Nothing is back with a brand new pair of affordable, colourful wireless earbuds, the Ear (3a).
The latest addition to the brand’s more affordable, fun-centric (a) series, the new buds blend “immersive listening” with a “playful design” at a price that won’t exactly break the bank. They also have a rather intriguing feature up their sleeve…
Before we get to that, the Nothing Ear (3a) use a set of 12mm dynamic drivers designed to deliver “deeper bass and greater detail” than their previous generation antecedents, while a lightweight PMI diaphragm aims for “clear, detailed highs”.
Bolstering the buds’ new hardware is support for LDAC, the Sony-developed codec which allows for hi-res audio transmission up to 24-bit/96 kHz from a compatible source.
Noise cancelling is also available, with the Ear (3a) using an improved acoustic mesh and a more advanced ANC algorithm to keep you even more shielded from the sounds of the outside world, with Nothing promising nearly 20 per cent better performance when compared with their predecessors.
The Ear (3a) deliver up to 10 hours of playback from the buds and up to 42 hours with the charging case when noise cancelling is switched off. With ANC enabled, they offer up to six hours from the earbuds and a total of around 25 hours in total with the case in play. When things get low, a quick five-minute charge provides around one hour of playback in a pinch.
What was that intriguing feature we mentioned earlier? The Ear (3a) offer ‘Audio Snapshot’ technology, letting users instantly clip media they are listening to, be it a an online lecture, a call or a voice note, by pinching both earbuds to create an “audio screenshot” for posterity.
Nothing’s ‘Static’ spatial audio tech is also in the mix, while a three-mic array on each earbud promises clear calls, even in busy environments.
The Nothing Ear (3a) are available now, priced at £99 / $99 / €99, in a choice of Black, White, Yellow or Pink finishes.
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