Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) UK release date, how to buy, and what's new?

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What made Nothing’s first venture into the TWS world so special was the transparent design on the Nothing Ear (1); the Nothing Ear (1) stood out from competitors such as the Apple AirPods as the transparent veneers highlighted the craftsmanship underneath.

In our AirPods alternatives guide, we compare the Apple wireless earphones to other top performing earbuds - while the AirPods are market leaders in terms of user experience (when paired with an iPhone), they don’t excel in the same way in terms of sound quality. If you have an Android, such as a Nothing Phone, it pays to look elsewhere.

The brand new Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) are a great companion for everyday usage, with the brand’s smartest-ever noise cancelling capabilities and audio quality coupled with an eye-catching transparent design.

In our guide, we’re telling you everything you need to know about the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a), including the UK release date, price and how it fares against its predecessor, Nothing Ear (2).

Jump to:

UK release date
Price
Design
Features
Battery
Comparison to Nothing Ear (2)
How to buy in the UK

Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) UK release date: when are the new earbuds coming out?

Woman wearing the Nothing Ear. — Nothing Ear. Nothing

Pre-orders for both the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) earbuds went live on Thursday 18th April.

The on sale date for the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) went live on Monday 22nd April, and the sale kicked off on the Nothing site.

The Nothing Phone (2a) is available to buy from retailers Amazon and Very, too, so we’ll be sure to keep an eye out on UK retailers for the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) devices.

Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) UK price

Close-up of the Nothing Ear (a) in White — Nothing Ear (a) in white. Nothing

Both wireless earphones are priced competitively. The Nothing Ear will set you back £129, whereas the Nothing Ear (a) is £30 cheaper, at £99.

To compare this to its predecessor, the Red Dot Award winner Nothing Ear (2) was also released with a £129 price tag, and has since been discounted to £109.

Have you heard of Loop Earplugs? We got hands-on with the viral noise-dimming earplugs in our Loop Earplugs review.

Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) design

Close-up of the Nothing Ear (a) in Yellow. — Nothing Ear (a) in yellow. Nothing

In signature Nothing style, both the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) feature the industry-first transparent design.

Also true to Nothing form, the Nothing Ear comes in white and black colourways with a transparent case.

The earbuds are made from a highly-crystalline, pressure-resistant PU material with 89% light transmission, which affords the Nothing Ear its glass-like appearance. Nothing Ear houses Nothing’s most advanced driver system yet, the 11 mm dynamic driver, and it also includes the ceramic diaphragm, which delivers crisp high notes with its distinctly rigid material.

However, the Nothing Ear (a) strays slightly from the beaten track with its first audio product in colour - the Nothing Ear (a) has a fresh bubble design, with soft contours, a slim rectangular frame, and a new yellow colourway, too.

You can still purchase the Nothing Ear (a) in white and black colourways, as well. The slimmer, more compact design of the Nothing Ear (a) case makes it more comfortable in your pocket and takes up less space in your bag.

With the Nothing earbuds’ new powerful driver, the diaphragm now has even more space for sound waves to vibrate — 0.55 mm in comparison to 0.26 mm on the Nothing Ear (2) — which means a richer sound will be produced.

In terms of water and dust resistance, the Nothing Ear (a) has IP54/IPX2 water and dust resistance, whereas the Nothing Ear has IP54/IP55 water and dust resistance. This means that the earbuds are protected against water droplets such as falling rain, but they’re not considered waterproof.

New Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) features

Close-up of a single earbud, Nothing Ear (a) in Yellow — Nothing Ear (a) in yellow. Nothing

The Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) offers Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) 45 dB. The earbuds not only personalise noise cancellation to your surroundings, but to each individual ear, too. Nothing Smart ANC checks the seal within your ear canal for noise leakage and generates more ANC to help mitigate as much external sound as possible.

Interestingly, you can change the noise cancellation mode in the Nothing X app, and there are three modes of noise cancellation to choose from: High (for example, when you’re on public transport or an aeroplane), Medium (for example, when you’re walking along a busy street or working in a café), and Low (for example, when you’re in an office or your own home).

Also on the Nothing X app, you can create your own Sound Profile, but how does this work? You can create your personalised profile in the Nothing X app, starting with the Ear Tip Fit Test, then the data recorded is used in real-time as the Nothing Ear devices adjust the equaliser levels based on your hearing test results.

Both brand new wireless earphones from Nothing offer three microphones. With three microphones and an AI noise reduction algorithm (which has used 28 million different sound scenarios to train it), the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) detects your voice, enhances it, and filters out any unwanted background noises in real time.

An extra hold has been added onto the earbuds’ stem, too, to reduce interference by 60% in comparison to the Nothing Ear (2).

So, what features has Nothing implemented to appeal to music lovers? Nothing has developed a Bass Enhance algorithm which monitors signals in your music and brings out the bass.

The Nothing Ear supports the LHDC 5.0 (Low Latency High-Definition Audio Codec) and LDAC codec for high-resolution streaming over Bluetooth. This wireless earbud device can reach up to 1 Mbps 24 bit/192 kHz with LHDC 5.0 and up to 990 kbps (kilobit per second) and frequencies up to 24 bit/96 kHz with LDAC.

Similarly, the Nothing Ear (a) is hi-res audio certified, which means it can stream high-resolution audio over Bluetooth connections at up to 990 kbps at 24 bits/96 kHz.

The Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) also supports Low Lag Mode, which will be triggered automatically when you’re gaming and connected to your earbuds.

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Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) battery

The Nothing Ear lasts up to 40.5 hours after a full charge when you use the charging case, or an impressive 8.5 hours of non-stop playback. Nothing Ear supports wireless charging at 2.5W, and 10 minutes of charging will give you 10 hours of listening time with the charging case.

Similarly, you can get up to 42.5 hours of playback when you use the Nothing Ear (a) with the case, and for speedy charging, simply charge for just 10 minutes and get up to 10 hours of listening time with the charging case.

How do the new Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) compare to the Nothing Ear (2)?

Person holding the Nothing Ear in White in its case. — Nothing Ear in white. Nothing

So, how do these two brand new earbuds compare to previous Nothing audio devices? To start with the battery, the new earbuds offer up to 42.5 hours of listening time with the case, which is a huge 8.5 hour increase from the Nothing Ear (1).

With Noise Cancellation of up to 45 dB, the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) has a 13% increase in comparison to the Nothing Ear (2), and can offer noise elimination that’s up to 1.8 times stronger.

As we mentioned earlier, Nothing has made the earbuds’ driver more compact without compromising on power. The Nothing Ear (a) delivers 2.5 times more transient power than the Nothing Ear (2), and takes advantage of the dual chamber design, which delivers a more powerful bass. The dual chamber also has two extra vents, which improves airflow within each earbud by 10 times, in comparison to the Nothing Ear (2).