Nothing Ear (3a)

I’ve had the Nothing Ear (3a) for around 4 weeks now building on my initial findings with further real world testing and comparisons around other Nothing audio. I started writing this while out and having a few hours to kill while out for the night on a busy Friday night in and around Soho, London would be an ideal testing ground for the main audio features for the Ear (3a).

These are being tested as part of the community review program which provides feedback from the community to nothing to improve these and future products based on real, user feedback. Thanks again nothing for the opportunity.

The majority of my testing will be in comparison with the audio I currently use on a regularly basis, namely the Nothing Ear 3, CMF Buds 2 Plus, Headphone (1) and Ear (Open) using most, daily.

Starting writing this; I’m currently sat in Otherwander, London’s new “pod style” hotel and about 4-5m away some someone with a tripod set up and streaming on, I assume tiktok. She’s not being super loud but there’s also around 4 others in the communal lobby/lounge area and there’s moderate music playing in a Bose speaker coming from the ceiling just above me.

Turning the Noise cancelling on is like night and day on the (3a). It’s doing a fantastic job of drowning in everything out in this environment and from walking around Leicester Sqaure. As I’ve already mentioned with my initial thoughts, the transparency mode, I believe is refined in this generation and does the job as it should. I have found every other iteration of Nothing earbuds a little “muddy” with transparency, sounding extremely muffled when I am speaking which is a little jarring trying to speak with ear buds in. Ear (3a) allows for hearing yourself better and, in turn, and I can hear my surrounding and myself as perfectly as I’d expect while having something in my ears making keeping them in while talking to others a more seamless experience.

While drafting this write up he Ear (3a) has just received an update claiming improved calls, recording, spatial audio updated default EQ (fingers cross deep bass fixed) and improved voice prompts.

Noise isolation on normal mode does a good job of muting what you need to without being overbearing and noise cancelling does a solid job, in the noise and space I’m in or walking through China town earlier, no issues and a (thankful) muting of the business around me while I’m seeing the sights and entertaining myself.

Ear (3a) Update - 1.0.1.65

Post Update testing -

Spatial audio: I have previously avoided using these on Ear 3, Buds2 plus, where I have not found it to add or provide much to the audio delivery other than sounding in a hall except if I fancy it on Headphone (1) as this does it an exceptionally and adds atmosphere that is some situations is a unique experience. On Ear (3a) I like how this sounds as spatial audio goes, it sounds very much like a gig listening when listening to one of my go to bands of old, “InMe” which is a grungy, progressive rock/metal band. Spatial audio is only available with the default equaliser setting. It;s not bad, it’s not amazing but in certain situations gives a slightly differing sound if you fancy it. I haven’t found any in ear audio that done this well yet on any Nothing in ear range.

Since the update: turning back on “balanced” within the EQ, bass has massively taken a a drop and this is not a bad thing. Bass was overpowering on first listen taking me to chose custom EQ and reducing bass and upping mids and treble by 1. This update has brought everything to a MUCH more balanced space which I am all for… well done NOTHING! Glad to see the feedback is being listened to!

The balanced preset I’m more than happy with for now although I have recently been playing with advanced EQ which I will share shortly for others to test and try to the (3a).

Audio testing since update: Testing with “Code red” by Token, rap with some heavy beats: Bass is doing what it needs to, vocals clear and not drowned out. Any Stereo effects, really accurate and isolated to either side where needed.

Now, my default testing. Linkin Park, “A place for my head” into “forgotten”. Guitar is clean, vocals central, bass, giving a punch where needs to within the song. Drums, crashes and drums alongside everything else, a little less defined but can still hear what I need to to ensure the song’s doing it’s thing. Great job Nothing!

Design: Nothing offered their usual black and white, but now also yellow and pink, which I think Look great, I’ve been enjoying my pink pair and will continue to use regularly. The case matches the Nothing Phone 4a with a “glyph bar” which shows pairing mode and indicates battery level of buds when put in case and the case itself. COOL FEATURE and looks cool. Really subtle but again, attention to details across nothings range of products, marrying it all up.

The Audio Snapshot feature which is the new standout feature specific on the (3a), which as a new feature for earbuds, I think it a refreshing and forward thinking feature for Nothing and what in ear audio can do. This feature provides a “buffering” mode, always recording, not never saving, unless you activate it physically, to record the past 30seconds of audio and can record up to a further minute from the point of starting recording. This has also added new functionality to the Nothing X app (again, nothing doing a great job building new functionality within their OS and software). This allows for different levels of recording quality. The recordings can be saved, used and transcribed again at different levels for speed and accuracy to use text transcription however you need.

This is a great feature for those who this would serve, those regularly writing, creatives that may have brainstorming sessions with key things needed noting to meeting minutes. This feature however is only available with the AAC audio codec (being slightly less quality/data intensive) so if you’re on LDAC, that features a no go. I think adding storage within the earbuds for feature such as this is a cool, new and forward thinking feature, giving new and probably (an earbuds first) Nothing again is pushing and experimenting in a practical way, using new technology and great design working harmoniously with great software development features.

I have tested this, it works really well, haven’t found any issues with this feature.

Nothing have appeared to have listened to feedback and impacted it with a FAST software update and fixed my only really issue out of the box; bass is no longer overpowering and is exactly as it’s named, Balanced. For my listening experience, balanced is more than sufficient to buy and play out of the box. I think most users will be happy with this too and fellow Community Program testers have shared the same views that the update has improved balanced drastically. If you aren’t happy with it, Nothing’s been kind enough to give you advanced EQ on the 3a… for the first time on the Nothing (a) audio series, so no complaining needed you can fix it yourself or find others who may have within the community. (My profile to follow.)

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Equaliser’s balanced setting which is what you’ll hear out of the box is fixed, no more ear-blowing bass, pure, balance and quality across all instruments and vocals within songs. Community feedback has been listened to in a few weeks; Nothing have fixed, what more do you want from who you put your money and faith into for your audio?

These are for you if:

You want a great sounding pair of in ear buds at a decent price.
You use and value ANC and Transparency mode.
Would like to record audio in calls or watching videos for content/meetings etc.
Want great (some say industry best for audio products) Custom EQ settings at an affordable price point.

Areas for improvement:

Spatial audio, I can take it or leave it, its its being added as a feature it needs to be feature worthy.
LDAC support for the Audio Snapshot will be appreciated as I only really use LDAC audio codecs on my earbuds.
I’d like to see a few other preset basic EQ options moving forward, there’s been the same standards for several generations now, maybe a few other options for specific genre’s would be cool.
The case is a little difficult to open one handed compared to almost ALL other earbuds (bar the Ear(a) which has an identical case. I like being able to open one handed in those situations where I really need to.

Great job nothing, next generation (a) ear buds, with new features, great sound, fantastic design, excellent battery life and news colours, all the futures you could want…. And some!