Nothing ear (1) – Wireless Earbuds ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) Black

These earbuds were massively, massively over-hyped before launch. So when they came out (and had a few bugs / didn't match that hype) the reviews were naturally disappointing. But months later (and some software updates later) I decided to test them fully and review them from a neutral perspective, to see how they 'really' compare to the competition and...I was pleasantly surprised. Are these on the level of the flagships from Sony/Bose etc? No. And the hype suggested they would be. But are they amazing value for money at £100? Absolutely. I reviewed these on YouTube as part of a 'best earbuds under $100' video, and they performed really well. Since I bought them on here I decided to share with you all the review and also the clip from that video featuring the ear(1)s. So that's what the video is and below is the written form of the review in case you'd rather read instead: [Review below]: What the tech world has reached a consensus on is the design, with many (including myself) calling these the best looking earbuds on the market. This transparent design looks awesome - the craftsmanship is second to none, and I personally love this minimal design that, as they say, highlights the beauty of tech. It’s not just for the earbuds, but the charging case too…and I think these look especially good in this new black colour. You’re not gonna be mistaking this unique design for any other earbuds. The touch controls here are great, they’re responsive and the contact area is surprisingly wide. They’re one of only a few earbuds to support a swipe gesture for volume - and this time…it actually works. I had close control over each volume increment, and the glossy outer surface meant I could swipe without knocking these from my ears (though this is still possible if you aren’t careful). These also have wearing detection and customisation in the app - so the controls are almost perfect. But customisation is limited and there’s sadly no single tap option. Comfort is another thing they’ve nailed, I’m talking…forget you’re wearing them, kind of comfortable. They’re lightweight and form a gentle seal in the ear, so I can easily wear these all day. I can just about run with them as well, and they have IPX4 protection, but I wouldn’t trust them to stay in place for most other workouts. The gentle seal means the passive noise isolation isn’t amazing, even with the larger eartips. However the active noise cancellation was surprisingly good. Obviously it’s not flagship level performance, but you can clearly hear the reduction in noise turning this on. The transparency mode though, is very good, clearly amplifying your surroundings. There’s still a bug here though where there’s a faint hiss that seems to fade in and out sometimes in transparency mode. Inaudible with music playing, but still a bug - so for all the firmware update improvements we’ve seen since their launch, that minor annoyance still exists. The main improvements have been to connectivity, these are now very reliable, offer single earbud use, fast pairing and show no noticeable latency with videos. There is a dedicated low-latency mode here as well, which gamers may be interested in, but otherwise it’s not really necessary. On one day I did have one earbud randomly disconnect - but a quick power off and on with the case seemed to fix it. So maybe not 100% of the issues are fixed, but on the whole…my experience has been pretty consistent. Battery life is a big weakness though, you only get 5 hours on a single charge with up to 34 in the case. They do support wireless charging though, which is nice, and actually these are the only earbuds in this video to offer ANC, transparency, wearing detection and wireless charging - so these actually have the most complete feature set. The mic quality was really decent as well. My voice sounded really clear and the earbuds isolate my voice well from the background noise - so phone call performance was very good. As for the audio quality…it’s good, better than I expected actually. These have good clarity, are well-detailed and are leaning slightly towards a bright sound signature. The bass is tight and punchy, but I’m sure some will find this lacking. EQ options unfortunately are very limited - you’ve only got these 4 options. There’s a distinct difference with each mode, but I’d love to be able to customise this myself. The overall sound quality should be good enough to please most - but some of our other entries like Lypertek and Sennheiser’s are a step up. Having tested these throughly myself, I can understand why the initial reviews were so underwhelming. As the flagship killing phenomenon these earbuds were touted to be, sure, they leave a lot to be desired. But as a $99 pair of earbuds, as they should be viewed, they’re actually exceptional value for money. I was left genuinely shocked by just how good these turned out to be for the price.

These are excellent value at more than half the price of competitors. They look very stylish, managing to look retro and futuristic at the same time. They are very comfortable and light. I was surprised, given the mixed reviews out there, to find that they sound very good. Perhaps the “v-shape” sound curve suits me (and I listen to mainly guitar music) but I didn’t think they lack bass, and the top end is pleasing and detailed. I have a pair of Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 and I wouldn’t say there is a huge difference (the Melomania has a little too much bass but a much more detailed midrange - the treble range is better on the Ear 1). The noise cancellation is fantastic. These are my first ever true wireless ANC earbuds so I am hardly an expert, but again I was expecting something a bit half baked given the reviews out there. Not so. Within 5 mins of getting these I was marvelling at standing next to the kettle and turning the sound off (ANC mode) and on (transparent mode). It’s very well executed and effective. The app is simple and nice looking. The case can be charged wirelessly. They’re less than £100. What more do we want?

These are really good headphones for the money. Really good. They sound amazing, fit in my ear easily and the battery life is good (not amazing). But the problem is they feel like a beta product. Occasionally.... note, occasionally, they may lose connection to my OnePlus phone or not connect properly when removed from the case. Another thing I dislike if the fact you can't buy a replacement case. If anything was to happen to my case, such as it being lost, I'd have to buy another pair. Not an issue with standard wired Bluetooth headphones. Apart from that, great product. Update: May 2022. I still love them, but still feels like a beta product. For the money, the sound is very, very good. I love the design, though wish the black version was released along with the white version. I would have gone for that, though that is.a personal design choice. The issue I have is that it when I remove both buds from the case, there is a 50/50 chance both will understand they have been removed from the cade. This lead me to have to put the one that is not responding back in the case and remove it again in the hope it understands I want it to be active. As a company that is trying to establish itself in the market, I want it to do it's best. I'm excited for it's upcoming phone, but for the fact I can't rely on it to work on time, every time, is making me feel that I should go for more established brands (a la Google Pixel Bud and a Pixel Phone). I would say, yes, these are great headphones, but it still feels like a beta. Update: October 2022 Still having connection issues to my devices. If I touch the headphones even slightly in a WhatsApp call they hang up. No software updates in a good few months. Long and short of it, I wish I went for the Pixel Buds A series. Update: January 2024 I have sold these to a popular second hand tech store and got just over £30 for them. Not bad for having them for 2 years. Honestly, I would not buy these again. It wasn't a great experience, being my first Nothing product, and although they are the first product from Nothing, the connection issues were a major factor for not keeping them.

I've had these for a couple of months now as an upgrade from Galaxy Buds+ because I wanted Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), and just bought some Sony WF-1000XM4s to accompany the Nothings. I'll try to give my review in the context of how they're an improvement compared to last gen wireless earbuds and how they compare to the high end earbuds that the Nothings are supposed to be flagship killers for. I think most people will be purchasing these as an intro to ANC, and I think it does an ok job at that but you need to set your expectations correctly. The Nothings do a good job at knocking down the sounds around you by a few notches, which depending on the scenario could be plenty for what you want or disappointing. I find that car sounds in particular are not filtered well by the noise cancelling, although I wonder if this is a product of the relatively poor passive noise cancelling. The plus side of this is that the ambient sound passthrough is very good, I would say it's the best out of the 3 buds in terms of how natural conversations feel when you have the buds in. In particular regarding these being an intro to ANC, the pressure they exert with ANC on is quite strong compared to the XM4s and can take a little bit of getting used to so 1) take it easy on first try by not having ANC on for too long and switching to ambient or no noise cancelling before taking them out, and 2) if the pressure is still too much don't be too discouraged from buying other higher end or next gen ANC earbuds. Sound quality is better than the buds+, which were already fairly good, but it's clearly held back by the bluetooth codec used and it would be much better if they supported up to date aptx codecs or LDAC. It's not as good as the XM4s (as expected) but unless you're used to high quality headphones you probably won't notice much difference. In terms of comfort they're very comfortable in most circumstances. I wouldn't wear them to bed because the stalk gets in the way, but otherwise the fit and light weight compared to other earbuds means you barely notice the feeling of them being in your ear once you're used to them. The control scheme is very intuitive compared to other buds. Often you need to choose between being able to control volume on the buds and doing something else, but the swipe control along the stem means that isn't an issue on the Nothings. They don't have a voice assistance control so if that is something you want then you will need to choose another earbud. Battery life is alright for most purposes, you can't get away with falling asleep with them in like other buds but they should last you through a day of work if you use your lunch break to put them back in the case. Overall I think these are really good earbuds for the price point but you should be aware that you are making sacrifices somewhere. They're more akin to buying a mid range phone than a flagship killer.

First of all, let me tell you where I've come from with Earphones... I used to used the Galaxy buds Pro which were good, but due to the design they would never stay in my ears. I then moved to the cheaper Ticpods ANC which were EXTREMELY good for the price, but not the best ANC experience I've ever had - the fit was decent too. I then moved onto the Pixel Buds (Gen 2) which I loved, however they didn't have any ANC whatsoever. Now I've seen these Ear(1) earphones around the Internet for a bit and they've been surrounded by hype as they were made made by one of the ex Co founders of Oneplus. Hype is very dangerous around New products... - do these live up to the hype?! UNBOXING & Presentation: Phenomenal, really adds to they hype of the product. Easily able to gift this to someone. You can easily tell that this is a premium product. The transparent design is very classy and it feels somewhat retro as well as brand new. The design is almost like its a product in beta or testing - deffo for a tech enthusiast. Build quality and feel: PREMIUM AF! Lol literally some of the most premium earphones I've held. They don't feel too heavy or cumbersome. The hinge on the case feels extremely sturdy and makes a satisfying clap when closed. CONNECTION: I opened the earphones case and a prompt to connect came up automatically on phone to connect. Boom. That was it it. It said it was downloading an app - which I couldn't find on my phone. So I went to the Google play store and manually downloaded the nothing Ear App. The app automatically recognised the earphones. APP: Quite decent actually - very simple. Has a section for sound where you can adjust the ANC or EQ profile and also a section for touch where you can adjust what touch shortcuts you have by tapping the Earbuds. Active Noise Cancellation: Wow. Just wow. It's cringe to say this - but I think it's the best ANC on a wireless pair of Earbuds I've ever tested. Hands down. On the highest mode of ANC. These literally block out alot! SOUND: now the sound is very decent - it's comparable with the pixel buds and the galaxy buds Pro for sure. The rubber tip helps to lock the bass in too. Haven't had them long enough to discuss battery yet but my phone is still telling me the earphones have 100% battery. They have wireless charging too which really kool. Honestly... Its been 48 hours for me so far... But I think these are KEEPERS FOR SURE!

I've been daily using these earbuds for over a year now and so I have a few things to say about them! Before I talk about the negatives (of which there are a decent handful) of these earbuds I want to mention the positives: -Really nice and interesting design, even if the case looks slightly odd -Thin so easy to fit in pockets and doesn't really bulge out -Superb sound quality! Like genuinely excellent listening experience, pretty much on par with air pods -Pretty decent noise cancellation and passthrough modes that actually work really well -Comfortable fit in the ear -A well balanced and just solid set of headphones for the price -Great battery life! The earbuds themselves last about 3-5 hours (1.5 hours if using the microphone) while the case can charge them from empty about 4-5 times in a single charge (this is really good especially considering the annoying stuff I'm about to mention) However there ARE some really irritating things that happen which really dampen the great experience: -The biggest of these seems to be a weird software issue after charging the case. The headphones will just stop working for a while after the case has charged and makes these irregular clicking noises if you play something. Often it seems that one of the earbuds will work and one of them wont for about 24 hours after charging, after which they will resume working as normal. This isn't a MASSIVE deal as the battery life is really good and they do still work afterwards but it is REALLY damn annoying. I haven't seen anyone else with this issue though so it might just be me -Touch controls do work but if you have long hair like me it may thing that your wet hair is a finger and pause the music occasionally, which is also pretty damn annoying (the touch controls are simple and do work otherwise though) -I had an issue where my earwax had accidentally sealed the little holes where the sound comes out of. not a massive deal as a toothbrush is an easy fix but still a bit annoying -The earbuds fall out VERY easily if dropped! I had to look around for about 20 minutes one time with my friends as I dropped it on grass! -I have also randomly had some occasional weird glitches where it just doesn't want to work for a minute. Easy fix as can just reconnect them to my phone but still just a little bit annoying Overall rating would be about 7/10. There are SO MANY great things about these earbuds and I would recommend them, however small little issues really bug me so definitely don't expect a perfect experience when buying. Maybe wait for the Nothing ear 2s or just get some Airpod pros

Got these yesterday (the white ones) and really wanted to like them but the experience was shambolic. The quality, noise cancellation etc is exceptional (when it works) but the ossue lies with the product execution. The ANC or transparency mode switch off at their own will and i experienced the bluetooth connection dropping (2-3 seconds) on several occasions. Updated the firmware, reset the earphones twice to see if it would troubleshoot issues but had no luck. Ended up packing them away to be returned. Love the design, comfort and the sound output (when it works) but the lack of consistency in delivering a quality listening experience is what ruined it for me. Regardless of whether a product costs £100 or £500, it needs to deliver whats on the tin. A lower priced product cannot have such mind boggling flaws and use that as an excuse. There are a tonne of reviews online that bemoan the issues with the white colour headphones and these were ironed out when the black ones were launched. As a second chance, i ordered the black ones to see if it rings true. I ordered the black ones simply due to the confort and exceptional design of the product. I just hope i dont face connection and latency issues i did with the white pair that were delivered yesterday. The review for the black pairs will follow in the next few days so keep an eye out folks.

I have had my beloved Sony WF-1000XM4 wireless earphones for about a year until they sadly died last week. Looking for a replacement but not wanting to spend another £250, I remembered about a company called 'Nothing' that I had seen a few months prior. Now while I'm not an audiophile, I have experience with some very nice headphones / IEMs & good audio quality is important to me. I began looking at reviews and articles, and was struck by their rather unique, small form-factor design, as well as the generally very good reviews. I decided to bite the bullet and place the order. As soon as they arrived on my doorstep, I was impressed by the packaging. The box and the overall brand is plastered with a very unique visual style, very clean and minimal, something you'd expect from a much more established brand. Clearly a lot of work has gone into this brand identity. The unboxing experience was very pleasant, everything was packaged very cleanly, with minimal text or unnecessary extras. The box contains; the earphones nested within their charging case with pre-applied medium size ear-tips, some minimal paperwork - printed atop some very nice quality black card, a small cardboard insert containing some additional silicon ear-tips (Small and Large) and a very nice quality USB-C to USB-A cable. Upon taking the earphones out of the packaging, I was shocked with how nice the charging case feels in the hand. The photos make it look like thin clear plastic, but it's surprisingly substantial and very nice quality. It has some weight to it, although is on the bigger side where charging cases are concerned. It still fits just fine into a pocket. The earphones themselves also feel extremely well-built and click perfectly into the charging case with no force. The hinge is very solid with no wobble and shuts with a satisfying 'click'. I have rather small ear canals and found the small tips fit perfectly into my ears. I can swing my head as hard as I like with no risk of them falling out. So... How do they sound? Simply put? I was blown away. In many cases, better than my old trusty XM4's at less than half the price. I primarily listen to metal, classical a bit of rap and podcasts, but found they are extremely well-balanced for all genres. The bass is solid, but the accuracy of the mids and highs is what struck me. They are considerably better than my Sony's. They sound every bit as good, and better in some ways. Ear fatigue was non-existent even after an extended listening session. While I absolutely do own IEMs that sound better, they are significantly more expensive (£250 - £300) and I would argue that these wireless earphones beat just about anything in their price range. Overall the Nothing Ear (1) is a fantastic product. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great listening experience without breaking the bank. You can not do better in this price range, and they have the build / sound quality of much more established, expensive brands.