Dumb name, good product - Nothing Ear (a)

Go buy stuff dbrand stuff at shortlinus.com
In 2021 Nothing released their Ear (1) earbuds, and 3 years later, we now have the Nothing Ear earbuds... Okay, so the naming doesn't make sense, but with a great design, solid performance, and an accessible price tag, the Nothing Ear and Ear (a) wireless earbuds seem to be a great option, but will Linus be willing to leave his AirPod Pros behind?
More headphones.com test results: linustechtips.com/topic/15698...
Buy a pair of Nothing Ear (a) Buds: tidd.ly/4dvJamE
Buy a pair of Nothing Ear Buds: tidd.ly/4dzJxNc
Buy a Nothing Phone (2): tidd.ly/3yexMeL
Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.
Want us to unbox something? Make a suggestion at lmg.gg/7s34e
► GET MERCH: lttstore.com
► GET EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ON FLOATPLANE: lmg.gg/lttfloatplane
► SPONSORS, AFFILIATES, AND PARTNERS: lmg.gg/partners
► PRODUCTS WE USE ON THE SHORTCIRCUIT SET: lmg.gg/scset
FOLLOW US ELSEWHERE
---------------------------------------------------
Twitter: / shrtcrctyt
Instagram: / shortcircuityt
TikTok: / linustech
Facebook: / shortcircuityt
CHAPTERS
---------------------------------------------------
0:00 Confusion naming convention...
0:25 Included accessories and pricing
0:54 Differences between Ear and Ear (a)
4:12 Trying the Ear (a)
6:16 Sponsor - dbrand
7:07 Messing with Bell(?)
7:31 Ear (a) listening impressions
9:06 ChatGPT integration and Ear listening impressions
9:46 Overall thoughts
10:03 Outro

[@user-vg6qv5jv3w]

The company who couldn't come up with a brand name struggle with product naming? Shocker

[@DiabolicalDilemma_]

Lmao

[@ashu-]

I'd say their brand name is as good as nothing

[@lebastard2085]

what's your company name ? :)

[@ventilate4267]

​@@lebastard2085 Nothing

[@sokraal]

Bruh you are talking about it right? Works.

[@carlr9148]

Nothing Ear's naming convention brought to you by the same people who name USB

[@GentleWruzzPuppet]

Ear 3 is weird cause no one has 3 ears. /j

[@jakobsturm656]

@@GentleWruzzPuppet+1 interest points /pos

[@michaeltagor4238]

Hey we're talking about it right

[@jjws600]

Nothing Ear 3x3 Gen 2

[@ccelik97]

@@jjws600 You forgot to rename it to 3x3 Gen1 100Kbps to make room for 3x3 Gen2 SuperSpeed (300 Kbps).

[@lowercasegamer]

"What's in your ear" "Nothing" "I see you have something in your ear" "It's called Nothing Ear (a)"

[@Rukio360]

"Nothin' ere (ayy)"

[@wielku]

"(a) huh" "so you're canadian?"

[@karasekjh]

​@@Rukio360😅😂

[@dafrandle]

@@Rukio360 hoeh!

[@maegnificant]

You ruined the joke with the last two lines.

[@alphariusomegon8507]

Dbrands spite in the ads makes it fun to actually watch

[@lixnix2018]

I agree I often skip normal ads

[@Pepso8P]

A note saying they do nothing is more than actual nothing I expected to be in the box.

[@JimParshall]

That was the best D brand add I've ever seen you do. I really love the marketing that you folks do together it's really good and that was a good troll. I love seeing how happy you are now Linus the smile on your face and your renewed enthusiasm is quite nice indeed

[@BigT87]

I was expecting it to be empty since it for the "nothing" brand but the note at the end "We don't make anything for this device" got me.

[@lathrael7152]

They are really great at marketing. I was about to skip past, but then i heard dbrand and stayed for the gold.

[@joostvisser8537]

That single packing peanut absolutely sent me

[@TheguyfromDetroit]

Nothing Ear (A) seems like the middle child

[@lixnix2018]

I love the dbrand ad

[@jonathanto99]

Linus looked so defeated 😂

[@TheZoenGaming]

No side sleeper test? C'mon Linus, that's why I originally started watching ear bud reviews by LTT!

[@ShortCircuit]

They seem pretty solid. I've yet to find anything as good as my AirPods Pros but I did press against my ear and didn't experience any discomfort or pressure points with this one. Would have to actually sleep in them to say anything definitive. - LS

[@TheZoenGaming]

@@ShortCircuit Thanks for the info! Good to see you're still looking for a replacement for the Air Pods. I thought I'd found one in a wired IEM, but it has durability issues, sadly.

[@imascarygator2673]

Same question, glad you asked it.

[@VetBodGaming]

The shape looks to be the same as the Ear 2 which are ok. Fine for short periods but not comfortable to actually sleep with them in on your side.

[@dpgwalter]

Worth noting that bass enhance can now be turned off after an update, it was a bug on a specific set of devices I assume since mine didn't have a problem. Same with the transparency mode, it got fixed so it works a lot better now.

[@dpgwalter]

Yeah so that didn't really feel like the most well researched/executed video, coming out a week after fixes for most of the issue he had without any clarification. Also, the naming scheme is way overblown, they are just resetting and likely going for a "Ear (2024)" model similar to most Apple products. Feel like this could've used a bit more time in the oven guys

[@technikchaot]

@@dpgwalter if you use a number counting up just stay with it. I hate intel for what they have done with first their laptop cpus and now all cpus. Why because confused customers pay more. Same here, a counting scheme is easy to understand. a, b, c, d also but you should do it from the start.

[@HyviaVideoitaMansenlale]

These videos dont become a thing in a single day. Products should be evaluated as is, and not as what they are in 2 years. We dont need to be manufacturers beta testers FFS.

[@dpgwalter]

@@HyviaVideoitaMansenlale The update came out over a week ago, they could've at least put a text box saying "this has since been fixed". Reviews that came out days ago acknowledged and updated their opinions because of the updates, it's not impossible. Also, this is what the product was in _1 week_, not in _2 years_. Pointless hyperboles are a great way to be dishonest in a debate.

[@HyviaVideoitaMansenlale]

@@dpgwalter Aight

[@TheRoughy]

"100ms sounds like a lot because it is, but realistically Bluetooth 5.3 hasn't got any magic bullet to solve audio latency once and for all" You're technically right, because Bluetooth 5.2 already solved this problem once and for all with BLE Audio / LC3. Headphone manufacturers really should be named and shamed for releasing new hardware only supporting SBC/LDAC at this point.

[@mojtabagolestani6802]

i have redmi buds 5 pro and in websites it's said its only have 40~50ms latency but its a big lie ! i hope they add LHDC codec to Global version so we can have Lower Latency for gaming sure i use SBC for lower latency instead of LDAC and it even supports AAC but still not good latency for gaming specially when u play games like Call of duty or any kind of shooter game or anygame that depends on AUDIO Latency

[@DudokX]

Yeah this is why I still use a cable when using JBL tour one on pc. I was really shocked how noticeable the delay is on anything but music. Games are unplayable and even watching videos can be weird if the delay is not configured properly.

[@DarwinismGamer]

these are the kind of Ads I live for! thank you dBrand

[@antrepeyous]

6:16 This is the best unboxing Linus has ever done on this channel. XD

[@beirch]

Kendrick agrees

[@Eli-zb2yj]

So the review is about nothing?

[@rothstarr1703]

Yep, nothing to see here

[@nineteenmov]

walk the green mile

[@HiRaziel]

I'm so glad this comment will live into everything they drop ever

[@why_tho_]

It is not a review, dear sir.

[@keatonbrier]

Exactly

[@4RILDIGITAL]

Completely agree on the naming scheme confusion. I can see the appeal in the Ear A's based on what you've shared, especially considering how comprehensive their features are for their price point.

[@Sampson_YT]

The Nothing nothing, you get… nothing.

[@twelfsauce6358]

And you know D-Brand will make something for nothing

[@Mr.Marbles]

@@twelfsauce6358the even less case. „Emperors new protection is here“

[@twelfsauce6358]

@@Mr.Marbles 99.99% more sleek design

[@kylemvanover]

You’ll get nothing and you’ll like it.

[@SkylerB17]

@@kylemvanover i hope so im ordering a Phone 2 soon 🤣

[@jajssblue]

Dbrand / LTT ads are actually worth watching. I don't know how they've pulled that off.

[@ajs1998]

Hard disagree

[@fahimhussain1918]

It’sa big nothing burger

[@jajssblue]

@@ajs1998 Fair enough. This one put a smile on my face.

[@jmshay1s]

Fairly sure they done the box thing before.

[@NexGen-3D]

I sold my Airpod Pro's after I purchased the Ear's 2, I can say they have all of the same features, and are better in every meaningful way, they work and pair quicker on all platforms, I use them across Android, IOS, iPadOS Windows 10/11, many flavours of Linux, MacOS and even ChromeOS, they are so much better value for the money, also the Android/IOS Apps do not require any kind stupid account, they are feature complete without any cloud BS, I have used them daily usually 8+ hrs, every day for the past 6 months, and they are still perfect, and you can buy 2 pairs for less than the price of the AirPod Pro's.

[@aarontherobberbaron]

4 hours with ANC on is...Nothing.

[@jorisgames9328]

I own the Nothing Ear (a) and so far the transparency mode worked really well for me. I'm not really sure what Linus was talking about saying you can't really hear the enviroment around you, maybe there was noise on the set and the headphones automatically turned down the strength of the transparency mode? But based from my experiences with the headphones so far I'd definitely recommend them.

[@0815dude]

Same for me. They work better than my old headphones (Samsung Galaxy buds+) but I see big room for improvement

[@markshinkai598]

Dbrand is one of those companies that can make me watch the whole ad.

[@Caladas]

The dbrand shenanigans are on point!! Loveit!

[@jarnobot]

Could you review the Fairbuds by Fairphone? I'm interested in them because they have replaceable batteries in both the case and the buds itself, but I would like to know if they sound any good.

[@waffle911]

7:48 If that's a recording from the Ed Sullivan Show era, it's not the earbuds, it's the recording. A lot of early stereo recordings were really heavy on the separation because they were only ever intended to be heard on stereo speakers, never headphones. It took a while for the industry to have the sound crossover between channels for a more natural listening experience on headphones that started becoming more widely used as portable, personal music listening became more attainable with pocket radios and Walkmans.

[@0xTJ]

I really enjoy the dbrand ads, it's rare that I'll upvote a video during the in-video as break.

[@pepperbean243]

DBrand sponsorships: - Linus gets pranked - Linus disses DBrand product control - Linus disses the whole DBrand team - DBrand advertises nothing.

[@xdevs23]

Turning bass enhance off works by now - I tested it on mine (Nothing Ear). I think you should give an update on that. Also, you can reduce the bass in the equalizer as well. One thing I noticed is that the "Advanced" equalizer will be flat when you create a new profile and it sounds like there is a lot less volume but what's actually happening is that the "Simple" equalizer is heavily turned up across all frequencies out of the box so to match it you will have to slide all the sliders at least halfway up and then go from there. Transparency mode works well for me but I prefer keeping ANC off entirely. Also, if you take one earbud out, it will pause the music and automatically turn on transparency mode so that you can still hear the outside world clearly and when you put it back in, it will turn off transparency mode.

[@quality6500]

YES been asking for this amazing video

[@joaosokas5040]

DBRAND: We love your linus pranks. keep em coming :)

[@zechenwei1139]

The audio sounds so bad on this video...

[@MiguelY22]

It must be the room they are in

[@VikingPatriot]

@@MiguelY22 yeah its been happening in all their videos lately it sounds like they are in a really echoey room and they have wacked the bass up

[@TheMasterMakarov]

Taking You"Tube" quite literally it seems

[@spicyweasel]

I thought it was just me. This sounded like I had water in my ear after taking a plunge.

[@DannyBlicher]

The recorded sound on Linus seems off, too sensitive microphone used maybe?

[@MiguelY22]

Yeah even sounds bad listening on my phone

[@macboogieland2897]

5:33 maybe an idea for a techquickie (or whatever channel would be best)? but would love to see a breakdown of how audio really works with bluetooth, and how latency works with all of this. is bluetooth still to stay away from, if one is an audiophile? why are more and more beginner music production devices now including bluetooth? i always thought we are trying to reduce latency as much as possible why is all of this relatively new, in the consumer market, yet wireless microphones have been a thing forever?

[@kalonzo8042]

If you want the bang for your buck then yes, wired is still your best choice.

[@yellowbat79]

that Dbrand punchline was amazing, perfect ad

[@SkylerB17]

I really want Nothing to do well. Ill like be picking up the Phone 2 in the coming weeks. Looking forward to it.

[@marcinkarpiuk7797]

Im using it for half year already and its great phone 😊

[@dpgwalter]

Fantastic device, only hoping that (3) will have a 6.3 inch option as well.

[@Blakeyboy2012]

​@@dpgwalteryeh or even a 3a that's smaller. Just something in between 6.1 and 6.4.

[@honeypeadigital]

Lmfao!!! Best sponsor roll ever!! Just because they show personality when they sponsor you’ll videos, I’m way more inclined to trust them.

[@Isamu27298]

Regarding the waterproofnes of the headphones. My original (first gen) Nothing Earphones and case survived a full wash in the washing machine and still work like a charm

[@savagepro9060]

0:47 a hole new ear-a

[@jacksilverstone7616]

0:45 Absolute genius play on words right there.

[@ChrisHolzer]

labs still unable to do the freq.response graphs?

[@NiTeHaWKnz]

May not be set up for in-ear headphones, yet.

[@leoo3oo768]

In a past labs video they mentioned that their audio testing head can't handle in ear headphones.

[@kcscustom9759]

Bass heavy out of the box honestly sounds great. On almost every headphone/earbud I have ever used I’ve had to crank up the bass to hear any sort of real bass note.

[@Cyranek]

shoutout to dbrand for doing the most

[@willem2099]

Love the design, love the quality, love the price. I got the first ones. the were like 75 or so. Sound not the best, but all the functions in a sick form factor.

[@AliAl1]

I liked when you used to have the graphs comparing anc intensity vs other products :(

[@markharley1012]

The demand ad is the best part

[@mortmortmort8908]

So what you said about the stereo music -- if you were talking about the ed sullivan live performance, it probably was recorded in mono and they made a really terrible stereo mix from it. They did that with a lot of the beatles catalog

[@DudokX]

Basy? I am looking for headphones with good base, love that "subwoofer effect" some of them have but was always disappointed with every wireless i had. It was few years ago so maybe these are actually coming close to the wired ones

[@dranok2431]

I'm surprised Nothing has optional versions of their buds. I thought CMF was their option for their lower end products.

[@Brian-L]

Wondering when they’ll release the nothingburger?

[@dvdmike007]

The CMF buds are the price/performance kings by far.

[@mattBLACKpunk]

Moondrop Space Travel says hi

[@ezrapardede1921]

nah, lower end product have even more competitive products

[@DanVibesTV]

they are also made by Nothing

[@RyanCedric]

The "a" makes anyone who says the name sound canadian lmao

[@AemilianaRosewood]

I still use my nothing ear one ever since I got them in the very first drop. It hasn't been perfect all the time. Not even close. But they still work for just 99€ back then.

[@joshuaflores7621]

I bought these! They’re great so far

[@BenMossWoodward]

I absolutely adore DBrand's marketting with LRR

[@beirch]

Is there a reason why you haven't tested a single pair of Jabra buds (that I could find anyway), and will you test any in the near future?

[@voidtransmits]

I'm curious on your guys' thoughts on Moondrop Space Travels

[@Codyno-rg4xy]

Dbrand is probably the first company to make me want to buy their products via a sponsorship ad

[@cortneywebb1677]

Have had a sinus cold/ sinus infection whatever you wanna call it... feeling decent today. I missed my long run last week. Debating on just getting some base miles in or doing a speed workout in. I don't wanna fall to behind on training plan.

[@that_brick_trooper3794]

I’ve daily driven a pear of (the first) nothing ear and here were of the things i noticed: - the case would break pretty easily. This big square with small hinge couldn’t handle drops very well, unlike other earbuds cases from other brands like apple or sony (both that i’ve used). I also found that somehow ‘particles’ would become stuck between the clear plastic and non-clear parts underneath, giving it a nasty look. - the software was often unreliable. I found myself often annoyed with the earphones when they’d randomly disconnect, and when it (sometimes) reconnected, it often act like only 1 earphone was still in my ear and leave the other one off. The only thing that’d fix it was putting back the earphones in their case and disconnecting them. There were also some other small annoying things with the software, like the noise cancelling sometimes acting out and randomly switching modes - the actual earphones were pretty good. Everything you’d want out of sound you pretty much got. Nothing to remarkable to say the hardware of them than that it was worth the price you were paying for. My conclusion was that the hardware was pretty decent (excet for the case, NOT designed for clumsy people like me, i ended up breaking my hinge) but that the software could use a lot of work. I was relieved when i switched to sony earbuds because of the more stabel software.

[@dpgwalter]

I had the first one too, the 2024 generation improves on the hardware massively (e.g. there's no more space for dust to gather between the transparent and solid plastic) and the software is a far cry too. Haven't had any problem with them since launch.

[@TomasN37]

@@dpgwalterany improvements after recent software updates?

[@johnb0815]

can you include a beanie or pillow test? my sonys stick out quite far, theres no way I can wear a beanie with them. but this kind of in ears look like they should work

[@Henchman1977]

I'm in year 3 of my $30 amazon MPOW earbuds thank you very much.

[@TimCo-xi8dj]

Watching this using the nothing ear, it's so good

[@linglinggd4130]

This has to be the best dbrand prank on Linus

[@horizontal120]

Finally a video that starts with the price the most important part

[@JohnneyleeRollins]

I always wanted open firmware earbuds?

[@CrisCheese_]

just having Nothing ear and ear (a) with yearly upgrades makes a lot of sense actually, to me at least

[@ElliotSimee]

Was the mic setup different for this video? It sounds different.. slightly less.. clear(?) Kinda reverb-y 🤔

[@mistaBorg]

the name is still better than monitor names. there are already a few good tws under 20 dollars that are tuned to harman 2019 and have anc, this set has tough competition.

[@MobiusGT]

it sounds fine and dandy but the galaxy buds pro 2 a can be found under $100 any day of the week

[@JeffDvrx]

the one packing peanut for the piece of paper killed me lol

[@poiipoii31270]

I've bought both the ear (1) and the ear (2) and both pair's transparent casing failed where the glue is.

[@snowontheweb]

Must’ve hired the same people who came up with the awful confusing names for Xbox.

[@Bas1cZ]

I have the nothing ear 1. Great product, sounds great, looks great, but the glue stopped keeping them together after 2 years, and both opened up, like just split open within about 2 weeks of each other. Not sure if they improved that…

[@TheSliderW]

How easy are they to open to replace the batteries ?

[@cmdalbem]

Seems that the bass enhance OFF bug was fixed in the new firmware update (1.0.1.43). Transparency mode seems to have been improved as well.

[@leaphymoon9881]

Just wanted to say woth the water resistance on the Ear box like pair, i forgot mine in my pants and they went through a full cycle in the washer and they still worked 100% afterwards without needing to be treated at all

[@MrCodyminner]

I need some earbuds with pass through for work, but also have noice canceling. Any ideas?

[@_PsychoFish_]

I switched from the Sony WF-1000XM4 to the Nothing Ear 2 and the latter are way better imo, while being almost 100€ cheaper (230€ vs 140€). Edit: Either there was a firmware problem with the review unit or they changed something dramatically, because on the Ear 2 I love the transparency mode. I use it in the office all the time and have no problem hearing people.

[@STANDIEMCSTILLE]

Can you guys review the Bose open ear buds they have.

[@jonmayer]

I have the original Ears and I still love them. I was going to get the Ear2, but I guess I'll go back to the Ear for an upgrade? Hope I don't get ripped off trying to buy them online and don't get the original gen again. What the confusion?

[@vivekpluch]

I bought Ear 2 last year. Don't know what's going on with these. Can't decide if it's worth upgrading or even it's a different product.

[@dave1738]

LMAO that dbrand ad was very good as usual.

[@burhanbudak6041]

Its like Im hearing nothing at all, nothing at all, NOTHING AT ALL.

[@Zukota-jj9nc]

would love to see you guys take a look at headsets and earbuds for JLab

[@kc11988]

What the, I just noticed the earrings. When did Linus started wearing them again?

[@thisdudeisbig5546]

That brand ad was something else XD

[@BlindrHaur]

They are probably going by typical bulleting structure to build hierarchy of models to understand which model is an extension of what.

[@z06dave]

I have the originals and my partner has the 2's. I've had plenty of high end pairs like Sony, Sennheiser etc but these are very comparable and easily exceed their price point. It might not be the very, very best but honestly, for the money these are hard to beat.

[@advancegeo2986]

yo does anyone know what case linus had on his phone that looked hecking cool

[@kindofanmol]

They should've just named them the Ear and Ear Pro

[@jonnathan780]

So, tldr if a good firmware update comes to the earbuds and improves on the transparency mode they are solid earbuds after some decent EQ.

[@BADUNZcraft]

the tiny charging cable is actually so nice that way you don’t have a cable mess just for your case because you don’t have to handle the case while it’s charging.

[@ayooluwakolawole]

It’s gonna be a whole new eara is gold

[@gmoore0727]

We need a comparison between the shokz and Bose new open ear headphones!

[@failuretolaunchdrums]

Love mine - I use them with windows. Airpods pro 2 for my phone.

[@Nemethze19]

What are the names of music they used as samples?

[@aqlord]

"A packing peanut" HAD ME ON THE FLOORRRRRRRRRRRRR

[@SergioRatz]

Damn we got wide Linus today!

[@hawa7264]

The nothing ear - basically, the opposite of an elefant 🥁

[@hawa7264]

Be.. because an elephant is all ears, you know.

[@noneyabizz8337]

Where's the joke?

[@NanneWielinga]

Are there no microphones?? I am missing the most important test: can you have meetings with these things, while someone next to you is in the same meeting. This is the golden standard of microphone isolation.

[@codylox41]

Jokes aside, that DBrand ad will now live in my head