Nothing announces their first open-style earbuds – Ear (open)
The just announced Nothing Ear (open) improve comfort and keep you aware of your surroundings, great for exercising.
Teased and leaked ahead of their release, Nothing just made the Ear (open) official.
The new earbuds feature an open design, with what Nothing calls Open Sound Technology. Open earbuds have two main functions, comfort and letting outside audio in. This helps wearers stay aware of their surroundings, which is important for exercise use. The driver sits just outside of your ear canal, while a hook goes around the back of your ear. This hook has caused issues for some glasses wearers on similar style earbuds.
There’s also a separate outward facing speaker, which plays an inverse sound to reduce leakage. This works in a similar way to how ANC cancels noise from the outside in. Nothing calls this Sound Seal System, keeping your audio private, a common issue for other open earbuds.
Inside each earbud is a 14.2mm driver, with a custom titanium-coated diaphragm. All-in-all, each earbud weighs 8.1g. The Nothing Ear (open) features transparent elements as on other Nothing products. The clear case shows off the earbuds.
Nothing Ear (open) are good for 8 hours of battery life on a single charge and 30 hours with the charging case. Just 10 minutes in the case provides 2 hours of playback. The case charges via USB-C and a USB-C to USB-C cable is included in the box. Unfortunately, there’s no wireless charging. The charging case is a little larger than many competitors, however it’s thin at 19mm. Both the buds and case are IP54 dust and water resistant.
The Nothing Ear (open) support Bluetooth 5.3 & LE, plus Microsoft Swift Pair and Google Fast Pair, for fast pairing with Windows or Android devices. There’s also AI-enhanced Clear Voice Technology and Automatic Bass Enhancement, as on previous models.
The Nothing X app is used to select EQ settings or adjust the 8-band EQ curve. Find a sound you like, you can share your profile with other Nothing users. The app can also be used to customize the touch controls on each earbud. A combination of pinches and holds can be used to play/pause, skip track, answer/decline calls and adjust volume. You can also use the app to turn on or off in-ear detection, which automatically plays or pauses music when the earbuds are put in or taken out of your ear. There’s also multiple device support, which means you can quickly switch between devices. You can use “Find My Earbud” in the app to locate misplaced earbuds. Use the app to update the firmware.
There are a couple of exclusive features for Nothing Phone users. When Game Mode is enabled, the earbuds will automatically enter a low-lag mode, which reduces latency to less than 120ms. As on past Nothing earbuds, these ones also have ChatGPT integration, which can be setup in the Nothing app.
The Nothing Ear (open) are available to pre-order today in white for $149. Hopefully we will see a black option or other colors added later down the line, as we saw with past Nothing earbuds. There will be a limited drop later this month in London, before shipping starts on October 1. Nothing’s flagship earbuds, Ear are available for $148. The budget Ear (a) are $98.