Launching Nothing Head & Ear (A) starting at $99

Nothing is launching its third generation of earbuds today in the Nothing Ear and Ear(a), and they look like pretty great options.

Available starting this month None Ear and Ear (A) Build on what was already one of the best series of earbuds in recent memory. With this latest iteration, nothing offers some major improvements.

That starts with noise cancellation.

ANC is now available on both the lower-priced On-Ear and On-Ear A and manages up to 45dB of noise cancellation. This is louder than 40dB for the ear(2), but given the way decibels are measured, this is actually about twice as powerful, nothing to say. This should be further enhanced by the “Smart ANC Algorithm”.

The next big improvement is battery life. Both Ear 1 and Ear 2 only had a playback time of 4 hours with ANC turned on, with Ear 1 lasting up to 5.2 hours, while Ear A was able to work for 5.5 hours. These numbers jump to 8.5 hours and 9.5 hours, respectively, when ANC is turned off. It should be a huge improvement, and the case also stores a lot more power too now, with up to 42.5 hours available on Ear(A) without ANC.

Both sets of earbuds feature 11mm drivers for sound output, and can connect to two devices via Bluetooth dual connection mode.

Sound quality, as summarized in the pre-release analysis, should be very good – in my early use of both, I was very happy with the sound quality. The Nothing

There's also nothing that switches to “pinch” controls on these earbuds, similar to earbuds from OnePlus and others.

What are the differences between ear and ear A?

There are some differences in sound, but they're barely noticeable in our tests so far. The biggest changes include the hardware — the Ear A is not waterproof and has a much smaller case — the lack of a fully dedicated equalizer on the Ear A, and the lack of wireless charging on the cheaper model as well. But realistically, these headphones are pretty comparable for most people.

Another difference is the color assortment. Both headphones come in black and white, but Ear(a) also adds a bold yellow color. Nothing explains the first color product says:

Not only does yellow perfectly complement the playfulness of the Ear(a) design, it's a color that, in theory, goes with the nil value of transparency. If we abstracted away how colors are constructed, we would be left with the primary colors. This pure approach to the use of color has resulted in Nothing to the Ear (A) to Yellow – a lively and playful sonic product.

In Nothing Ear, another difference is the support for LHDC 5.0. However, both headphones support LDAC.

There will be nothing ear and ear (a). Available for pre-order Starting today, with shipping starting April 22nd. The Nothing Ear won't cost the same $149 as its predecessor, while the Ear(a) will replace the Ear(stick) as a device big Upgrade is $99.

What do you think of the new earbuds?

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