Nothing Ear (1)   Headphones Review

The Nothing Ear (1) have a unique transparent design that allows you to see their inner circuitry. In contrast, the buds, ear tips, and parts of the case are white, which helps make them look even sleeker. They only come in one color variation: 'Black/White'.

The Nothing Ear (1) have a comfortable fit. They don't have a deep fit or put pressure on your ear. Overall, they're lightweight and come with three differently-sized ear tips to help you get the best fit.

The Nothing Ear (1) have good controls. They have touch-sensitive controls that are easy to use and responsive. There are beeps to let you know when you play and pause audio as well as skip tracks. There are also beeps when cycling between ANC on, transparency mode, and off (though the 'off' setting is only available via the app). However, they don't have a manual way to pair the headphones without their case. There aren't any voice prompts or audio cues for volume either. By default, you can't skip to the previous track either, but you can map this control via the companion app.

On either bud:

• Double tap: Plays and pauses audio.
• Triple tap: By default, skips to the next track. You can also map this control so that one bud skips to the next track and the other skips to the previous track.
• Tap and hold: Cycles between ANC on and transparency mode, which allows you to hear your surroundings without taking out your earbuds. Note that you can set the left and right headphones to different settings, so if you want ANC in both ears, you need to make the same command on both buds.
• Slide on stem: Raises or lowers the volume.

On the right earbud:

• Double tap: Answers and ends a call.
• Press and hold: Rejects a phone call.

The Nothing Ear (1) are exceptionally portable. They should easily fit into most pockets and bags without an issue.

The Nothing Ear (1)'s case is good. Like the earbuds, the case is transparent with white plastic accents. There's a pairing button on the side of the case and a small light inside the case to indicate the battery life of the buds and the case. Inside the case, there's a small white and red dot to indicate where the left and right buds should be placed.

The Nothing Ear (1) have a good build quality. They're mostly made of plastic and feel durable enough to survive a couple of accidental drops without taking on too much damage. The buds are also certified IPX4 for protection against splashes of water. However, the plastic carrying case feels a bit cheap.

Some users have noted quality control issues with their own units. We also received a pair of defective headphones. There wasn't a charge going through the carrying case, and resetting the buds didn't work. As a result, we had to exchange our unit for another pair.

These headphones have good stability. Although they lack stability fins, they shouldn't fall out of your ears during casual listening sessions. However, if you wear them during high-intensity physical activity, they may move around or fall out.

• Nothing Ear (1) headphones
• Charging case
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• 3x ear tips
• Manuals

The Nothing Ear (1) have a fairly neutral sound profile out of the box, making them well-suited for a variety of audio content. Although a dip in the high-mid can weaken vocals and lead instruments, they're still present in mixes. While the headphones lack more robust sound customization features, they have a few EQ presets you can use to adjust their sound. You can see a comparison of these presets here. To check these presets, we had to play pink noise for the buds to stay connected to our PC, and that's why the bass seems less smooth in the 10Hz to 200Hz range.

Note: These headphones have skin detector sensors on both buds. While you can turn off in-ear detection in their app, the ANC still doesn't work. To keep the ANC on during our testing, we connected copper cables and tape to the sensor to trick it to activate. However, you shouldn't experience this issue with real-life use.

The Nothing Ear (1)'s frequency response consistency is okay. Unlike most in-ear headphones, they're prone to inconsistent bass and treble delivery. You may need to adjust their fit, positioning, and seal to get a more consistent sound.

Note: Our method of activating the "wear" sensor on headphones has improved since testing these in-ears. The previous test method, which used a copper wire, had a significant impact on frequency response consistency and gave an inaccurate measurement. In reality, these earbuds have a much more similar frequency response consistency to their successor, the Nothing Ear (2) Truly Wireless. As long as you get a good seal and fit with the included ear tips, you'll experience consistent bass and treble delivery.

The bass accuracy is outstanding. The range is fairly flat across the range, although it's very slightly underemphasized. As a result, mixes are a touch light on body and boom.

The Nothing Ear (1) have good mid accuracy. The low-mid is very neutral, so vocals and lead instruments sound clear. However, the rest of the range is underemphasized, so these sounds are nudged to the back of your mix and are weak and distant.

The Nothing Ear 1 have great treble accuracy. It's slightly underemphasized under the range, but it's still fairly even. Vocals and lead instruments are slightly veiled, while sibilants like cymbals are a bit dull.

The Nothing Ear (1)'s peaks and dips performance is good. The left driver has a slight peak in the low-bass, which adds extra thump to mixes. A peak in the low to mid-mid in both drivers clutters your track a bit while vocals and lead instruments are a bit forward. A dip in the high-mid weakens vocals and lead instruments, while a peak in the low-treble makes their upper harmonics harsh. The uneven mid-treble turns sibilants like S and T sounds alternatingly dull and piercing.

These headphones have great imaging. The group delay falls below the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. The L/R drivers are also well-matched in phase and frequency response, which indicates a more stable stereo image. However, there's some mismatch in amplitude, so there may be some shifts in the image. There are also some peaks across the phase response, which may be audible with real-life content. The left driver, in particular, sounds louder and off-centered in the mid-range. That said, our results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The passive soundstage performance is bad, which is to be expected from in-ears. By design, they bypass your outer ear, which needs to be activated by sound resonances to create a spacious soundstage. As a result, the soundstage seems small and as if coming from inside your head, rather than from speakers placed in the room around you.

The Nothing Ear (1)'s weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. All frequencies fall within good levels, resulting in clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the Nothing Ear (1). Our results are only valid when using them with these settings.

The Nothing Ear (1)'s noise isolation performance is good. While they don't block out as much ambient noise as the Apple AirPods Pro Truly Wireless or the Anker SoundCore Life P3 Truly Wireless, they can reduce the low rumble of bus and plane engines as well as ambient chatter. They can also cut down the high-pitched hum of AC units.

The Nothing Ear (1) have an excellent leakage performance. Leakage is mostly concentrated in the treble range, and escaping audio sounds thin. That said, if you're listening to audio at high volumes in a moderately noisy environment like an office, people around you shouldn't be able to hear it.

The Nothing Ear (1)'s integrated mic has a disappointing recording quality. Your voice sounds full-bodied but thin, somewhat unnatural, and distorted.

The integrated microphone's noise handling performance is fair. The mic can separate your voice from moderate ambient noise, although speech quality declines if the mic picks up loud noises. If you're taking a call from a busy street, your voice should still be understandable.

The Nothing Ear (1)'s battery performance is mediocre. They're advertised to last five hours continuously, and we measured a similar amount. Battery life can vary depending on usage, so your real-life experience may vary. Unlike some other earbuds, like the JBL Tune Flex True Wireless, they don't have any power-saving features like an auto-off timer. That said, their carrying case holds roughly four additional charges, and you can use one bud while the other charges.

The companion app is good. You can switch between four EQ presets: 'Balanced', 'More Treble', 'More Bass', or 'Voice'. You can also see the battery life for both buds, update the firmware, turn on and off in-ear detection, and rename the buds. If you misplace your buds, you can use 'Find my Earbuds' to help locate them. You can switch between light or maximum ANC, transparency mode, or off. You can map the double-tap as well as the touch-and-hold controls. The app offers a low latency mode, which is nice if you like to stream video. If you're looking for more customizability, the Nothing Ear (2) Truly Wireless have a 3-band graphic EQ and presets, as well as a personalized ANC setting.

The Nothing Ear (1) have alright Bluetooth connectivity. Unfortunately, they don't support multi-device or NFC pairing. On their default mode, they also have high latency on PCs as well as iOS and Android devices, which is annoying if you like to stream video. That said, when using their 'Low Latency' mode, their PC (SBC) latency drops to 134 ms, iOS to 75 ms, and Android to 106 ms, which is much better. That said, some apps and devices compensate for latency differently, and your real-life experience may vary.

You can't use truly wireless headphones wired. They come with a USB-A to USB-C charging cable to replenish their carrying case.

The Nothing Ear (1) are fully compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs. However, you can't connect them to your PC in any other way.

These headphones come with a carrying case that holds roughly four additional charges. It has a USB-C port for recharging the case and also supports wireless charging.