Nothing Ear (a) Review: If Bumblebee was a TWS!

In the famous Transformers film series, in which automobiles morphed into super robots called Autobots, one of the most popular characters was actually a bright yellow-colored Autobot called Bumblebee. He was not the most powerful or the biggest of the Autobots – in fact, he was considered a little brother to them and would take the form of a compact Saturn yellow Volkswagen Beetle when in automobile mode. He could not speak either, using a radio to communicate, but he was always full of energy and effort, trying to prove myself to the bigger Autobots and particularly THE Optimus Prime.

Why are we talking of a famous movie franchise while reviewing a TWS? Well, because the Nothing Ear (a) gives us such Bumblebee vibes. It is relatively small, not as powerful or feature-rich as the Nothing Ear, whose little brother it is, but it tries to deliver a lot for its price, and well, it is bright yellow!

Nothing Ear (a) Design: Yellow, yellow, lovely fellow

The more affordable of the third generation of Nothing’s TWS series, the Ear (a) are perhaps the spiritual successor of the Ear (Stick)– although they come with a number of features, they will be best remembered for their design. We got the yellow edition of the Ear (a), and we have never seen a pair of TWS in recent times get the sort of attention that these did. They come in a compact, rectangular case that reminds us a little of a suitcase but without a handle – the top and the base curve outwards but are surrounded by a flat and protruding border.

Right inside are the buds against a bright yellow backdrop. In the best Nothing tradition, the cover of the case is transparent, and so are the stems of the buds, which broadly follow the shape of other Nothing TWS but come with bright yellow bulbous buds on top. There is a USB Type-C cable in the box, as well as two other eartip size options.

The box’s lid closes magnetically and can be opened with one hand with a bit of effort. The buds inside are also attached magnetically and very solidly in place. There is a Type-C port at the back of the case and a connecting button inside the case near the right-hand bud – we could not spot it initially as it, too, is yellow in color. The case actually feels more solid than that of the more expensive Nothing Ear – the lid is solidly in place and does not move back and forth.

Although both the buds and the case can withstand water splashes – the buds have IP54 resistance, and the case IPX2 – the slightly glossy finish of the case makes it susceptible to picking up scratches and smudges, particularly on its opaque base. Each bud weighs 4.8 grams, and the case itself weighs 39.6 grams, making it small and light enough to carry in a pocket.

Nothing Ear (a) ease of use: Comfortable with familiar controls

Using the Nothing Ear (a) is easy – just press the connection button inside the case (we really do wish it had been outside, as opening the case to connect is a little inconvenient), and then complete the installation on the Nothing X app on your phone (available for both iOS and Android). You can simply connect it through Bluetooth in Settings as well, but you will lose out on a lot of features by not using the Nothing X app.

We found the Ear (a) to be light and comfortable to wear. Controlling them is basically a matter of pressing the stems – much better than tapping the buds! Controls are pretty much what we got on the Nothing Ear, with a single pinch of the stem pausing and playing audio or taking calls and ending them, a double pinch moving us to the next track or rejecting a call, a triple pinch taking one to the previous track and a pinch and hold activating noise control. As with the Nothing Ear, you can customize some of these controls and also have the option to attach a function to the double pinch and hold gesture. It is not too difficult to remember, and it is easy to use.

Nothing Ear (a) audio quality: This Bumblebee loves Bass!

We noticed that the Nothing Ear had a very pronounced bass flavor. Well, it is even stronger on its (a)-rated sibling. And just like the Nothing Ear, the Ear (a) too has a bass enhance option, which adds yet more rumble to an already bass-centric audio signature. Unlike the Nothing Ear, the Ear (a) does not use ceramic drivers. While it also uses 11mm drivers, these are of PMI and TPU. While you do get an equalizer in the app, there is no advanced level of customization, as seen on Nothing Ear. Mind you, you can still customize your own audio settings. The sound quality overall is quite good with a very mainstream sound, although it is not quite as clear as on the Nothing Ear (the ceramic drivers, we wonder?).

We actually found the bass to be a little too heavy at times on the Ear (a), and if we turned on bass enhancement to the max, sometimes we ended up losing other instruments and even a bit of the vocals. Keep the bass enhance turned off, however, and the buds had a good mainstream if slightly bass-ic sound. The equalizer does let one enhance other frequencies, but even then, the bass accent remains firmly in place. They are very good for watching shows and listening to podcasts, as well as for gaming (a special low latency mode kicks in the moment the phone goes into gaming mode, although this works only with Nothing phones).

Those liking clear instrument separation might not like the slightly thicker sound on the Nothing Ear (a), but by and large, these are fun buds to hear, and if you love bass, then these are perfect for you, with very impressive volumes too. Like the Nothing Ears, we found the Nothing Ear (a) also delivering significantly better sound when paired with the Nothing Phone (2), which should make it extra attractive for all Nothing phone owners.

Nothing Ear (a) ANC, calls, and battery life: Middling ANC, exceptional battery life

The Nothing Ear (a) also boast adaptive active noise cancellation (ANC), like the Nothing Ear and like them, also claim to be able to change ANC levels automatically depending on your surroundings. However, the ANC performance here is a clear notch below that of the Nothing Ear. Although you get three levels of ANC (low, mid, and high) on the Ear (a) as well, here, the highest level of ANC will not kill the same level of noise that its most expensive sibling does. It can. It might just about work in a cafe, but if there is consistent external noise, the ANC is of limited use here. And Adaptive ANC, unfortunately, is best kept switched off – just stick to high.

Transparency mode, however, is excellent and actually better than the Nothing Ear. Call quality, however, is not the greatest – these are best used for calls in relatively quiet surroundings. People we spoke to often said our voice sounded a little distant while using the buds. Perhaps a software update or two from Nothing will fix matters in this regard.

Battery life of the Nothing Ear (a) is eerily similar to the Nothing Ear – about 8-9 hours on the buds without ANC, about five hours with ANC, and about 40 hours with the case without ANC, and close to 20-22 hours with ANC. However, thanks to the ANC being less effective on the Ear (a), we ended up using it less frequently, giving us close to 35 hours with the case and about 7-8 hours on the buds, which is exceptional for the price point. Just make sure the buds fit snugly in your ear (there is an eartip test in the app), and you will be able to keep a lot of the sound out anyway.

Nothing Ear (a) ChatGPT: More fun than functional

Just like the Nothing Ear, you can replace the default voice assistant on the Nothing Ear (a) with ChatGPT. You will just need to head to the Controls on the Nothing X app and allot gestures to them – we went with double pinch and hold, which was free to use anyway. A point to be kept in mind is that this feature works only when you pair the buds with a Nothing Phone (2) at the time of writing, although it is coming to other Nothing phones as well.

Using ChatGPT as an assistant is fun if you are the type that likes lots of conversations, but yes, you do miss out on basics like making calls, composing messages, or even playing songs. We got back to Google Assistant simply for these functions, but we really loved using ChatGPT for the sheer fun of conversation – incidentally, it worked perfectly fine when we spoke in Hindi as well! A pity it cannot handle some phone basics as of now.

Nothing Ear (a) pricing: A little on the high side

The Nothing Ear (a) are priced at $99/Rs 7,999. Though that makes them more affordable than the Nothing Ear at Rs 11,999, it still places them at the higher end of the TWS price scale – they are, in fact, more expensive than the OG Nothing Ear (1) launched a few years ago. Competing for earspace with them are the likes of the very good Galaxy Buds FE, which boast better ANC and are now available at close to $99/Rs 7999 after a price cut, and the fitness-friendly Jabra Elite 4 Active, which come with better ANC and have as good sound quality at Rs 6999. In fact, even the Nothing Ear (2), which remain a very good pair of TWS that handle calls better and have better ANC, are available at Rs 7,999 from some outlets.

Nothing Ear (a) review verdict: Buy it for the funky smarts

The Nothing Ear (a) is a great option for those who want TWS with a bass-centric sound, reasonably handy ANC, some smart features, and, above all, a very eye-catching design. In that sense, these are very much like the Nothing Ear (Stick), which, while being decent performers, hit it out of the style statement park. If you want TWS that turn heads with their appearance, are fun to use, and bring a sackful of features to the table without causing too much financial damage, the Nothing Ear (a) could be A-grade for your ears, especially if you have a Nothing phone handy. They are not perfect, but they try ever so hard to be, and with Nothing’s penchant for delivering updates, they will only get better with time. Just like Bumblebee!

Buy Nothing Ear (a) – USA
Buy Nothing Ear (a) – India