NOTHING EAR (1)

Design & Construction

In today's world of hype generation, Nothing is here in the electronics space changing the game. It has been years since a single audio product shake up an industry so much, creating excitement all over the place. Is the Nothing Ear (1) really that promising? Well, let's break it down. The Nothing Ear (1) if anything, resembles the AirPods Pro too much. With a stem-like design, it features a transparent see-through plastic build that reveals what the inner workings of a earbud. The fit of the earbuds is decent, it doesn't protrude out of your ears much and has a much more ergonomic stem that conforms to the wearing style. It is indeed lightweight as claimed by Nothing at 4.7g but it is hard to forget that you are wearing a pair of Ear (1)'s as the feeling doesn't fade away naturally. Instead of old-school physical buttons, Nothing went with touchpads that work decently well recognising the different controls. Now for the controls, a double press on the either earbud will play/pause your music, a triple press will skip forward or skip backward, while tapping and holding will switch between Active Noise-Cancelling, Transparency Mode and Passive Noise Isolation. Meanwhile, swiping up and down will increase or decrease the volume respectively. Onto the case, it is definitely one of the bigger cases amongst competitors of the same price point, however it does carry the same design language of transparency to show off the earbuds while it is in the case. A little round indent at the top of the case helps you easily hold the case or if you wish, doubles as a really bad fidget spinner. Like all true wireless earbuds, the earbuds dock in fairly easily and will not fall out when the case is flipped since there are magnets inside to keep them secure. The case and the earbuds have a glossy finish that makes it a fingerprint magnet. There is a USB-C port at the right of the case with an LED indicator on the top to notify you of the case charge when closed. If you are in a rush, there is quick charge which will allow for 8 hours of playback with a 10 minutes charge. In the box, there are extra sizes of silicone eartips to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. Even though the Ear (1) isn't a sports earbud, it boasts an IPX4 water resistance for those intense workouts or rainy days, giving users the ultimate peace of mind.

​

Sound Quality

Well-defined, balanced and energetic is how I would describe the sound of the Ear (1). Let's start off with the bass response. In short, it is deep, punchy, and tight. It never managed to distort at loud volume and never bleeds into the mids when it is at a low volume level. It hits doesn't hit as deep as the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 but it definitely as stronger than the AirPods Pro. The highs sound decently bright and filled with plenty of details. The mids do sound extremely crisp even without any equaliser tuning. The soundstage is as wide as the Jabra Elite 4 Active but still far from the best, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2. The instrument separation is okay and distinct left and right channels could be heard. If you are not so much of an EDM or Hip-Hop fan, I am glad to report that the Ear (1) works perfectly with all other genres ranging from Pop to Jazz, you can always make small changes to the sound signature in the Ear (1) app that helps configure the sound to your liking. In the app, you will see the Hear button at the bottom left which allow you to quickly change the Noise Cancellation settings from Maximum to Light ANC; Transparency or turn off all settings for passive noise isolation. However, there is no extra advanced method to personalise to increase or decrease the cabin pressure. Transparency allows you to hear your ambient surrounding sounds so you can always hear the next train announcement or traffic noise to stay safe. Similarly, you cannot personalise it as well. If you prefer the faster way of removing one earbud to hear someone, the earbuds will automatically pause your music, and that you may turn off if you don't want it enabled. Next, you  can choose to customise from presets like Balanced, More Bass, More Treble or Voice. Different presets do work well with different music genres and I personally prefer the More Bass preset. At the bottom right, there is also the Touch button which shows you the controls for the touchpads which you can customise in a rather limited way, but some customisation is definitely better than no customisation. If you ever misplace your earbuds, you can always use the Find My Earbud feature to trace it back using the app to play a loud sound. There is no built-in GPS or Bluetooth signal tracking that allows you to trace it back if you left it somewhere far. In other settings, you can also update your earbuds firmware, change the app from dark theme to light theme, change its latency mode or turn on/off in-ear detection. In calls, the Elite 7 Pro uses Clear Voice Technology to drastically reduce wind noise and keeps the voice quality optimised for speaking, it isn't as mind-blowing as AirPods Pro but it is much better than many other competitors of the same price.

​

Connectivity & Portability

The earbuds support the basic AAC and SBC codecs together with the latest and greatest Bluetooth Version 5.2. The earbuds also automatically power on/off when docked and taken out from the case. The battery life peaks at 5 hours per use with ANC and up to 34 hours with the charging case. The package also comes with a USB-C cable for charging and if you ever wished for wireless charging, the Ear (1) doesn't disappoint. It is Qi Wireless Charging capable and the LED indicators on the case is the most responsive I have seen, lighting up almost immediately after placing it on the charger. If you have a Magsafe charger, the Ear (1) does magnetically stick in place to charge, though it will detached when you pull it from the charger. The headphones' connectivity to the app is perfect as it is able to detect my headphones when its already connected via Bluetooth all the time. If you try to watch videos or movies with these, they do not have any latency in audio transmission. Any latency experienced can easily be fixed too by changing the latency mode to low latency in the Ear (1) app.

​

PROS​​

• Durable Construction

• Ergonomic Fit

• Low Profile

• Customisable Sound

• Energetic Sound Signature

• Transparency Mode

• Find My Earbuds

• Bluetooth 5.2

• Quick USB-C Charging

• Qi Wireless Charging

• IPx4 Water Resistant 

CONS​​​​

• No AptX Codec Support

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Nothing Ear (1) is an essential everyday earbud with strong yet straightforward features that keeps its users happy. The top features why it is so sought-after in a saturated market of true wireless earbuds has got to be its transparent design, sound quality, noise-cancelling as well as overall user experience. It is indeed a seamless and hassle-free experience. The Nothing Ear (1) is definitely the way to go if you need a complete package with an attractive price tag to match.