NothingEar (Open)

Open-ear
Wireless

£125Typical price

Test score

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As the name indicates, the Nothing Ear (open) has ‘open-ear’ headphone technology. The idea is that rather than completely blocking out external noise, they blend it with what you’re listening to. Nothing headphones always come with a stylish and distinctive design, but they don’t always match that with top-quality performance in our test lab. See how these open-ear headphones fared in our Nothing Ear (open) review.

pros

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cons

What's included?

What are they?
How do they sound?
What are they like to live with?
How long does the battery last?
Is there anything else I should know?
Should I buy them?

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KEY TEST RESULTS
Sound quality
Comfort

Mar 2025First reviewed by Which?
Oct 2024Released

The overall Which? test score is made up of the following star ratings, all determined by our rigorous lab tests.

A sound measurement setup featuring a mannequin wearing headphones, a microphone on a tripod, and a textured white wall.

How we test headphones

3 Nov 2025

Sound quality

Overall
Speech sound quality
Classical sound quality
Jazz sound quality
Rock sound quality

How we test sound quality

We rate sound quality using a professional panel of expert listeners with a range of ages and musical tastes. They listen to samples that cover a wide range of music and radio genres, giving a rating per recording and an overall verdict.

Microphone quality

How we test microphone quality

We test the quality of the speech picked up by the microphone on the product. We test it with and without background noise to come up with a verdict.

Comfort

How we test comfort

Our professional panel of listeners assess the comfort of the product.

Durability

How we test durability

Our lab professionals assess how well built the headphones are. We drop the products onto a stone floor from a height of 1.8 metres to test their robustness. We also put them through identical rain tests for five minutes to see if they are water resistant.

Battery life

How we test battery life

We play sounds continuously at a reasonable volume until the battery runs out. We replicate how you are likely to use the headphones, such as with noise cancelling enabled. Since wireless headphones are convenient, battery life doesn't affect our overall score for a pair of headphones (although anything particularly bad we'd make a Don't Buy).

General
Type	Open-ear
Powered from battery	Yes
Type of battery	Lithium Ion Built in Battery
Wireless or wired	Wireless
Weight	16g
Headphone controls	Yes
L and R present	Yes
Headphones fold	No
Battery life	440 mins

Features
Noise cancelling	No
Sports headphones	Yes
Truly wireless	Yes

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