Nothing has announced its first pair of open-back wearable stereo earbuds (OWS), which could be better suited for activities where you actually want to hear what's going on around you. With a design that rests directly in your ear, the new Nothing Ear Open could also be a more comfortable alternative to earbuds that rely on silicone tips that are inserted into the ear canal.
The Nothing Ear Open joins a growing trend in headphones that eschew active noise cancellation and instead intentionally let outside noise through. Shokz's headphones have long offered this by using bone conduction technology that keeps your ears completely open. In February, Bose introduced its $299 Ultra Open earbuds, positioning them as headphones that can be worn comfortably all day, even at work. Nothing's new Ear Open earbuds offer similar features but cost $149.
The Nothing's predecessors, Ear and Ear (a), which launched last April, offer a slight advantage in battery life, with 8.5 and 9.5 hours with ANC off, respectively. But the Nothing Ear Open still manage eight hours on a full charge, or 30 hours total when occasionally docked and charged in a slim 19-millimeter-thick case. There's no wireless charging capability, but Nothing says a quick 10-minute charge with a USB-C cable will give you two hours of listening pleasure.
That's a solid battery life considering Ear Open features the largest 14.2-millimeter drivers Nothing has put in its earbuds to date, but with a directional design to minimize sound leakage. Each earbud also includes a pair of microphones and Nothing's latest noise-cancelling technology (Clear Voice Technology 3.0) to prevent outside noise from muffling your voice during a call.
The Nothing Ear Open use a “three-point balance system” and a silicone ear hook to keep the earbuds securely in your ears. At 8.1 grams each, the Ear Open are the company's heaviest earbuds to date, but this hook helps distribute the weight across your ear. The edgeWhile testing the Shokz OpenFit Air, Victoria Song of The 40 Fingers found that wearing ear-hook headphones with some types of glasses can sometimes be difficult because the temples and hooks compete for space on the ears.
The earbuds use Bluetooth 5.3 with support for AAC and SBC codecs, can connect to two Bluetooth devices and quickly switch between them, and offer a “Low Lag Mode” for gamers that is automatically activated when Nothing Phone users are in Game Mode. When pairing with other phones, Low Lag Mode can be activated using Nothing's mobile app, which also allows integration with ChatGPT.
The Nothing Ear Open will be available for pre-order in the US, Canada and Europe from the company's website starting September 24th and will be available worldwide starting October 1st.