Nothing launches Ear (stick), a (cheaper) pair of headphones without ANC

It’s pretty clear now why Nothing Ear (1) headphones have been unexpectedly expensive. The Nothing company has announced the launch of the second pair of true wireless headphones in its portfolio, called Ear (stick). It uses a new design for the charging box and forgoes some of the original model’s capabilities to come in at a lower price point. Except that the “low” price, is even higher than what the Ear (1) was available for last year and up until a few days ago, before the price hike.

Ear (stick) retains some of the Ear (1) design, but drops some features

If in 2021 you could buy Nothing Ear (1) for €99, on in-ear format and with ambient noise cancellation, in 2022, that model costs €150. At a lower price you now get Nothing’s new Ear (stick), in a different, longer but narrower charging case, on “classic” format, i.e. not in-ear. This puts them in direct competition with Apple’s AirPods 2 and 3 rather than other popular pairs of headphones.

Nothing Ear (stick) are lighter, at 4.4 grams per earphone, but are still equipped with high-performance 12.6mm diameter speakers, some of the largest on the market. The headphones are also equipped with technology that can measure how much sound is lost due to lack of isolation, which can automatically adjust the equaliser to give the best possible sound, while the antenna is now improved to ensure the most stable connection. There’s also Clear Voice technology to reduce ambient noise on calls.

In terms of battery life, the headphones promise up to 29 hours total, with all the power stored in the charging case. In normal music listening, the battery life will be 7 hours, in calls 3 hours, and the charging box will offer another 22 hours in total.

It will launch in stores on 4 November for €120.