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Nothing’s Ear (Open) buds are a true technological feat. That’s not to say they’re perfect, but like lenses, cameras, lights, and mics… no single piece of gear is perfect for every scenario. So let’s get into the weeds here.

Open ear headphones are very challenging to make well by design. The speakers are situated just outside of the ear canal, reducing the bass response— and of course there’s no way to isolate the outside world. Given those limitations, Nothing has invested in perfecting the sound of these earbuds, and cut just a few corners on the lesser features. The Nothing Ear (Open) have very good sound, with superb clarity and aural separation. You can place the instruments in the stereophonic space much better than any set of buds I’ve owned, and better than most over the ear headphones, too. Like many video professionals, I own the Sony MDR-7506 headphones for on location audio; they’re excellent and yes… imperfect. But they set a good standard for excellent sound quality. Comparatively, the bass response of the Nothing is surprisingly good, and superior to any other open-ear option in my opinion. You’ll get better bass with high-end in-ear buds and the Sony’s, but these are quite respectable. The midrange and high end frequencies are brilliantly clear and detailed. Moreso than any other pair of buds or phones I’ve owned, Nothing depends on how a particular album was mixed. Depending on the audio mix, some of your music will sound simply heavenly, and others may feel lacking in depth and immersion… though never bad. Bowie’s Absolute Beginners sounds a bit thin; my Beethoven piano sonata’s sound awesome… as does much of The National discography.

These buds are super-comfortable, and it would be easy to wear them for hours at a time; they are so light they’re almost a little ticklish for me. They’re visually unique in a style that may seem playful to some, futuristic to others. For my tastes, the clear plastic looks a bit toy-ish, but they’re sure to start a conversation with a stranger if that’s your thing. The Bluetooth connectivity is excellent: I can set my phone in the middle of the house and stay connected everywhere inside, and even out to the driveway. You can connect to two devices simultaneously and it holds eight device profiles in its memory.

At roughly $150 you’d expect every bell and whistle invented, but that’s not the case here. The buds don’t pause your music when you take them out of your ear, for example. They also didn’t include any of the faster Bluetooth codecs, and I’d guess that the latency is roughly 0.09s, which is slow enough to occasionally see a disconnect when watching a video. They don’t offer wireless charging. The case is a unique, flat and slim design, and while I’m sure they’re not any more fragile than other cases, they drive home just how much you rely on the case to make your buds work. You need the case for charging; making new bluetooth connections happens with the buds in the case; firmware upgrades will happen through the case. Break the case and you’re screwed… but that’s true of every wireless earbud these days. The slimmer design, however, sharpens the point.

To control the Nothing Ear (Open) buds you pinch the buds. One pinch starts and stops your audio; two pinches advances to jumps back a track; pinch and hold to change the volume. I’m not fond of how this has been implemented, to be honest. It doesn’t feel as definitive as tapping, despite the tactile click. I am fond of the app, though. It’s beautifully designed and offer a great deal of control over sound with two equalisers. I’ll admit that I couldn’t really get it to sound better than their stock set-up, though.

So when do the Nothing Ear (Open) buds shine? With evenly mixed music that doesn’t rely on throbbing bass. In quieter environments when you can hear all the nuances these custom speakers produce. When they’re off… in other words, when you want to hear your environment but not take them off your ears. When you want to put on your buds and just leave them there.

When are the Nothing’s not the best choice? Loud environments to be sure, especially if you hope to block out the sound. They’re fine for public transportation if you want to stay alert, but not great if you’re hoping to lose yourself in a book.

It’s fair to ask why am I reviewing a pair of wireless earbuds on a blog dedicated to video production gear? While working on my current documentary, Minstrels and Minimoogs, I kept running into the problem of how to monitor my audio when I couldn’t wear headphones or see the meters. When you’re operating as a one-man-band and one of your duties includes interviewer, you’re faced with a unique production problem. As interviewer, 100% of your attention needs to be on your subject, and they need to feel they have all of it. Wearing headphones during an interview would be like wearing sunglasses. But having one earbud in your ear, while the bare minimum for monitoring sound, is acceptable. The Nothing Ear (Open) can function as an interview audio monitor, but it’s not my first choice. I’ll share my solutions in the next post.

I have some wishes for Nothing. First is that they cough up some specs. They seem to feel we need to bother our little heads with technical details. We don’t know latency, or Bluetooth distance, charging times, um… nothing. Second, I’d love them to include faster Bluetooth codecs to reduce the latency. And lastly, if the bud portion was connected to the tail with a friction hinge, you could fine-tune the placement not just for individual ears, but individual song mixes.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to every open-ear style earbuds. They are much more comfortable than any headphones I’ve owned, but that comes with a loss in immersive experience. Yes, you hear more of your environment, but how much depends on how loud you’re blasting your buds. These actually sound the best in quiet environments where you can hear all of the nuances. While expensive, these Nothing buds have created something pretty amazing, even without some of the bells and whistles. They’ve become my favorite buds.