Nothing Ear (2) Truly Wireless Headphones Review

The design is nearly identical to the Nothing Ear (1) Truly Wireless. The body is made of transparent plastic that lets you see all the inner components. The part of the buds that goes in and on your ear is covered in white silicone. They only come in one variant: 'Black/White'.

These are comfortable earbuds. They don't fit too deep or put pressure on your ear. Their lightweight build won't cause fatigue over time either, and the three sizes of included ear tips will help you get the best fit.

These in-ears have a good control scheme. The sensor is touch-based and found on the bottom of the stem. The buds produce a chime each time you squeeze the stem, as well as when you reach the lowest/max volume settings. One drawback is that the buds don't have volume controls by default, but you can change this in the companion app.

On either stem:

• Single pinch: Plays and pauses audio. Also answers and ends calls.
• Double pinch: Declines calls and plays the next track.
• Triple pinch: Plays the previous track.
• Pinch and hold: Cycles between ANC on and transparency mode. You can also add the 'off' control via the companion app.
• Double pinch and hold: No action by default, but you can set this to activate the voice assistant via the companion app.

These earbuds are superbly portable. They don't take up much space in your pocket or bag.

The carrying case is great. Like that of its predecessor, the Nothing Ear (1) Truly Wireless, the case supports Qi Wireless charging. However, while it otherwise still has mostly the same look, this model's case has a more premium feel and an upgraded plastic construction. It's certified IP55 for resistance against dust as well as water splashes, and there's a slight difference in the case's dimensions compared to their predecessor, which you can see here and here.

These earbuds have great build quality. The plastic quality on the buds and case feel like an upgrade from their previous iteration. The case is rated IP55, and the buds are rated IP54 for protection against dust and water splashes. Their ANC mic has also changed placement, as you can see here.

These earbuds have good stability. They stay in place during both moderate and intense exercise, making them a good option for the gym. If you're shaking your head a lot during a run or while dancing in your apartment, they'll likely fall out.

• Nothing Ear (2) earbuds
• Charging case
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable
• 3x ear tips
• Manuals

The Nothing Ear (2) have a fairly neutral sound profile. We tested the 'Balanced' EQ preset, which is well-suited for most kinds of audio content. You can see how each EQ preset performs here.

Due to a fitting issue when testing these earbuds, the graph shows less bass than is audible. In reality, there's plenty of thump, punch, and boom to suit genres like hip-hop and EDM. However, the mid-mid suffers from an underemphasis, making vocals and instruments sound pushed to the back of the mix. Fortunately, sibilants, like cymbals, sound bright and clear. We noticed a difference in the frequency response with ANC turned on/off, which you can see here. Most noticeable is a difference in the dip between the high-bass and mid-mid. With ANC off, it's a deeper underemphasis, meaning vocals and instruments sound pushed further back and thin. With ANC on, the dip's much flatter, so audio in this range is a bit fuller and better balanced. If you'd like to adjust the mix, their companion app has a graphic EQ and presets to help personalize your listening experience.

The frequency response consistency is outstanding. Our method of activating the "wear" sensor on headphones has improved from the Nothing Ear (1) Truly Wireless, now using a silicone cover instead of a copper wire to trick the buds into thinking they're sensing real skin. This has resulted in a much more accurate reading this time around, and, despite their different scores, it also more accurately represents the frequency response consistency of their predecessor. If you get the right fit with the included ear tips, you'll experience consistent bass and treble delivery.

The bass accuracy is fantastic. Due to a fitting issue on our test rig, the graph shows less low bass than there is. Rest assured that the range is well-balanced and ensures tracks have plenty of thump, punch, and boom without overwhelming the rest of the mix.

The mid accuracy is great. In tracks like Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust, the mellow synths and vocals in the chorus sound clear and full. However, an underemphasis in the mid-mid pushes them to the back of the mix.

The treble accuracy is excellent. Instruments and vocals, like the piano and guitar in After the Cosmic Rain by Chick Corea, sound detailed and present. Sibilants, like cymbals, sound a little dull due to a slight underemphasis in the mid-treble.

The peaks and dips performance is great. The slight dip in the low-bass is due to a fitting issue during testing and isn't audible with real-life content. What is audible, however, is a wide dip in the mid-mid that pushes vocals and instruments further to the back of the mix. A tall peak in the mid-treble also makes sibilants, like cymbals, piercing.

These earbuds have good imaging performance. While this manufacturer only has a couple of products on the market, they tend to have good ergonomics and quality control. Group delay falls below the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. However, our unit's L/R drivers have some noticeable mismatches in their phase response. The mid-mid range has a minor, yet audible, imbalance in the phase response that makes voices sound somewhat unnatural. While the peak in the low-treble is hard to spot with real-life content, the imbalance in the mid-treble makes sound feel like it's shifted to the left side. Keep in mind that imaging can vary between units.

Being in-ear headphones, they have a bad passive soundstage. Sound is delivered directly into your ear canal and doesn't interact with the outer ear, which is necessary to create an immersive soundstage. The result is audio that feels like it's coming from inside your head rather than all around you.

The weighted harmonic distortion is great. All frequencies fall within good levels, ensuring clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test these earbuds. Our results are only valid when using them in this configuration.

Noise isolation performance is decent. You can set the ANC to 'High/Mid/Low' or 'Adaptive'. We took measurements for 'High' as well as 'Adaptive', and found they perform about the same. We also tried lengthening our sweep to see if this made the 'Adaptive' mode work better but didn't find any significant changes.

While the 'High' setting is successful at isolating you from some background noise, these earbuds don't perform as well as the Nothing Ear (1) Truly Wireless or Beats Studio Buds + True Wireless. They can't block out as much bass-range noise like a rumbly bus engine. They do a better job of blocking out noise in the mid-range, like nearby conversations. Their treble performance is just okay, so you're likely to still hear residual noise from a whiny PC fan.

The leakage performance is great. If you work in a moderately noisy office, coworkers are likely to hear escaping audio when played at high volumes. However, since it's mostly concentrated in the treble range, it sounds thin and isn't as noticeable.

The mic's recording quality is reasonable. The integrated microphone makes your voice sound present and understandable but very thin and distorted.

The mic has a good noise handling performance. Your voice is well-separated from the background in moderately noisy environments like a busy office, but vocal quality is slightly affected by loud noises, like a car horn or passing subway. Thankfully, your voice is never completely drowned out by background noise.

The battery performs passably. While the manufacturer advertises them to last 6.3 hours continuously with ANC on, we only measured 5.6 hours, which won't get you through a long workday or flight without needing a top-up. Fortunately, they have four extra charges in the case, maxing the total battery life out to nearly 30 hours. They also have a fast charge feature that gives you two hours of power without ANC after ten minutes, which is about 1.5 hours with ANC on. Unfortunately, they don't have any power-saving features like auto-off.

Their companion app is good. It's not the same app as the Nothing Ear (1) Truly Wireless, so you'll need to download the new app if you're upgrading. You can customize the control scheme, adjust the ANC settings, and turn on/off some of the buds' unique features like 'Low Latency' mode, in-ear detection, and a custom ANC setting. Thanks to firmware update 1.0.1.102, you'll also get access to an 'Advanced EQ' in addition to the default 3-band graphic EQ. This advanced EQ is a combination graphic/parametric EQ, giving you much more control over their sound. They also have a feature that personalizes the sound profile based on the shape of your ear. Lastly, they have a 'Find my Earbuds' feature to help you locate them when lost. You can see the app in action here. Additionally, if you own a phone made by Nothing, you don't need to download an app, as all these features are built into the phone's OS.

These earbuds have a great Bluetooth performance. While they support multi-device pairing, audio can't play simultaneously between devices. You need to turn the audio off on your first device before the other can play. They have high latency on PCs and mobile devices on their default setting but, fortunately, have a 'Low Latency' mode advertised to reduce audio lag. While this setting drastically lowers latency on iOS devices, PCs and Android devices still suffer from too much audio lag to game or watch videos comfortably.

These buds also feature a different audio codec called LHDC. When used with compatible devices, it can stream high-resolution audio with lower latency over Bluetooth. However, we can't test its latency performance.

These earbuds come with a USB-C to USB-C charging cable to charge their carrying case. You can't use them wired.

These earbuds only have full mic and audio compatibility with PCs via Bluetooth.

The earbuds' case comes with four extra full charges. The case itself can be charged either wirelessly or via USB-C cable.