- These are the Nothing Ear (1)s.
They are $100 wireless earbuds
with active noise cancellation.
And they are the very first product
from Carl Pei's Nothing tech startup, or should I say brand?
I should definitely say brand.
Nothing's first product being wireless earbuds
is neither terribly exciting nor terribly risky.
And outside of them being partially clear,
his earbuds fit that narrative sadly too well.
So let's talk about Nothing.
- Okay, Nothing, it's time to show something.
(package ripping and crinkling)
- By far the most exciting part about these buds
is their design.
Both the case and the buds are partially transparent
to show the inner workings of the product.
The case supports Qi wireless charging,
has a USBC port, a pairing button,
and enough battery to recharge the buds
around six times with ANC turned on.
It closes with a slap.
(case snapping)
And is spring-loaded so that the large,
square top pops open with ease.
Overall, the case is the same width as an AirPods Pro case,
but about a third longer, making it not quite as pocketable.
The buds have color coordinated dots on them,
red and white to indicate which divot they fall into,
and a concave dimple on the lid
holds them securely in place when the lid is closed.
I was really hoping that this dimple would provide
like the perfect fidget spinning fulcrum,
but sadly, it's just a little too off-center for that.
So the Pixel buds case
will remain my favorite fidget-friendly case.
Such a good click.
In just a week of testing,
this clear case already shows many small scratches
and general wear.
I am interested to see just how transparent this will be
after a year of use.
My bet, unless you keep this case in another case,
it won't be too pretty
after even a few months of daily use.
The buds are the same stem shape as the AirPods.
A bean-like oval sits in your ear
with the option of three silicone ear tip sizes,
while a 3/4-inch stem comes off the side.
The big difference here is, again,
the transparency of the stem with Nothing's logo
running along the components on the inside.
As someone who is always looking at what earbuds
people are wearing, I mean,
I'm gonna be stoked to see these out in the wild,
and I'm absolutely gonna recognize them
as something new and different from afar.
But for all of the hype created around this design,
some small, transparent tweaks
to an old form factor feels safe.
And hell, half of the bud and the case
is still wrapped in white.
Now, what that old form factor does provide
is a comfortable, easy fit.
Each ear bud weighs only 4.7 grams
and has a four-hour battery life with ANC on
and 5.7 hours with ANC off.
I was able to wear these buds
for the duration of their battery life with no discomfort.
And the case has enough battery
for 24 more hours of playback or 34 with ANC off.
The buds include the standard touch controls
with long press, double and triple tap options.
And then the added control of sliding up or down
the stem of the bud to control volume.
I can understand avoiding a single-touch option
to prevent mistaken touches,
but I do wish I at least had the option for one here.
80% of the time touch controls were responsive,
but during the other 20%,
the buds would either not register my taps or register them
and then not skip to the next song or pause my music.
I also had to disable the in-ear detection on these buds
because I found it far too sensitive.
It would often pause or play my music
even when the earbud was still fully seated in my ear.
Now, this could be because of this one piercing that I have
that often gets in the way of earbuds, but regardless,
it was just too sensitive for my liking.
The Ear (1)'s app houses some limited EQ settings,
a few touch control settings, battery levels,
toggle for in-ear detection and transparency mode toggles.
It is sleek.
It's easy to use.
It even has dark mode, but it is rather limited.
Oh, and yes,
you can use each bud independently of the other.
But how do they sound?
The Ear (1)s have been tuned by Teenage Engineering,
a Swedish music technology company
that produces some amazing sense.
The buds themselves have 11.6 millimeter drivers
that put out a punchy bass
and they do a fine job of separating highs and lows.
They are extremely comparable
to the now two-year-old AirPod Pros I have,
but they are nowhere near as dynamic
as Sony's most recent wireless earbuds, the WF-1000XM4s,
or the Bose Quiet Comfort,
though both of those are three times the price.
And if you want to hear more about either of those,
we have reviews up on theverge.com.
The truth is that most wireless earbuds
at that $100 price point are gonna be indistinguishable
sound quality-wise between different manufacturers.
And unless you're one of us lucky earbud reviewers,
you're very rarely gonna get to put headphones head to head
and really hear the minute differences between them.
So for the average listener,
the average sound quality of the Ear (1)s
is gonna sound great.
And if you really want the best audio quality,
well, just be prepared to shell out the extra cash
for say the Sony's or the Bose.
Now, one great feature to see at this price point,
even if it's not as rare as it used to be,
is active noise cancellation.
The Ear (1)'s ANC is only a few steps below the AirPod Pros.
And it's certainly not as robust as the Sony's or the Bose.
With ANC turned on,
they block out just as much sound
as your pointer fingers do when you plug your ears.
Low-level hums are certainly gone,
but the upper-level pitches, they still come through.
I wore these on a train trip to Philly last week,
and I was pretty happy
with how much noise they canceled out,
though I could still hear a lot of the train around me.
And I certainly was missing my over-ear headphones with ANC.
I think it's time for a mic test.
Okay, first up in today's test are the Enacfire A9s.
They retail for $66 from Enacfire's website,
and they also include active noise cancellation.
Next, we have the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pros
who recently got marked down to $99.
Also have ANC and probably have one of my favorite apps
amongst ear buds.
And the earbud of the hour, the Nothing Ear (1)s
that retail for $100.
How are they sounding?
And of course, there wouldn't be a mic test
without the gold standard, Apple's AirPod Pros,
which now retail for around $200 to $250.
But how do these $67 headphones sound
when there's something in the background,
say running water, for example?
I chose all of these headphones today
because they all have stems,
which allow the mic to get a little bit closer.
They also all include active noise cancellation.
And with a little background noise,
how are the Nothing Ear (1)s holding up?
Are they able to cancel it out?
Can you hear me clearly
over something running in the background?
And one thing the AirPod Pros always do well
is canceling out noise.
Usually you can pretty much hear anybody
over most things with these headphones on.
Yikes, I'm not sure these headphones
would be my very first pick if I needed a good mic.
(relaxing music)
With the Ear (1)s being Nothing's first product to market,
I expected some bugs,
but y'all, it has been, it's been rough out here.
The Ear (1)s are plagued by so many
early hiccups of wireless earbuds.
The most annoying and noticeable
is their constant switching of ANC on and off.
While riding the subway, sitting at home,
working in the office,
I have had the ANC toggle on and off at random.
Now, it doesn't happen all the time,
but it happens enough to be really annoying.
I've also had burst of the earbuds
disconnecting completely from my phone,
only for them to reconnect
and then disconnect a few seconds later.
And then there was this one time,
the right bud connected to my laptop
while the left bud connected to my phone,
and for a split second, I was like, Bluetooth multipoint?
But no, no, no, no.
It was just another bug.
And while we're at it,
why is it that Jabra is the only manufacturer
to give us Bluetooth multipoint in earbuds?
I would personally give up in-ear detection for that,
but maybe that's just me.
And one more small annoyance.
I really wish these buds had a voice to alert me
that they were pairing or a voice to let me know
what device the earbuds are connected to.
The only audio indications these buds have
are in the form of beeps, which in my week of testing,
I have not even come close to memorizing.
The Ear (1)s act a lot like many earbuds
at their price point.
The ANC works okay, they sound good enough for most people,
and they are comfortable for long listening sessions,
but they are currently riddled with bugs
that I'm sure future software updates
will hopefully address.
These buds are a safe bet
that offer a few surprises outside of a unique design.
And much like the countless wireless earbuds
at this price point,
there is very little outside of that design
that would inspire me to recommend them to most people.
Sadly, they feel too little too late
to the budget ANC market.
Hell, even a year ago,
this would have been far more impressive.
But really, these headphones sent a pretty clear message
about where Nothing is headed as a brand.
I don't think Nothing's gonna reinvent
the tech that we use or the way that we use technology.
They're gonna strip away some paint.
They're gonna continue to make products
that are good enough for most people.
And they're gonna attempt to create a brand
that draws a following.
And ultimately, it's gonna come down to how many people
that brand resonates with
and how well they do at creating a lifestyle
around the products that they put out.
These headphones, they're not nothing,
but they're not really something either, at least not yet.
Buds, it was so good to see you back here.
I hope that you and everyone you care about is well.
If you are in the market for $100 wireless earbuds,
Chris Welch and I share this beat on theverge.com
and we have reviewed countless number of wireless earbuds.
So theverge.com for more on that.
We'll be seeing you real soon.