Following up on last year’s Nothing Ear, the Nothing Ear (3) is launching today at a higher $179 price point, but with a new “Super Mic” feature added on, as well as some tweaks to its sound profile.
The story with Nothing Ear (3) starts in the hardware, with the overall design feeling familiar, but Nothing upgrading the case with recycled metal across the bottom half. Meanwhile, the earbuds themselves also get some metallic accents under the usual transparent design, while Nothing has also made some subtle tweaks to the bud shape for better comfort and improved pressure venting.
A lot of the specs are mostly unchanged, if they are at all.
The earbuds have a slightly bigger 55 mAh battery inside, leading to 5.5 hours of ANC-enabled battery life, up from 5.2 hours on Nothing Ear. The case battery and charging speed remain unchanged at 500 mAh and support a 10-minute full-up for 10 hours of battery. The drivers in each bud are changed, though, moving from an 11mm driver to a 12mm driver. ANC remains rated for up to 45dB. Notably, the use of Bluetooth 5.4 means you’ll need at least Android 6.0 or iOS 13 and above to use these earbuds.
Something we noticed in our testing of Nothing Ear (3) is that the sound profile has changed up quite a bit. Where Nothing Ear leaned toward a very neutral sound, Ear (3) has a lot of emphasis on the low-ends. That’s not due to any partnerships as with Headphone (1), though, as the tuning is still handled by Nothing directly.
The big new feature is “Super Mic.”
Nothing Ear (3)’s updated case now includes a “Talk” button as well as two microphones. Nothing says this microphone supports much better noise cancellation of up to 95dB, making it ideal for noisy environments. The way this works is that, when you have the earbuds in use, the case can act as an alternate microphone for calls, voice notes, or using an assistant like Gemini. Pressing the “Talk” button while on a phone call will switch from the earbuds to the case, which you can hold up to your mouth to get the full benefits of the better noise cancellation and improved microphone. Alternatively, you can use it to take voice notes with the Essential Space app on Nothing Phone (3) and Phone (3a). Compatibility may prove a bit of a headache, though. Nothing says this will work with phone calls and “most major apps” such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, as well as WhatsApp and WeChat. It also works in some apps like the Blackmagic Camera and Voice Memos on iOS. But voice messages in apps, recording apps, and even the camera app on your phone might not be able to use that mic at all.
All of this comes at a higher price.
Where Nothing Ear was available for $149, Nothing Ear (3) will cost $179. It’s not a huge jump, but value was one of the main selling points of prior models, so it’s not exactly a jump we’re happy to see.
Nothing Ear (3) is available starting today from Nothing’s website and Amazon.
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