Nothing is a London-based consumer electronics company that was established in 2020, backed by Google, and founded by Carl Pei, a Chinese-Swedish entrepreneur that previously worked with Oppo before having co-founded OnePlus along with Pete Lau. Having learned that he could create a company and products from nothing by relying on existing suppliers in Shenzhen, Pei recruited the design services of Teenage Engineering of Sweden, whose founders were invited to become a founding partner together with a bunch of famous people.
In just two years, Nothing launched the smartphone Nothing Phone and two audio products, the Ear 1 and Ear stick TWS earbuds, which the company claims to have sold over one million units worldwide (it must be true because retailers seem to have plenty in stock). Like the Nothing Phone, the Nothing earbuds were nothing special, basically distinct because of its transparent encasings of the iPhone and AirPods Pro designs. Now, Nothing is back with the Ear 2, a set of true wireless earbuds that expands on the same transparent design and adds the latest usual set of specifications that have become mandatory in this highly competitive product space.
The Nothing Ear 2 earbuds are differentiated by displaying a "Ultimate Hi-Res Audio Certified True Wireless Earbuds" label because of the fact that they support the latest Low Latency High-Definition Audio Codec (LHDC) 5.0 audio codec developed by Savitech, and basically supported by Huawei and many of the major Chinese mobile companies. LHDC allows high-resolution audio streaming over Bluetooth up to 900 kbit/s and is a direct competitor to Qualcomm's aptX-HD/aptX Adaptive and Sony's LDAC codec. It's only supported by Android source devices and music players.
The other differentiator is the fact that users can create their own Personal Sound Profile by completing a Mimi Hearing test through the Nothing X app, to create a unique sound profile. After that, users will experience audio adapted to their unique hearing ability, as availability in multiple other TWS earbuds and headphones, including those from Skull Candy.
The Nothing X app also offers an adjustable equalizer to explore the improved dynamics of the 11.6mm custom polyurethane graphene-reinforced drivers and the enclosure's new dual-chamber design. Moreover, the Nothing Ear2 earbuds now feature Bluetooth Multipoint, called Dual Connection in this case. The design also adds Qualcomm's Clear Voice Technology with three microphones on each earbud and an AI noise reduction algorithm to eliminate background noise and enhance the user's voice during calls in real-time. As expected, the Ear2 also improved the active noise cancellation implementation, claiming up to 40dB of noise reduction, "Personalized Active Noise Cancellation" tailored to the exact shape of a user's ear canal, and Adaptive Mode to automatically adjust the noise reduction level based on the environment in real-time.
The battery lasts up to 8 hours, with the case offering up to 36 hours, with the case supporting wireless charging up to 2.5W and reverse charge on compatible devices like the Nothing Phone. Of course, Google Fast Pair on Android devices and Microsoft Swift Pair on Windows devices is also supported.
The Nothing Ear 2 are available for $149, which matches the average price these latest "premium" ANC TWS earbud designs are being positioned at this time.
www.mimi.io
www.nothing.tech
