Nothing Ear (2) Review: Premium quality justifies price-tag

Nothing Ear (2) Review: Nothing is now in its third year and we are seeing the first second-generation product from the London-based company - Nothing Ear (2). I have been using the Truly Wireless Earbuds (TWS) earbuds for over a week now. The first time I used this product to listen to a song, after all the settings and customisation according to my need with the help of the app, I simply couldn't believe that such small earbuds (weighing only 4.5 gms each) produced such phenomenal sound. Considering the price of Ear (2) — Rs 9,999, it is not wrong to say that there's almost nothing that can justify features under the sub-Rs 10,000 TWS segment. To know more about this exciting product, check out the full review.

Nothing Ear (2) Review: Design

The design is something that separates every product of Nothing from its competitors, and this holds for Ear (2) as well. The transparent case lets you see the see earbuds placed inside it. When compared to the previous generation, the design is more compact. The first thing you will notice is a little curved circle that gives you the feeling of holding a fidget spinner. On the right side of the case is a Type-C charging port and a physical button to enter pairing mode. Inside the box, the company provides a Type-C to Type-C charging cable and ear tips in different sizes. The transparent case looks cool but is prone to scratches. The earbuds too have some transparent design and look very similar to their predecessors. While the case of Ear (2) comes with IP55 (protection from dust and low-pressure water jets) rating, the earbuds have IP54 (protected from limited dust ingress).

The only noticeable difference is that the side-mounted touch-sensitive gesture area has been replaced with clickable panels. You can skip forward, switch between noise cancellation modes, receive and reject calls, wake up voice assistance, adjust volume and much more. Apart from the single pinch, all other pinch gestures are customisable with the help of the app. However, I feel that it may take users some time to get used to this pinch feature as I disconnected a few calls while adjusting the earbuds. There is a small LED light to indicate the power level of the case - white for more than 30 per cent and red when it is below 30 per cent. The entire case weighs just 51 gm.

Nothing Ear (2) Review: Connectivity and features

The Nothing Ear 2 will connect to your device almost instantly when pulled out of the case. Download the app to customise earbuds as per your requirement. From pinch control to equaliser to noise cancellation, the Nothing X app has a lot of really useful options. Also, it comes with a 'dual connection' feature that helps connect to two devices at the same time. This means, that even if you are listening to music or watching movies on your laptop, you can receive calls from your phone. And the moment you hang up, the music resumes from where you left off. I have been seamlessly switching between calls and music playback for a couple of days and it works smoothly. Also, the one thing that I liked is that the music will pause the moment you will take them off and resume almost instantly when put back in the ears. So, you will not have to pause the music manually every time you take them off to speak to someone. The one thing that is to be noted is that the music will resume only if you are putting those buds back within three minutes. Post that, you will have to play the music manually on the device.

The Nothing Ear (2) earbuds fit in the ear perfectly. Even someone like me who doesn't prefer using earbuds for an extended time used them for more than an hour without even feeling any pressure on ears. Also, I went for a little bit of jogging with the Nothing Ear (2) on and it fits snuggly, no matter what you are doing.

Nothing Ear (2) Review: Noise Cancellation

Before talking about sound audio quality in detail, let's discuss active noise cancellation (ANC). I feel that Nothing Ear (2) manages to do a decent job in terms of noise cancellation. The app gives you different modes and the adaptive mode lets the device detect the noise in the environment and automatically adjust the levels. You will still listen to very high-frequency sounds and but not all of them — which is good. Sometimes I felt that the Nothing Ear (2) continued to adjust or modify the ANC setting even when set to the high preset. The app also gives you the option of customised ANC.

Nothing Ear (2) Review: Sound and voice quality  

The Nothing Ear (2) comes with the same 11.6 mm driver as its predecessor but with a unique new custom diaphragm and dual chamber design. It is Hi-Res Audio Certified and can transmit frequencies up to 24 bit/192 kHz. Also, it is compatible with LHDC 5.0 codec technology. There are some technical bits which look good on paper. In practical usage, I found the audio quality to be good. I love more bass and customised my Ear (2) using the app before using it. The first song that I played was Kailash Kher's 'Ya Rabba' and the sound of 'tabla' with which it begins felt almost natural. From 'Dusk Till Dawn' to 'Gallaan Dillan Diyaan', I have been loving the sound quality of almost every song I listened to using these earbuds. But, the sound quality was not that good when I tried to listen at full volume. But that is something that can be easily ignored because hardly any would listen to songs that loudly.

The call quality of the Nothing Ear (2) is also impressive and few people whom I talked to using this couldn't even tell that I was speaking over earbuds. But this was when I was on call from inside my home with little background noise. However, the AI noise-reduction algorithm does a pretty job even when you are on the streets and the other person on call could hear me quite clearly, but they said that the background noise was audible as well. Overall, Nothing Ear (2) does its job fairly well.

Nothing Ear (2) Review: Battery and charging

The company claims that the Nothing Ear (2) can give you up to 36 hours of music playback after a full charge of the charging case. With ANC turned on, this will drop. I have been using them for 4-5 hours on a single charge. The buds contain a 33mAh battery and the case 485mAh. According to the company, one can get up to 8 hours of back with just 10 minutes of charging. It also supports up to 2.5W for wireless charging.

Nothing Ear (2) Review: Verdict

While the transparent design is one of the most attractive features of the Nothing Ear (2), it manages to justify its cost in almost every manner possible. Better sound quality, clear voice, decent backup and a host of customisations to suit the requirements of every user make it a value-for-money product.