We’re back! And this time we’re taking a look inside our latest product, Ear (open) - our first open wearable stereo (OWS) product. We understand that this is a new device category for many of you, so we’re looking forward to breaking down how they work and taking a look at the internals.
We entered the OWS category to bring our customers great audio whilst still maintaining the ability to hear everything around them. Whether it’s the birds singing or a car coming around the corner, there are a wide range of use cases where this form factor can enhance day-to-day life.
Let’s take a look at what makes this all possible…
The Buds and Driver
Fully assembled at 8.1g per bud, Ear (open) offers an extra secure, weightless fit that can withstand everything from office work to extreme sports. Ear (open) is tilted at 50 degrees to position the speaker directly over your ear and at the point of most comfort.
If we remove the ear hook and bud housing, we can get a good look at the Ear (open)’s driver (
), the biggest so far in any Nothing product with a 14.2mm diaphragm.
The patent-pending diaphragm is uniquely shaped and corrugated – moving the torus inward and changing its profile. This reduces distortion and deepens the sound of low frequencies meaning bass-heavy tracks hit like they should.
There is also a titanium coating on the surface which is lightweight and robust - this silver-hued top layer helps to reproduce crisp high-frequency notes with great accuracy.
The driver is attached to a small flexible printed circuit (FPC) which features pogo pins for charging, wires leading away to the battery and one of the two mics (
) found in each bud.
On the bud housing in the middle, we spot a unique L-shaped pickup channel (
), which delivers sound into the talk mic on the FPC helping to mitigate wind noise.
Transparent Housing
The second of the two mics, the feedforward mic (), can be found on a small FPC inside the clear bud housing; this one is positioned on its side to avoid direct wind.
This FPC also features the touch sensor () which allows for a range of gesture controls, all managed via the Nothing X companion app.
On the outside of the bud housing, you’ll also spot the long mesh () - Ear (open) is engineered with a Sound Seal System and directional speakers to minimise sound leakage for a private listening experience.
Reverse sound waves are generated at the rear acoustic ports, which are then superimposed on the sound from the inward acoustic ports. This effectively means sound waves are cancelled out, ensuring precise audio transmission from Ear (open) into the users ear.
Bud PCBA and Antenna
In the image above, we get a look at Ear (open)'s printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) (), the heart of each earbud. This is where the two FPC’s mentioned above connect to, bringing all of the electronic components together. The PCBA’s also feature a series of chips to manage things like Bluetooth and battery charging.
Stacked on top of each PCBA is an antenna assembly (). On the back you’ll spot a brass-coloured area () which is what takes electromagnetic waves to/from the PCBA. If you look closely you can see how a thin FPC wraps around the front of the antenna assembly to help transmit and receive electromagnetic energy. On the top we have our iconic red and white dot decos to help quickly identify which bud is which.
Ear Hook and Batteries
The ear hook () is what gives Ear (open) its unique silhouette - it’s designed to be perfectly balanced and secure, bringing that all important weightless feeling when in use.
They have a nickel-titanium wire structure within that makes them both flexible and resilient. On the outside is a white, skin-kind silicone material which contributes to a comfortable wearing experience.
Travelling through each ear hook is a pair of wires which links each battery to the FPCAs mentioned earlier. These wires need to be pulled through each ear hook using a nylon wire during assembly. At the end, each battery () comes in at 64 mAh allowing for up to 8 hrs of audio playback. The batteries are protected and securely held in place by a pleasing aluminium cap ().
Charge Case Internals
At 19mm thin, Ear (open) has one of the slimmest charge cases in the OWS category - despite this, you’ll find a number of components neatly arranged inside that allow for quick charging and convenient pairing.
To keep the buds topped up, the charge case features a 635 mAh battery () - combining this with the buds batteries, you can achieve up to 30 hrs of audio playback. The charge case delivers power to the buds through pogo pins, one pair on the FPCA on the right (), the other pair on the PCB on the left ().
In the middle of the FPCA, you’ll spot the pairing button (
) and just above, the case LED charge and pairing indicator which gets diffused and directed out of the case via the plastic piece above.
Well there we have it! Another product picked apart for your viewing pleasure - we hope you enjoyed it - what should we take apart next? 
As always, how about a little giveaway: 1x Ear (open) for someone who ‘likes’ this post and drops a comment below telling us if you learnt something about Ear (open) from this post!
T&Cs:
The giveaway will end on 28 October 2024 at 11:00 GMT. One community member who has ‘liked’ and commented on this discussion according to the criteria above will be selected at random and sent 1x Ear (open). A member of the Nothing team will be in touch via private message here on nothing.community to notify the winner. The winner must respond to this DM within 48 hours to claim, or will forfeit their prize and a new winner will be selected. Please note, there are some regions we may not be able to ship to. Some regions may block the delivery of products over a certain value and we are unable to bypass these restrictions. Nothing staff and members of their family are not eligible to participate or win. Any spam accounts or accounts that we deem suspicious will be excluded from the random selection process and prevented from winning without notification. Nothing reserves the right to adjust the giveaway and its terms and conditions and entry requirements at any time.The winner will need to provide some personal data to claim their prize. Read our privacy policy for more information. You can familiarise yourself with our privacy practices, and contact us at privacy@nothing.tech if you have any questions.
