REVIEW – I love listening to music while I’m busy in the kitchen. However I still need to hear if the dog is barking or the kid needs something so I can’t wear any type of noise canceling audio devices. I had previously tried bone conduction and I didn’t like the sound quality so when I found out about Nothing Open Earbuds I was excited. The Nothing brand is a brand I knew made high quality products so I couldn’t wait to try them out. They absolutely lived up to the brand hype and now the Nothing Open Earbuds are my go to earbuds and they are fought over by my husband and I.
What is it?
Nothing Open Earbuds are over the ear earbuds that allow for ambient noise to filter through without having to sacrifice sound quality and custom equalization.
What’s included?
- Nothing Open Earbuds
- Charging case
- USB-C cable
- User guide
Design and features
The design of the Nothing Open Earbuds is sleek and sophisticated. The case is a compact pill shape with the lid having a wonderful little dimple in the center to fiddle with. The lid is held closed with a light magnet but strong enough to handle a drop. The hinge is perfectly flush making the whole thing really elegant. It fits perfectly in a pocket, even in women’s pants! It charges with the standard USB-C cable so no need for special cords.
There are color coded dots that correspond to dots on the earbuds to indicate where each earbud is supposed to go as well as a status indicator light and the Bluetooth pair button. The light will flash when the case is charging and will turn red if the battery percentage falls below 30%. When the earbuds are in the case the light reflects the battery level of the earbuds, when they are out of the case the light represents the case battery level.
The earbuds themselves are insanely light. I barely notice I’m wearing them most of the time. They are also quite secure on the ear. I’m not a runner but they’ve stayed on while chasing my toddler around the house so that is definitely saying something. The pinch control sensor is indicated with the red arrow in the right photo above.
Each earbud has customizable pinch controls. I was skeptical at first as pinching the earbud is how I adjust them and I was worried I’d end up constantly doing something I didn’t want to do. However, the pinch required to activate it is pretty strong, stronger than a gentle grab to shift the earbud. They make a pleasant clicking noise when the pinch control is activated so you know when you are controlling them as well. Above is how I set up my custom controls.
Performance
I will be the first to admit that I’m not an audiophile. I know nothing of sound levels or how to play around with an equalizer. In all honesty I didn’t mess around with the equalizer app much at all besides testing out the four presets. But even with the presets, I was definitely able to hear the difference between each of them.
This part of the review is based off of the Balanced equalizer setting. The sound is crisp, clear and well balanced. Not too heavy on the bass and the vocals come across cleanly and ungarbled. Music flows nicely and you can easily hear the music swell and dip without straining to hear the quiet parts and deafened by the louder moments. Podcasts are equally great using the Balanced setting. Vocal intonations are easy to catch while multiple voices are easy to pick out and understand.
Another really cool feature is that you’re able to share and import custom equalizer settings between people. I didn’t experiment with this as I don’t know anyone else with Nothing Open Earbuds but I think this is pretty unique for earbuds.
I don’t use them for phone calls but I did try one to test out the mic. The person I called said it was a nice clean sound and I was easy to hear and understand.
The battery life is amazing. I used them for three hours and both earbuds were still at 100%. I left them to sit in their case for a week without use and it didn’t lose any batter life either.
The earbuds have a low lag mode for gaming but it does kill the battery life. I didn’t try that out as I’m not a gamer and I doubt I would notice any type of difference with it. The dual connection allows for the earbuds to be connected to two difference sources at once. But again that does drain the battery life quite quickly. The last fun setting is the find my earbuds. When selected you can select the right or left earbud and make it play a loud chirping noise. You do need to be quiet to be able to hear it so don’t have the tv on in the background but you will be able to locate them.
What I like about Nothing Open Earbuds
- Amazing sound
- Super comfortable
- Great case
What needs to be improved?
- Nothing, as in nada not the company 🙂
Final thoughts
While I was never skeptical of the Nothing Open Earbuds, they blew my expectations out of the water. The sound quality and the fit made them absolutely wonderful to use. I use them every day while cooking dinner and my husband steals them when he does household chores as well. If you are looking for top of the line open ear earbuds, look no further than the Nothing Open Earbuds, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Price: $149
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Nothing. Nothing did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.