The Nothing Ear (3) has an eye-grabbing design with a pleasant sound and a unique case to boot. Unfortunately, there are two major downsides working against what would otherwise be decent earbuds.
6/10
Noise Cancellation
Yes
IP Rating
IP54
Brand
Nothing
The Nothing Ear (3) are Nothing’s flagship earbuds to go with their Nothing phone lineup. Like the phones, the earbuds and their case make use of a translucent plastic, giving them a distinct—and eye catching—look. The case also features a microphone of its own, which you can use in place of the microphones in the earbuds.
The Nothing Ear (3) feature a 12mm driver with a response range from 20Hz all the way up to 20KHz, and a maximum combined playtime of 38 hours between the case and the earbuds themselves.
Pros & Cons
- Decent battery life
- Good bass
- A fun, eye-catching design
- Case easily scuffed
- Case microphone is of questionable value
- ANC aggressively changes the sound of the earbuds
- Muffled microphones, even in ideal conditions
See Our Process
How We Test and Review Products at How-To Geek
We go hands-on with every product to ensure it’s worth your time and money.
Price and availability
The Nothing Ear (3)s are available in two colors: black and white, with a mixture of transparent components that are Nothing’s signature style.
The normal MSRP is $180, but you can regularly find them discounted to around $150.
They’re available from Amazon or the Nothing website.
Noise Cancellation
Yes
IP Rating
IP54
Brand
Nothing
Bluetooth
5.4
Case battery
500mAH
Charging time
70 minutes
Maximum play time (overall)
Up to 38 hours
Colors
Black or White
Charging Port
USB-C
Good sound quality, reasonable battery life, and a decent all-around design
Before I tweaked any settings, I took the Nothing Ear 3 buds out of the case and listened to music for about two hours. They were comfortable and fit easily.
My initial impression is that their audio response is V-shaped—the bass and highs are boosted, with a subdued midrange. The bass seems especially strong. I am partial to a more neutral response curve, but for what they are, the Nothing Ear (3)s sound pretty nice.
I got a bit over five hours of use before I had to charge them, which lines up with Nothing’s five and a half hour claim pretty well. I was able to completely charge the earbuds three times before the case itself needed a charge.
The Nothing app, which is available for both Android and iPhone, has the usual set of features you’d expect. You can adjust an equalizer to tune the sound to your preferences, toggle ANC or hear through on or off, and determine whether you’re using the correct size eartips for your ears.
I appreciate that everything is easy to find, and you aren’t left sifting through a bunch of sub-menus when you want to do something. I wish more apps opted for the same kind of no-nonsense, utilitarian approach—it makes for a much more pleasant user experience.
An attempt at a more useful case
Most earbud cases do the same basic things: they keep the earbuds in one place, they charge them, and they protect them from damage.
The Nothing 3 case, however, takes things a step further.
There is a microphone built directly into the case that you can activate by pushing a “Talk” button.
In my testing, I didn’t notice a huge difference in quality between the regular microphone and the super mic when making phone calls under average conditions.
The microphones can shine when audio conditions aren’t ideal. For example, being able to move the microphone closer to my mouth while in a loud environment made a noticeable difference to the person I was on the phone with.
Sadly, the case microphone doesn’t seem to work with a lot of applications on my Android phone. So far as I can tell, the case microphone really only works for calling. I’d love to see support for the default camera app on Android at a minimum.
Decent, but weird, active noise cancellation
Most modern earbuds have active noise cancellation, and the Nothing Ear (3)s are no exception. In general, I’d call the ANC decent. While on a walk, the ANC struggled to hide the sound of my footsteps in gravel, while both the Pixel Bud Pros and the Pixel Bud 2as made them basically inaudible.
I found their performance in a busy coffee shop was better. With ANC on, the sounds of people around me were only occasionally loud enough to draw my attention.
The only real drawback is just how different the earbuds sound with ANC on compared with how they sound with ANC off. Every pair of headphones and earbuds I’ve listened to has some minor difference in their sound when ANC is active, but the Nothing Ear (3)s are a night and day difference, accentuated by the sound effect that plays when you toggle ANC on or off.
Neither setting sounds bad, but they are quite different.
A sadly muffled microphone
Despite decent playback quality, the actual microphones in the earbuds struggled to produce clear sounds, even in a quiet, controlled environment.
Things don’t get better when there is background noise.
I do think the super mic included in the case sounds better when there is a lot of background noise, and you can hold it close to your face, which helps. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get a clean recording of what it actually sounds like, since it refuses to work with the native Android Recording app or the Camera app.
Should you buy the Nothing Ear 3?
At @180 dollars (or $150 on sale), the Nothing Ear (3)s face incredibly stiff competition from entries from Google, Sony, Samsung, and many other brands—it is a pretty crowded price range.
While I did enjoy the Nothing Ear (3)s—and wouldn’t be upset if I spent $150 on them—their bass-heavy sound isn’t for me, and you should stay clear if it isn’t for you. The shift in sound when you toggle ANC on or off is also pretty jarring, and if you care about consistency, it is going to be a pain point.
If superficial wear and tear is something that concerns you, the transparent part of the case proudly shows off every scuff and fingerprint more than any other case I’ve seen.
Additionally, the Super Mic feels unfinished. It doesn’t work with every app you might want to use it with, and the difference in audio quality under average conditions doesn’t justify the price bump from Nothing’s previous earbud offerings, or purchasing the Nothing Ear (3)s over competing earbuds in the same price range.
While they’re solid all-around earbuds, I’d have a hard time recommending them unless you need something to match your Nothing phone.
6/10
Noise Cancellation
Yes
IP Rating
IP54
Brand
Nothing
The Nothing Ear (3) are Nothing’s flagship earbuds to go with their Nothing phone lineup. Like the phones, the earbuds and their case make use of a translucent plastic, giving them a distinct—and eye catching—look. The case also features a microphone of its own, which you can use in place of the microphones in the earbuds.
The Nothing Ear (3) feature a 12mm driver with a response range from 20Hz all the way up to 20KHz, and a maximum combined playtime of 38 hours between the case and the earbuds themselves.
