Nothing Ear (stick) review: the latter is good, but the design has a price

Nothing is a relatively new brand – its debut dates back to January 2021 – but it certainly does not lack experience considering the deep knowledge of the sector by its creator Carl Pei, who with OnePlus – of which he is co-founder – has managed to gain little time important market shares at the expense of fierce competition. The bet has now been made, and in just under two years there are already several products launched with the aim of obtaining more and more consensus among consumers and, with ambition, of create a real ecosystem within which the user can move freely, finding everything they need for an all-round experience.

So here are the brand new Ear (stick), the second earphone model of Nothing after Ear (1) and the third device placed on the market also counting Phone (1). Surely with this product the company wanted to immediately set the record straight: design is and wants to be the trademark, the element of differentiation in an offer that – in the tech sector – has now flattened out not only in its characteristics but also in its aesthetics. It is the details that count, that is, that draw the consumer’s attention to one product rather than another, and here there is no doubt: the Nothing Ear (stick) earphones stand out.

Let it be clear, the evaluation of any technological device it cannot and must not be limited to appearance (read: aesthetics), but it is also true that Nothing focuses a lot on this aspect (it is not the only brand to do so, mind you) and it is therefore necessary to include it in the examination.

Nothing says it explicitly: the custody “is inspired by the silhouette of lipsticks“, after all, the cylindrical shape and the red element that houses the USB-C socket for charging leave no doubt. Let’s try to answer the first question that comes naturally: if it looks like a lipstick does this mean that it is a product dedicated to a female audience? Obviously being able to give an opinion only in a personal capacity, the answer of the writer is: no.

We are not in front of a device purely feminine – those who have a few more years on their shoulders will remember the Siemens offer with its Xelibri series mobile phones. What can I say, to complete the offer of Ear (stick) Xelibri 6 would have been perfect. Joking aside, it is a product intended for a wide audience, which includes any type of user regardless of the genre to which it belongs. The case is made of transparent plastic on the outside (beware of scratches and dirt that tends to accumulate!), The inside is white and to open it just rotate it until the earphones are accessible. The rotation of the cylinder is facilitated by an excellent grip which makes the operation extremely simple.

The upper part of the case – in red color – houses the USB-C socket for charging (supplied with the USB-C / USB-C cable) and the small chrome button for pairing: just hold it down (with the case open) to complete the process which, on Android, happens even more quickly thanks to the Fast Pair functionality. I have not encountered any kind of problem at this stage, an applause to Nothing.

Everything passes by brand new Nothing X application – just released on the App Store and Play Store – from which it is possible to make all the necessary settings. The owners of Nothing Phone (1) instead have everything they need already in the quick settings of the smartphone. Once you open the app, you will find the image of the two earphones (left with white dot, right with red dot), the relative charge levels (also of the case) and the Equalizer and Controls buttons. With a tap on each of the two earphones shown you access the customization to define the functions in case of double or triple pressure on the earpiece key, long pressure or double pressure with the second long one.

The first few times I used the earphones I have not always been able to find the key on the stem at the first try: it’s just a matter of habit, already after an hour the commands given were safer and without errors. The equalizer is also well donewhich allows you to choose between balanced sound, with a prevalence of bass or treble, voice and custom: by selecting the latter item you can set highs, lows and mids manually with a graph that helps us to find a balanced result.

• audio:
  • 12,6mm dynamic driver
  • diaphragm: PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) and PU (polyurethane)
  • codec: AAC, SBC

• dimensions and weight:
  • earphones: 29.8×18.8×18.4mm for 4.4g each
  • case: 87.1×29.8×29.8mm for 46.3g

• battery:
  • earphone autonomy: up to 7 hours of listening, up to 3 hours of calls
  • earphones + case autonomy: up to 29 hours of listening, up to 12 hours of calls
  • 10-minute recharge allows for an autonomy of up to 9 hours
  • charging via USB-C

• resistence: IP54
• ear detection: auto play when earphones are inserted, pause when removed
• Google Fast Pair
• Microsoft Swift Pair
• controls:
  • single press: play / pause, answer / end call (not editable)
  • double press: next track, call refusal (default, editable)
  • triple press: previous track (default, editable)
  • long press:
    • left earphone: volume up (default, editable)
    • right earphone: volume down (default, editable)

• connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2
• compatibility: Android 5.1+, iOS 11+
• app:
  • Nothing X for iOS and Android
  • customizable equalizer and gesture
  • Find my earphones
  • low latency mode with Phone (1)

• settings integrated in Phone (1):
  • customizable equalizer and gesture
  • Find my earphones
  • low latency mode
  • software updates

I had the perfect opportunity to try Ear (stick) during a short trip, I used the earphones with both an Android and an iOS smartphone (Galaxy Z Fold 4 and iPhone 14 Pro to be precise). The mating process was immediate in both cases, with the Samsung it happened via Google Fast Pair. I kept the default settings for what concerns the gestures and changed the equalizer giving a bit of prevalence to the bass.

Once placed on your ear, the earphones are unnoticeable by how light they are: using them for a long time is therefore not a problem at all, you really forget you have worn them (it happened to me) and this is a big point in their favor. However I reply some small difficulty in finding the right positioning in the ear: Nothing claims to have tested over 100 different ear shapes, making more than 200 design changes during the development process. What is certain is that the result was more a compromise than an optimal solutionand for this reason I found myself in several cases looking for – and not finding – the perfect point of support that would maximize comfort, stability and audio quality.

Here too it is a matter of habit, after a few uses, the “right” position can be found quickly. After all this is a “risk” that can be run with all half-in-ear headphones, in my case it was a first time and I needed a little more time to get used to this particular form factor .

There is no noise cancellation, and this is felt. On the plane, the background noise is the same whether you are wearing headphones or resting on the table, even the voices of nearby passengers (usually the most talkative are always those sitting behind …) remains roughly the same intensity. And then the only solution is to turn up the volume a little: the result, however, risks not being what is necessarily desired.

The sound quality is goodperhaps not excellent: despite the 12.6mm dynamic driver, the “best speaker magnets available on the market“and the tricks implemented by Nothing – see the Bass Lock which identifies a possible loss of bass by automatically resetting the output to the optimal level – I have not always been able to immerse myself in the music as I wanted. In some cases – and here the ambient noise affects surrounds us – the track listened to is too flat, in others the bass is not sufficiently balanced.

Of course you cannot expect the audio quality of products belonging to the higher range, however I would have expected a slightly cleaner sound on all occasions. However, no problem during calls, the voice of the other interlocutor is always clear and even the listener reports excellent reception without disturbances. Here the Clear Voice technology does an excellent job through the three integrated microphones which, with the help of an algorithm, properly filter background noises by amplifying the voice.

Nothing promises up to 7 hours of continuous listening with a single recharge, and I must say that from my personal experience this data – which the manufacturers often calibrate upwards – corresponds to the truth. On the road I used the Ear (sticks) practically all the time, and without any help from the charging case I used them for at least 5-6 hours by turning them off with 20% of battery still available. Clearly, if you make several phone calls, the autonomy drops much faster.

Nothing Ear (stick) are exclusive and original, the application is brand new but already complete, the case differs in a flattened market and the earphones themselves are very aesthetically pleasing – they actually resume the design of Ear (1) – with details not left to chance, an elegant transparency and not kitsch at all. The fit is good, in the sense that it goes found given the form factor half in ear, the weight is featherweight and the sound quality is more than decent. I felt the absence of noise cancellation and I missed a few times that punch of the bass that I found on other occasions.

However, a final opinion must necessarily be given by crossing the experience of use with the price of the product: I think 119 euros are a little too excessive, given that Ear (1) are now under 100 euros (see below) with a lot of ANC at our disposal. The design is paid for, it’s true, but a positioning between 80 and 90 euros would have found it more adequate.

Perhaps the best alternative to Ear (stick) always offers Nothing: Ear (1) (HERE you can find our (not) review) they cost 30 euros more in the list, but on Amazon they are even at 89 euros and offer greater stability in the ear cup and, above all, active noise cancellation. They could therefore represent the ideal solution for all those who require greater isolation from the surrounding environment.

If you want to stay in design scopethen you could think about Huawei’s FreeBuds Lipstick, similar in aesthetic philosophy but with a higher price (they cost 229 149 euros on the official website).