borderline busking or playing live.
Additional Features
Now let’s talk about other features like ANC, Battery Life and more.
I appreciate that Nothing gives somewhat of a granular control with ANC where you can choose the intensity as it is extremely important because different users have different hearing levels and it plays a heavy role with their centre of gravity. Do you ever feel dizzy when wearing certain earbuds? This is why.
With the Nothing ear (a), I must say that their Adaptive works well enough and makes you feel centred enough in most situations. High gives a weird lightheadedness, and it doesn’t cancel out most noises when you are not playing any music. But takes a while to get used to. Mid is the ideal cancellation with these earbuds, though you will hear a bit of the airy feeling and some background noise. Low feels like having transparency mode on.
When we tried all the intensity at a café, we could hear what the other person was saying, the music playing and so on. We tested without playing music. While playing music, we set the volume to about 60% to make sure the external sounds are washed away and it’s just us and the tune.
It works but it’s not the ANC I enjoy. Sony did it best with their C700N which was clean with minor pickup of external noise – that’s a review you can click here to read. This is an earbud priced at about RM 500 and you can pick one up during the sale for less than RM 300.
Battery Life with the Nothing ear (a) is absolutely amazing – we have used the earbuds nonstop for a good week with an average of 3-4 hours. I have no complaints. Since it charges via USB-C, it makes life a lot more easier. The pinch controls on these earbuds are well-designed and much more improved than previous generations of stem-based earbuds we have tried.
What’s Missing?
Nothing ear (a) isn’t perfect, to be honest. When you are purchasing a product at a certain price point, always expect some compromises. We mentioned earlier that the ANC leaves a lot to be desired and the Transparency mode is a bit muddled which I don’t enjoy personally. But what happens to be the biggest hit in the experience, happens to be the ChatGPT experience – which is locked within the Nothing ecosystem.
Every Android brand is building its ecosystem and while the OS itself is open-sourced and is supposed to give you a free experience, sadly, every brand’s ecosystem locks you from having fun with a product that isn’t from that ecosystem. Coming from nothing, I was a bit surprised – given how Carl Pei has something to say about other brands, Nothing, too is restricting his brand from going further.
Let’s see if it ever changes. But yes, an experience like this, could be an absolute game changer – sadly, you won’t be able to experience it.
Conclusion
For an earbud priced at RM 479 at launch and now you can pick one up for RM 429 or lower, I must say, the Nothing ear sold me on the sound quality alone. To get LDAC support and to keep up with it is not an easy feat. Let alone sound this surprisingly well, I must say that this is a very capable audio product.
Of course, the ANC aspect of it is a letdown that usually budget earbuds fail to achieve. But if this happens to be a huge factor for you, then you need to get the Sony C700N which does very well on that aspect as well. What happens to be a bummer is that, the only feature that makes this earbud unique – the ChatGPT function only works with Nothing phone. So, for those who are picking up solely for the audio experience, you are only picking this for that.
But hey, for a nothing product, I am genuinely impressed – especially for a brand that focuses on smartphones first and makes pretty good earbuds – boy, good job. Samsung could learn a thing or two from this honestly.
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