Nothing Ear (2) review

22 March 2023
At $149, the Ear (2) costs the same as the current price of the Ear (1), which originally launched at $99.

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For a company who said, "It’s been a while since anything interesting happened in tech. It is time for a fresh breeze of change."...

...they sure do love making clones of Apple products.

    • O
    • OJM
    • IbI
    • 05 Apr 2023

    I have to say that this negative review is an outlier and not consistent with my experience over the past week. The primary sell of these earbuds for me has been improved audio quality but more importantly excellent call quality, both with regard to the microphones and noise suppression to those on the other end of the line. I tested them with an unbiased person on the other end of the line against my link buds s and my Liberty pro 3s and all preferred the nothings. I am not an audio file so I can't comment on those aspects of the review but when it comes to a great set of everyday earbuds with excellent call quality and very solid audio, I think these are hard to beat at the price point. As for the industrial design, I like them but that is personal opinion. I suggest that anyone who reads this review also read the many others which are far more positive.

      It's easy to see you want to like them.
      But in truth, they're probably only as good as
      1st Gen 1+ DUDS

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • nem
        • 26 Mar 2023

        Anonymous, 23 Mar 2023Not everyone, only Chinese and brands like Nothing who have... moreMy comment was specifically about Samsung because they support neither LDHC, nor aptX HD, aptX adaptive, aptX LL and what else there is. The comment I answered too mentined Samsung, so that's what came to mind. I confused it with LDAC so the wrong list came up and you're right, mostly chinese brands have LDHC, although Samsung still stands out as having the worst bluetooth codec support of all brands.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • u14
          • 23 Mar 2023

          Anonymous, 23 Mar 2023Dude, you really have no clue do you? EVERYBODY supports th... moreNot everyone, only Chinese and brands like Nothing who have it on their tws. Guess you're the one who has no clue.

            When cons are higher than pros

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • nem
              • 23 Mar 2023

              Kuba, 23 Mar 2023LHDC is supported only on Chinese phones, so if you have Sa... moreDude, you really have no clue do you? EVERYBODY supports that codec but Samsung. I got a S23 Ultra and I am pissed thst they're still cheaping out on their supported codecs..

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • nem
                • 23 Mar 2023

                Thank you, next. I don't understand why wireless buds are always so flaw, I just got another wired IEM, Kinera Celest Pandamon (cheesy look but planars with great sound going along my nickname Pandamon). Absolutely stellar and WAY ahead of all the wireless headphones i could test so far, the Sony WF-1000XM3 sadly weren't even close..

                  And yet people don't see the essential here.. Paying $150 for crap like this? O wouldn't pay even $15, when you have really good IEMs for as low as $15-20. And some of people here still keep defending the removal of the jack..

                    • P
                    • PhoTato
                    • IbI
                    • 23 Mar 2023

                    Anonymous, 22 Mar 2023If the Nothing Phone 2 also following in the same direction... moreStraight facts... Nothing is too reliant on the original One Plus effect which was a hype generator, but aside from aesthetics there is no selling point to their products... Everything under the One Plus umbrella died for me back at like 7t Pro, w/ the popup cam, they had already compromised long before that by getting rid of the headphone jack. They thought they cud recreate the old hype following w/ nothing by making it feel like some kind of exclusive club like when OP first started only taking sign up orders and you had to wait in line to order a phone.

                      • T
                      • Truth Hurts
                      • IbI
                      • 23 Mar 2023

                      This goes to show that One Plus has no business in the audio industry... yeah they look cool... but thats about it.... Its a money grab product since they don't want us to use actually good wired headphones and iems... Now we're stuck in a market flooded to shit w/ TWS garbage tuning. Keep in mind you have IEM's today that cost $20 that sound like IEM's from the early 2000s that costs $1000+, and we have TWS today that cost $100-300+ and sound worse than a cheap $10 earbud from 1999..... We live in a society....

                        • K
                        • Kuba
                        • uN{
                        • 23 Mar 2023

                        LHDC is supported only on Chinese phones, so if you have Samsung you stuck with SBC which is very bad sound quality. Why nothing didnt include LDAC or APTx??? So stupid

                          • K
                          • Kuba
                          • uN{
                          • 23 Mar 2023

                          2nd gen has same problem like 1st gen: poor sealing. With this design the rubber part is not deep enough in the ear, so basically there is no sealing. I tried 1st gen and it was horrible because of this only reason.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • tZ0
                            • 23 Mar 2023

                            jiyen235, 23 Mar 2023this is what happens when you put more of your budget in ma... moreMy guess is Nothing Ear 1 didnt sell as well as they projected, so for the Ear 2 they have less development budget. They have to cut cost, which lead to the overall lower quality.

                            The honeymoon phase is over for Nothing. They have to deliver really good products if they want to stay. Ear 2 and upcoming Phone 2 really are pivotal products for Nothing's future.

                              this is what happens when you put more of your budget in marketing and designing rather than actually making a great product.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • xq5
                                • 22 Mar 2023

                                [deleted post]Calm down and talk properly. And cheap doesn't always mean bad quality.

                                  • K
                                  • Kev
                                  • 0Za
                                  • 22 Mar 2023

                                  Well, that was kind of a letdown. They seem okay for 100 dollars, but not for 150 dollars. Not when there are so many cutbacks, with compromises in the sound too:(

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • tZ4
                                    • 22 Mar 2023

                                    If the Nothing Phone 2 also following in the same direction of "higher price but lower quality", then Nothing will really be nothing more than just a memory in the next few years.

                                      Anton-, 22 Mar 2023Do you want it all for 149 dollars?LC3 is already available on Android 13 and it is mandatory on Bluetooth 5.3 AFAIK.

                                      The licensing cost of LC3 is a few pennies. Yes, I want it all for $149 because Xiaomi and others already support LC3 on their TWS, and they cost less than $100.


                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • xq5
                                        • 22 Mar 2023

                                        Ugly as hell. Go for Soundcore instead. Sounds good. App is useful. Design is cool. ANC is strong.

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