Nothing Ear 1: Worth Getting?
We’ve seen a lot of different takes on wireless audio accessories, and the Nothing Ear 1 earbuds certainly put their own spin on how TWS earbuds should like and feel. They’ve been on the market for quite some time now, and are officially the first product from Nothing, a new brand headed by Carl Pei. If you’re on the hunt for a pair of cool-looking earbuds, these are definitely worth looking into – but do they go beyond looks? Let’s take a look.
Design
When it comes to design, the Nothing Ear 1s are clearly designed with style and elegance in mind, featuring a transparent casing that admittedly is a bit larger than most wireless earbud cases out there. There’s an LED indicator inside the case, along with a USB-C charging port and pairing button on the outside.
The earbuds themselves aren’t too large and come with the same transparent design that you’d see on other Nothing products. They do feature stems although thankfully they are short and pretty much don’t stick out too far away from your ear. Additionally, they do come with IPX5 protection for light moisture and such.
Set-Up
Setting up the earbuds was pretty easy, and were easy to pair to my phone. There’s also an Ear 1 app on Google Play which will then allow you to customize the sound quality on the earbuds, as well as touch controls and other settings. In general, the Nothing Ear 1s do sound good. The addition of EQ profiles in the app does let you fiddle around with sound balance with the earbuds. It would have been nice if we got more in-depth EQ controls and profiles though.
The ANC does a great job of keeping out unwanted sounds as well. It’s pretty effective and you can definitely hear your music clearly. In addition to ANC, there’s also a transparency mode available, which will be useful if you’re in a busy or noisy environment like a roadside or somewhere similar. The microphones on the earbuds sounded loud and clear as well, which is ideal for phone calls and video chats.
The earbuds can last you around 4-5 hours depending of course if you use ANC features, and you can top this up with the charging case for a total of up to 34 hours if you top up the battery with the charging case, making it ideal for most commutes and plane trips.
Final Thoughts
So are the Nothing Ear 1s worth your cash? If you’re after a pair of earbuds that go below the 200 and 150-dollar price range, with a unique approach to design, then you should definitely go for these. There are some considerations though, like the short battery life in-between charges, as well as the relatively modest EQ options, which are some stuff to take note of.
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