With its peculiar name, the brand Nothing seeks to innovate in a product that might seem like it doesn’t give more than itself, headphones. These wireless headphones not only have an eye-catching design but also seek to offer the highest sound quality. We have had the opportunity to analyze the ear (1), its only model.
Nothing ear (1), technical characteristics
- Driver: Domça, 11.6mm ocp
- Diaphragm: Graphene
- Chamber Space: 0.34CC
- Tuning: Teenage Engineering
- Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
- Voice clarity: 3 high definition microphones.
- Environmental noise cancellation with AI
- Battery: Up to 34h With Case (ANC Off); 25h (ANC Activated)
- Charging compatibility: ear (1) charges inside the case; The case can be charged wirelessly with a QI charger or wired via USB-C
- Equalizer controls: customizable tap and swipe
- Ear detection
- IOS / Android application
- Quick pairing
- Splash proof IPX4
- Compatible with Android 5.1 and higher. iOS 11 and higher
- Bluetooth version v5.2
- Bluetooth profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP
- Price: 99 euros
The Nothing ear (1) They move away from the traditional wireless headphones, like AirPods, in their striking design and they are built in a transparent plastic that lets us see part of its interior. That is, neither white, nor black, transparent.
The striking design of the Nothing ear (1) stands out from before taking them out of the box and is that they have taken care of even the packaging, presenting a silver box that opens with a strip, from there we took another rigid silver box. There is no callsign or anything that refers to Nothing. Of course, when we open it we will find a transparent plastic box where the headphones are stored. This box also differs from what we are used to finding and it does not seek to be so compact, it is somewhat larger than the traditional ones, totally square. The lid has a round concavity that helps us open it. When we do, the battery light will illuminate indicating the charge of the headphones before use. Each earphone has its hole where it fits perfectly together with the charging pins. We will know which one is for each ear, not only because of the shape, but also because the one on the right is red and the one on the left is white. Once you get the hang of it, it is easy, but at first it is hard not to be wrong, it is not as simple as putting them directly in a box.
On one edge of the box is the mini USB-C charging connection and the pairing button. The headphones also include a small USB-C charging cable
The headphones are of the silicone type, that is, those that are inserted inside the ear, which helps to better cancel noise. In the box we also have pads of two sizes, plus those that come in the headphones themselves. It is very important that we choose the one that best suits us, since a poorly chosen pad can cause us discomfort or falls. Personally, this type of headphones annoys me a lot and they fall off easily, so that you can choose the pad that best suits you is a joy to avoid future problems.
The Nothing ear (1) battery promises 34 hours with the case and 24 hours if you can’t charge them the case. To enter to assess this point we must take into account our needs, how much time a day we spend listening to music or talking on the phone hands-free. For a one-way trip by subway of more than two hours, there is plenty to listen to music without stopping and make a phone call. In idle, the headphones quite extensive, lasting more than 15 days without use.
The audio quality is quite solvent. If you are not very audiophiles, these 99 euro headphones will be your salvation on long trips, walks or races. The bass sounds very strong and we can notice that something is wrong in the treble. The microphone and the audio quality is also very positive when we use them for calls.
They also have a very sensitive placement detection system that allows the headphones to know if they are placed on the ears or not, in this way to stop the music we just have to take them off and the music will stop immediately.
What can we do with the application?
We will need to install the ear (1) application in order to use them. It is a very simple application that offers us information about the battery of each headset and the box. From the application we can also install firmware updates when available.
From the application we can choose the different types of equalization for the headphones between balanced, treble, more bass or voice. We can also customize the type of noise cancellation, here you can choose between noise cancellation, transparency or nothing. The transparency mode is not a type of total noise cancellation, with it we can hear what is happening around us and the audio of the Nothing ears (1).
The application also allows us to select the latency mode, if we want it to be normal or low. If we lose our Nothing ears (1) we will be able to find them thanks to the application since it will make them sound so that we can locate them.
From the application we can also select the touches that perform actions on the headphones. Nothing ears (1) only register two types of touches, the triple touch and the touch and wait. With them we can choose if we want to go to the next or previous song or if we activate noise cancellation.
Conclusions.
I don’t consider myself an audiophile and maybe these headphones are the ones for this type of person. For € 99 the Nothing ear (1) provide satisfactory sound quality, perfect connectivity with the mobile, comfort, design and customization.
RESUME
Original, effective headphones with a competitive price.
Design and build quality10
Installation and software10
