Nothing Ear (2) design
You will notice that the Nothing Ear (2) look almost identical to the Ear (1). The new case is ever so slightly smaller and has more defined corners, but it follows the same guidelines as the previous model.
The Nothing Ear (2) controls now work via a squeeze on the stems — unlike the Ear (1) which were controlled with touch-sensitive stems. No doubt a lot of people are going to be happy — touch controls are just not cool for earbuds, which you often… touch to adjust!
New Nothing X app
The Nothing Ear app will now evolve to Nothing X. An app that will be used to control any other Nothing devices that come out in the future.
It’s available for iOS and Android and you should be able to get access to all Nothing Ear (2) features, no matter what device you are on.
These include a custom EQ, personalized sound profile, personalized ANC, low-latency mode for gamers, and — of course — firmware updates. However, Nothing Phone (1) users will also get to enjoy high-res LHDC 5.0 streaming.
The new ANC mode is listed as attenuating up to -40 dB with a wide 5 kHz frequency range. This should be able to reduce a variety of noises better than before — it’s a 2.5 times wider band than on the Ear (1), as per the Nothing presentation.
Nothing Ear (2) connectivity and battery
The Nothing Ear (2) will support simultaneous connection to 2 devices, so you can have them paired to your laptop and your smartphone at the same time, for example. This is a huge quality-of-life improvement and we welcome it.
According to Nothing, the battery life, with ANC and dual device off, will be about 36 hours (~6 from the buds + 30 from the case). Turning ANC on will shave off about 10 hours of that total — these are similar numbers to the Nothing Ear (1) and they are perfectly fine. Dual device connection should also drain a bit more juice.
Nothing Ear (2) price and release date
The Nothing Ear (2) takes the spot of the Ear (1) at that $149 price point — you can no longer buy the predecessor. Pre-orders of the Nothing Ear (2) should start any moment now, shipping / sales begin on the 28th of March.
