Nothing Ear and Ear (a) in for review

No one does earbuds launch quite like Nothing, not even Apple. Nothing has been issuing teasers with beetles and frogs for the last few weeks, leading up to the announcement of the Nothing Ear, already available from Nothing, and the Nothing Ear (a), also up for order from Nothing, earlier today.

It's a significant release for a couple of reasons - first, the nomenclature has changed - gone is the Ear (1), (2), instead of a (3) model we just get Ear. And, second, this is the first time Nothing has released a more affordable model in the (a). But while the Ear is €149/$149/£129 and the Ear (a) is €99/$99/£99, don't think you're getting an inferior product - they share the same 11mm drivers, the same 45dB noise canceling, and the cheaper model can even bang for longer.

Both sets of buds support Hi-Res Audio, AAC/SBC, and LDAC. They also share Bluetooth 5.3, dual connection, 45dB ANC, the IP54 rating and, for the large part the design.

The Ear have ceramic drivers, while the Ear (a) use a combination of PMI and TPU. The Ear has a per-bud playback rating of 8.5 hours without ANC, while the Ear (a) goes up to 9.5 hours.

The Ear (a) case also has a slightly bigger battery, providing a total of 42.5 hours with the buds, while the Ear case packs just 40.5 hours. However, the case of the more expensive buds has wireless charging.

Unboxing the Nothing Ear and Ear (a)

It's a good thing we got the Ear in black, otherwise, we could've easily mistaken last year's Ear (2) and this year's model. They look the same, down to the case - and yes, you can put each bud in the other model's respective case, and it even charges.

The older model has a lower-rated 40dB of noise canceling, and only 6 hours of battery life through the buds themselves, though.

We'll get to reviewing the Ear and Ear (a) eventually, but it's a long queue we have at the office so please stay patient!