Review: The Nothing Ear Open earbuds are my first choice for second place

24 Sep 2024, 13:00 by Taylor Kerns · Android Police

Active noise cancelation has become an expected feature in all but the cheapest wireless earbuds, and it's pretty commonplace in budget sets, too. But while blocking external sound is a desirable feature for many personal audio use cases, it's not always ideal.

Most earbuds that offer ANC also feature a passthrough mode that digitally pipes in ambient sound, but open earbuds take it a step further. The new Nothing Ear Open earbuds position their audio drivers just outside your ears with a form factor that lets in environmental sound in by design. They're a good option if you're in the market for a pair of buds like this, but you probably won't want them to be your only pair of earbuds.

Nothing Ear Open

7 / 10

The Nothing Ear Open earbuds are the company's first buds to feature an open design. Their drivers sit outside your ears, a form factor that intentionally lets in ambient sound. They're comfortable and they sound quite nice at moderate volumes, but audio quality takes a hit at high volumes and when the earbuds' drivers get nudged out of place.

Pros

Generally good audio quality
Eight-hour battery life
Comfortable enough to wear all day

Cons

Easy to nudge out of place
Audio quality suffers at high volumes
No wireless charging

$149 at Nothing

Price, availability, and specifications

The Nothing Ear Open are available for pre-order at Nothing's online store today in the US, Canada, the UK, and European markets. In the US and Canada, they cost $149; in the UK and Europe, they're £129 or €149. Pre-orders open in Japan on September 27 for ¥24,800. General availability starts on October 1.

Specifications

Battery Life
8 hours (buds); 30 hours with case
Noise Cancellation
No
IP rating
IP54 (buds and case)
Supported codecs
AAC, SBC
Charging
USB-C
Driver size
14.2 mm
Dimensions and weight (earbuds)
51.3 x 41.4 x 14.4 mm; 8.1 g each
Dimensions and weight (case)
125.9 x 44.0 x 19.0 mm; 62.4 g
Spatial Audio
No
Multipoint support
No
Expand

What's good about the Nothing Ear Open?

A unique, open design

The Nothing Ear Open have a lot going for them. The open design won't be for everyone, but if you often wear earbuds in situations where you need to hear what's going on around you — working collaboratively with others, or running outdoors — being able to hear your surroundings unobstructed is a great perk. Transparency modes have gotten very impressive, but they still can't compare to the real thing.

Even with their unusual form factor, the Nothing Ear Open sound pretty great at moderate volumes. When the earbuds are positioned correctly and their drivers are pumping sound right into your ears, the Ear Open don't sound much different from Nothing's other earbuds. Audio is rich and full, though not as high-quality as what you'll get out of top-tier buds from manufacturers like Sony or Bose.

Bose Ultra Open Earbuds review: Niche appeal

These 'open' buds are great, but not for every situation

Battery life is solid, too, rated at eight hours of playback per charge. That kind of longevity means you should be able to wear them for a full workday, though taking calls will drain the battery faster than streaming audio does. The Ear Open's case has enough capacity to recharge the buds from empty to full almost three additional times, making for about 30 hours of playback before you'll need to plug in.

I was a little iffy on that case at first. It's long and pill-shaped, with a similar footprint to a video streaming device remote. Given the earbuds' shape, though, I think this is a good solution. The case is about as thick as two smartphones stacked on top of each other (minus camera bumps) and has rounded edges, so it's easy to slip into a front pocket.

The buds are held in place with a flexible silicone arm that wraps around the back of your ear. I get a secure enough fit that they've never fallen off my head, even while running. Their flexible build also makes the earbuds comfortable to wear for long periods of time; they're lightweight and well-balanced. Since they don't actually sit inside your ear, it's easy to forget they're there at all when your media is paused.

What's bad about the Nothing Ear Open?

Try to get them to stay put

As comfortable as the Nothing Ear Open are, you might have a hard time getting them to stay in an optimal position. The buds tend to shift around on my ears, and while they've never come close to actually falling off, it doesn't take much to nudge them out of place just enough to affect audio quality. Bass, in particular, takes a hit when the earbuds' drivers are misaligned. I find myself making minor adjustments often.

Compared to buds like the Bose Open Earbuds Ultra or the Anker Soundcore C30i, which clip onto the bottom of the ear, the Nothing Ear Open's wraparound style can also be a minor pain to negotiate. For me, getting each earbud in place is a two-handed job that involves adjusting my glasses and brushing my hair out from under the bud's silicone arm.

The Ear Open feature Nothing's trademark clear plastic look, but only on the bit that sits right over the opening of your ear. That little bit of transparent plastic mixed with soft white silicone arms and matte silver battery barrels that rest behind your ears gives the Ear Open a kind of Y2K aesthetic that, for me, tips over the edge from nostalgic to cheesy. I think a black model might have looked sleeker, but the buds only come in one colorway.

But the Nothing Ear Open's biggest drawback is one common to all open earbuds: they're really situational. Letting in external sound is great when you need to stay aware of your surroundings, but while ANC buds offer both noise cancelation and transparency modes, the only way you can keep sound you don't want to hear at bay with the Nothing Ear Open is to crank the volume. Not only is that an ineffective substitute for real sound isolation, but the Nothing Ear Open also don't sound very good at their loudest. Sound gets thin and harsh when you push the volume past about 80 percent.

Should you buy them?

Whether the Nothing Ear Open will make sense for you is going to come down largely to budget. Because of their very specific use case, the Nothing Ear Open probably aren't a good pick as your only earbuds. They're not quite as impractical as the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds that cost twice as much, but at $150, they're hardly cheap, either.

They're good at providing a personal ambient soundtrack without shutting out the outside world completely, and if you regularly need earbuds for that purpose, the Nothing Ear Open are a fine option. They sound great at low-to-medium volume, they're comfortable enough to wear all day, and they've got the battery life to manage that kind of use. If you want a single pair of do-it-all buds, though, you'll be better off looking at more traditional options.

Nothing Ear Open

7 / 10

$149 at Nothing

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