The Nothing Ear headphones were unveiled this week and, despite the confusing name, serve as the successor to the Nothing Ear (2).
This means the Nothing Ear are essentially the Nothing Ear (3) in all but name, with numerous upgrades making for a more tantalising package.
But what are the key differences between the new Nothing Ear and the older Nothing Ear (2)? We’ve created this guide to highlight all of the biggest changes, so keep on reading to find out.
Longer battery life
The new Nothing Ear has seen a boost to the battery life, with Nothing claiming it can last up to 5.2 hours with ANC activated, whereas the Nothing Ear (2) can only last 4 hours with the same settings.
If you’re happy to disable ANC, then you can stretch the battery up to 8.5 hours, while the Nothing Ear (2) is restricted to just 6.3 hours.
The bundled case will also charge the headphones on the go, providing an extra 32 hours worth of battery. This totals up to a remarkable 40.5 hours of battery before you’ll need to plug the case back into the mains to charge. For comparison, the Nothing Ear (2) has a combined battery life, with the charging case included, of 36 hours.
Enhanced audio
In Nothing’s own words, it has “evolved our technology to take your music to new realms” when designing the new Nothing Ear. The company claims that highers will now go higher, and lowers will sink deeper.
When digging into the specs, it’s clear that Nothing has actually reduced the size of the headphones’ drivers, with Nothing Ear (2) sporting 11.6mm custom drivers, while the newer Nothing Ear features 11m drivers instead. However, Nothing says it is using ceramic to develop the drivers this time, which the company says packs more richness for the most authentic sound when compared to the graphene and polyurethane drivers of the Nothing Ear (2).
Nothing also says that it has taken the dual chamber of the Nothing Ear (2) and added two extra vents, which should apparently improve airflow and reduce distortion.
We were impressed with audio quality when reviewing the Nothing Ear, with our reviewer saying: “Overall, the Ear present a balanced and coherent sound in a confident manner, unifying the frequency range well and making up for in rapidity what they lack in outright wallop.”
Improved noise cancellation
Noise cancellation is quickly becoming one of the most sought after headphone features, allowing you to block out the outside world and focus on your music. The Nothing Ear (2) featured ANC (active noise cancellation) technology, but in our review we said the performance was “nothing special” at blocking out external noise.
Nothing has made sure to improve upon the ANC for the new Nothing Ear, making the technology 1.8x stronger by increasing the maximum volume of noise it can block out from 40dB to 45dB. It’s good to see the noise cancellation being improved upon, but there is a big caveat.
During our testing of the Nothing Ear we found that activating ANC would actually impact the audio quality of music. Our reviewer wrote: “With ANC on, suddenly that low-frequency substance is apparent and the almost hectic momentum of the Ear sound is tempered somewhat.”
New Clear Voice Technology
Nothing’s Clear Voice Technology 2.0 was very handy when taking calls with the Nothing Ear (2) headphones, as it helps to reduce unwanted backward noise for the caller so they can hear your voice more clearly. When we reviewed the Nothing Ear (2) our reviewer said this technology was “very well implemented, and call quality is good at either end of a conversation.”
And yet despite us being pleased with the call quality, Nothing has made sure to upgrade to the new Clear Voice Technology 3.0 for the Nothing Ear. Nothing says it has trained the AI’s algorithm to be more effective at suppressing everyday sounds, while it has also implemented a new ‘talk mic’ design which should result in less obstruction when speaking on a call. Extra holes have even been added to the headphone’s stem to give wind a better pathway and prevent it from causing disturbance to your calls.
With all of these tweaks combined, Nothing believes that it has reduced call interference by 60% for the new Nothing Ear headphones compared to the Nothing Ear (2).
