Test: Nothing Ear 2 – more than unique headphones

You control the headphones to a large extent through various pressure commands on the headphones’ sticks. What happens when, for example, you double-press, press and hold or triple-press, you can set and customize yourself in the app. In addition to changing the song, answering calls and activating the voice assistant, it is also possible to control the volume by pressing. It is a change from the predecessor’s swipe on the stick to change volume and pressure instead eliminates the risk that when you swipe you also accidentally put the earphone out of your ear.

I test the headphones both with Nothing’s own phone Phone 1 and with an iPhone. In iPhone, I will therefore be without the support for high-resolution audio, but the app that manages many of the settings is available for both Android and iPhone.

With the app, you can make a number of different personal adjustments. The first is reasonably to test the fit of the headphones’ rubber pads. It comes with three different sizes and after testing several of them and also adjusting the position of the earphones in the ear, I finally manage to find a pair where not only am I satisfied with the fit, but also the app signals that they fit.

Personalized

Both the noise reduction and the sound can be customized based on your hearing profile. A small hearing test plays noise and a recurring beep that after a while gets weaker and disappears into the noise. First I get to do the test with sound in both ears, then separately with one ear at a time and when it’s done, the sound has been adapted to my hearing. I can’t say that I hear much of a difference, but yes, the sound is good.

I was very happy with the sound of the predecessors Ear 1 and Nothing Ear 2 represents an improvement. The headphones support high definition audio with LHDC, an alternative to LDAC. The technology that the headphones use for high-resolution sound is supported not only in Nothing’s own Phone 1, but also in a number of other Androids, for example Xiaomi and Oneplus, but support is unfortunately not as broad as for LDAC.

When I listen to music in Nothing Ear 2, I’m really happy with the sound. It is both well-balanced and rich in detail, especially with high-resolution audio activated. With the equalizer in the app, I can adjust the sound and get, for example, more bass, either by choosing one of the ready-made profiles or choosing manually.

In addition to what I have already mentioned, the app also allows you to manage connection to two devices at the same time, most commonly perhaps computer and mobile and it works well. I can listen to music in one device, start playing a movie in the other and then the headphones automatically switch between without me having to do anything. Smooth. In the app I see which devices are connected and can temporarily disconnect one to connect to a saved third or fourth device temporarily. The handsets also support Google’s Fastpair so when I unbox a new phone it automatically suggests connecting to the handsets as they are associated with my Google account. With the app, I can also use the function to find the headphones. It assumes that they are connected to the phone with bluetooth and allows you to play a loud sound in the respective headphones to locate it more easily if, for example, it has fallen under the sofa or is behind the curtain. In a quiet apartment it sounds good, so I can find the headphones even if they are in the next room.

The call sound in the headphones is generally quite good, but when I challenge the headphones a little, for example when there is a gust of wind for example, it can happen that my voice disappears or becomes difficult to hear for the person I am talking to.

Nothings Ear 2 has active noise reduction and I notice it when, for example, I walk on the pavement and listen to music when the traffic whizzes by or when I travel on public transport. The noise reduction is not so effective that it shields me from the outside world, but it fulfills its function and means that I do not have to increase the volume so much to drown out sounds in my surroundings.

Unique appearance

In terms of design, Nothing has really succeeded. Not much has changed since its predecessors and that’s a good thing. It’s one of the few headphones with a truly unique style and it happens quite often that I see people out with the first variant. It’s a feat to make a pair of headphones that actually stand out from the crowd. Design as well as function and ergonomics then feel unusually well thought out, both in terms of the case and the headphones themselves. The charging case has become a little smaller than in its predecessors, but the difference is not huge, just a few millimeters. The largely transparent design means that you can see immediately if the headphones are inside without opening the case and an indentation in the lid means that it is not only easy to grip but also that I can easily recognize them when I have to fish them out among others gadgets in the bag, without having to look then.

Nothing’s first headphones surprised by providing a good experience at a really good price, under 1000 kroner when they were launched. Since then, however, their price has been raised considerably and when they deceive, we are now testing, Nothing Ear 2, sold, the price tag is 1790 kroner. It obviously raises our demands on function and sound and, above all, through high-resolution sound and water protection, I think Nothing meets expectations. However, the competition is tougher in this price range, so there are plenty of good options and the choice is far from obvious.