I’ve been testing the Nothing Ear (3) for a week — they look super stylish but the sound is the real star

The best wireless earbuds make you feel like you’re jamming to your favorite artists at a sold-out gig, and the Nothing Ear (3) are up there with the best. These are some of the best-looking earbuds I’ve ever used, as their sci-fi design that makes them stand out in a crowded market. Boasting ear-filling bass and nuanced vocals, the Ear (3) have made me love my most listened to artists even more.

One of the Ear (3)’s USPs is the innovative ‘Super Mic’ case which helps you sound loud and clear. The excellent, detailed companion app lets you customize nearly every aspect of the buds too. Even though battery life isn’t the best and the treble can sometimes sound overzealous, that doesn’t stop me from recommending them to music lovers.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Nothing Ear (3) review.

Nothing Ear (3) review: Specs

Nothing Ear (3) review: Price & availability

The Nothing Ear (3) are the British manufacturer’s flagship earbuds, and they succeed the Nothing Ear (2) ($149). They come in either Black or White, and sport the brand’s trademark futuristic design, which I’ll talk about in detail shortly. As Nothing’s most expensive earbuds at the time of writing, they retail for $179 / £179 at Amazon, and you can often find them for as cheap as $149 / £120 during sales events.

Since they cost just under $200, the Ear (3) compete with the likes of the Bose QuietComfort ($179), the Apple AirPods 4 ($179), and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 ($179). They’re also much cheaper than the Sony WF-1000XM6 ($329) so if you want a pair of mid-range, good-looking earbuds that provides balanced sound quality and effective ANC, the Ear (3) are the way to go.

Nothing Ear (3) review: Design

• Sleek, good-looking sci-fi design
• IP54 waterproof and dustproof
• Multipoint connectivity, Google Fast Pair, and more

I’ve used and tested a lot of earbuds, and little really stands out about most buds, like the Apple AirPods 4 or the Bose QuietComfort. This is why the Nothing Ear (3) feel like a sight for sore eyes. Nothing has made the eye-grabbing sci-fi aesthetic its trademark, and we’ve loved it on products like the Nothing Headphone (a) ($199) too.

The Ear (3) come in either Black or White. I tested the Black model with silver and dark grey accents, and my goodness do they look cool. I could gush about their design all day long but I won’t bore you. They look fairly similar to their predecessors, the Nothing Ear (2), with a drop-stem design and see-through plastic wrapped around each bud. Though they’re made of plastic, the Ear (3) don’t feel too plasticky or cheap. They look and feel premium and durable.

The top-notch build and design applies to the Ear (3)’s case too, which feels great to hold and it has a good weight to it as well. At 2.51oz, it doesn’t feel too light or heavy, and feels sturdier than the Bose QuietComforts’ plasticky case.

Design and build aside, the Ear (3) are mighty comfortable. Each earbud weighs just 0.18oz, so much lighter than the Bose QuietComfort (0.29oz), but similar to the AirPods 4 (0.15oz) and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 (0.16oz). The Ear (3) didn’t fall out of my ears regardless of what I was doing — walking briskly or headbanging even.

Controls & app

Controlling the Ear (3) is extremely easy. Everything, including changing tracks, answering/rejecting calls, and adjusting volume, is done by pinching and/or holding the stems on each bud. The instructions are clearly laid out in the manual included in the box and on the product page. It took me just a few minutes to get a hang of them. I also like that the earbuds make a short popping sound to let you know the command has been registered and executed.

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Accompany the Ear (3) is the Nothing X app which gives you lots of control over the earbuds. It sports a clean interface and enables you to enable spatial audio, adjust the equalizer (in a lot of detail), change the controls, and create a Personal Sound where the earbuds are calibrated specifically to your ear canal.

Connectivity

The Ear (3) utilize Bluetooth 5.4 with support for SBC, AAC and LDAC codecs. LDAC support (Android only) is new and something that was missing on the Nothing Ear (2), and is missing from the similarly-priced Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and the Bose QuietComfort.

You also get multipoint connectivity to connect to two devices simultaneously, which let me swap between my phone and laptop as needed. You need to enable “Dual Connection” via the app first, though, which feels unnecessary. It’s easy enough to do, but why can’t it work out of the box, like on most other earbuds?

Extra features

Back to the good things. The Ear (3) also feature wear detection for automatic stopping/playback when removed/reinserted into your ears; and Google Fast Pair, meaning my Pixel paired within seconds of taking the buds out of their case.

Similar to the Ear (2), the Ear (3) are IP54-rated, which means that they’re protected against dust and can be used in the light rain and during workouts without risk. This is the same rating as the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and AirPods 4, and better than the IPX4-rated Bose QuietComfort. All in all, the Ear (3) are a great overall package.

Nothing Ear (3) review: Sound quality

• Powerful, meaty bass
• Clean and nuanced vocals
• Treble can be a little harsh at times

If it’s fantastic sound quality you’re after, the Nothing Ear (3) are extremely easy to recommend. Straight out of the box and without any EQ adjustments, the Ear (3) sound warm and nuanced, with plenty of detail to enjoy in the lower, mid and upper ranges. They’re fitted with 12mm dynamic drivers and cover a frequency response range of 20Hz-40KHz — so the entirety of the human hearing spectrum and then some. To test the earbuds, I listened to a range of songs on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for hi-res audio, with LDAC enabled on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL.

The punchy bass is the real star in the Ear (3)’s wide soundstage, as the mid- and sub-bass sound powerful without being booming, and there’s plenty of low-end impact to enjoy. I played ‘No Chances’ by Twenty One Pilots, a bass-driven track, and through the Ear (3), it was a sonic treat. I was engulfed in the thump and the texture of the bass. The sub-bass in particular sounded outstanding, and I could feel a steady, vibrating pressure in my ear canal which mimicked the feeling of standing near a stadium subwoofer.

To test the vocals, I listened to ‘IGYEIH’ by Linkin Park. Emily Armstrong’s screaming pushes the limits of the Ear (3)’s hardware but the earbuds handle this extremely well. Through the Ear (3), the track sounded just as raw as the band intended, as Emily’s “yeah, yeahs” sound layered and wide. I could even hear the tiny clicks of her mouth opening and the sharp intakes of breath before screaming the lyrics, and the transition between her breathy bridge to the scream-o verse sounded clean and pleasant. Vocal and instrumental separation sounded phenomenal through these buds.

My only gripe with the Ear (3) — and it’s a small gripe, at that — is that the treble can be a tad overzealous and harsh at times. I found this to be the most prominent issue while listening to ‘Skin and Bones’ by 070 Shake. While I loved the bass, I could hear the “chkkk” sound of the hi-hats and cymbals piercing through the track. Though it wasn’t unpleasant, it certainly stood out, and it’s worth diving into the app to tweak it to your liking.

Listen along to my review with the Nothing Ear (3) testing playlist:

Nothing Ear (3) review: ANC

• Effective ANC indoors, and outdoors (kinda)
• Bose is still the king, though

The Nothing Ear (3) feature effective active noise cancellation, especially indoors. I couldn’t hear the kettle boiling, the doorbell ringing, or the clacky sounds of my mechanical keyboard. My partner had to wave in my face on three separate occasions because I simply couldn’t hear her. If you want to remain aware of your surroundings, there’s a transparency mode which can be quickly toggled by holding the right earbud’s stem.

Still, Bose remains the king of ANC, and I don’t think the Ear (3) beat the QuietComfort when it comes to blocking out noise. They do a great job, yes, but the QuietComfort are just too good. Despite strong indoor performance, the Ear (3) didn’t block noise that well outdoors, and on high ANC I could still hear cars whizzing past. The QuietComfort, on the other hand? They blocked out everything, even the rattling of the bus.

Nothing Ear (3) review: Call quality

• Innovative Super Mic feature
• Good call quality indoors and outdoors

One of the Nothing Ear (3)’s headline features is the ‘Super Mic’ dual-microphone system fitted into the charging case. It’s designed to enhance voice clarity by up to 95dB in noisy environments — you basically hold it up to your mouth and speak into it, like a TikTok content creator using a DJI Mic 3. The Talk button on the case activates the ‘Super Mic’ when the earbuds are, well, in your ears.

On calls with my partner, she said I sounded fine but there was a fair bit of disturbance from people chatting and cars going past me. I then tested out the ‘Super Mic’ by holding down the Talk button and recording myself indoors — as you can hear in the clip above, it cut out any disturbances to highlight my voice. Vocals are a little muffled, but nothing too bad.

Nothing Ear (3) review: Battery life

• Up to 38 hours with the case
• Rivals (and even cheaper models) feature longer battery lives
• Case can be charged wirelessly

My one bone to pick with the Ear (3) is about battery life. With ANC on, they’re rated for 5.5 hours and the case offers an additional 16.5 hours, for 22 hours in total. With ANC off, this jumps to 10 hours plus 28 case hours, so 38 hours in total. If you’re using LDAC, the stated battery life drops to 5.5 hours with ANC off and 3.5 hours with ANC on.

In my testing, the earbuds promptly died after 3 hours when I was listening to music with ANC on and LDAC enabled. With LDAC disabled and ANC disabled, I got 9 hours of playback time, which is an hour under Nothing’s figure.

In contrast, the Bose QuietComfort can last 8.5 hours on a single charge with ANC on. Heck, even the cheaper Sony WF-C710N ($119) last 8.5 hours with ANC on! But hey, at least the Ear (3) upstage the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 (5 hours with ANC on) and the Apple AirPods 4 (4 hours with ANC on). If you throw spatial audio into the mix, though, the Ear (3)’s battery life will take an even bigger hit.

Nothing Ear (3) review: Verdict

If you’re on the lookout for a pair of earbuds that make you headbang with their ear-filling bass and appreciate vocal artistry, the Nothing Ear (3) are the way to go. They sound just as good as they look, and they’re very pretty to look at. Comfortable for all-day long use and featuring an innovative ‘Super Mic’ for better call quality, these earbuds are very easy to recommend.

Granted, the battery life is nothing groundbreaking and the treble is a bit overzealous at times, but neither of those are dealbreakers, and they’re something I’m willing to overlook for the otherwise exceptional package. For $179, the Ear (3) give the Bose QuietComfort a run for their money.