I had a minimal interaction with both the products during the community reaction and sharing my thoughts on the ear(a) as it was my favorite of the two.
Audio Quality: In all fairness the ear is a superior hardware but like DMS had mentioned in one of his recent videos every human ear has a different profile and different receptions to the audio, I completely agree with it as for me it was ear(a) which was clean and soft, whereas the ear I found it a bit harsh on my ears. I tried at full and mid volume settings.
I did not pay much attention to the bass boost, which was again mentioned on the same review by DMS, which could have made ear audio output harsh to my preference. But if you like something punchy ear is absolutely the one to go for!
Form Factor: I was very amused by how engineering team came up with such an unconventional design and neatly packed in everything in. This has resulted in a very ergonomic case, the length and contours of the ear(a)'s case makes it more ergonomic while putting them into and taking out of your pockets, on the contrary sharp boundary on the ear would make the case pop out from the pockets. That 0.7 mm extra thickness of the ear(a) is a negligible factor. The ear buds are packed closely in the ear(a), if you are someone who at times would like to use just one ear buds, extra caution is needed.
You might very likely touch the other one unintentionally and disturb its position. But if you use the side space can avoid this, would be fine with practice.
Design: I don’t think I have to comment anything on the design as it has been a strong forte of Nothing, just one thing if had to say would be more of a request than a comment that I would have loved to see the PCB on stem of the Yellow buds in Yellow as well.
The above mentioned reviews are my 1st impression from a 5 minute interaction and very personal opinions.
