With its Ear (stick), the young brand Nothing offers new wireless headphones that come to hunt on the ground of Apple AirPods 3. But if the design is successful, the sound does not live up to the promises and the competition.
Despite its two short years of existence, Nothing does not lack ambition. The young London brand, which relies heavily on design and buzz, first attracted attention with its first product, the Ear wireless headphones (1) – known as True Wireless –, before panicking geeks. a few months ago with its Phone (1), a smartphone supposed to revolutionize the sector (see our full test) by changing the codes. And to continue this momentum, it continues to expand – slowly – its catalog with the Nothing Ear (stick), new wireless headphones that aim to compete with Apple AirPods and other stars of the market.
Nothing Ear (stick): minimally intrusive wireless headphones
In practice, the Ear (stick) are not intended to replace the Ear (1) launched in 2021. In fact, this time they are semi-in-ear headphones, unlike their in-ear elders. Understand that they don’t have silicone tips to fit into the ear canal and therefore don’t provide as much noise isolation. A style of earphones well suited to people who can’t stand the intrusive side of in-ear models, the sensation of having an obstructed ear canal not always being pleasant. The key is a certain comfort but in return a loss of audio quality. Since the sound is not sent directly into the ear canal, surrounding noises can creep in quite easily and disrupt listening. And, since the ear canal is not isolated, the headphones do not have an active noise reduction system. This does not, in general, prevent you from enjoying a good sound, provided that the passive isolation is effective. A condition that is sometimes difficult to respect.
Nothing Ear (stick): a neat design
Since its inception, Nothing has produced products with an original and immediately identifiable design. Its first Ear headphones (1) like its Phone smartphone (1) adopt a style specific to the brand, all in transparency. The Ear (stick) are no exception to the rule. Nothing offers headphones combining transparency and sobriety with their translucent plastic rods revealing some of the electronics. The shell enclosing the transducer consists of its side of an elegant matte white plastic accompanied by a thin aluminum grille to let the sound through. On each earphone, a colored dot (red on the right, white on the left) makes it possible to quickly identify in which ear to place them.
It is generally successful and the brand manages once again to stand out in this field. But she took it a step further with the charging case. Nothing took advantage of London Fashion Week a few weeks ago to briefly unveil these new headphones and we understand why. The case has a cylindrical shape, like a big lipstick stick. Also transparent, it can be opened and closed with one hand by rotating the lid. This is also a success on the aesthetic and practical level.
Nothing Ear (stick): comfort at the expense of sound
Once placed in the ears, the Ear (stick) are really comfortable. Very light (they weigh only 4.4 g), they are quickly forgotten. They also stay in place even during physical activity. Obviously, this comfort depends on the size of your ears. But we tested them on three different people with different morphologies and the conclusion remained the same: it holds and it’s pleasant.
A good point therefore but which struggles to hide an embarrassing counterpart. Despite Nothing’s efforts, the audio quality is just passable. Ear (stick) embed drivers (mini speakers) of 12.6 mm. A nice volume that should allow them to send sound without distorting it too much. Well, that’s not enough. It is often necessary to increase (a lot) the volume to recover all the frequencies, and again. The bass takes flight. Unless you put your hands on the headphones, it’s hard to really enjoy them. And the Bass Lock algorithm developed by Nothing to precisely compensate for this phenomenon does not change anything. Suddenly, the music sometimes turns into a mug. Mids and highs struggle to decide. If the result remains correct with electro music where the basses are generally omnipresent, listening becomes very difficult with more rock titles mixing guitars, synths and voices. It’s almost unpleasant. Add to that listening in a noisy environment and there, the Ear (stick) can no longer do anything for your ears. Even when trying to adjust the 3-band EQ tucked away in the app (available on Android only at the moment). The sound is really too unbalanced. Shame.
As for phone calls, this is not a panacea either. The open format of Ear (stick) is again in question. Despite the three microphones present on the headphones and the ambient sound attenuation algorithm developed by Nothing, it is difficult to hear and be heard. The voice is a little too muffled for our interlocutor when, on our side, it is better, once again, to press the earpiece nestled in the ear to properly hear what is being said.
Nothing Ear (stick): a very satisfactory autonomy
The open format of the semi-in-ear wireless headphones has at least one quality. As they do not benefit from an active noise reduction system – quite energy-intensive – they can display a longer autonomy. This is the case of Ear (stick). The brand thus announces 7 hours of autonomy. We were able to confirm his statements. The case, for its part, allows three full recharges. Count a good two hours to refuel the headphones from 0 to 100% (about 10 minutes of charging allows you to recover two hours of autonomy). Finally, it will necessarily go through a USB-C cable to recharge, the cylindrical shape of the case does not allow it to offer wireless charging.
Nothing Ear (stick): too high a price
The Nothing Ear (1) had succeeded in seducing enlightened amateurs. With rather satisfactory active noise reduction and very decent sound, these in-ear headphones were priced below 100 euros when they were launched. Unfortunately, they come to undergo an increase – and not the least! – to reach 149 euros – even if they are still fairly easily found at their original price in some online stores – which makes them much less attractive in a market where competition is fierce.
For the Ear (stick), Nothing has set the price at 119 euros. If the audio quality was indeed there, the price would be acceptable. But this is not the case. And a software update will have a hard time correcting the defects encountered. For all those who struggle to support in-ear headphones and prefer to move towards this type of model, it is better to move towards Apple AirPods 3 – certainly more expensive (209 euros), and even, if, for they too, the bass is not at the party, they allow a much more pleasant listening – or towards other more affordable and better models – see our buying guide on wireless headphones. Finally, note that the Nothing Ear (stick) are – for the moment – only available in The online store of Nothing, which adopts the very particular graphic codes of the London brand…