Nothing·earbuds
Nothing Ear
Based on 37 credible posts from Hacker News, Bluesky & YouTube. 29 filtered out as bot-like or off-topic.
Medium confidenceA solid sample; expect small shifts as more owners post. How we score
Scored November 11, 2026
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Owner reviews
Overall owner mood
Most owners are happy with it: 65% of 37 reviews are positive and 16% negative. Praise centers on sound and price & value. Owners with 6+ months of use are less positive (17%), which suggests it wears on people over time.
What owners like
Sound praised by 7 owners (3 disagree)
“The Super mic feature is really useful for me, especially when I have to take calls or join meetings in noisy or crowded places.”
Price & value praised by 4 owners (1 disagree)
“total worth it and my wife is asking for a pair instead of her $250 airpods.”
Noise cancelling praised by 2 owners
“The ANC is good, it's great for my office work.”
What owners complain about
Nothing two or more owners agree on yet.
What owners talk about
- Sound7 praise · 3 complain
- Price & value4 praise · 1 complain
- Battery & charging1 praise · 1 complain
- Noise cancelling2 praise · 0 complain
Built from the reviews themselves — every quote links to the owner who wrote it.
Every credible owner review, most detailed first. Bots, off-topic comments, and ones that say nothing about using it are left out.
Charging is barely an issue these days. I use nothing ear 2a earphones. They last 7/8 hours on a charge but I've never noticed this as they charge when I put them in the case (the case has 40 hours charge I believe). [...] I switch between these and Sennheiser headphones, which I've probably charged 3 times in the same period. Some of the other brands have wireless charging for the case too, so if you've set up the charger somewhere convenient that the case is used, honestly I don't think you'd notice it has a battery.
While I like my original nothing headphones, after a year and a half, the left earbud dies within a matter of minutes. Nothing’s solution was to offer me a 5% coupon on a new product. What are we doing here Nothing? Are these meant to be disposable earbuds?
[...] You should have spoken about manufacturers build quality. I am on my second pair...both literally fell apart inside a year. This summer meant the glued magnets (tiny) that hold the buds in the case and allow charging... [...]
[...] The tiny magnet that hold the buds in place to charge. [...]
I got the Nothing ear wireless earbuds and I'm kinda disappointed how not much different they are from my old LG Tone Free FN6 buds, the soundstage feels rather closed. Maybe there's more configuring to do, but I did do the personalised sound stuff which just made low quality files sound "watery"
[...] my wife appreciated the noise cancelation compared to her AirPod pro 2s. [...] total worth it and my wife is asking for a pair instead of her $250 airpods.
The Super mic feature is really useful for me, especially when I have to take calls or join meetings in noisy or crowded places. [...] With regular TWS , I’d have to speak louder to overpower the ambient sounds,. [...]
[...] I was so excited and loved the bright yellow color so much that I bought them for $140 because the yellow color was unavailable for the $99 sale price. Then I bought the nothing ear (so weird the name confusion - from nothing 2 to nothing) and found it on sale for $80, go figure. [...] The nothing a don't sound as good, in my opinion, as the nothing 2. [...] But I do appreciate the LONGER battery life on the nothing a. [...]
[...] They sound very good and have really good transparency mode. The company keeps releasing firmware updates every now and then. Also got a nothing Ear. They are very comfy, and have very good sound. [...]
[...] For the price i cant complain at all, im super sensitive to harsh "s" sound and treble. [...] I use AAC instead of LDAC because the clearer sound of LDAC were to harsh for my ears. Soundcore liberty buds 2 will be released in a couple of weeks tho so i think they will be my main 😊 my AirPods Pro 2 stopped working a couple of days ago...
It's been nearly 2 years since I bought the Nothing ear (open) so I decided to preorder the CMF clip pro ($79USD) to test its' sound and feature set. I'd still wholeheartedly endorse the ear (open) for anyone curious, but I'll report back on these in a few weeks. Smaller drivers but longer playback!
Don't buy their old Nothing Ear 1-2 or Ear a buds, the battery dies after a year. No idea about the new 3a buds. Have not tried their AI bullshit because it doesn't work on my phone but it seems to be sectioned off into a separate "Essential Space" and is probably easily ignorable.
Had the nothing ear and they sounded fantastic until one was experiencing instant battery drain after a year. Nothing ear, like the name did absolutely nothing to fix my issue. Great while they lasted
[...] And even if you add value/cost into the mix, they still do very well, even their highest performing products. [...] If you add value/cost, everything falls apart and it really becomes: if you have cash, you can buy that stuff that is going to be much better at this very specific use case. It's even true for their headphones where the only thing they are better at is integration in their own system, everything else is passably competitive but if you look for value it's just plain bad. I had AirPods, I find it amazing how much better the Nothing Ears are for the cost, if you don't care about the Apple ecosystem (the "magic" gimmicks never worked that well for me anyway).
Enshitification Nothing SkipAds Android So I just noticed something changed with my Nothing ear buds. [...] If my phone is locked...the skip doesn't work, the audio briefing goes out but it picks up at the same spot. [...]
I can’t use EarPods for more hours and solid transparency are the AirPods Pro 3. I have HUAWEI freebuds pro 5 but the AirPods are better.
I got the Nothing Ear (3a) and the audio snapshot feature is so fun, I’ve spent most of this morning responding to messages with song snippets
[...] A month in, genuinely impressed. [...]
nice!!!! which model? i recently picked up nothing ear (a) (i got a good discount; no way i would’ve paid full price)
I just bought the Status Between 3anC. I already had the Nothing 2024. The Nothing 2024 are levels ahead of Status. The Nothing 2024 are the best wireless ear buds i have bought so far. Way better than the Status Pro & Between 3anc
I'm using ear 2024 and was wondering if I should buy 3. [...] Thank you.
Bought the regular nothing ear for 70 euro on offer this week. And i am super satisfied with it. For that money i doubt i could have found myself something better.
The super mic feature would be really useful for me when I'm in a discord call or something while on public transportation and I want to talk without having to talk loudly, and whispering makes it difficult for the mics in the earbuds to pickup since they're far from the mouth and in a noisy environment, so the super mic is such a great thing to have for my use case.
[...] I did want spatial audio though :"
Great shirt! 🤘 And that plugged up feeling is a necessity for any earbuds I buy. Can't stand how the air pods don't seal in there.
[...] Thx for validating it
I got the smaller case Nothing earbuds in yellow for only $79 on amazon. [...]
For my ThingThursday, I'm sharing the tech I've used most frequently so far this year: the Nothing Ear (open). They're incredibly unique as far as open-ear headphones go and hold up well for all my use cases including cycling, passive podcast listening, and more! Check them out if you're curious!
Aaaah I got the iPad that's one gen back of the Apple Silicon ones. Definitely bought it to be an iPad replacement. Probably still gonna be a weirdo with an Android phone, Nothing ear buds, and basic watches but I don't fault anyone going over to the Mac side if it works for them.
I think everyone's ears are very different. I've had Galaxy buds 2 pros (excellent until I lost one), buds fe (not great soundwise), galaxy buds 3 (wouldn't stay in my ear), Beats Solo (shite, sent them back) and I'm very happy with the Nothing Ear (latest version). Comfy, sound great and stay in.
[...] earlier on I bought me some items I wanted to get for my cats. [...] I bought Nothing. [...] The ANC is good, it's great for my office work. [...]
Just got my ear a and i love them the best buds ive ever had.
I’ve had the Nothing Ear 2024 for a month. I recently replaced the og tips with Spinfit Omni. Highly recommended as they provide a much better seal and still fits in the case
I got the JBL sense lite :3 I also have the nothing ear (a)s but those are in ear, I was considering the nothing open ear ones but they just look too goofy imo, like what is that tube ass case lol
Got the Ear 2024 for 99euro in September. I think it was the Ear 3 release day. They are really good but I needed to EQ them.
I can listen to all the songs on the Ear(2) at my preferred volume but always have to turn it down for the Ear. Ear(a) is definitely the most muffled. [...]
If you want to cheap out on in-ears, the Nothing Ear headphones are surprisingly decent. I use them as my gym headphones. Insane value at $70. [...]
Nothing Ear long-term: how it holds up
Satisfaction drops 83 points among owners who've had it 1 year or more.
- First months100% recommend · 4 owners
- 1 year or more17% recommend · 6 owners
The claims, and the evidence
What the brand claims
- Ceramic driverOwners agreeSound: 7 of 10 positive
- Adaptive noise cancellationFew owner reports
- Hi-Res Audio with LDACOwners agreeSound: 7 of 10 positive
- ChatGPT integrationFew owner reports
- IP54 water and dust resistanceFew owner reports
What owners report
“Charging is barely an issue these days. I use nothing ear 2a earphones. They last 7/8 hours on a charge but I've never noticed this as they charge when I put them in the case (the case has 40 hours charge I believe). [...] I switch between these and Sennheiser headphones, which I've probably charged 3 times in the same period. Some of the other brands have wireless charging for the case too, so if you've set up the charger somewhere convenient that the case is used, honestly I don't think you'd notice it has a battery.”
after 4 monthsView on Hacker News“[...] I was so excited and loved the bright yellow color so much that I bought them for $140 because the yellow color was unavailable for the $99 sale price. Then I bought the nothing ear (so weird the name confusion - from nothing 2 to nothing) and found it on sale for $80, go figure. [...] The nothing a don't sound as good, in my opinion, as the nothing 2. [...] But I do appreciate the LONGER battery life on the nothing a. [...]”
“While I like my original nothing headphones, after a year and a half, the left earbud dies within a matter of minutes. Nothing’s solution was to offer me a 5% coupon on a new product. What are we doing here Nothing? Are these meant to be disposable earbuds?”
after 18 monthsView on YouTube“[...] You should have spoken about manufacturers build quality. I am on my second pair...both literally fell apart inside a year. This summer meant the glued magnets (tiny) that hold the buds in the case and allow charging... [...]”
after 1 yearView on YouTube
Common Nothing Ear problems
Problems most owners who mention them agree on, plus ones owners are split on.
No recurring complaint pattern found across the reviews analyzed. That's a genuinely good sign — it means owners aren't converging on the same problem.