Last summer Nothing launched its first ever product: Ear (1)a pair of earphones they have since sold over 560 thousand units. Quest’estate, he Phone (1) and its glyphs got all tech enthusiasts talking. And now Carl Pei’s company has presented a new product: Nothing Ear (stick), we tested for this review.
The new model does not have silicone eartips, but it sounds great with drivers developed by Nothing engineers and a new cylindrical design case. And they are great products. But with a higher introductory price than last year, are they worth buying? In this review we will try to help you understand if Nothing Ear (stick) are the earphones for you.
Nothing Ear (stick) review
Also for this new product Nothing has thought of a completely recyclable cardboard package, as for its smartphone launched this summer. It looks like one box of a toothpaste. But inside you find much more value. On one side a cardboard cylinder contains the USB-C / USB-C cable to recharge the earphones (you will need to have a transformer), also with warranty and instructions.
On the other hand, the Nothing’s magic storage cylinder. Also in this case the transparent look is back, with an ared cent where there is the input of the USB-C port and next to it the silver button for Fast Pairing. On one side you find an opening, with a knurled material with the word Nothing. Spinning the case around like a lipstick or cocoa butter, find the new earbuds Nothing Ear (stick).
The movement to open the case is extremely simple and natural both with one hand and with two. And compared to other solutions, despite being the medium-sized case it is easier to keep it in your pocket. Also for this product we must admit that the designers of Nothing have shown that they know how to do their job: not only is it aesthetically attractive, but also comfortable and functional.
The earphones themselves are very reminiscent of the Ear Sticks (1), with the transparent outline, the black interior finishes that reveal part of the hardware components. On the left earpiece you will find a red button, which you will have to store on the red side of the case when you want to charge them: also in this case, style that combines with comfort.
There is also IP54 protection for dust and water.
Extreme comfort, all day long
Nothing explained to us that they tested these earbuds on over 100 different ears, for then change the design up to 200 times to ensure maximum comfort. And we have to say that they succeeded great, although we are personally fans of eartips in earphones. But maybe it’s also because we’ve never tried so comfortable “half in-ear” earphones.
Il weight from 4.4 grams the one is barely heard in the ears. Yet the rather large pavilion has a really solid grip. We never feared they might fall and usually this is not our experience with this type of product. We do not recommend them to go for a run, but even in the gym they proved perfectly stable.
The advice is to try a few different ones placement in the ear until you find the perfect one for you. We have rather small ears, but we had a couple of other people try these earbuds too and they all reported the same extreme comfort.
Also wearing them all day to make calls, to listen to a podcast on the train and some music during training never bothered us. Really great.
Nothing Ear (stick) review, great audio quality
The sound quality is the most important condition for any headset. And not seeing the silicone eartips made us turn up a bit at first. Filling the cavity of your ear to the fullest allows the sound to spread at its best, and without the silicone or foam ‘nubs’ it is difficult to do so.
But Nothing Ear (stick) surprised us positively during this review. The excellent shape of the earphones allows the sound to stay in the ear even without the eartips and this allows you to greatly appreciate the sonic details and also a decent dose of bass. This is also thanks to the Bass Lock Technology, which automatically equalizes the tracks to avoid losing bass.
Nothing has explained to us that i 12.6-inch dynamic drivers they were developed by the company’s in-house engineers, because there was no viable alternative on the market. The magnets and inner lining promise minimal distortion – a promise kept. There aren’t all the levels of detail you’d find in audiophile earphones (which cost at least twice as much, usually) or good over-the-ear headphones. But the sound it turns out really nice.
Listening Valerie by Amy Winehouse we liked the level of detail in the highs and mids, with All These Things That I’ve Done of the Killers we were amazed by the excellent spatiality of the earphones. The bass in Make Me Feel by Janelle Monàe and in N95 by Kendrick Lamar aren’t the most powerful we’ve heard. But they are arguably the best we’ve heard in a half in-ear headset.
They are not professional earphones for musicians and producers, but for those like us who want the convenience of listening to some podcasts and a couple of playlists with good definition and richness of details, they are great.
Audio quality in calls and connectivity
Nothing gave us the Ear (stick) earphones for this review before the official announcement, so we had plenty of time to test them as a call solution. Whether by connecting them to the PC for some video call meetings or for phone calls with the smartphone, they made a very good impression on us.
On the other hand, they understood us well even if there metropolitan it was pretty full, even when we made a call pedaling by bicycle (with the wind usually making calls unheard of) they haven’t lost a word. THE three high definition microphones they do what they promised great.
In addition, Nothing has changed the antenna arrangement to ensure better connectivity with the smartphone. And you can hear: not only has the connection always seemed perfect, but also far away from smartphones, tablets or PCs the signal remained excellent. It does better than many rivals (even in higher price categories).
Gestures and Nothing X, the new app for connected devices
The new Nothing Ear (stick) earphones have Fast Pairing, which makes connecting them to your PC or smartphone a breeze. Already from Bluetooth settings you can enable high definition audio, allow access to contacts for calls and see the battery level of the headset and case. We have tested the functions on both Nothing Phone (1) and on another Android smartphone and in both cases it works great (even if on the Phone (1) they are better integrated into the notification interface).
But to take the experience to another level, you can download the new one app Nothing X.
The Nothing X app is in fact an update of the Ear (1) app, but will now work with all the Bluetooth accessories that Nothing will produce, even for the future. The app immediately recognizes the earphones and allows you to customize the equalizer. There are four pre-set profiles (Balanced, Lower, Higher and Vocal), but you can too customize balancing the highs, mids and lows as you prefer.
Also, you can customize the controls. Instead of having touch controls all over the headsetfind a button on each side well positioned on the stem. We prefer these types of physical buttons, because we often find that touch controls are too sensitive and are activated when you are simply placing the headset in your ear. Or they don’t respond when needed.
Instead, the keys of Nothing Ear (stick) have always reacted to the great and the possibility of personalizing them (and also putting the possibility of raising and lowering the volume) came back handy. Activating the voice assistant then allows you to check different features without taking your smartphone out of your pocket, in a simple way.
The only flaw we report is that on one occasion, removing a headset did not stop the music as expected. The ear detection feature worked all the other times though.
Autonomy and recharge in Nothing’s “cylinder”
Each headset has a declared autonomy of about seven hours of listening, which are a great result for such a small and light product. For calls, however, it should take up to three hours. We have always made a mixed use and we managed not to have to charge them for more than five to six hours without problems.
Custody should guarantee three complete extra recharge, which for an average use (but with a few days of more intense tests) took us almost the whole week without the need to connect with the USB-C cable.
Fast charging allows you to have up to two hours of listening in ten minutes of charging. From the app or in the notification area you can always keep an eye on the battery level so as not to be caught unprepared. But the autonomy is very good.
Nothing Ear (stick) review: is it worth it?
As you have surely understood by reading this review, we liked the new Nothing Ear (stick). While not a fan of earphones without eartips, we have come to aenjoy this …