The Nothing Ear 2 are a capable $149 update to the company’s debut earbuds

The Nothing Ear 2 are a capable $149 update to the company’s debut earbuds

Nothing has announced an updated pair of noise-canceling true wireless earbuds called the Nothing Ear 2. They’re the successor to the company’s debut product, the Ear 1 earbuds, and both earbuds and charging cases feature an almost identical design, complete with the company’s signature mix of transparent plastic combined with a white, black, and red color scheme. You can read my complete impressions over in my review of the Nothing Ear 2 earbuds.

On paper, the Ear 2s don’t look like a huge upgrade over their predecessors. There are a couple of additional nice-to-have features, like multipoint connectivity, which lets you connect to two devices (like a phone and laptop) simultaneously, and a fit test feature to help you find the right size of ear tip to use. But key specs like battery life and driver size are very similar.

Nothing Ear 2 and Ear 1 earbuds, each with one earbud outside charging case and one inside.
Without zooming in, can you guess which side is the Ear 2?
Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge

Even so, in practice, the Ear 2s are a much more refined accessory. Their sound is much clearer and more crisp, and their active noise cancellation is far more capable in noisy environments — not to mention the fact that there are far fewer bugs to contend with this time around.

In the US, the Nothing Ear 2 earbuds will retail for $149, the same as the Ear 1 earbuds after last year’s $50 price increase. In the UK, however, they’re slightly cheaper than their predecessors at £129 versus £149. Either way, it seems the Ear 1’s $99 / £99 launch pricing seems to be a thing of the past. The Ear 2 earbuds are available to purchase today directly from Nothing’s online store and will go on general sale from Nothing’s partners on March 28th.

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