It's rare to find a pair of earbuds as accomplised as the Nothing Ear 1 in the affordable market segment. They look unique, sound great, and are reliable enough to use day-in day-out.

Unique transparent design stands out; Comfortable to wear for long periods; Great sound; Wireless/fast charging; Reliable for video and voice calls;

Battery life could be improved; Lots of competition; Touch gestures limited (at time of review);

Relatively modest price; Good sound quality; Distinctive design; Comfortable to wear while resting or working out;

Some connectivity issues; Design may be divisive;

The Nothing Ear (1) don't quite live up to the hype, with an underwhelming sound and poor noise cancellation. They are very comfortable, though, and some will love the transparent design enough to take a risk on the first true wireless earbuds from Nothing.

Very comfortable; Responsive touch controls; Water-resistant;

Tinny, quiet sound; Poor noise cancellation; Connectivity dropouts

On paper, the Ear (1) outpace almost all the competition at the price point simply by virtue of including premium features like ANC and wireless charging. In practice, the good-but-not-great audio quality and battery life hold these back a little, as do a few bugs and a divisive design - but there are still few rival buds that offer this much for this little.

Active noise cancellation; Wireless charging; Affordable price point;

Average audio quality; Divisive design; Slightly buggy;

The Nothing Ear (1) are solid everyday earbuds, but underwhelming sound quality means they fall short of greatness

Lightweight, comfortable design; IPX4 splash resistant; Well priced;

Mediocre sound quality; Limited EQ controls; Buggy firmware;

Punchy, enjoyable audio; Distinctive design; Lots of features for the price;

Battery life merely OK; ANC can still be flaky; Not the tightest fit for running;