The Coolest Buds You Probably Shouldn’t Buy – Review Geek

Nothing earbuds have struck a chord with buyers for their eye-catching design since launching in 2021. The Ear Stick buds are Nothing’s budget take on an AirPods alternative. While the price is right, and the style is undeniably cool, the Ear Stick take minimalism to new heights, with mixed results.

Dashing Design

• Earbuds dimensions: (HxWxD) 1.17x.74x.73in (29.8×18.8×18.4mm)
• Earbuds weight: .15oz (4.4g)
• Case dimensions: (HxWxD) 3.43×1.17×1.17in (87.1×29.8×29.8mm)
• Case weight: 1.63oz (46.3g)

There’s no arguing against the Nothing Ear Stick’s coolness factor. Pulling the lipstick case from its long, rectangular box feels like opening a secret message in a James Bond or Mission Impossible flick (hopefully without the self-destruction part).

A textured white cover along the case’s tubular exterior bears the “Nothing” logo in what looks like hand-stamped text, and spinning the top in either direction rolls the buds to the open surface, held fast on their magnetic terminals.

The buds themselves share the same transparent stems as their predecessors, the Nothing Ear 1, with handy pinch keys for controls and red and white dots to signify the right and left sides. The housings at the top are larger than you’d expect for such micro-sized stems, with a matte-white exterior that looks like a cross between a Tick-Tack and a Mentos.

Silver mesh screens indicate the Ear Stick’s sound holes and sensors, but unlike Apple’s standard AirPods, there are no extensions or sound tubes of any kind. That means you have to sort of turn the driver up or down to properly align them with your ear canal (more on that later).

As stylish as the spy-gadget charging case is, there’s no space aboard its tubular frame for wireless charging. Instead, you plug a USB-C cable into the port found on the end of the case. It’s also a fair bit bulkier than the AirPods or AirPods Pro cases, though it still fits well enough in most pockets.

Relatively Simple Setup

Thanks to Google Fast Pair (and Microsoft Swift Pair), the Ear Stick buds are brilliantly easy to get going for non-Apple users.

Things are slightly slower for iPhone folks, especially if, like me, you try and pair the buds manually before downloading the Nothing X app (available for iPhone and Android). Getting the app first makes sure everything connects properly and intuitively, and it’s speedy enough if you follow the steps.

Once paired, the connection was stable, though occasionally I had to click the app’s “reconnect” button while using the buds to access features.

One Size Fits Some

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t love the tipless, unyielding earbud design, be it from Apple or other brands. While it keeps you aware of your environment, there’s a reason the best earbuds come with at least three different ear tip sizes to adjust the fit, and most of my favorites come with more.

While fit is always subjective, the lack of customization really puts you in a pickle if the Nothing Ear Sticks don’t fit off the bat. For my ears, they were never quite comfortable. Thanks to their light weight of well under five grams per side, I was still able to wear the buds for extended periods, but always with a pinch of soreness when adjusting them, especially on my right side.

When I took them into the wild for hiking or on my daily dog walk, I also noticed the buds would inevitably shift over time (especially in my smaller left ear), causing the need to readjust the fit for both comfort and sound clarity. On the bright side, the Ear Sticks never fell out over a week-plus of testing, though I also steered clear of activities like jogging for fear the extra sweat and impact would easily dislodge them.

Middling Sound, Solid Calling

• Driver: 12.6 mm dynamic
• Bluetooth codec: AAC and SBC

You might think that fit and sound quality are two discrete functions, but the two are deeply intertwined for earbuds—especially with the Ear Sticks’ sanded-down sound vents.

Depending on how you turn the buds along your ear canal, sound quality can vary drastically, from thin and tinny to warm and bassy. The latter sound signature is the obvious default when everything is lined up properly, and thick, mostly musical bass is where the Ear Sticks hang their audio hat.

I was impressed by how deep the bass gets in some of my favorite tunes, and it mostly does so without the kind of obfuscation of upper frequencies that was once so common for the space. At times it got too big for my taste, but it can be fun for the right music and mostly stays in check.

The highest frequencies are rolled off pretty heavily, but you’ll find some marginal detail in the midrange, including a splash of sparkle in the upper mids and lower treble. Sound is accessible, if not exceptional, for any genre.

That may be good enough for a pair of mid-tier budget buds, but you can do better at this price and below. Soundcore’s $100 Space A40 offer much more definition and balance, and even pairs like the Soundpeats T3 hold up well in comparison for around half the cost.

Again, a lot of what you hear will be contingent on the fit, and making sure the rounded speaker grilles are in the proper position is both a chore and a necessity for optimal performance.

For calling, the Nothing Ear Stick buds offer good clarity on both ends. I wasn’t able to test them in the windiest conditions, but making calls over a week or so, I had no issues and callers had no complaints.

Good Controls and Features (With Two Exceptions)

The biggest advantage you’re giving up with a pair of AirPods-style earbuds like the Ear Sticks is choice—not just regarding fit, but also how you hear the world around you.

Due to their inherent design, there’s really no way to add two of the hottest earbud features: active noise canceling and transparency mode. The two combined let you control how much sound you let in or out of your earbuds respectively. With the Ear Stick’s semi-open fit, you’re always semi-exposed to the exterior world for better and for worse.

If that’s your preference, the Ear Stick offer some handy extras for their price point. That starts with a simple but effective app, which offers the ability to customize controls, check battery life, and fiddle with some basic EQ options.

The Ear Stick buds also boast sensors for auto-pause when you pull one out, alongside extras like an auto-lag adjustment for gaming on your phone, and quick pairing for Google and Microsoft devices.

My favorite Ear Stick feature is their controls, which use a similar squeeze method as Apple’s AirPods Pro. The little indent on the stems is easy to find and relatively accurate for answering calls, play/pause, and song skip. There’s also volume control included by default, done with a pinch/hold on the right or left bud to raise or lower volume, respectively.

Most impressive, you can control volume when you’ve only got one earbud in, done by a single or double pinch/hold command. The majority of earbuds I’ve tested don’t offer volume control with a single bud, and some don’t even let you use a single bud at all.

Nothing Ear Stick Mic Sample—Quiet Room

Nothing Ear Stick Mic Sample—Background Noise

Respectable Battery Life

• Earbuds: Up to seven hours of listening per charge, up to three hours of talk time
• Charging case: 2 extra charges, up to 22 hours
• Total playback time: 29 hours between buds and case

Nothing claims you’ll get up to seven hours of playback time per charge, which beats plenty of cheap buds, though a lot of those also employ battery drainers like ANC and transparency mode. The claimed battery life lined up with my testing, give or take a half hour.

Calling cuts battery by more than half, worth noting if you make a lot of phone calls with your earbuds. The case offers three additional charges for around 28 hours in total (officially claimed at 29 hours), which again stacks up well with the competition.

Should You Buy the Nothing Ear Stick Earbuds?

For most, it’s probably best to skip the Nothing Ear Stick earbuds. Soundcore’s Space A40 are a much better value at $100, offering noise canceling and transparency mode and better sound. For semi-open earbuds, Apple’s AirPods are better for iPhoners thanks to their beneficial ecosystem and extra features like Find My. And both iPhone and Android users have open-ear options like Sony’s Linkbuds for better sound or SoundPeats’ Air3 at less than half the price of the Ear Stick.

If you’re just gaga for the design and you’re convinced you won’t have any issues with the fit or subsequent sound, the Nothing Ear Stick buds are a relatively modest investment that offer stable performance and great controls. But otherwise, you can do better for your money.