hometechnology NewsNothing Ear (stick) review: First rate attempt the second time around

Nothing Ear (stick) review: First-rate attempt the second time around

The Nothing Ear (stick) are the third product offering by the London-based tech startup. Priced at Rs 8,499, these earbuds are worth the price tag, delivering excellent sound quality and an impressive battery life. These are especially recommended for those who don't like the in-ear buds form factor.

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By Vijay Anand  Nov 7, 2022 4:58:50 PM IST (Published)

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Nothing Ear (stick) review: First-rate attempt the second time around
Nothing, the disruptive technology startup co-founded by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, recently launched its second attempt at Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) — the Ear (stick).

Housed in a cylindrical case and accessed with a twist and a snap, the Ear (stick) look identical to the Ear (1), except for the missing silicone in-ear tips. The ear (stick) sport a half in-ear design, which means features like Active Noise Cancellation are off the table. To compensate for this, however, Nothing claims to have incorporated a larger, custom driver that delivers a "powerfully true-to-life sound experience, every time". And I'm tempted to say it's true.
The new, cylindrical case (Image: Nothing)
Further, Nothing moved away from the touch controls of the Ear (1) and incorporated press controls — squeeze a designated spot on the Ear (stick) for various controls: single press: play/pause, answer/hang up calls, double press: skip forward, reject calls, triple press: skip back, press and hold (left earbud): volume down, press and hold (right earbud): volume up.
Nothing sent me a review unit of the Ear (stick). I've had them for a week, and I have thoughts.
Audio quality
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm no audiophile, but I listen to enough music tp know the difference between good earbuds and bad, and the Ear (stick), priced at Rs 8,499, definitely fall in the former camp.
If you've read enough audio equipment reviews, you'd have seen the term "sound stage" come up a lot. What this refers to is the ability of the earphones/buds.headphones to reproduce low, mid and high frequencies without any discernible audio loss. And the Ear (stick) have a pleasingly wide soundstage.
The Ear (stick) (Image: Nothing)
While you can customise the Ear (stick) equaliser settings through native settings in Phone (1) and via the Nothing X app for other Android smartphones and iPhones, I found that the default settings were more than good enough for my listening needs — I've run the gamut, right from classic Hindi movie songs to classic rock to more modern artists like Billie Eilish (judge me all you like; I think she's an amazing talent), and have yet to feel like the default settings didn't deliver.
That said, if you _are_ and audiophile and need to customise the heck out of your Ear (stick) equaliser, then the Nothing X app will more than accommodate you.
Nothing X Android app interface (Image: Nothing)
The equaliser setting interface (Image: Nothing)
Nothing says it has made up for the lack of ANC through a feature it has named Bass Lock — "To prevent sound leakage from the half in-ear design, we added smart software that detects bass loss as you wear the earbuds, tuning the equaliser curve to the optimal level. For perfectly punchy depth. Every time."
While it is not "perfect ... every time", the Ear (stick) does a more than adequate job in ensuring you experience the full sound stage even if you're walking on a crowded footpath during rush hour. You can hear ambient noise, of course, but not as much as you would whilee wearing regular half in-ear earphones.
User Experience
Now this is where things get interesting. Unlike its predecessor, the Ear (stick) comes in a cylindrical case. You must twist the case to reach the ear (stick), at which time a white LED indicator turns on, indicating that the earbuds are ready to be used.
Nothing tells me that their engineering team come up with this idea based on the ubiquitous lipstick — the twist of the case that brings out the lipstick inspired the design and hence the (stick) in the name. That's original, if nothing else. Plus, the Ear (stick) open with a satisfying click every single time.
The only downside is that the ear (stick) can only be charged through a USB Type-C cable — the shape of the case (I'm guessing) precludes it from being wireless-charging compatible. But wireless charging is still a niche feature and the technology itself is not very power efficient, so I will not complain.
Battery life
Nothing claims that the Ear (stick) can hold up to seven hours of charge and, used with the case that also — as do most other TWS cases — acts as a charging compartment, you can get 29 hours of charge. I obviously didn't put this to the text in my one week, but I listened to music on the Ear (stick) for a couple of hours every day, and have yet to charge the case. That's very impressive.
The conclusion
For Rs 8,499, these are a tad expensive — not by much — compared to other TWS earbuds in their class. But that's not down for a lack of quality, but that of feature parity. The lack of ANC is a negative, for sure, but, in my experience, I'd rather have no ANC at all that have it implemented very poorly, which I have found is the case with sub-Rs 10,000 TWS earbuds.
The audio quality is excellent, the battery life knocks it out of the park and they are extremely pocketable, thanks to the cylindrical form factor. And connecting them — regardless of the smartphone or operating system — is a breeze.
With their third offering, the London-based Nothing is slowly but surely refining the way it designs and manufactures its devices and I will be looking forward to watch they release next to flesh out their ecosystem.

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