Nothing Ear vs Nothing Ear (Open): Is in-ear better than open-ear?

Nothing had some significant releases in 2024. Its new flagship product is the Nothing Ear, and more recently, it decided to get in on the hot trend of open-ear earbuds with the Nothing Ear (Open). If you’re trying to decide between these two cool futuristic-looking earbuds, knowing they have different intended applications is essential. In this Nothing Ear Vs. Nothing Ear (Open) article, I’ll break down the differences to help you decide.

Editor’s note: this article was published on October 11th, 2024, and is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

What’s it like to use the Nothing Ear compared to the Nothing Ear (Open)?

The Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (Open) are two very different pairs of true wireless earbuds with two distinct objectives.

The Nothing Ear are a traditional pair of in-ear earbuds designed to provide a detailed and immersive listening experience with the option of blocking out a significant amount of environmental noise. The driver sits in your ear canal, and the ear tip creates a seal to assist with low-end frequency reproduction and passive isolation. This seal also reduces higher-frequency sounds like people’s conversations. At the same time, the earbud’s active noise cancelation feature (ANC) mitigates low-end frequencies like the rumble of a bus or airplane engine. Combining these two features will let you listen to your music virtually distraction-free, with a proper fit, of course.

The Nothing Ear (Open) is designed to do the opposite. Open-ear earbuds place the driver outside of your ear canal. Without a seal, the sounds of your surroundings can enter your eardrums uninterrupted. This allows you to keep your awareness levels up and is a big reason why this style of earbuds is popular with athletes who like to exercise in busy environments. It allows you to listen to your music and stay aware simultaneously. However, staying aware comes at a cost. Unfortunately, the driver placement hinders sound quality. Bass response is minimal, and your music competes with the sounds of the outside world.

Whatever earbud-style you choose, they’re protected from the elements. Both the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (Open) feature an IP54 protection rating, meaning they are protected against dust, splashes of water, and sweat.

Do the Nothing Ear or Nothing Ear (Open) have more features?

The Nothing X app offers many customization options for both the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (Open). It allows you to reconfigure your pinch controls, turn on low lag mode for gaming, access multipoint connection if you want to connect to two different devices simultaneously, and offers some other handy features like Find My Earbuds.

However, its most notable feature is its extensive EQ section. You can select between a few presets, using the “simple” EQ, or diving into the “advanced” EQ. The advanced EQ is a full-on parametric equalizer that gives you the entire frequency range to work with, not to mention Q control. This important feature will allow Nothing Ear users to fine-tune their earbuds to their exact sonic preference, while Nothing Ear (Open) users can use it to increase and aid the compromised low-end of the open-ear design.

Lastly, since the Nothing Ear offers ANC and Transparency mode, Ear users can also use the app to modify the strength of each listening mode. You’re provided with Low, Medium, High, and Adaptive settings for both modes. You’ll also find an “Ear tip fit test” feature with the Nothing Ear and a “Personalized sound profile,” which conducts a hearing test and then modifies the sound of your earbuds according to your results. If you’re not keen on spending time in the EQ section, it’s worth a try.

How do the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (Open) connect?

Both the Nothing Ear and the Nothing Ear (Open) earbuds connect to your device via Bluetooth 5.3, offer multipoint connection, and support both the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs. However, if you have the right device like a Nothing phone or a recent Android device, the Nothing Ear offer higher bit-rate listening options, including LDAC and LHDC 5.0. Unfortunately, iPhone users will miss out; Apple devices top out at AAC.

Is battery life better on the Nothing Ear or Nothing Ear (Open)?

We’re almost neck and neck here, but we need to remember that the Nothing Ear offers noise cancelation, which will affect battery performance.

Nothing states that the Nothing Ear can provide 8.5 hours of playback off a single charge or 5.2 hours with ANC on. With charging case top-ups, Nothing claims you can achieve a total of 32 hours of playback or 18.8 hours with ANC on.

The Nothing Ear (Open) advertises 8 hours of playback off a single charge and a total of 30 hours with charging case top-ups.

Do the Nothing Ear or Nothing Ear (Open) block noise better?

There is no contest here, and it’s not fair to compare. The Nothing Ear earbuds are designed to help block out and cancel environmental noise while listening to your music. The Nothing Ear (Open) are designed to do the opposite and allow those sounds in.

As you can see in the chart below, the Nothing Ear (Open) do not provide any passive isolation. In this case, it’s a good thing!

Do the Nothing Ear sound better than the Nothing Ear (Open)?

By design, the Nothing Ear are the better-sounding earbuds. It’s as simple as that. As mentioned, since the Nothing Ear (Open) places the driver outside of your ear canal, they can’t reproduce most frequencies, especially low-end frequencies, the way a pair of sealed, in-ear earbuds with ear tips can.

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

When comparing MDAQS results between the Nothing Ear and the Nothing Ear (Open), the Nothing Ear comes out on top with an impressively high overall score of 4.9. The Nothing Ear (Open) receives a lower overall score of 3.6, which is still excellent for its category. Of all the open-ear earbuds we’ve tested so far, the Nothing Ear (Open) have the highest MDAQS results, which means most people will prefer the sound quality of the Nothing Ear (Open) to other open earbuds.

Objective Measurements

Comparing the frequency response of the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (Open) to our preference curve, we see that the Nothing Ear and its sealed design can produce more bass than the Ear (Open). Something to keep in mind if you crave a motivating low-end pulse for your workouts. That said, with a +6dB boost around the 90Hz range, the default sound of the Nothing Ear (Open) earbuds offer more bass than all other open-ear earbuds we’ve tested so far.

While you can fine-tune the sound of either pair via their companion app EQ, again, due to driver placement and the unsealed fit, remember the Ear (Open) won’t be able to match the same satisfying low-end response of the Nothing Ear.

Do the Nothing Ear or Nothing Ear (Open) have a better microphone?

The Nothing Ear and the Nothing Ear (Open) have decent microphones for fielding phone calls, chatting with a friend over FaceTime, or hopping on a conference call for work. The quality difference between the two is negligible. Take a listen to our samples below to get an idea of what to expect when it comes to their performance:

Nothing Ear microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Nothing Ear (Open) microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Nothing Ear microphone demo (Windy conditions):

Nothing Ear (Open) microphone demo (Windy conditions):

Nothing Ear vs Nothing Ear (Open): Price and availability

The Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (Open) are readily available for purchase at $149 USD.

Should you get the Nothing Ear or Nothing Ear (Open)?

If you want the best possible sound quality and the ability to occasionally block out the sounds of the world around you while listening to your music, you’ll want to snag the Nothing Ear.

Suppose you prioritize staying aware of your surroundings over sound quality, whether exercising in a busy city or just keeping an eye on that sketchy person on the bus next to you. In that case, you’ll want to go with the Nothing Ear (Open).

Of course, considering they have different intended applications, there’s nothing wrong with getting both and using them accordingly.

What alternatives exist to the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (Open)?

If you still need help deciding between the in-ear and open-ear design, depending on your device, some users find the one-size-fits-all design of the Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation or Galaxy Buds3 earbuds is a decent middle ground. While the driver still sits in your ear canal, they don’t feature ear tips, meaning a less intense seal and the ability for some environmental noise to still make its way into your eardrums.

The same drawbacks apply. Without a proper seal, the ANC performance suffers, and they won’t produce as much bass as a product with an ear tip, but they will produce more low-end than a typical open-ear. That said, in our experience, the one-size-fits-all design only works for some, and plenty of people find them uncomfortable to wear after a short period. We recommend trying them on before buying if you’re able.

Frequently asked questions