Nothing’s Ear Stick will skip the active noise cancellation, instead going for a fit and style the company says is good for effortless all-day wear.
Designing the perfect pair of truly wireless earphones isn’t easy, because you’re always going to divide people.
For instance, some people just prefer the simplicity of an earbud, while others might warm up to an earphone tip. Others again might prefer a combination between the two, with a design that holds in the ear, but doesn’t block the canal.
There’s no “right” way to design an earphone, and some earphone options have gone beyond comfort becoming something else entirely, wearing down your ear with a larger earpiece than you might otherwise come to expect. However, comfort is one thing Nothing’s latest pair is focusing on, with a design the company says is meant to sit “less intrusively in the ear canal”, and tested on over 100 people.
It’s just one side of what Nothing is doing in its second pair of earphones, the Nothing Ear (Stick). Different from Nothing’s first pair of earphones, the Ear Stick won’t be a pair of truly wireless earphones with active noise cancellation tech onboard like the Ear 1 earphones. They’ll skip out on noise blocking, and also on the tuning from Teenage Engineering seen in the Ear 1, covering that area by Nothing itself.
What they are focused on is design, with an earbud style wrapped around a massive 12.6mm driver, plus some software that Nothing says measures the ear canal shape and fit of the earbuds, optimising the bass performance throughout.
While there’s no noise cancelling tech on-board, the Nothing Ear (Stick) will include three microphones to cancel out background noises, wind, and crowds during calls, and there’s a low latency connection mode for gamers, as well. Plus there’s a stick style of a charging case boasting 22 hours of battery life with up to 7 in the earbuds themselves.
“As we’re about to cross one million products sold worldwide, I can’t wait for people to get their hands on our third product, Ear (stick),” said Carl Pei, CEO and Co-founder of Nothing.
“It balances comfort while delivering our most advanced sound experience to date. The case is inspired by lipstick silhouettes and features a unique, yet functional, twist opening,” he said.
Nothing’s approach for a lipstick-inspired earbud case isn’t totally new, with Huawei trying something similar to that earlier this year. However, Nothing is bringing with it the transparency-inspired approach to design, making the earbuds stand out just that little bit more.
Their US price also aims to attract, with the Ear Stick set to sell for $99 in the US, which translates to an Australian RRP of $179 locally. Factor in sales tax and that’s about where it probably should be, though we’re sure the sub-$100 US price tag is a touch more marketing friendly than just under $200 locally. Australians keen to grab a pair can find them from Nothing’s website when they launch on November 4.
