The Ear 1 wireless earbuds are the first product to be launched by Nothing, created by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. Backed by investments from GV, Tony Fadell and influencers such as Casey Neistat, Nothing aims to create an entire family of products that will follow the design ethic that debuted with Ear 1. Transparency is at the core of this: Ear 1s feature a transparent stem that allows you to see their internals, and the unconventional charging case has a transparent lid to keep the buds in view.

nothing ear 1 earbuds

Pei has said that his motivation for creating Nothing was the consumer technology industry, which seemed stale, unimaginative, and teeming with gadgets that all seem very much the same. I don’t really believe in this point of view; Of course, AirPods clones are everywhere, but the best headphones from Samsung, Sony, Google, Amazon and other big players are visually different from each other. Nothing sees itself as an “audio company,” Pei said, but the booming true wireless headphone market seemed like a good place to start. It also aims to capture the same value-for-money magic associated with OnePlus in its early days.

PROS

Unique transparent design

Lots of features for $99

Comfortable and lightweight

MINUSES

uneven work

Weak noise reduction and ambient sound modes

Limited control customization

At $99, the Ear 1s include active noise cancellation, wireless charging, IPX4 water resistance, and amenities like in-ear detection—features that cost between $150 and $300 from Nothing’s big competitor brands. Their sound was tuned by Teenage Engineering, well versed in audio electronics. They will go on sale to the general public starting August 17th, but you can get a pair earlier at Nothing on July 31st.

Like all transparent technologies, Ear 1s is interesting to look at up close. On the outward-facing part of the shaft, you can see the microphones for voice / ANC, touch sensors and a dot – red (right) or white (left) – to indicate which ear this earphone is intended for. On the side facing the ear, there are some circuits, magnets and contacts with which the headphones are connected to the charging case.

Nothing says they were so obsessed with small details (such as polishing magnets) that some manufacturing businesses abandoned the startup. Finding the right adhesive to stick the two sides of the transparent case together without leaving unsightly residue behind also seemed to be quite a challenge.

The Ear 1s definitely look cool, but are they radically different? I do not see it. With an opaque white instead of a transparent stem, these headphones would look just like Apple’s AirPods Pro or any of its other competitors. Early concept images of Nothing showcased a more custom design, but the final product looks mostly generic with a dash of unique styling – and maybe that will be enough to convince some people to buy it. At least without reinventing the wheel, you can achieve good comfort. There are three sizes of silicone tips in the box, and I found the Ear 1s to feel similar to the AirPods Pro. They fit snugly, feel airy (each earpiece weighs 4.7 grams) and didn’t come loose while running or eating – two cases,

The charging case is where the Nothing definitely gets more unusual in terms of design. It’s a smaller square with rounded corners that opens and closes with a nice spring tension. There’s a USB-C port for wired charging, as well as Qi wireless charging, which is always great to see at this price point. But despite all the visual frills, it seems like it takes me more effort to put the Ear 1s back into the case than other earbuds I own. The magnetic hold isn’t very strong, and laying the earbuds flat instead of deep charging cradles requires more attention. The large indentation at the top of the case helps keep the earphones in place, and also turns the case into a fun thing to fiddle with and twirl around in your fingers. However, I think Nothing could have come up with something more efficient and compact. This case is form over function and is obviously meant to showcase Nothing’s sheer aesthetic. Just don’t expect it to stay pristine: my copy has already picked up some scratches on the bottom of the case, and it’s only a matter of time before the top gets scratched too.

In terms of sound, the Ear 1s and their 11.6mm drivers can’t beat the higher-end competitors. But they don’t sound bad or “budget” either. They just have some weak points that headphone lovers will pay attention to. Treble and high frequencies – especially in acoustic compositions – can sometimes be overly shiny. I listened to John Meyer’s 1980s-influenced “Sob Rock” album, and while the Nothing earbuds are a bit over the top at $99, they have good clarity and nice bass that slips through everything, their warmth and detail fall short of the earphones in range of 200-300 dollars. But in many cases they are still enjoyable to listen to, which showed up when I switched to “Stop Making This Hurt” by the Bleachers.

The Nothing mobile app is available for Android and iOS and has simple equalizer settings: more treble, more bass, and voice, but you can’t control the sliders completely on your own. You may find yourself turning to bass boost from time to time. Nothing says that, and Teenage Engineering aimed for a natural, balanced sound, but don’t confuse that with flat or colorless. Headphones support AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs.

Noise cancellation… satisfactory. At the “maximum” setting, it was able to eliminate low-frequency hum from a local coffee shop, but I never forgot my surroundings. Overall noise isolation was solid thanks to the good sealing of the ear tips, and I would choose these headphones over the $99 Pixel Buds A-Series, which require the volume to be turned up to overcome close-range noise. But the Nothing falls short of Amazon’s similarly priced Echo Buds 2 when it comes to noise cancellation – no surprise, since this is the company’s first foray into the field. Transparency mode is adequate, however does not match the natural feel of the Echo Buds or Apple AirPods professional.. But there are a few nice tricks: if you take one earbud out, the other goes into transparent mode until both are back in your ears. Besides,

Despite having three microphones and algorithms designed to help isolate your voice from background noise, the Ear 1s proved to be a disappointment for voice calls. My voice sounded fuzzy and distorted even in a quiet room when recording voice memos, and people I called could hardly hear me clearly.

Nothing says the Ear 1s can last four hours of continuous playback with ANC turned on, and the case will last another 24 hours. If you do not enable ANC, these figures increase to 5.7 hours and 34 hours, respectively. The battery ratings for listening time have seemed right to me in my tests so far. The headphones use touch controls for most functions: double-tap the button to play / pause, three times to skip forward or backward to the previous song (depending on the side), hold the button to switch NC modes, and so on. But there’s also a swipe up or down gesture to adjust the volume, which works reliably and is intuitive.

Nothing is still working on the Ear 1s ahead of their release. During testing, I ran into bugs and sporadic issues.

Transparency mode crashes from time to time. Sometimes it suddenly activates when I’m talking on the phone. On other, weirder occasions, I’ve heard a brief increase in ambient sound when I turn my head.

I noticed that the headphones switch between NC on and off modes on their own.

The Fast Pair feature for Android does not work yet. There is no indication that this will work by the time the Ear 1s ships to customers in mid-August. I will update the review as shortly as this happens.

I encountered strange charging behavior with the case where the LED indicator did not reflect that something was happening. A recent firmware update seems to have largely fixed this issue.

Nothing has already released several firmware updates during my review, and I’m looking forward to more updates before the Ear 1s hit the market. But these are my impressions at the time of the review embargo by the company at the end of July; I will update them to mention any changes or improvements when the headphones go on sale in August.

With their full potential yet to be fully realized and performance still left a lot to be desired, it’s hard to judge  These headphones offer an ambitious $99 feature set, and they’re bound to grab attention with their see-through design (even if they otherwise resemble AirPods) and presence in fashion stores like Kith. Ear 1s is the new hippie headphone with a fun freshness to it. But now their separate components are sound quality, noise reduction, etc. – fall short of perfection and leave plenty of reasons to settle for one of those “boring” established players.