Nothing Ear (a) Review: The (a) in Ear (a) stands for Ace
In case you missed it, Nothing released its latest line of audio wearables back in April this year consisting of the Ear and Ear (a). We were lucky enough to get our hands (and ears) on the Ear (a), and as the title of this article suggests, we were pretty much impressed with its overall performance.
Before we begin our review, we somewhat feel compelled to clarify Nothing’s new naming conventions to avoid any sort of confusion. So, the latest Ear and Ear (a) aren’t Nothing’s first ear buds. That honor belongs to the Ear (1) released in 2021. Nothing then followed that up with the Ear (stick) in 2022, after which came the Ear (2) in 2023.
Fast forward to 2024, Nothing announced via their official X account that they’ll be resetting their naming conventions. Or to quote, “stripping back the numbers to center the focus around the product and the unique experience it delivers for each user.”
As such, instead of an Ear (3), we get the Ear and Ear (a), with the Ear serving as a direct upgrade from the Ear (2), and the Ear (a) as a mellowed down, affordable alternative.
Got it? Okay. Now we can finally begin our review of the Nothing Ear (a).
Sleek casing and comfortable buds
Nothing Ear (a) Case
The Nothing Ear (a) is the odd child among the descendants of Nothing true wireless, not just because it breaks away from the conventional square casing, but also because it comes in a snazzy new Yellow theme – a first in the Nothing range.
We…didn’t get the Yellow option, although that would’ve been our first pick. Instead, we got the White model, which hey, doesn’t look too bad either.
In true Nothing fashion, you get the transparent design language with the buds visible through the top casing. The bottom half of the casing is solid white, with a rectangular metal hinge connecting the two halves.
As far as first impressions go, we love the sleekness of the Ear (a). It’s just the right thickness, sliding nicely into pockets with little show of any awkward imprint. The case shuts via a magnet at the end of the lid. It shuts tightly, but does shimmy a little if you deliberately rock the top lid side-to-side. Nevertheless, the magnets are strong enough that you can hold the case upside down and shake it vigorously without fear of the buds falling off.
Open the case and you’ll find a little dot on the bottom left serving as an LED indicator, while the bottom right is the Setup button which blends so well its almost invisible. The case, by the way, is IPX2 rated, which means it should survive a light drizzle, but would suffer under direct rainfall. Regardless, it’s best to keep it as far away from liquids a possible.
Nothing Ear (a) Buds
The buds themselves maintains the semi-transparent stem, so you do get to see some of the inner mechanisms. The head of the buds is solid white, with a black base where the stem connects to the head. On that note, the stems on the Ear (a) are very much to my liking – long enough to access the pinch controls, but not too long to the point it protrudes obscenely beyond the ear lobe.
And yes, the buds are controlled via a combination of pinch and hold gestures, rather than the more common touch or button controls. Pinch gestures are customizable through the Nothing X app, but more on that later.
Personally, the buds fit nice and snug in my ears. It doesn’t feel loose, and stays intact even with excessive head-banging. It’s a worthy companion for runs and gymming where your head will be bobbing about a lot. If not, the Ear (a) comes with two additional tip sizes – small and large – out of the box, which might do the trick for you.
Great sound, powerful noise cancellation
In terms of audio quality, I’ve had an overall positive experience with the Ear (a). I used it primarily for music, where I got great clarity in vocals and deep rich tones that really livens up whatever tunes you’re jamming to. Admittedly, I’m not entirely an audiophile, but even then I could discern a stark difference in quality between the Ear (a) and my cheap pair of earbuds I got for just over RM100.
It is very bassy out of the box though, even in Balanced mode and with no tweaking to the default EQ on the Nothing X app. Again, this is noticeable even for a non-audiophile like me. Nothing has been promoting the Bass Enhance algorithm on the Ear (a), so all this is intentional.
Still, the strong bass reverberations may prove to be a double-edged sword; great for head-banging your noggins out to heavy-bass artists like KSHMR and Bassjackers, not so much for the Ed Sheerans and Taylor Swifts where sensitive ears may feel the bass a tad bit too heavy.
Nevertheless, a quick switch from Balanced mode to either More Treble or Voice modes seems to do the trick in toning down the bass and making slow ballads more enriching.
Active Noise Cancellation
For a pair of mid-range earbuds, noise cancellation was pretty darn excellent. Just FYI, the Ear (a) comes with four noise cancellation levels: High, Mid, Low, and Adaptive.
Testing the Ear (a) on my usual commute on the LRT and setting noise cancellation to its maximum, I found that the Ear (a)’s ANC is able to drown out much of the high-pitched incessant screeching of the LRT tracks (if you take the LRT often, you’ll know these can be LOUD, especially on the older coaches).
For other less intrusive noises, the noise cancellation pretty much cancels them out. Conversations are effectively muted, and even the train announcement blaring at every stop is reduced to a muffled noise.
The one little drawback being that Transparency Mode, which in theory should allow you to hear surrounding noises (eg. when someone speaks to you directly), is still too strong. In reality, you’ll be better off taking the buds off when someone approaches you for a conversation.
Aside from that, I’ll personally give the Ear (a) some really good marks for noise cancellation.
Nothing X app does it right
The one thing you can always look forward to with Nothing buds is the Nothing X app. I’ve always liked the interface – clean, straightforward, with great customization options to follow suit. Moreover, connection to the Nothing X is seamless, almost instantaneous from when you lift the buds off the case.
You’ll be able to see battery percentage of both your earbuds and the case on the home page itself, together with other togglable functions, namely Noise Control, Controls, Equaliser, and Bass Enhance. You quite literally just tap the app and every important customizable function is presented to you on a single page, there’s no need to even scroll downwards.
There is of course the usual settings icon on the top right which leads to more functions such as In-Ear Detection, Low Lag Mode, and Find My Earbuds. There’s also the Ear Tip Fit Test to make sure the tips are sealed nice and snug in your ears to get the best out of sound quality and noise cancellation.
Here’s also where you can activate Dual Connection to connect the Ear (a) to two devices simultaneously, particularly useful for the common working folk dependent on both laptop and smartphone. It’s good news in this department as well, with the feature working, for the most part, seamlessly. There is a 2-3 second delay when switching between devices, but other than that, it works fine and certainly beats taking off your buds altogether to pick up a call.
If you’re wondering what happens if audio is playing on both devices at the same time: the Ear (a) will continue to pick up the audio from the initial source. For example, if you’re listening to music on your laptop first, and want to switch over to your phone, you will need to pause the audio from the laptop before it can detect the audio source from your phone.
All-day battery life
The Ear (a) runs amazingly well, for an amazingly lengthy period of time. It’s certainly one of the longer-lasting earbuds you’ll find in this range. It will outlast even the flagship Ear and Ear (2), so if you’re looking for something with pure battery endurance, the Ear (a) is a no-brainer.
The case itself runs on a 500mAh battery, with each ear bud needing 46mAh to be at 100%. You’ll be able to squeeze out up to 9.5 hours from the buds alone, provided you have ANC turned off. If you’re going to use the Ear (a) everyday, you’ll probably find yourself needing to charge the case every once in 5 days to a week or so. Which is pretty good in my books.
The (a) in Ear (a) stands for Ace
It actually doesn’t, so please don’t take it literally. But given its performance as Nothing’s second-lowest priced ear buds, it certainly merits its aces.
The Nothing Ear (a) retails at RM479, only beaten by the Ear (stick) which retailed at RM469. The latest Nothing Ear unsurprisingly tops out at RM659, while the older-gen Ear (1) and Ear (2) – if you can still find them – retails at RM599.
For the price, you’ll be getting quality audio, impressive noise cancellation, and excellent battery endurance to last you the day. On top of all that, you’ll get Nothing X app compatibility to fine-tune the Ear (a) to your preference, thus making the buds truly yours.
If you’re looking for a dependable pair of true wireless with more than decent quality, the Nothing Ear (a) is where it’s at.
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