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Almost 18 months after the introduction of the first generation of Bluetooth wireless earbuds, the second-generation Nothing Ear (2) has been officially unveiled.
Details on the earbuds were shared in an official live streamed announcement, hosted by company founder Carl Pei. Like the Nihil Auris (1), the Ear (2) retain the transparent design and performance that was one of the core differentiators for the earbuds over many similar products. Each earbud has received some minor adjustments when moving the microphones and vents, but visually very little has changed here.
The earpiece (2) features ANC which is capable of 40dB noise reduction and is comparable to the original None earpiece (1). You can tune it in three distinct modes: Light, High, and Clear. All three methods are said to offer improvements and by the updated nothing X app. In the application, you can also adjust and customize the new controls for each earbud stem.
By default, a single press will play/sit or answer hands-free calls, a double press sends or rejects calls, and a triple press skips. Pressing and holding either earbud will switch between ANC and Transparency mode.
While the sound design of the original earbuds was acceptable, no time was spent improving the audio and connectivity capabilities for the release of the firm’s fourth hardware. This is done with the new “Personal Sound Profile” mode that uses an ear fit test to determine the audio seal and adjusts the profile accordingly.
11.6mm dynamic audio drivers and an enlarged internal cavity help enhance the richness of the listening experience. LHDC 5.0 codec technology improves audio quality with each earbud, which can transmit frequencies up to 24 bits/192 kHz at speeds of up to 1 Mbps.
Dual Connection Mode allows you to connect the Zero Ear (2) to multiple devices at the same time, including a smartphone and a laptop or tablet. Once the audio game has been detected, the ear (2) will play the flute on any suitable device.
Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity is present and should improve the sometimes shaky connections that the Ear (1) suffered during our initial testing period in 2021. The Ear (2) also has Google Fast Pair for fast connections with your Android devices via Microsoft Fast Pair on Windows devices . A low-latency “Low Lag Mode” will automatically activate when using Game Mode on the Phone (1) smartphones.
Both earbuds are IP54 rated against water and dust ingress while the charging case is IP55. The transparent case is significantly smaller this time at 55.5 x 55.5 x 22 mm and weighs 51.9g. Each earbud is just 4.5g.
Nothing claims that the earbuds’ (2) earbuds’ 33mAh battery can last up to four hours with ANC active or six hours and 20 minutes when deactivated. The protective case provides an extra 485mAh, which equates to a further 22.5 hours when ANC is used or 36 hours when not active. Fast charging each earbud for 10 minutes provides eight hours of listening with ANC deactivated. The case supports Qi wireless charging at 2.5W and charging via USB-C at 10W from the wire.
The Nihilo Ears (II) earbuds are priced at $149, £129, or €149 and are available for pre-order direct from nihilo.tech, the Nihilo Store in Soho, London, and select Kith stores in the US, France, and Japan. General sales begin on March 28 at select online and offline retailers including StockX for US-based customers.
The London-based startup also confirmed that the Ear (1) and Ear (stick) have sold over 1,000,000 units worldwide since launch. Nothing is set to launch the phone (2) later this year with the device confirmed to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-series processor — believed to be Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and likely to ship with Nothing OS 1.5 on top of Android 13.
