Nothing Ear (a) in the test: Stylish earbuds with great value for money

Nothing Ear (a): Design, workmanship and scope of delivery

Unusual designs are the order of the day at Nothing. The Ear (a) shares the semi-transparent look with its predecessors, but has been given a completely new shape in the charging case. Inspired by a pill box, it is a real pocket favorite with dimensions of just 47,6 x 63,3 x 22,7 millimeters and a weight of just 39,6 grams.

In addition to the classic black and white, the Ear (a) is available for the first time in a new color: a bright yellow, like a rubber. Sounds daring, but definitely looks cool! A color that we will definitely see more often at Nothing in the future.

Of course, for 99 euros you can't expect miracles in terms of workmanship. The case creaks in some places and the plastic doesn't feel quite as high quality as it does Nothing Ear and despite the "protective film" the first scratches appear on the case pretty quickly. However, the earbuds sit super comfortably in the ear and rarely slip, even during exercise.

The case is protected against dripping water according to IPX2. This is completely sufficient for everyday life. The earbuds themselves meet the IP54 standard and can easily withstand sweat and rain.

In addition to the case and earphones, the delivery also includes a USB-C charging cable and silicone attachments in three sizes.

Nothing Ear (a): Sound

Hardware

Just like in the Nothing Ear, Nothing also uses dynamic 11 mm drivers in the Ear (a). However, the membrane is not made of ceramic like its big brother, but is made of a mixture of PMI (hard plastic) and TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane). More on where the tonal differences lie in a moment.

The Bluetooth codecs SBC, AAC and LDAC (up to 990 Kbit/s at 32 bit/96 kHz) are supported for high-resolution streaming. What is missing is LHDC 5.0. This is only available on the more expensive Nothing Ear.

sound quality

If you like bass, the Ear (a) is the perfect choice. Tracks like  "Sail"  from AWOLNATION or  "Day 'N' Nite"  by Kid Cudi are really fun thanks to the rich bass and with the new bass enhance mode the whole thing gets extra emphasis without the ear (a) losing control. The bass sounds a bit artificially boosted, but you can't expect much more depth from tiny earbuds.

With rock numbers like  "Everlong"  The guitars from the Foo Fighters come across as powerful and lively. The highs are a bit more reserved, but still sufficiently detailed. Dave Grohl's voice is reproduced clearly and presently and overall the Ear (a) delivers a balanced sound.

The highs are a little more difficult. With vocals like in  "Someone Like You"  Adele lacks a bit of airiness and fine dynamics. Adele's voice seems a bit restricted and the accompaniment could use a little more space. This is also the biggest difference in sound compared to the Nothing Ear, which scores with a wider soundstage and better reproduction of details.

Overall, the Ear (a) offers a very solid, if somewhat bass-heavy, sound for its price. The 3-band equalizer in the app helps with adjustment, but lacks the fine-tuning of a pro equalizer like the more expensive Ear. Personal sound profiles cannot be created either.

Nothing Ear (a): Features

The control center for all functions is the Nothing X app. Among other things, you can use this to control the multi-level noise suppression, reassign the controls or fine-tune the equalizer. The app is available in the respective stores for Android and iOS.

Active Noise Canceling (ANC)

For under 100 euros, the Nothing Ear (a) delivers decent active noise cancellation. It even performs better than the No Ears (2) from last year. Monotonous noises in lower frequencies in particular are blocked out well. Even better ANC is only available in a significantly higher price range.

The app has ANC levels Low, Medium, High and an adaptive mode. The latter automatically selects the appropriate setting. In addition, the "Smart ANC" algorithm checks whether noise leaks between the earbud and the ear and increases noise cancellation if necessary.

The transparency mode, on the other hand, amplifies ambient noise so that you can perceive the outside world without having to remove the earbuds. This works well, but has a slight background noise.

Touch control and wear detection

The control works similarly to the AirPods using a “pinch gesture” on the stems. Single, double or triple pinch controls music, skips tracks and answers calls. You can switch between ANC and transparency by pinching and holding. The occupancy can be adjusted in the app.

The touch controls respond well, but unwanted actions can occasionally occur. Wear detection also usually works reliably, but occasionally fails, meaning the music simply continues to play when an earbud is removed.

Low latency mode

The low latency mode is interesting for gamers and series fans. This reduces the delay between picture and sound and thus prevents annoying asynchronies. But even without this mode, we didn't notice any asynchronies.

Microphone and call quality

Each earbud is equipped with three microphones for making calls. Anything that could disrupt the phone call is largely filtered out. If there is a lot of ambient noise or wind, the microphones still have room for improvement. Overall, the call performance is completely sufficient.

Nothing Ear (a): Battery

The Nothing Ear (a) battery lasts up to 9,5 hours without noise cancellation. With noise cancellation it's still 5,5 hours. Together with the charging case you get 42,5 hours without noise cancellation or 24,5 hours with noise cancellation.

At least these are the values ​​that Nothing gives. In practice, the runtime is around 4,5 hours at medium volume, ANC and LDAC codec switched on.

In the case, the earbuds charge enough power for 10 hours of music in 1,2 minutes. They take around 45 minutes to fully charge. It's just a shame that Nothing hasn't included wireless charging on the Ear (a). If you still want to charge wirelessly, you have to go for the more expensive one Nothing Ear to grab.