Nothing has always made waves with their approach to tech. Sometimes it’s just water sloshing at your feet, but is 2025 the year where the waves builds up to a tsunami? The latest gear the Carl Pei lead brand on my review bench is the Nothing Ear (3).
I handed these to my teenager who is loudly opinionated when it comes to enjoyment of his music, just to see what his thoughts are.
Sound Quality: Unfiltered Teen Review
To be fair, Master L isn’t particularly fussed on looks so we will circle back to that. This is his opinion on the sound quality unfiltered (other than fixing up some 15 year old English.)
From the moment you begin using them, the sound quality is genuinely marvellous. The acoustic profile is carefully tuned to avoid favouring one frequency range over another, creating a rich, versatile soundscape suitable for any genre. I quickly fell in love with the sheer reliability of the audio delivery – the earbuds never missed fine details, nor did they allow one voice in a complex duet to drown out the other, even at remarkably low volumes.
To truly test its capabilities and consistent focus on vocal clarity and detail, I ran the Ear (3) through a concentrated playlist of tracks, yielding exceptional results across the board.
The standout was “RTRT (Key Ingredient ver.)” by Mili. Here, the earbuds’ ability to capture small, otherwise hard-to-notice sonic textures shone brightly, managing to distinctly reproduce the vocal recreation of classical instruments, thus providing an overall level of audio fidelity that few earbuds that I have been using can match.
This consistent performance continued with “Peach Pit and Cyanide”, a newer, vibrant and intense song by the same artist.
This track, which features strong bass contrasted with a high-pitched duet, was captured with grace. The Ear (3) expertly balanced these extremes, allowing both the powerful low end and the clear, high-pitched voice to be heard simultaneously, proving a notable step up from the crowd.
In testing low-volume detail, the slower “Lipshards” track, which features sudden bouts of speed and intensity, delivered a surprising challenge. Again the Ear (3) delivered, matching the song’s complex level of detail and providing the delectable crisp audio I was seeking, even when the volume is turned down.
Lastly for the sake of consistency, I returned to the personal favourite “Ga1ahad and Scientific Witchery”. The separation between the two voices in this duet was flawless, and the clear, crisp instrumental backing track made for a wonderful experience. A final testament to the excellent quality the Ear (3) consistently provides.
The Calling Experience: Built-in Mic & Super Mic
That’s the take on the listening experience, but how does the talking experience look?
Built-in Mic: A Fiddly Fit for Clarity
How they fit in your ear, is key to the quality of the mic pick up. Unfortunately for me, it took a lot of fidgeting to get an acceptable outcome. At the initial stages, I was told that I was completely garbled or inaudible more often than not. This was quite an inconvenience for me.
However when I did get the fit and position just right, the microphone quality was excellent.
Super Mic: A Brilliant but Fussy Innovation
The innovative feature with the Nothing Ear (3) is the Super Mic – a microphone built into the charging case designed to improve on the quality of the voice pickup compared to the earbuds.
Look you have to give props to Nothing for trying, rather than following the same designs as everyone else. The Super Mic in the case requires you to hold the case up to your lips, much like talking into a walkie-talkie.
It is a bit counterintuitive, as you would consider earbuds are to give your hands freedom from holding your phone (or other audio devices!) in your hands. But that said, Nothing is not forcing anyone to hold the case and talk into it, it is an offering to improve the quality of recorded sound.
The actual use of the Super Mic should come with a warning label. If the quality is less than impressive, then in the words of the late Steve Jobs, “You’re holding it wrong.”
The Super Mic is sensitive to a few things – how you hold the case for starters. If the microphone is positioned incorrectly to pick up your voice, or partly covered, then you are going to end up with garbage.
But when all the stars line up? It can deliver a much more natural voice than the built-in microphone on the earbuds themselves.
In an extremely noisy environment – think side of a busy highway, noisy pub where you are pretending to be in the office working, it is actually super effective at noise cancelling. The problem though, is if you get out of alignment with the stars, then the gig is totally up.
You can hold a great power in your hand with the Super Mic, especially if you prefer to take voice memos or voice-to-text functions.
Design & Aesthetics: Distinctive Nothing Style
From a design aesthetics, the Nothing Ear (3) stands out from the crowd.
To begin with, they come in a square case with a clear cover so you can see the buds inside (or not if you have misplaced them). A “window” is also on the bottom of the case so you can quickly determine if your earbuds are home either way.
There are some dimples on the clear case cover to help keep the ear buds in position, and the three circles look a bit like Mickey Mouse.
The Nothing Ear (3) are docked at an angle to the case, with the charging pin on the elongated handle side rather than on the buds like many other competitors.
The Glaring Caveats: Case, Comfort, and Buttons
There are a few things I would complain about.
The case can feels a little delicate and cheap. I always worry that I could scratch it, particularly on the clear side.
It seems my thumb is a magnet for the Super Mic button. I find myself pressing it constantly by accident. It can also be activate from bouncing around in a bag.
It can be uncomfortable to hold the case to the lips to talk for an extended period.
Battery Life and Fast Charging
At a high level, the battery life for the Nothing Ear (a) is in the running with the competitors.
Just how much airtime you can squeeze out of it depends on what features you opt to turn on – ANC and LDAC codec in particular will be battery draining culprits.
With ANC off, you are looking at up to 10 hours play time.
With ANC on, it is cut by just under half to 5.5 hours.
Calling with ANC on? About 4 hours.
Using the Super Mic heavily? That will also put a dent in the battery life.
On the bright side, Nothing quotes some insane numbers for Fast Charging. A 5 minute charge gives an hour of play time (ANC off), and 10 minutes charge gives 10 hours of play time with ANC off. I didn’t test the latter but that seems wild.
Charging is done via the case, with USB-C and with Qi Wireless Charging support.
Verdict: A Tsunami of Sound, a Ripple in Call Quality
Overall after much extensive listening to music, Master L came to the conclusion that the Nothing Ear (3) offers an unique design, comfortable fit with excellent sound.
For him though, the built-in mic was very hit and miss, with more misses than hits.
However if high-quality, balanced audio is your priority and call performance is secondary, the Ear (3) is an easy recommendation. It delivers a refined, reliable listening experience that consistently punches above its weight. Minus the mic, of course.
The Nothing Ear (3) is available directly from Nothing Tech, JB Hi-Fi and Officeworks, with a RRP A$299
DRN would like to thank Nothing for providing the review unit.
