Nothing Ear (a) wireless ear buds with Active Noise Cancelling, Bass Enhance Algorithm and up to 42.5 hours of listening time - Black

I am not an audiophile so i could not justify paying several hundred pounds for Bose or Sony buds. I had done a lot a research try to select the best 'budget' ear bud (under £100) and these little 'nothing (a)' ears buds came out on top, so i decided to take the plunge and buy them on offer for £69. Normally £89. These are fantastic ear buds, both in quality of build and sound. I use these primarily to connect via Bluetooth to my work laptop (windows 11). They sound great. Mic is also very good. Very Comfortable! i have very small ears and they stay in no problem, although i have yet to go for a run with them). ANC (Adaptive Noise Cancelling) is also very good once you put the right tips on, the app has a test to make sure you have the right tips in. The case is nice and compact and charges the buds quickly. i have read reviews of people stating that the case is hard to open... i didn't find this an issue at all. I would not hesitate to recommend these buds. 5 stars!

Pros: App is very well designed and useful. They are stylish and look nice on, charging case is a nice size and again is a stylish design. Sound quality is great for me with options to increase or reduce bass. ANC is very good for this price point, sufficient to drown out background noise. I don’t use them for hours on end so can’t really comment on battery life but it seems fine and the case holds extra battery life. Also has wireless charging which is great! They are very comfortable for moderate use, when worn for over an hour I start to get a little bit of ear fatigue but that’s the same with all in-ear buds. You get three sizes of tips included, medium is best fit for me. They connected easily to my iPhone and AppleTV. You can actually connect to multiple devices at once through the app. Cons: I suppose they are a little pricey for a brand that is not a market leader like Apple or Bose etc. Personalised sound feature is fine for music but sounds bizarre when watching videos (tried two movies), I had to switch it off (which fixed the issue) as it was making a strange interference sound. I’m not keen on the ‘in-ear recognition’ feature as sound stops playing when just ONE earbud is removed, I’d prefer it to be activated when BOTH are removed, that said you can disable this feature in the app so I’ve done that. Also I’m not keen on the tap controls, they are a little temperamental and tricky to get the hang of (they can be amended in the app but not entirely, there are limits).

Why did you choose this product over others?: I bought these as a temporary replacement for AirPods which went through the wash while waiting for Apple to release a new model and I’m fairly impressed. They aren’t as good as AirPods Pro, but they’re also a lot cheaper. The design is nice and they fit well in my ear. The box is a bit more clunky than Apple’s both in terms of size and also how you put the headphones back, but it’s okay. Sound quality is really good. I love how the bass sounds, great for electronic music, it’s almost like there’s a subwoofer or something. Very fun. Noise cancellation is average, AirPods are much better here. It works ok in still environments but if there’s wind, it picks up quite a lot of noise and starts to sometimes disable the NC altogether, I guess to avoid excess noise. With my iPhone I’ve noticed that they don’t perform well in busy environments, the audio glitches a lot. AirPods do this a bit but it’s much worse here. I guess this might just be a general Bluetooth thing but worth mentioning. Connection is stable otherwise, you can connect two devices too - obviously not quite as easy as switching between Apple devices with AirPods, but workable. Overall, for the price I paid I’m pretty happy. I’ll be going back to the next AirPods Pro as I’m an Apple user and the integration is second to none and I miss the NC, but these are great for now.

After my old earbuds stopped working, I did some research and opted to give these a go. I was considering going for the more expensive ones, above the 2(a); but, given my varied past experiences with other brands, I chose to test out the more affordable 2(a) first. Long story short, I’m mind-blown! As a musician, I’m astounded by Nothing’s top-tier functions. First, compared to previous earbuds that I’ve owned, from Sennheiser to Bose to JBL, these offer an exceptional music-listening experience for the relative low cost. I’d put these just behind—if not, on par—with those priced at +£200. Second, my biggest pet peeve across all previous brands were connectivity and latency issues. With the 2(a), say goodbye to that! These stay connected consistently, without falling out, even at a distance. (I’ve sometimes been two rooms apart from the connected device, and the sound quality has remained exceptional, no latency issues.) Third, these earbuds stay super-comfortable after long use. The noise cancellation is so soothing, I often keep them on even when I’m not listening to anything. (I highly recommend them to anyone who’s neurodivergent: ADHD, autism/ASD etc.) Fourth, the set-up is extremely easy (no loud connexion/disconnexion noise), and you can customise your audio experience through the mobile Nothing app. Your custom settings will carry on across all devices, unless you choose to change those settings later. If I really had to look for something to critique, I’d say the battery: I do wish that it lasted a little bit longer. That being said, though, the earbuds do recharge really quickly! So, it’s a really quick fix. Altogether, as a musician, I’m beyond impressed by these earbuds. I’ve had friends and family ask me for recommendations. Now, I know what I’d recommend in a heat beat: the Nothing 2(a). They’re top-tier!

ممتاز

Second update: After finally being able to connect with the seller, they were the definition of excellent with their customer service. I reached out to them during the holiday rush and had a replacement unit that seems to be completely new sent to me. The bus are add amazing as the first pair were. This time I will be more mindful of where I keep my favorite earbuds, and fart far away from the washing machine. Thank you Essential Tech and Nothing. In the past two years, I have used or owned just about every single pair of earbuds under $500. I use the nothing year 2024 version every day and sometimes I don’t even think to grab the other ones. Everything comes with some form of trade-off any with the nothing I would say these these are battery life and sound. Both of these trade offs are minimal. The battery life is fine and because of wireless charging they get back to useable levels quickly. In terms of sound I personally rank the Sennheiser Momentum 4 as the buds that have sounded the best to me, an arbitrary “10”. If the M4 are a 10 I’d say the nothing are an 8, unless you just love bass, if you do, these are a 9.5. Pros: Comfort- as comfortable as a stem style earbud I’ve ever used. I wear these in any sweaty environment and they DO NOT Fall out..looking at you Apple and Samsung Pro 3 Connectivity- again another place where these are as good as any bud with multiple devices except the Technics AZ80, which can pair to 3 devices (something I never used once) Controls- this is where I believe the buds start to stand out. You have many options to choose from how you want these to work, almost anyone can find a setup that works. The one thing they don't do is slide for volume control. Call/mic quality- from everyone I’ve talked there is a Night and Day difference in me talking with these buds and anything else, yes even Apple AirPod pros. Apparently they block out most of the background noise as well. This might be the biggest selling point for the buds. It’s Exceptional Durability- I mentioned before that these stay in no matter what sweaty activity I’m doing they also push through no matter what activity I’m doing whether it’s sweat rain splashes of water, falling in water the case has held up to exposure to water everything it’s one of the stronger qualities of the buds, and the case, is the durability. IP54 does don't protect against a washing machine or total submersion. Transparency mode- Again, transparency mode is one of those things that it just does really well very similar to the call quality it’s top of the line in terms of the way the transparency mode operates and functions. It’s one of the best that there are right now. App functionality- I mentioned that the controls are amazing and they are just a part of an amazing app for these buds. You can find any sound profile that you love and as I mentioned in the sound earlier if you love bass bass is a thing that you must have with earbuds. These are the best style earbuds. I’ve ever used it. It’s it’s a level that is disruptive. That’s how there’s controls you can’t even fathom EQ settings. As far as you can imagine it’s really top-notch. I would say that the app is a 10 out of 10 for all of the functionality that you can use for these buds and if you just want to use default stuff it works really well there too the app is another amazing point. Trade offs: Noise cancellation- if the Bose quiet comfort and the Sennheiser and the Sony are tens, then the nothings are probably eight or 8 1/2 the Bose could be by themselves, but the little hissing white noise that’s with them when you not running music bothers me to no end so I can’t rank them a 10. I think these are just a few marks below any of the premium top 2 to 3 times the price of these earbuds noise cancellation performance more than doable. Sound- Well, I said the app gives you great flexibility for sound and even sound quality they don’t stack up to the higher budget earbuds in this regard they notice don’t sound as good or is clear or as crisp as the Sennheiser momentum force not many earbuds. Do they are clearly not there once again. I probably put these in about an eight or 8 1/2 if the Sennheiser are number one. But the sound is good enough for me to pick these up every single time I’m leaving the house and just taking earbuds just in case or when I’m going to the guy I know that these will always be good enough customization next level that you can get really close, especially if you have a phone that supports higher and codec, you’ll notice that increase just a little bit and that makes that little bump each way up ahead of other earbuds like Bose, Samsung, and AirPods and all the other ones in that price range they sound better than jabra which are almost $300. Battery- battery is the spot that the nothings have made the biggest improvement on because previously their batteries were not very good at all and now they’re passable. They’re quite decent and get about six hours out of them using Hi-Rez Kodex and ANC about six hours maybe 5 1/2 just kind of depending on circumstances and everything else but about 5 1/2 six hours that’s about what you get out of most of them the Sony or a 10 in this area these would be, I don’t know previously they were five or four so nice improvement in terms of the battery like I said it being rechargeable via wireless charging is really helpful. It just makes it quick and easy. Throw it on the back of your phone if it supports it in 10 minutes 20 minutes you got enough charge to get going and do whatever you need so it’s not terrible like it was it makes it very doable and passable now. TL;DR These earbuds are a significant improvement over the previous generation for anything in their price range. They are right up there at the top as far as the best or close to the best in this price range I luckily got mine on sale on Amazon. I think they were 115 120 for the amount of money there’s nothing that touches these. I have the momentum 4s, I have the technic AZ80s, I’ve had several AirPod pros, I have the Samsung buds Pro three and the budsPro 2, list the earbuds under $400. I’ve had them or still own them and these earbuds check enough of the boxes that matter to me that I use these consistently more than the other ones , probably one of the biggest good sound good ANC great quality, multipoint connection and durability. These aspects make them, the go anywhere earbud, they consistently deliver what I want from them. I love this purchase and will absolutely recommend these buds to anyone who seeks these qualities from their buds, especially in the stem style.

I have to say these earbuds are super comfortable along with the sound it is great value for money, but I think LDAC only works with Android, but for €100 hifi quality sound of such is just great! I recommend. Only downside is the noise cancellation is not best, but for the price it is understandable.

Amazing sound, app, experience! I almost want to move from iOS to Android to enjoy ChatGPT features! Only missing the sound control vs my AirPod Pro!

Écouteurs avec un rapport qualité incroyable. Ils sont très bons pour de la course à pied, ne bougent pas d'un poil même après 1 heure de course à pied et la sueur. La réduction de bruit est correcte. Le son est très bon, bonnes basses. La boîte est très bien aussi, ils tiennent bien la batterie et se rechargent vite. L'application est assez simple. Le seul problème à ces écouteurs selon moi est que la commande tactile est pas précise. Je ne l'utilise donc pas. Le reste est parfait, je recommande.