Nothing Ear Open review: surprises at every turn

The first thing that surprised me was how comfortable these buds are. Sure, it takes a bit to get used to how they feel hanging from your ears, but after wearing them for a short period of time, I found it easy to forget I was wearing them. With other buds, I’ll often take them out when I’m not listening to music, but with the Opens, I let them hang around my earlobes all day with no discomfort.

But comfort is only half the battle, so I’m happy to say that the sound quality also surprised me. It was really robust for something that’s not going in your ear. The music reproduction is great and has a decent balance, even the bass kicks enough for me when I’m listening to rap. However, for most people looking at these buds, I assume the form factor is more appealing than anything else, and I can say that the sound quality is more than enough.

It was balanced nicely, and if you want to tweak it, there are really practical EQ controls in the Nothing app. In a quiet space, they sound fantastic, but due to the nature of their design, it can be a different story when you get outside in a crowd or the wind. They’re still usable, but you’ll need to crank up the volume to offset all the background noise you can hear. Having said that, the sound quality holds up pretty well at loud volumes, so it’s not a detriment to the quality, just something to be aware of if you’re coming from traditional earbuds or something with active noise-cancelling (ANC).

Again, I think it’s a fair tradeoff with the design. I usually use AirPods 4 without ANC on my bike because I like being able to hear the world around me when I’m cruising around town, and the Nothing Ear Opens offers the same piece of mind. That said, they don’t feel as secure when I’m also wearing my sunglasses. Wearing them with my regular glasses that have very slender wire frames was easy, but my sunglasses have thicker arms, so it was a bit more of a challenge. I was able to wear them both, but the fit wasn’t quite as perfect. If you plan to use these as your outdoor fitness buds, be wary of how much time you spend in the sun and how thick your sunglasses are.

Each earbud should last for around 7-8 hours of listening, which is more than enough for me, and since I don’t take them off of my ears that often, it’s nice to know that after wearing them paused for a few hours, I can unpause them and keep playing audio without having to worry about them dying. Placing the buds in the case will give you two hours of playback in ten minutes, so even people who want to wear them for more than eight hours should be fine with at least one quick top-up throughout the day.

One thing that was a bit annoying, though not a detriment, is how big the charging case is. It’s still quite slender, so it’s relatively easy to slip in and out of my pockets, but it is on the larger side of wireless earbud charging cases. I’d love to see Nothing shrink it down with the next version, but I do see how that might be a problem since the buds are larger and less rigid than typical wireless earbuds. At the end of the day, it’s not something that’s stopped me from carrying them around, but worth noting if you find yourself wearing a lot of tight pants.

Regardless of the case’s size, it looks lovely, and both it and the buds carry Nothing’s iconic transparent design forward. They just look futuristic in a fun science-fiction way that appeals to me. While the buds themselves might look a bit more like over-the-counter hearing aids, I got used to them pretty fast, and overall, I think they look unique compared to the sea of white and black earbuds that everyone else is wearing, and that made me fall even more in love with them.

For me, these buds are pretty spectacular in day-to-day life. When I’m biking, they give me the ability to hear the world around me and the music I’m listening to. At home in my quiet house, they’re great since I can listen to podcasts or audiobooks without disturbing anyone, but my girlfriend can still get my attention, and I can easily hold a conversation without having to take them off or rely on a software conversation mode. The sound quality and comfort make using them in and around my home a treat. That said, I do travel a lot and walk around the city, which can get quite noisy depending on whether you’re on the subway or walking by a construction site. Even right now, there’s a condo building going up across the alleyway from my house, and the noise coming from there between 7am and 5pm (sometimes even later) is harder to tune out without ANC. Once I get some music going, I find I get lost in that regardless of ANC or not, but on some early mornings when the team across the street is hammering away, I’m thankful to throw in buds that block out all sounds.

That all being said, that’s a “me” problem, so if you really hate having in-ear buds or want something on the side to use when you’re doing some fitness outside (without sunglasses), these are a great option. For instance, my mom has always struggled with fitting in-ear models in her ears, so when she saw me with these, she was super intrigued since they look cool and will actually fit on her head. If that sounds like you, I think you’ll be very happy with the Nothing Ear Opens.

You can buy these buds from Nothing for $199.