If you spend most of your time commuting, walking around, or exercising, the Nothing Ear Open earbuds are worth considering. These open-ear-style earbuds rest securely in your outer ear rather than inside of your ear canals, allowing you to more easily hear what’s going on around you at all times. Right now, they’re matching their all-time low of $99 ($50 off) at Amazon with a Prime membership and Nothing’s online storefront.
The Nothing Ear Open join the growing market of open-ear options, which also includes the pricier Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 and Bose Ultra Open. These models all feature designs that prioritize safety over sound quality. Rather than forming a seal in your ear for passive sound isolation, Nothing’s wireless earbuds always let ambient noise in. For runners and cyclists, that means being able to hear vehicles, pedestrians, and other potential hazards. That being said, if you wear glasses like I do, the over-the-ear style can sometimes be difficult to wear with thicker frames, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Although Nothing’s earbuds can’t match the audio quality of modern in-ear models, the design of each speaker module helps minimize sound leakage. Meanwhile, each earbud includes a pair of microphones and Nothing’s latest noise-canceling technology, so your voice should sound crystal clear during phone calls. The earbuds also support multipoint Bluetooth and a “Low Lag Mode” for gaming, which can automatically activate if you own a Nothing Phone. Otherwise, you can activate the mode through Nothing’s mobile app.
When it comes to battery life, Nothing says the earbuds get up to eight hours on a full charge, with a total of 30 hours with the charging case. Unfortunately, the case doesn’t support wireless charging, though a quick 10-minute charge over USB-C should provide two hours of listening time.