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The Nothing Ear (open) Earbuds Aren’t Just See-Through

10.14.24 | By
The Nothing Ear (open) Earbuds Aren’t Just See-Through

Smartphone and accessory brand Nothing is bringing its iconic transparent tech design to a new pair of earbuds. While the company already offers the Nothing Ear and the Nothing Ear (a) wireless earbuds, it’s now bringing the same formula to the new Nothing Ear (open) earbuds, which, as the name suggests, offer an open-ear design that allows you to hear your surroundings while jamming out to your favorite tunes.

The Nothing Ear (open) wireless earbuds boast a sleek design with ear hooks and small speakers, ensuring both style and functionality.

A pair of wireless Nothing Ear (open) earphones with transparent casings and ear hooks, featuring circular black touch controls labeled "NOTHING.

High Tech and Completely Open

These particular earbuds have a lot going for them. As you would expect, they keep the same overall feel in terms of design, with the transparent stem that allows you to see the earbuds’ internals. It’s a cool look that has become immediately recognizable as a Nothing product. And the transparent body is coupled with the classic white and red dots to signify the left and right earbuds – another Nothing staple. The overall vibe is very retro but still feels modern and unique. The charging case has a transparent lid so you can make sure that your earbuds are there.

A person's hand is shown taking a white handheld device with black and red buttons out of a pocket.

The earbuds also have an ear hook design that ensures they stay firmly on your head when you’re wearing them. That’s important considering the fact that open-ear earbuds don’t wedge into your ear canals for stabilization.

The ear hook design means that they’re a little larger, and the charging case, in particular, is much larger than a typical pair of earbuds. Thankfully, it’s still relatively flat, so it should be easy to fit into a pocket or bag without being too bulky.

A person with short hair is wearing an ear-mounted device with a white loop and black earpiece.

The earbuds are built for high-quality audio. Typically, open ear earbuds sacrifice some bass and high-end response, simply due to the fact that they can’t isolate as well as other earbuds. The Nothing Ear (open) earbuds attempt to get around this with relatively large 14.2mm drivers, which should help with the bass response.

Person in a light-colored jacket wearing earbuds, standing outdoors with a cityscape in the background.

The earbuds offer a decent battery life, providing 8 hours of continuous listening and 30 hours total, including the battery in the charging case. They connect through Bluetooth 5.3 with Bluetooth Multipoint, and support both Android and iOS.

White earphones with attached wires in a plastic case, a USB-C cable, a small booklet, and an empty packaging tray all placed on a white surface.

There are other smart features on offer too. The earbuds work with the same Nothing X app as Nothing’s other earbuds, which means that they’ll get advanced EQ and customizable controls. And like the standard Nothing Ear earbuds, they support ChatGPT integration, so you can set them up to be able to talk directly to the AI app if that’s something you might find useful.

A smartphone with Nothing Ear (open) earphones showcases an interface for new voice AI settings, complemented by an image of a person comfortably wearing the sleek earphones.

Right for You?

The concept of open earbuds is slightly niche, of course. Traditional earbuds actually fit in your ear canal in an effort to block outside noise so that you can focus better on the music and so the speakers can deliver a more well-rounded frequency response. Open-ear earbuds flip the concept on its head. They avoid blocking your ear canals so that you can still hear what’s going on around you. That makes them helpful for runners who want to be able to hear traffic around them, or parents who want to be able to hear their child.

Exploded view of an electronic device, revealing internal components including circuit boards, connectors, a battery, and a speaker encased in a white and silver housing.

Of course, because open-ear earbuds are a little niche, they’re also a little underserved, which means that Nothing has a big advantage here. Bose offers a pair of open-ear earbuds in the form of the Bose Ultra, but they’re $300. The new Nothing Ear (open) earbuds are half that, at $149.

For more information on the Nothing Ear (open) earbuds, head to nothing.tech.

Christian de Looper is a consumer tech reporter based in sunny Santa Cruz, California. Christian has reported on tech for over 10 years, with bylines in many of the largest tech publications, including Digital Trends, Forbes, CNN Underscored, Tom’s Guide, and PCMag. Christian has an obsession with how tech companies balance great design with great functionality, and lives at home with his wife, daughter, and cat.