The Nothing Ear (2) is its “first generation 2 product,” the company claims, which is surely one of the claims ever made. The new model features a number of improvements, but focuses more on improving sound quality than its predecessor. At $149, the Ear (2) costs as much as the current price of the Ear (1), which originally launched at $99. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get right into it.
Project
The design of the Ear (2) has seen some changes, mostly around the case. The new case is smaller in every dimension, but you can only really tell the difference if you have it in addition to the old one.
The new case has more angular edges than the curves of its predecessor. The lid has a similar look but the large dimple in the center that held the earphones in place has been made smaller.
The bottom of the case looks like they removed the lid. The Ear Case (1) had a bottom cover that enclosed all of the matte plastic inside, but the Ear Case (2) leaves the white plastic pieces hanging off the outside, and you can even feel the curve of the earphone receptacles. The lack of glossy plastic on the bottom should reduce the appearance of scratches, which was a problem with the previous case.
Speaking of the white plastics, they no longer have the dimpled finish of their predecessor but instead have a plain white texture that you can actually touch this time around since they are no longer covered in clear plastic. It remains to be seen how long they remain white when in contact with the outside world.
There’s something about the design of the Ear (2) case that makes it feel like a downgrade. It seems that they removed pieces of clear plastic from everywhere and made the plastic blender dull and featureless to save costs. The new lid with its smaller hinge also had a lot more side-to-side movement than my two-year-old Ear (1) models. The ear case lid (1) also had a much more satisfying thud when closed, while the ear lid (2) always closes with a clank.
The new design is also visually more uniform and not in a good way. The Ear Case (1) had a smaller magnet and a wider hinge that made it easy to tell one side from the other. The Ear (2) has a hinge and magnet design that looks very similar in shape and size, and it’s really hard to tell which way it opens without paying close attention every time.
The actual earphones are very similar to their predecessors. The only visible difference is the switch to pressure-sensitive buttons instead of a touch-sensitive area on the side for gestures.
Both the case and the earphones are water resistant. The case is rated IP55 and the earphones IP54. This is an improvement over the previous model, which only had an IPX4 rating for the earphones.
Overall, the Ear(2) feels like a downgrade in the design department, which is odd considering it was the most universally praised aspect of the Ear(1). While it could be argued that the original model was overly lenient and potentially wasteful with its use of plastic, it’s what gave it its distinctive design. The Ear (2) looks like it’s trying to mimic that aesthetic for a third of the budget and ends up looking like a knockoff in the process. It’s still a very cool and unique design, just not as good as the first one.
Comfort
The Ears (2) are a comfortable pair of earphones. Most of the design sits inside the ears, leaving only a small portion on the outside. The shape of the inner ear is discreet and the silicone tips are soft and pleasant to the ear.
The problem is with the new pressure-sensitive gesture area on the earphones. They work well when you use them intentionally, but they’re extremely easy to squeeze even when you’re just grabbing the stem to get them out of your ears. This has happened almost every time I’ve removed them since it requires no effort to activate the gesture.
Eventually, I had to resort to unusual holds like holding the stem up and down as I pulled them out. This is not a safe way to handle the earphones as the chance of dropping them is much higher, but I’d rather take the risk than press the button every time I remove the earphones.
Software and features
The ear (2) can be controlled using the Nothing X app for iOS and Android or via the Bluetooth settings on a phone (1). From here, you can change ANC settings, touch gestures, audio effects, as well as access features like low latency mode, custom ANC and audio profile, and find my earbuds.
No X apps
The ANC has three manual levels of adjustment and a fourth adaptive setting, which adapts to the surrounding environment on the fly. There’s also a custom ANC option, which tests to adjust the ANC frequency response to your ears and current environmental conditions. This test can only be done when there is enough ambient noise around you, otherwise it won’t let you.
The problem with custom ANC, something I also noticed with the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, is that the profile it generates is hyper-specific to your current ambient noise pattern. This can produce good results if you are, for example, on an airplane and the ambient noise pattern is very consistent. However, if the noise varies a lot, you may not get good results. Also, trying to use a profile generated in one environment elsewhere can produce even worse results. In such cases, it is better to just disable the custom ANC and use the standard one.
ANC settings
The app also offers a headset fit test. In previous firmware, the test tone played to verify this was identical to the one you find on OnePlus and Oppo earphones. A subsequent upgrade of the earbuds changed it to a different pitch, but considering the history between the aforementioned brands and the founder of Nothing, I thought the situation was pretty funny.
The Ear (2) also offers a custom equalizer in the app, something the Ear (1) lacks to this day. It’s not much; you get a 3-band setting laid out in a nonsensical circular pattern, but it’s better than the only four presets the ear (1) had.
EQ and sound customization
The ear (2) also lets you dial in a custom sound profile. The test procedure for calibrating this is a little different than what we’ve seen from other brands. You must first set a level for a sample of white noise, which will play in the background. When finished, each earbud will play a test tone that gradually decreases in volume, and the point at which you stop hearing it sets the level for that frequency.
This process was more unpleasant than I expected. Having the relatively loud white noise sample constantly ringing in one of your ears isn’t fun, and the test can take a while to finish. I wouldn’t blame anyone for getting impatient and canceling the test midway through.
Finally, you can also change the options for pinch gestures. You can set different options for the left and right earbuds, but you get the same set of options to choose from for both. Not all options are available for all gestures, and the single pinch gesture cannot be changed at all. This makes the aforementioned issue of accidental presses particularly annoying since it is not even possible to disable the single press gesture as you can on other headsets.
The Ear (2) had minor bugs during testing. Ear tracking often stopped working and the earbuds didn’t react when removed from the ear. This meant that there was no automatic pause and the sound kept playing. This usually only happens to one earbud at a time, so if you take the other one out, the audio will cut out as expected. Putting the earbuds back in the case would make them work normally again.
While not a bug, I also wanted to note the volume of the various earbud alerts. The sound that the earphones make when inserted into your ears can sometimes be quite loud. Likewise, the noise for the low battery warning is also loud and surprised me every time. There’s no reason these alerts are as loud and annoying as they currently are.
Performance
All comments in this review refer to firmware version 1.0.1.85, which was the latest available at the time of testing.
Audio quality
The Nothing Ear (2) uses updated drivers compared to the previous model. They have the same dynamic 11.6mm design but the diaphragm has been updated with a new material using graphene and polyurethane. The inside of the earphones has also been updated with a new dual-chamber design. The earphones also support LHDC 5.0 (aka LHDC-V) as well as SBC and AAC. While still a lossy codec, LHDC 5.0 now supports sample rates up to 192kHz and bitrates up to 1Mbps.
Before we get into the sound, I want to mention that there was some audible high-frequency distortion when using the LHDC 5.0 in the default configuration with our Nothing Phone (1) review unit. This could be fixed by changing the bitrate values, but this caused other problems, discussed in the Connectivity section. Instead, most of the audio tests were done with LHDC 3.0 along with SBC and AAC.
The Ear (2) is a good sounding pair of earphones that is vastly improved over its predecessor. It has the same V-shaped tuning, but still seems to sound noticeably better in many areas.
The low end still has some shelf of bass boost applied, but it seems to stop lower in the frequency range than before, making it more localized in the lower bass regions. The bass is also less bloated than before and has a much faster attack and decay that sound punchier and more accurate. It’s one of the nicest bass tunings I’ve ever heard in this segment and never feels bloated or overpowering.
The midrange also shows a noticeable improvement on ear (2). The Ear (1) had a somewhat congested, fuzzier-sounding midrange that only served to sustain the bass and treble regions. The midrange on the ear (2) sounds much thicker and in sync with the rest of the frequency spectrum. There is a much greater sense of detail and separation here that was previously lacking.
That said, the midrange on ear (2) still isn’t perfect. There is a dip in the mids which causes some male vocals to lose all presence and authority in the mix. This does not affect deeper male or female voices as the drop is quite narrow in nature.
Unfortunately, the treble region remains a point of contention for Ear (2). This is now the third Nothing audio product in a row where the highs are simply too warm. This isn’t always a problem as it helps bring out the air frequencies and detail in the instruments and female vocals on some tracks. Then, on the next track, a cymbal hit or higher-pitched female vocals will tear your ears apart.
It’s not just the treble that’s hot. The upper midrange is also slightly boosted, which can cause female vocals to be forward and male vocals to have a nasal timbre. Coming off a dip in the lower mids, this accentuated region is especially audible on some mixes.
Unfortunately, there is little you can do with EQ to fix this. The three bands of adjustment offered here give very little room to dial in a precise adjustment. Also, making major EQ changes causes the sound to change significantly across the spectrum. The overall sound is noticeably quieter when you boost one of the three bands, and attention seems to shift to the band you’re adjusting. Instead of increasing the volume of a particular band, the rest of the sound becomes inexplicably quieter as well.
The same thing happens when you enable personal audio profile. Most of the time the custom profile would have added EQ boost on certain frequency ranges (usually high frequencies) to compensate for your hearing loss and this again causes the rest of the spectrum to become quieter when enabled. This rendered the feature somewhat useless as I couldn’t figure out if the personalization algorithm took into account the internally changing sound while also taking into account my hearing.
Leaving aside the EQ cheating and occasionally murderous treble, Ear (2) can often be downright engaging and a pleasure to listen to. The drivers are clearly higher quality this time around and it shows in the sound. The sound is also decently spacious with a good sense of imaging and positioning in space. The refined bass tuning also helps elevate the sound above most other offerings in this segment. I only wish Nothing would overcome its obsession with piercing highs or at least offer users a fancier custom EQ.
Microphone
Microphone performance was average. Voice sounds natural but the aggressive noise canceling algorithm kicks in too often even in quiet environments and causes voice drops as you speak. If they could just turn the noise cancellation down a bit, voices could sound much clearer.
Noise cancellation
The ear (2) has an average noise canceling performance which unfortunately has some issues.
For whatever reason, the ANC keeps fluctuating in effectiveness, which is extremely noticeable if you’re not playing anything. Even when manually set to the High setting, the ANC still adjusts its levels every few seconds in a very obvious way. It doesn’t even feel like it’s blending into its surroundings, but rather in a random pattern. One second it seems to work fine, the next suddenly there is much more low frequency noise. This is most noticeable when outdoors, but it also occurs in quieter places. You’re just less likely to notice it there, especially with music playing.
As mentioned above, even the custom ANC isn’t the silver bullet it might seem. The tuning it generates is specific to your current ambient noise levels, which doesn’t perform well in other environments. In fact, in many situations, the General ANC gave better results even after multiple custom manual ANC calibration tests. I’d still recommend using it when you’re on a plane, then it sets to that noise level, but then also try turning it off to see if things are better or worse.
Even at best, the ANC is a solid level 3, if the best ANC currently available on TWS is a level 5. That’s an improvement over the ear(1), which was barely a level 2 but still not as good as some of the best we’ve seen, like the Sony LinkBuds S. It does a good job with low frequencies, but the mids and highs aren’t quite as attenuated. Even sitting here right now as I write this, I can easily hear the air conditioning rushing behind me over the music. If I was using LinkBuds S right now, I’d forget that the AC was on.
Transparency mode is also fine. It feels a little dull but is still usable overall.
Latency
Ear (2) has poor latency performance. Without the low delay option in the Nothing X app, the default latency is terrible, clocking in at around 300ms. This makes it unusable with devices that don’t support the Nothing X app, such as computers or media players.
With the low lag option enabled, latency is still a bit low, but it should be passable for casual games or apps that let you play instruments, for example.
Even when watching videos on your phone, the latency is noticeable. This is usually not a problem as phones automatically sync video to adjust for audio delay, but the on-ear delay (2) is so large by default that the sync is still imperfect. Even for video, I’d recommend enabling low-delay mode to get good sync.
Connectivity
The ear (2) had a number of connectivity issues during testing. For one thing, LHDC 5.0 simply doesn’t work as expected. Setting it to the full 1Mbps bitrate on Nothing Phone (1) causes it to start stuttering after a few seconds and becomes unusable. Even 900kbps is unusable. It’s only when you go down to 500kbps that it works fairly stable. All of these observations are with the phone within arm’s length on a desk while sitting still. Things would be much worse if the phone was in a purse or pocket.
LHDC 5.0 settings on Nothing Phone (1)
Since testing for LHDC 5.0 was done entirely with Nothing Phone (1), it was impossible to isolate issues to just the headset, the phone, or both. Either way, they both belong to the same company, so now it’s up to them to figure out where the problem lies.
As mentioned in the audio quality section, there was also distortion when using LHDC 5.0. This somehow only manifested itself at 500kbps and lower bitrates, which as mentioned above are the only ones usable. You could go higher, at which point the distortion stops but then the audio starts stuttering.
These issues rendered LHDC 5.0 completely unusable on our review unit. Switching to LHDC 3.0, which was the next available option on the phone (1), fixed the distortion issue, but I could still run into audio stuttering if I got too ambitious with the bitrate.
I also had trouble getting LHDC to work with some non-Nothing phones. It worked well with Xiaomi phones but didn’t work with OnePlus phones with Qualcomm chipset. On OnePlus phones with MediaTek chipsets, the Bluetooth menu said it was using LHDC but the developer settings showed it was actually just AAC unless you manually switched.
As for SBC and AAC, no issues were observed as both worked perfectly. This is equally good since on most phones you’ll be stuck using one of these codecs, as LHDC is still a bit of a rarity outside of a handful of brands. I’m not really sure why Nothing would choose LHDC over the ubiquitous LDAC, especially with the range of problems their LHDC implementation has. LDAC has been much more reliable in my experience and is supported by virtually every Android phone on the market today as it is built right into the operating system.
Luckily, both AAC and SBC play fine, so you don’t need to have FOMO if your device doesn’t support LHDC.
Double connection
The ear (2) supports connecting to two devices at the same time. This is a fairly easy thing to do, and the earphones can use LHDC with both devices paired if they support it. It also worked fine except one time where one of the paired devices could only connect to one of the earbuds while the other was connected to both, but as with other bugs this was fixed by placing the earbuds in the case and trying again.
Drums
The ear (2) has a nominal battery of 6.3 hours with ANC off and 4 hours with ANC on. I couldn’t test the performance of the ANC-on as the ANC is only active when the earphones sense they are placed in the ears, meaning it cannot be activated since the earphones are not worn during the battery test.
So for ANC off results, I tried with LHDC and AAC. The AAC run gave a battery life of 5.7 hours, which is close enough to Nothing’s figure of 6.3 hours to make it clear that it was tested with either AAC or SBC. However, the LHDC test lasted only 4 hours, which is far and generally insufficient. And just to reiterate, this is with the ANC turned off.
So, if you’ve been using ear (2) as intended, with LHDC and ANC, you’re looking at 2-3 hours of battery life, which is pretty awful for a modern pair of earphones.
Our review unit also had a large discrepancy between the two earbuds, with the left one having much worse battery life. To give the product the benefit of the doubt, the figures above are from the right unit that lasted the longest. The one on the left usually died a good hour early.
Conclusion
At the beginning of the review, I mentioned that the focus with the Ear (2) was on improving audio quality, and that’s pretty much what I observed. Audio quality is unquestionably better on the Ear (2) than on the previous model. In fact, it’s one of the best-sounding wireless earbuds in its price range, despite its treble issues being a bit too bright.
Other than that, Ear (2) is underwhelming for a sequel. The design, which everyone and their chihuahua loved last time around, looks stripped down and run-of-the-mill. The Nothing X app is still limited in terms of customization and the software can still be buggy at times. Battery life is also quite poor, as is latency performance. Also, things don’t work as expected; the ANC has problems as well as the new LHDC 5.0 codec.
There is a lot of room for improvement here and it can be done through updates. The Ear (1) also had a rocky start, but they eventually managed to make it work well. I’m sure the Ear(2) will do well sooner or later, but we don’t review based on future potential and at this time the Ear(2) is not a product we can recommend.
Professionals
- It still has a distinctive design
- Good overall audio quality
- Comfortable
- Support for dual connection
- IP rating for case and earphones
Against
- Sharp treble tuning
- Inconsistent ANC performance
- The implementation of LHDC 5.0 has many problems
- The pinch gestures are too sensitive
- Poor battery life
- Poor latency for games
- The Nothing X app offers limited customization
- The case looks and feels worse than the ear (1)
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