With its Ear Open headphones, Nothing manages to preserve excellent sound quality without isolating the ear canal from external noise. And athletes will also appreciate their great stability on the ears.
Wired or wireless, there are many types of headphones. First of all, there are headphones that are placed on the ears, or even cover the entire ear, and whose two “shells” are connected by a hoop that rests on the top of the skull. If you are looking for something less bulky and are ready to make a small concession in terms of audio quality, you can then turn to small earphones that are placed directly near the ear canal. To better isolate yourself from external noise, so-called in-ear models are equipped with rubber tips that adapt to the shape of each ear canal, some even offering, in addition, an active noise reduction function to filter external noise, as is the case with AirPods Pro, Bose Quiet Comfort or even… Recently, we have even seen the appearance of earphones without rubber tips and yet capable of offering a relatively effective noise reduction function such as the new AirPods 4 (see our article).
Let’s also talk about bone conduction headphones, well known to athletes. These do not rely on the traditional method of speakers directing sound to our eardrums. They are not even placed on the ear canal but just in front of the ear. The speakers are replaced by vibrating modules placed directly in contact with the bones of the skull, through the skin. It is these vibrations that reach the eardrums. The effect is surprising, effective and above all has the advantage of not cutting you off from the outside world. This is the essential reason which makes them a type of earphone very popular with cyclists, for example, who can continue to listen to music or a podcast while perfectly hearing traffic noise to move around safely. Two brands hold the top spot in this category: Shokz and Suunto. That said, bone conduction headphones suffer from one major drawback: they’re not very good at low frequencies. For listening to podcasts it’s not very bothersome even if it takes away a little depth from the voices. But for music, we really miss part of it.
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Nothing Ear Open test: sound quality that surprises
It is in particular to respond to this problem that Nothing designed the Ear Open. These completely wireless headphones (we say True Wireless in English), which means that the two left and right headphones are independent of each other, placed on each ear and are held by the hoop that is placed behind the roof. This means that the small speaker is not directly inserted into the ear canal but just placed nearby. We therefore have, in theory, the best of both worlds: no total isolation from the outside world to stay safe while cycling, for example, but better sound quality than that offered by bone conduction vibrations. And in practice, it must be said that we are not far from faultless. From the first listen we are struck by the excellent sound quality and, precisely, by the unexpected rendering of the bass: the voices have their full extent and we benefit from all the frequency ranges for the music. All without being isolated from the world: you will perfectly hear someone speaking to you or, precisely, the noise of the city around you, so important for hearing a car arriving when you are on a bike or when you are wants to cross the street safely. We understand, these are therefore not the headphones to be preferred for traveling by metro, train or plane. In these situations it is better to turn to earphones or headphones. But the Nothing Ear Open are perfectly suited for sporting activities.
Especially since thanks to the headband passing behind the ear, each earphone is securely attached and therefore allows all contortions without risk of falling, which is not possible with AirPods for example. In terms of comfort, this will necessarily depend on the shape and size of your ears. As seen in the photos, the speaker is not always placed in exactly the same place, unlike over-ear headphones. But, even when the speaker is positioned on the upper part of the horn, as with the ears of the person writing these lines, the sound remains surprisingly good quality. We would perhaps have appreciated a mechanism to better orient the headphones towards the ear canal, at the risk of making them more fragile at the level of a potential hinge. Despite their size, headband and relatively large battery, each earphone weighs just over 8 grams, making them very comfortable to wear. With a downside, however, when wearing glasses since the end of the branch then rests on the headband of the earpiece.
Nothing Ear Open test: long battery life and fast charging
Like all True Wireless headphones, the Nothing Ear Open are delivered in a carrying case which is also used to recharge them. The battery of the case is charged using a classic USB cable. Please note that neither the cable nor the charger are delivered with the headphones. In terms of autonomy, we have 8 hours of continuous listening, the case being capable of charging the headphones for 22 hours of additional listening. In other words, you can listen to music all day long, taking a few short charging breaks since you only need to place the headphones in the case for 10 minutes to get 2 hours of listening time. Given the shape of the headphones, the case is larger than that of the AirPods for example, but it is also thinner which still makes it quite easily transportable. It is also a little heavier since the case of the AirPods 4 with noise reduction weighs from 35 grams, compared to 63 for that of the Nothing Ear Open.
Pairing the Ear Open with your smartphone depends on the type of device you are using. With an iPhone, you will need to go to the Bluetooth Settings to put the smartphone in pairing mode, then open the Ear Open case and long press the pairing button, located between the two earphones. You will then need to choose the Nothing Ear Open from the list of available headphones.
With a recent Android smartphone, it’s a little simpler: as soon as you press the pairing button, a panel slides from the bottom of the screen to offer you to pair the headphones with the device. Like the AirPods on an iPhone, even if with the latter it is not even necessary to press the button.
Nothing Ear Open test: a multifunction button and a special ChatGPT function
The advantage of using a Nothing smartphone with these headphones from the same brand does not stop there. Via the Nothing X application reinstalled on the brand’s devices, you can personalize the audio rendering by playing with the equalizer options. And you can also change the functions linked to the button located on the upper part of each earphone. By default, a single press stops or starts listening. You can also choose, for example, to assign the “Back” function to a double press of the left earphone button and “Forward” to a double press of the right earphone button.
And on a Nothing smartphone, you can also make a long press on one or the other button start a conversation with ChatGPT, provided you have installed the Open AI application beforehand. Otherwise, this will launch the smartphone’s standard voice assistant: Google Assistant or Google Gemini depending on your version of Android. Note that on an iPhone, a long press will launch Siri but it is impossible to replace Apple’s voice assistant with ChatGPT. Nothing obviously highlights this particularity to underline the interest of using headphones and smartphones from the same brand. That said, as we were able to test it ourselves on a Google Pixel 6, you just have to install the Nothing X application from the Play Store to obtain the same functions. It is also the advantage of the Android system to be very flexible. And fortunately Nothing has not decided to make its application exclusive to its smartphones.
Nothing Ear Open test: good quality microphones
We don’t forget that Bluetooth headphones are designed to listen to music or podcasts, but also to make phone or video calls. The quality of the microphones is therefore essential. Here too, Nothing achieves a feat by managing to capture the voice well despite microphones rather far from the mouth, since the Nothing Ear Open obviously do not have downward-pointing stems. If you are in a noisy environment, the microphones will also do their best to allow the caller to hear you but, again, since they are open headphones, as their name suggests, it is you who you might not hear them anyway. To be reserved for calls in quiet environments.
Nothing Ear Open review: very versatile headphones
As we have seen, the new headphones from Nothing really do not lack in advantages, especially since they offer a very complete set of functions for an overall reasonable price in this category of 150 euros. If you use an Android smartphone, you will also benefit from additional functions and increased comfort of use on a daily basis, compared to what you can do with an iPhone. Especially since the Nothing Ear Open are capable of connecting to two devices at the same time, a smartphone and a computer, for example, to easily switch from one to the other. The direct connection to ChatGPT can be a plus, but it’s not essential, let’s admit it. The fact remains that the Nothing Ear Open are also excellent headphones for athletes, both occasional and regular, regardless of the smartphone used. Their excellent battery life allows them to be used for extended sessions while being assured that they will remain securely placed on the ears. And all with excellent sound quality.