Hey everyone! 👋
This is my review after using ear (1) for 3 days. It’s solely an early review, but I wanted to push it out as soon as possible, because I have some interesting things to say that I haven’t seen anywhere else.
This is my first TWS earbuds, previously I’veused Apple’s old EarPods, so keep that in mind.
I came up with 8 categories where I will rate ear (1) from 0 to 5, 0 being the lowest and 5 being the highest rating.
Circumstances:
Packaging & Build quality: ⅘
The packaging is very nice, something I would expect from Apple, although the attention to detail is a bit lower (e.g. the cardboard holding ear (1) wiggled a bit), but this is completely acceptable at 99€, and I am totally fine with it, I’m only nitpicking. Overall the unboxing experience was unique and better than expected.
The build quality of the buds and case is exceptional. The transparent plastic feels sturdy, thick and expensive. It’s truly a piece of art. The buds themselves are great looking, better than I expected them to be. They and the case look quite a bit smaller IRL than in the marketing material.
Besides the positives, sadly I have some quality-assurance complaints. Not groundbreaking issues, but still I found them worth mentioning.
I found several fluff/fuzz between the white plastic housing the internals of the case and the transparent outer shell. I would think that those somehow got inside there during the production, because when I opened the case for the first time, it had some super small, almost dust like black bits or chunks all around the inside, on the surface of the transparent housing. I could easily swipe those away of course, it was probably from the packaging material.
My other complaint is that the ear (1) came with some scuffs and scratches already, again probably caused by the assembly or something. Luckily most of them are super small and you only notice them if you look for them, although there is one big scratch that is quite noticeable from the right angle.
Don’t get me wrong, these are solely cosmetic defects, so I don’t mind them that much, but I still would expect a ‘perfect’ product, and I’d think price in this regard is not an excuse.
This category would be an absolute 5/5, and it is probably my unit that has these issues, as happily I haven’t seen anyone else having complaints like mine. But for the reasons mentioned above, it is only a ⅘. Still impressive IMO.
Fit & Comfort: 5/5
These are some super lightweight earbuds that sits in your ears super comfortably. I use the default medium ear tips, and they give a great seal.
They are sturdy too, I’ve shaken my head for minutes, and besides a small loosening, they stayed in my ear pretty well. They are great for running and workouts too.
Couldn’t ask for more. 5/5
Setup Experience: 2.5/5
Now this was the part that made me complain the most about ear (1).
My main problem was that I couldn’t detect ear (1) in the Bluetooth setting on my iPhone 12. It just would show up. The application could connect to the buds, but not iOS. The reason for this is still unknown.
The fix was to follow the steps provided by Nothing on their website and reset ear (1). After that, it would show up instantly in the Bluetooth settings.
Once that was done, I faced with the same issue that many before me expressed, that their right earbud wasn’t charged. For me, the left bud were at 100% out of the box, while the right one was only at 10% for some bizarre reason. I tried to update the firmware to solve this issue, as the buds came with an older version, but I couldn’t as the update required the two buds to be above 10% of charge. So I had to wait for the right bud to charge and then update.
This whole process might seem a small deal, but it took half an hour to figure everything out, and it was quite stressful. I was worried that I would have to contact support, wait another two-four weeks to receive a replacement unit, etc.
Maybe I am cursed and thats why it didn’t work right out of the box, but still I expected a more appealing and easier setup.
The great thing is that the troubleshooting steps (and the guidance on how to setup the buds for that matter) were well documented and easy to follow, but I would rather have a great setup experience alone than a great troubleshooting documentation.
I understand that this may not happen to everyone, but still I would give a 2.5/5 for the setup. It was supposed to be simple, but did not work out as intended.
Connectivity, Reliability & Latency: 4.5/5
Since I’ve updated the firmware, everything is working as intended.
Connecting to the buds is quick and automised, by the time I take the buds out of the case they are already connected to my phone and everything works flawlessly. I never had to deal with any kind of disconnects or connectivity issues, the BLE connection seems to be stable and reliable.
I tested the range too: I went from my phone to another room 10m away with a wall between, and everything was still working, so I don’t think you will have any issues being out of range.
Latency is something I was worried about, but it is… well, acceptable. Typing for example, is quite bad, the latency is just too great and so the sound and you pushing a letter is not synced.
For YouTube and Netflix though, it is good. You can still notice a small, very small delay when concentrating on the mouth of a person, but it’s super easy to forget about and if you are paying attention to the content, you won’t notice anything.
Bluetooth has its own limitations and probably that is the reason why we can’t get better latency, so I would give a 4.5/5 to this category. Outside occasional latency issues everything is great and the connection overall is strong and reliable, which is I think the most important thing in this category.
Controls: 4.5/5
The idea of using the stem this way is quite clever and intuitive, although there is a bit of a learning curve that I am still experiencing, as because of its narrow nature sometimes I miss it and touch my ear. I cannot yet precisely and instantly locate the stem, but a couple of days and I will be fine I guess.
The controls are responsive. I never had a miss-input. I only noticed 2 things.
One is that the long press doesn’t work for me all the time. Probably I am the fault here, either touching the stem at the wrong place or for a too short period of time.
The second is that after adjusting the volume, sometimes you have to reseat the bud in your ear, as the plastic is not that slippery and you can wiggle the bud around too much. But I think some practice will make these issues go away.
Overall I like how you can control everything right from your ears, and if I get used to the two things mentioned above, it will be a 5/5. For now, 4.5/5.
Sound: 4.5/5
Let’s get this straight: I am not an audiophile. Nor you should be if you are considering ear (1). I wouldn’t think you are the main audience for this product.
As I’ve said my previous earbuds were Apple’s EarPods. I loved those as they are quite good for being an included accessory for a phone.
My first impression of the sound of the ear (1): super flat signature. I was shocked to hear it. I was like ‘Damn, this can’t be true. These sound bad.’
But after a couple of hours of listening time, I realised that they are not flat, they are just accurate and balanced, and my EarPods are way to bass-heavy.
Now, I think they sound great. They are a bit too bright in some instances, and I would prefer a tiny bit more bass, but I enjoy it. In mostly listen to alternative/pop artists like Twenty One Pilots or Imagine Dragons, so for other genres ear (1) may perform for better or worse, but I think they are great for most of the people and for the most of the genres. Especially considering the price.
The best part about the product is just how detailed the soundstage really is. I heard new, small effects and details of songs that I though I knew inside and out. The resolution of the ear (1) is exceptional, even if it only supports AAC and SBC codec.
The microphones are great too, everyone I talk to thought that I sounded great, they said that they don’t seem to notice much difference between my usual sound quality (iPhone 12) and the ear (1).
Overall, I am impressed. There is no issues to report on the sound, nothing negative about it. Except… let us have a custom EQ with sliders please. Until that, just to put some pressure on Nothing, the sound is 4.5! 😜
ANC: ⅘
I never had a product with ANC, although I’ve used an AirPods Pro for a short time.
The ANC found in the ear (1) is a good thing to have, and it is good for that matter, but it did not blow me away.
It does a surprisingly good job at cancelling out low-frequency noise. Sitting in a car while driving on a highway, standing next to a washing machine, or filling up a bathtub: 70-80% of the sound will be cancelled out, or the more accurate term is ‘muted’. This is because the 20% that is still audible is the higher-frequency noises of these environments. So for example I could still hear the water flow and the splashes on the side of the bathtub, only that the low-end was removed. I hope that makes sense.
The earbuds has a hard time cancelling out women talking too.
The pressure-effect was rare to occur.
I also had no issues with the hissing sound some people reported.
Generally speaking the ANC lets through any higher-frequency sound, while doing a great job cancelling those low-end noise.
Don’t get me wrong, this is miles better than not having ANC (or ANC turned off), but still not as good as an AirPods Pro. But I think this is completely acceptable and expected at this price, and overall I like ANC.
Application: ⅘
The app is great. I have no issues with it. Simple , intuitive, beautiful, and useful.
I only miss a custom EQ, hence ⅘.
Conclusion
Well, I think I’m in love with ear (1). It has its flaws, but nothing major that cannot be fixed with software updates in the future.
Connection is great, sound is surprisingly positive, ANC is a great bonus, and for the price, I recommend it.
Hopefully future units will arrive with newer firmware versions to make the setup process easier.
Cheers!
