Most true wireless earbuds are pretty amazing for their size, delivering not just excellent audio but impressive ANC and a rich set of features, too. Problem is, the size also limits the kind of microphones you can fit in them, so they’re rarely the best-sounding if you like taking phone calls on your earbuds. The Nothing Ear (3) offers a pretty unique solution.
While the actual earbuds use similar mic arrays as other products in the category (they’re pretty size-limited), it does put a much better mic setup on the charging case instead. Want to make sure you sound better on video calls? Just pick up the charging case and use it when you’re talking. Sure, that’s not exactly as convenient as just using the onboard mics (imagine having to do that while you’re running), but it does give you a way to sound better if that’s something you want.
The Nothing Ear (3) has a slightly revamped design that, the outfit claims, improves the signal sensitivity to further minimize audio dropouts. The same design should also allow the earbuds to fit better, complete with internal venting to reduce in-ear pressure, so it’s overall more comfortable to keep on for long periods. It maintains the mostly transparent styling that’s been reinforced with some metallic accents for an overall aesthetic that stays true to the styling of previous iterations.
Inside, it gets larger 12mm dynamic drivers (compared to 11mm from the last generation), which supposedly reduces distortion and improves the bass response. Each earbud also packs three directional microphones and a bone-conduction voice pickup unit, with the latter being used to further enhance clarity during calls. Of course, if you really want to sound good during calls, you might as well pick up the charging case and hit the “Talk” button, which activates the built-in Super Mic, a beamforming mic setup that, the outfit claims, supports better noise cancellation up to 95dB, a big step up from the 25dB cancellation effected by the mics on the earbuds. That means, it will do a much better job of removing all sounds that are not your voice, which should make the audio pickup so much clearer.
The Nothing Ear (3) comes with ANC, of course, although the outfit’s ANC has never really been as good as the best ones in the category and we don’t expect that to change all that much here. They do claim to have improved it, though, with the ANC now adjusting every 600 milliseconds and delivering up to 45 dB of noise reduction effective to 5kHz, while constantly checking for fit-related leakage. Battery life is rated at 5.5 hours with ANC activated, with another 22 hours available from the charging case. Yes, there’s fast charging, allowing you to get an hour’s worth of charge by simply placing the buds inside the case for five minutes.
It works with the companion Nothing X app for equalizer customization, gesture control settings, and firmware updates. Users can also use the app to sync and transcribe recordings made using the Super Mic.
The Nothing Ear (3) is available now, priced at $179.
