Over the past few weeks we’ve had the pleasure of getting to work with the new Nothing Ear Stick. They sound great, especially compared to the Nothing Ear 1s, but WANT editor Dennis Mons does now have doubts about the shape of his (big) ears.
Nothing Technology Limited is a curious and intriguing brand. In 2021, CEO Carl Pei announced he was standing on his own two feet after co-founding smartphone brand OnePlus. And it was immediately clear: Nothing really is a different beast from the rest after all.
Nothing Ear 1 versus Nothing Ear Stick
At least my attention was caught. So I was one of the first to buy the original Nothing Ear 1s for only 99 euros (later they became more expensive). I was incredibly happy with those in-ears, despite some drawbacks.
The nice thing was that they sounded excellent for the price, the see-through design of the caps and the box was intriguing, and they were darn comfortable. Hence, my interest was also piqued by the company’s latest product: the Nothing Ear Stick.
The lipstick earbuds of Nothing
The first thing you notice is the (again) intriguing design of the Nothing Ear Stick. It is a cylinder that rotates open to access the tips. It also has a red detail around the USB-C connector, and it feels premium. An absolutely unique design.
The shame of the case, however, is that it doesn’t fit into the watch pocket of your jeans very easily (a bit of an unwritten rule). In addition, dirt is not easy to remove if you accidentally turn it into the cylinder.
Other than that, the earbuds look remarkably the same as the first Ear. The protrusions, as I’ll call them, are a bit longer. But that has a function: Nothing has improved touch controls more strongly compared to the Ear 1, which still sometimes faltered.
In fact, those would pause every so often when I ate something, despite the fact that I had touch control turned off. This is no longer the case with the Stick, and touch controls can again be set in the accompanying app.
But how do they sound?
In short: extremely impressive for earbuds in this price range (they cost 119 euros) with hefty bass and balanced highs, trebles and mids. This is also partly due to the fact that the drivers have been improved from the first Ear.
In addition, the Stick has a so-called on ear design, which means you don’t stuff caps in your ears, but they rest in your ear. This gives a much more spacious, full sound. I myself also use open back on ears from Teufel (Cage) and that still gives sound a different dimension. Clever that Nothing approaches that considerably with the Stick.
That sound, by the way, as with the first Ear, can be set accordingly in the Nothing X app. There you’ll find information about the headset, for example, and you can adjust your own equalizer settings. I can’t say other than that this works peerlessly.
Weird ears for the Nothing Ear Stick
Here comes the biggest drawback (in my case): I have weird ears? Unlike the Ear 1’s, the Stick gives replaceable rubber caps. So if they don’t fit properly, you’re out of luck. I constantly walked around feeling like they would fall out of my flappies, so exercising with them was not an option for me. (Or in other words, a great excuse not to exercise, but soit.)
Also, the on ear design is rather “bleed” prone. If you’re on the train with it and you’re blaring some music, chances are that the compartment can enjoy it with you. So you may get quite a few stares. On the other hand, they will see that you are enjoying very special earbuds.
Another point to note: the Stick has no noise cancellation or transparency mode. En sich not an insurmountable fact, and some people like to have some of the outside world with them.
Still, I am of the opinion that it really should have been optional anyway since the Ear 1’s do it so well.
(Image: Mark Hofman / WANT)
Still, they are my number one choice on a walk, or when using them in the office or at home: they really do sound better than their predecessor. On a busy rush hour train, however, I still prefer the Ear 1s because they don’t pop out of my ears and have noise cancellation (which is nice).