Nothing has never been a company that follows the traditional rules of consumer technology. Since they first burst onto the scene with their transparent aesthetic, they’ve consistently challenged the boring, iterative updates we see from other brands. The London-based company has built its brand on making technology fun again and I love its point of difference.

Its (a) series has always been the fun sister of its flagship line, designed for a generation that sees its devices as an extension of its personality.^{. Now we have Nothing Ear (3a), the next evolution in their range of affordable and best-selling wireless headphones..}

Hidden within these transparent stems is a feature that completely flips the script on what wireless earbuds can actually do. We’re talking built-in flash storage and native audio recording right from your ears.

It sounds a little ridiculous until you use it and then wonder why no one else has done it yet. Let’s delve into what motivates these wacky new buds.

Design

The Ear (3a) takes the transparent design language Nothing is famous for and injects it with a big dose of personality.^{. This year, an expressive pink color combination joins the signature line of black, white and yellow.. The new tone is bold and unabashedly loud, and fits perfectly with the fun summary of the series(a)..}

The charging case has undergone a significant redesign, moving away from the square boxes of the past. Nothing calls it Party Pill, taking inspiration from bubble pill containers and shrink-wrapped art.^{. The result is a smoother, rounded silhouette that feels really great to hold in your hand..}

It closes with a hidden magnetic closure and the hinges open smoothly over stainless steel hardware.^{. Inside the case, you’ll find a new 1×3 LED status light array. This clever little addition gives you instant visual feedback on battery levels, pairing progress, and charging status through unique light patterns..}

It’s a massive usability improvement that saves you from having to constantly check the companion app just to see if your friends are dying. The earbuds retain the iconic transparent stems that allow you to take a look at the internal circuitry.^{. They are incredibly light, at only 4.53 grams per bud..}

Comfort has always been Nothing’s strong point and they’ve made it even better by including a new extra small ear tip option.^{. This liquid silicone tip ensures a secure seal for those who often have difficulty with standard sizes.. Durability is also handled well, with an IP54 rating protecting the buds from dust and water..}

You can confidently take them on a sweaty run or get caught in a sudden downpour without stress. The company even tested the case by leaving it up to 75 degrees Celsius for 96 hours.^{. This is a reassuring metric for anyone who accidentally leaves their tech in a hot Australian car during the summer.}

Performance

When you try budget headphones, you usually expect some compromises in sound quality. The Ear (3a) firmly rejects that notion. Nothing has upgraded the custom internal driver to a 12-millimeter unit, which is noticeably larger than the previous generation’s 11-millimeter driver. This extra size allows the driver to move more air, resulting in up to 5 decibels more powerful bass frequencies. You really feel that force when you listen to electronic tracks or heavy bass lines. Most importantly, it doesn’t cloud the rest of the soundstage.

Thanks to a lightweight, aerospace-grade PMI diaphragm, vocals and upper instruments remain incredibly clear and detailed.^{. Audio cuts are backed by Hi-Res Audio certification and LDAC support.. This enables high-quality audio streaming up to 24-bit/96kHz, meaning your lossless streaming tracks will truly sound like the artist intended..}

You also get Static Spatial Audio, a new feature on the (a) series that expands traditional stereo sound to a wider 3D virtual field. It makes watching movies or listening to live performances much more immersive.

Active noise cancellation has also received a big boost. The Ear (3a) offers up to 45 decibels of wideband active noise cancellation. Nada achieved this through a denser acoustic mesh and an improved algorithm that targets everyday ambient noise. It’s particularly effective at crushing sounds between 400Hz and 2000Hz, which is right where traffic hums and office conversations are located.

If you need to be aware of your surroundings, Transparency Mode feels natural and allows the outside world to filter back in without that strange robotic echo that some cheaper headphones suffer from.

Call quality is equally impressive, aided by no less than three microphones on each bud that work with an AI noise reduction system trained on 28 million scenarios to isolate your voice. Easily cut through the chaos of windy streets or crowded trains.

Battery life is a key consideration for me when purchasing headphones and luckily there is good news here. The Ear (3a) matches the competition, offering up to 10 hours of continuous playback with headphones (with noise cancellation disabled), slightly less with headphones on. Since there’s a small 500mAh battery inside the Party Pill case, you get an impressive 42 hours of total listening time, allowing for multiple recharges before having to search for a cable.

Turn on noise cancellation and you’ll still get a very respectable 6 hours with the earbuds and 25 hours total with the case. When you finally run dry, a quick five-minute charge is enough to give you a full hour of playback.

Connectivity is solid thanks to Bluetooth 6.0 and the setup experience is a breeze. Dual device connection is also supported, allowing you to seamlessly switch between your phone and your laptop or desktop.

Characteristics

The Nothing Ear (3a) headphones are packed with features, an impressive amount given their affordable price.

There are a lot of settings in the mobile app, including setting up controls. The stems of the earbuds feature touch-sensitive controls that allow you to set everything from a single, double, and even triple press and finally the settings to press and hold each earbud.

Something I haven’t experienced before is the ability to use a combination of pressing both earbuds at the same time to perform a completely different function. This is a really creative setup, which still allows them to avoid adding a bunch of confusing buttons.

Nothing has shoved 32MB of built-in flash storage directly into the headphones. This hardware supports two incredibly unique features that could change the way you interact with audio content. The first one is called Audio Snapshot. Think of it like taking a screenshot, but for sound. Whether you’re listening to a fascinating podcast, a college lecture, or a killer new song, you can simply pinch in both earbuds at the same time.

The Ear (3a) will instantly trim up to a minute of media you’re listening to^{. Brilliantly, the system is always storing in the background. This means that your audio snapshot can capture the 30 seconds of audio that was played before you even activated recording..}

It’s an absolute game-changer for those moments when someone says something profound and you wish you’d been recording it. The second important feature is the native call recording. With a simple pinch of the headphones during a call or meeting, you can start recording the conversation directly on the headphones for up to two hours.^.

No need to take out your phone or play with third-party apps. To maintain transparency and ethics, an audio message is played to alert all participants that recording has begun. All your audio snapshots and call recordings are automatically synced to the Nothing X app and can also be synced off the device if you sign in with an account like your Google account.

Once your recordings are synced to the app, things get even smarter. You can play, edit and speed up your audio clips. Nothing includes even three months of their Pro Transcription service for free, giving you 120 minutes of highly accurate text generation each month. You can turn key moments into shareable appointment cards or generate summaries of your long meetings.

As cool as the feature is, you won’t be replacing your DJI Mic Mini with these anytime soon, audio is recorded and can be transcribed at the touch of a button, but it’s not the clearest I’ve heard.

In the mobile app, you can also tweak an 8-band equalizer that’s fun to play with, and even download additional audio settings.

For those who regularly leave their headphones in a pocket, on the back of the couch, under the pillow, then use the app to easily locate your lost headphones and update their firmware.

Problems and opportunities

While there is a lot to love about hearing (3a), not everything is completely perfect. Although noise cancellation has an Adaptive mode, it does not adapt to the conversations around you. On more expensive headphones or earbuds, you simply start talking, or someone talks to you, and audio playback stops, simplifying a transaction like grabbing a coffee, without having to manually reach for the controls. Unfortunately, that’s not offered here, but for the price, it’s perfectly understandable.

Built-in storage is a great innovation, but once you start using it, 32MB may fill up faster than you think. You’ll need to be diligent about syncing your headphones with the Nothing X app to ensure you don’t run out of space mid-way through an important meeting. It is possible to log in to the Nothing app with your Google account and sync the headphone recordings.

Price and availability

Nothing Ear (3a) is now available for purchase, having officially launched on Tuesday, July 7.^{. You can grab a pair directly through Nothing’s official website.}

They come at an incredibly reasonable price of AU$179, which seems like an absolute bargain considering the hardware and features packed inside.^{. You have four eye-catching color combinations to choose from, including the classic black and white, updated yellow, and the new pink option..}

In general

Nothing has made a name for itself by challenging the status quo, and Ear (3a) is perhaps the most successful execution of that philosophy to date. They took a category that was starting to feel stagnant and injected it with genuine hardware innovation.

For A$179, you get headphones with a massive 12-millimeter driver, excellent wideband active noise cancellation, and a battery that simply refuses to quit. That alone would make them an easy recommendation for anyone shopping in the under two hundred dollar range.

The new built-in storage and Audio Snapshot feature are great, but overall they’re also great headphones for enjoying music, calls, podcasts, audiobooks, and giving you hands-free access to your voice assistant (hopefully an LLM).

Nothing has done it again, another great product worthy of your attention and purchasing consideration.

For more information, go to Nada.