Since its emergence into the market, Nothing has worked with two very clear premises: a differential design and the idea that, if something works, it should not be changed. With this in mind, the manufacturer has barely changed the designs of its phones and headphones. The only variation has been to respond to technological advances. That is how We come to the Nothing Ear, the evolution of the Nothing Ear 1 and 2 (yes, the names should be thought about), and one of the most interesting headphones this year.
As usual, Nothing products are distinguished by their designs. In this case, at first glance, they are very similar to previous generations. Available in black and white (the latter matte) and its characteristic transparent profile. The case, somewhat larger than usual, also acts as an external battery, allowing a use of up to 40 hours. That is one of the advantages, the other is that it is dust and water resistant. The disadvantage is that it is a considerable size compared to other charging cases. One charge is enough to have about 8 hours of audio.
Nothing has improved its noise cancellation and manages to reduce external sounds by up to 75%. It's not as good as leading headphones in this field (Sony, B&O or Audio Technica), but we could still place it among the 5 best in this section, especially if we take into account its price. The background noise reduction algorithm also works very well and we can be heard in calls with excellent quality.
If we are going for pure and simple sound, the Nothing Ear has an 11 mm dynamic driver, ceramic diaphragm and new ventilation holes compared to previous generations. It incorporates three microphones and algorithms that optimize calls and, the great news, is its partnership with OpenAI. Those who have the latest version of this chatbot can use it directly from these headphones.
The touch controls work very well and are intuitive. It may be a little difficult to know exactly where to pinch, but once we learn the proper sequence, it is very simple. To this we must add that we can customize the controls within the Nothing X application. This app also hides one of the most interesting additions to the Nothing Ear: the equalizer. Or rather the equalizers.
The basic one is, as its name suggests, simple and for minimal configurations. But then there's the Personal Sound Profile feature, which performs a hearing test to determine how well you can hear high frequencies and adjusts the sound accordingly. For this, Nothing partnered with Mimi Hearing, a company that produces a certified hearing testing app for medical devices.
The advanced equalizer, for its part, is a true parametric equalizer, with the option to mark the filter on the frequencies we select. It is one of the most advanced equalizers we have seen in an app. The recommendation is that we play with it to find the frequencies that best suit our listening taste.
Verdict: For €149 there may be better-known options, but Nothing has made a lot of progress in the quality section. They are a very interesting option in the current market, especially thanks to the incorporation of ChatGPT.