Sequels are never easy and successful ones are rare to come by. The Londonbased tech company Nothing had a difficult task to accomplish — present the successor of the hugely-successful wireless earbuds called Nothing Ear 1. At the same time, retain the design philosophy of the first device. Successful? You can say something like: Woody is back, Buzz returns and welcome LotsO-Huggin’ Bear. It’s that familiar feeling.

So why offer a familiar feeling? The company’s founder Carl Pei already laid out a strong foundation while presenting Nothing Ear 1. The Nothing skyscraper is coming up and you need enough occupants. The idea is not to make everyone who bought the first one to upgrade. And why should they? Ear 1 works well. Nothing Ear 2 will draw in those who have heard good and great things about Nothing Ear 1. Consider it like AirPods. Not everyone upgrades every year but Apple gets new users attracted to it.

There is hardly anything to speak about in way of design because the charging case is ever so slightly smaller and that’s about all. And if you have been following Nothing, you would know that the company’s design philosophy is its biggest strength. Unlike any other brand, there is a cool vibe to the designs — transparent back on the Phone 1, see-through earbuds and so on. So, all the major updates are on the inside of Nothing Ear 2.

(l-r) There is support for High-Res audio. LHDC 5.0 is now supported on a few phones, including Nothing Phone 1, You can pair the earbuds with the iPhone or Android phones

CRISP SOUND PROFILE

The dinky earbuds sit very comfortably for hours inside the ear canal and this time you need to pinch to get the functions working. It’s a good choice to not have a capacitive touch-surface because that gets difficult when you have to adjust the buds. All the controls are customisable within the Nothing X app, which is available for iOS and Android. As for Nothing Phone 1 users, they will find these controls all built into the phone’s UI. The app is integral to the buds. It offers plenty of customisation features. For example, there is a listening test and an eartip test. And there is a customisable EQ. You can adjust also the level of active noise cancellation (ANC).

Coming to the earbuds, sound is delivered by a couple of 11.6-mm polyurethane/ graphene full-range dynamic drivers. Each is in a dualchamber enclosure and, this time, there is more space for smooth airflow. The new diaphragm is made from a combination of polyurethane and graphene. The former is soft while grapheme is more rigid. Together, they make magic.

We had the review unit for a few weeks and the sound profile is slightly different from the first generation earbuds. Newly added: LHDC 5.0 support (this is besides SBC and AAC), which is now being supported by some Android devices, including Nothing Phone 1, to stream high-res music up to 24-bit/192kHz.

That Nothing now has a bigger team and is less dependent on external factors is clear. There is tighter integration and the sound profile is more responsive. I found the noise cancelling on these earbuds to be better than on Nothing Ear 1. It could easily cut out the fans and a lot of the background noise on the road outside my window. You would like to know how it stacks up against AirPods Pro (second generation). The latter still wins because it can tackle the rumbling of aeroplane engines better. But that doesn’t take anything away from Nothing Ear 2. Look at the price points. Ear 2 offers up to 40dB ANC. What matters is the level of comfort that one gets while using ANC. In this department, Nothing wins several brownie points. There are three levels of ANC and each one will be important for the many places you visit each day. You get a more consistent level of attenuation.

My favourite feature is the ability to personalise sound. After creating a personalised sound profile, you can use it on top of the EQ presets. Get a short sound test done during which some background noise is played at various frequencies. What you get is your unique Hearing ID. Further, call quality has improved considerably because of Clear Voice Technology. The three high-definition microphones on each earbud combined with AI noise reduction algorithm, make voice standout. Even when you take a call in the middle of a crowded, bustling space, your voice will go through clearly and the person at the other end won’t miss a word. In other words, your voice will not sound muddled. The transparency mode took works well. In fact, it’s among the best we have seen in a long time. When in this mode, the microphones pick up sounds around you and play them back into your ears, ensuring you don’t have to switch the earbuds off for a quick chat.

The sound. We started with Don McLean’s classic album, American Pie and the song… no, not Vincent but Empty Chairs. The wonderful guitar work sounds crisp on Ear 2 and it captures the heartbreak after being left by his lover. Next was Depeche Mode’s Memento Mori, a farewell to Andy Fletcher. The earbuds do justice to the ambient intro on Soul With Me and the pensiveness of Before We Drown. And then came John Cale’s Mercy. The shimmering rhythms on the title track come to life as we hear him sing Lives do matter/Lives don’t matter/Wolves getting ready and the same goes for the jazzy Night Crawling about hanging out with David Bowie.

Nothing X is a great app to control Nothing Ear 2

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

One of the things missing is spatial audio or immersive 360-degree listening experience with compatible audio. It’s a feature you may like or hate and so not having it on Ear 2 doesn’t make a difference.

Let’s talk about battery life. With ANC turned off, the earbuds can last up to 6.3 hours (or up to 36 hours with the case). It’s a slight improvement over last generation. With ANC turned on, you get four hours of playback on the buds (up to 22.5 hours with case). These are not bad figures. How long do you really use buds per day? And there is both wireless charging and quick charging with the Ear 2. Ten minutes of wired charging will supply eight hours of listening time.

When the overall package is considered, one is reminded of the need to look beyond specs and more towards sound tuning, app support and real-world performance. And that’s what Nothing Ear 2 offers. You have plenty of options to play around with on the device and it will remain relevant even a couple of years down the line. These are solid, capable earbuds that take on competition head-on.

(l-r) Nothing Ear 1 versus (top) Nothing Ear 2, The earbuds are light and transparent

AT A GLANCE

Device: Nothing Ear 2

Price: Rs 9,999 (goes on sale on March 28)

HIGH NOTES

The audio dazzles

Excellent design and offers enough comfort

Support for Hi-Res audio

The companion app is among the best

MUFFLED NOTE

Battery life could have been more with ANC turned on