In case you haven't heard of it before, Nothing is a London-based, privately owned company backed by multiple tech investment firms, including GV (previously known as Google Ventures).
They pride themselves in doing tech differently, weaving creativity with innovation to "make tech fun again".
The company's first product, Ear (1), has now sold over 600,000 units and its striking smartphone, Phone (1), launched in July 2022.
When speaking of their Ear (stick), Nothing says that "This is tech you can't feel. So you can experience everything else."
That's one of the key aspects of the design - the headphones apparently underwent over 200 iterations and were tested on over 100 pairs of ears, meaning they boast comfort that can be worn all day without feeling them.
Coming in at just 4.4g they are supremely light, and I can confirm that when they are in your ear, it's very easy to forget they're in there because they're only half in-ear.
Rather than pushing all the way into your ear canal, they rest on the base of the cartilage, with the speaker on the end of the headphone just peeking into your ear.
It's a strange feeling, and at first, I was afraid to move my head too much for fear of them falling out - if you can't feel them in your ear you just instinctively feel like they're not secure.
This is actually very far from the truth to the point that when I tried to shake them out of my head on purpose I actually couldn't. They're great for use on the move or in the gym, and once I'd gotten used to them I had no concerns about them falling out.
The headphones feature a custom-designed dynamic driver, which Nothing claim is one of the most sensitive on the market.
It's a 12.6mm driver, and combines with what Nothing says is the best quality speaker magnets they could find. In addition, they have used a custom diaphragm and special coating to minimize distortion.
Marketing jargon aside, the sound quality is genuinely incredible. Nothing has implemented its own "Bass Lock Technology", which detects bass loss as you wear the earbuds and tunes the equaliser curve to the optimal level.
Sound leakage was something I was worried about with the headphones only being partially in-ear, and for what it's worth I didn't really notice any drop in quality when wearing the headphones.
That said, the sound was still audible for people around me if the volume was high enough, and I think this is worth bearing in mind if you're someone who spends a lot of time in very quiet places or is a socially cautious person.
The headphones come with an app that can be downloaded to customise the sound, although it has only four presets at the time of writing - More bass, more treble, voice, or balanced.
They can be used to make calls too, which some pretty neat stuff going on in the background.
The Ear (stick) has three microphones and includes Nothing's "Clear Voice Technology", which uses algorithms to filter out background noise. It can also isolate and increase the volume of your voice if you're next to something that's especially loud.
I had my reservations about this, but it actually works - the sound of my voice muffled a bit when I was in a very noisy place, but generally, there were no complaints, whether I was in the wind, near a busy road, or even alongside loud roadworks.
The Nothing Ear (stick) connects using Bluetooth 5.2 and is compatible with Android 5.1+, and iOS11+. In addition, it features a "low lag" mode that kicks in when you game, although this only works with the Phone (1).
One of the more impressive areas of the Ear (stick) is the battery life. It boasts 7 hours of listening time with the earbuds (compared with 5 hours for AirPods, or 5.7 hours for the Ear (1)). On top of that, the case holds over 20 hours of listening time.
In total, Nothing claims you get 29 hours of listening time out of a single charge, although I actually got slightly more than this - closer to 31 hours while using the earbuds at maximum volume.
As if that's not impressive enough, just 10 minutes in the case gives the earbuds a mighty two hours of listening time.
If you have a Nothing (1) phone, the headphones slide effortlessly into the ecosystem, with a bunch of settings and features available at the touch of a button. You don't lose out much by having a different (compatible) phone though since most of the functionality is still available via the app.
The headphones feature In-ear detection, meaning you can set it to pause when you take it out of your ears., and they are IP54 dust, water, and sweat resistant
Nothing Ear (stick) verdict: 4/5
The Nothing Ear (stick) is a pair of headphones that packs a real punch. The sound is fantastic, and you can't really feel them when they're in your ear, leading to a great experience.
You really feel like you're in your own little world, and despite the headphones not having Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), a lot (if not all) of the outside world is blocked out by the sound of the headphones anyway thanks to the technology it boasts controlling the equaliser curves.
When I had the volume up high I couldn't hear anything except my music, and it was like it was being floated directly into my brain without ever touching my ears.
That said, some of the functionality is conditional on you owning the Nothing (1), such as the low lag mode. Additionally, the press controls are fiddly and sometimes inconsistent, and the app itself can sometimes be hard to navigate.
The Ear (stick) is really a fantastic purchase for anyone looking to spend a little extra on a decent set of all-purpose headphones, provided you don't consider ANC a dealbreaker.
Choose Nothing and, in this instance, you really won't be disappointed.
Nothing Ear (stick) is available from the Nothing website for £99 with delivery by 4 November 2022.
