Nothing Ear (3) — Review

So you’ve just picked up the latest Apple iPhone 17 Pro, but as much as you want, you just don’t have any more funds to get the accompanying AirPods. But as luck would have it, those aren’t the only performance noise-cancelling earphones that can help immerse yourself in your favourite true crime podcast on your daily commute home.

All of a sudden, you hear a dial tone and see your mom calling, “Are you coming back for dinner? Are you on the train? I can’t hear you at all!” The folks over at Nothing, the UK-based and China-produced brand responsible for single-handedly bringing the 90s back with its transparent casing aesthetic, must’ve received one too many calls from their parents for them to try something new with the latest Nothing Ear (3) — what if we made them a walkie-talkie too? Nothing introduced this walkie-talkie through their new Super Mic, which transforms its case into a push-to-talk microphone, but more on that later.

Coming in with a reasonable S$259 price tag, it’s a clear signal that this iteration is meant to go toe-to-toe with popular premium options like the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 and Apple AirPods Pro 3. In fact, there are many features here that are quite similar to those offered by Apple. And when you pull it out of the box, which comes with a nice transparent lid for the top half of the square charging case (more handy than you think), it tells you that the pods are in the case. Compared to earlier models from Nothing, the bottom half is now replaced with recycled aluminium instead of plastic, allowing the case to be fully charged via both USB-C in slightly over an hour or about two via Qi wireless charging. 

Putting money where their mouth is, Nothing has also paid attention to the minutiae, by providing two inconspicuous holes for you to tie a lanyard loop (not that we’ve met anyone who has actually attached a lanyard to the casing of their earphones, but it’s still a nice detail). Nothing sent us a white set to review, but you can also opt to have them in black for all our dark mode aficionados.

So what’s different here? How about a big shiny “Talk” button on the rim of the charging case. Holding it down will bring forth the Ear (3)’s headline act — the activation of two MEMS microphones that use beamforming to isolate your voice from background noise of up to 95 dB. You can hold the button down to take down some quick voice notes, or double-press it to lock it on for calls. It’ll take some getting used to — it isn’t the most intuitive to be holding up and speaking to your charging case out in public, especially when your earbuds or phone could arguably act as greater natural hands-free options. You’ll forget that the Ear (3)’s case even had that function — only reminded when the “Talk” button gets toggled accidentally while you’re digging for something in your pockets.

When you actually attempt to use the Super Mic as advertised, it works really well across most major apps, including Google Meet and WhatsApp, though compatibility can feel like a hassle. It won’t work with your Android or Apple camera app, only those that allow manual microphone selection. Even after finding an app that works, there’s noticeable audio lag, which can be quite jarring and off-putting for all the aspiring vloggers. Despite its innovation, its most compelling use case (recording voice notes for creatives with fleeting thoughts that need to be captured in the moment) differs significantly from Nothing’s marketing focus, and it’s rendered all the more futile for users outside of the Nothing ecosystem who don’t have access to its added functionality.

But not all is lost, as the Ear (3)’s are extremely plug-and-play. Using Bluetooth 5.4, the earbuds support the AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs as well as LDAC, allowing them to deliver higher-quality streaming on supported devices. On top of that is a low-latency mode that can be enabled via the Nothing app (more on that later) that brings the end-to-end delay down to below 120 milliseconds for gaming and videos, and an option to allow pairing to two devices simultaneously.

Once you put them on, you’ll notice that the shape of the earbuds has been tweaked ever so slightly to accommodate extended listening sessions. They feel light, but most importantly, they fit securely and create a pretty good seal for most ears, and even with extended use, they passed the ‘mid-afternoon post-work jog in hot and humid Singapore’ test. Like many in the market, its stalks have tactile squeeze controls for playback, noise cancelling, volume, or to bring up your voice assistant, and they can even be customised to your liking. A strange thing to note is that despite a custom antenna which has been touted to improve power and signal sensitivity, you’ll still encounter interference at crowded street intersections, leading to brief connectivity glitches and uncomfortable fax-machine-esque noises.

The Ear (3)’s sound energetic, and work best for listening to pop hits with high-frequency vocals and isolated/synthy bass thumps — basically anything from Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album. They offer great value for money when it comes to the listening department, providing plenty of detail and solid separation of tones. Turning on the spatial audio option creates an even bigger soundscape overall, but you might have to tinker with the EQs, as its default bass and treble emphasis may come off as too boomy, resulting in some vocals sounding a tad bit distant.

All of this can be mitigated thanks to the excellent customisation available in the Nothing X app. You can immediately notice essentials like battery life (of both the case and the earbuds), and switch between noise-cancelling and transparency modes with ease on its front page. Beyond that, you can tweak other options such as Bass Enhancement, and even dive deeper into an Advanced Mode for the equaliser, enabling manual adjustments over eight frequency bands together with Q factors. But if you’re like us and you have no idea what sounds the best for your ears, Nothing has got you covered with an ear test, like Apple has, within the app itself (under the Personal Sound Profile), that’ll run some frequencies through your buds while you have them on, calibrating them to the frequencies your eardrums respond to best.

Nothing claims a 45-decibel reduction when you have your Ear (3)’s on noise-cancelling, with low, medium, high and adaptive options to adjust the level of noise-cancellation. All do a decent job of dampening general background noise and low rumbles from a morning train commute, managing higher tones such as cafe chatter better than its predecessors. It’s nothing to shout about, but they get the job done. The transparency mode is also pretty decent, albeit sounding slightly artificial. Wind appears to be a weakness in both, with gusts of wind still being audible regardless of which mode you have your Ear (3)’s on.

There’s also the battery, which is pretty run-of-the-mill. With noise cancellation off, Nothing boasts 11 hours of use per charge without a case, and 43 hours with one. From our experience, it’ll last you anywhere from a few days to a week of regular usage.

All things considered, Nothing has tried swinging for the fences with this set of earbuds, making the unique selling point of their Nothing Ear (3)’s, nothing to do with the Ear (3) but with a case that doubles as a walkie-talkie. Despite being priced higher than previous iterations of the Ear, they maintain the Nothing DNA: good sounds, reasonable noise cancellation, solid battery life, and a ridiculous amount of customisation. While the Super Mic’s adaptability and functionality leave much to be desired, it lays the foundation of a novel idea that could potentially be revolutionary.

Yong Le

Everything changed when his parents bought him a PlayStation 2 for Christmas. Since then, he’s been hooked on all things esports, video games, and music. If he’s not livestreaming his shenanigans, he’s probably out taking mirror-selfies with his friends, vigorously debating over the Internet’s Meme of the Year.