Hands-on Nothing Ear Stick: Stylish and comfortable, but I miss the noise-cancellation

It’s been a busy year for Nothing. After unveiling its Ear 1 wireless headphones last year, its first smartphone, the Phone 1, followed suit and dared to compete in an arena that has actually knocked out some more established competitors. Now, it’s all about wireless buds again with the $99 Ear Stick. It’s not a big name, but it’s at least descriptive. Instead of the Ear 1’s sleek, square body, Nothing took cosmetic product design inspiration and created a lipstick-inspired charging case for the buds. It’s not the first set of wireless headphones to feature a spinning cylinder, but it does ensure the Ear Stick won’t be confused with other earbuds.

At $99, the Ear Stick is reasonably priced, but it lacks some of the key features of Nothing’s first wireless buds – most notably active noise-cancellation (ANC). However, there are many improvements here, especially when it comes to connectivity.

The hardware

It’s hard to stop twisting and pawing at the Ear Stick’s conspicuous casing. The charger’s micro-dotted surface, exposed when the buds are snapped in and charging, feels nice. At the top of the charger is a USB-C charging port and a chrome button for pairing the buds with devices. There’s no wireless charging this time, given the form factor, but it also ensures the Ear Stick is cheaper to manufacture. (As it is, Nothing recently increased the price of its Ear One buds.) There’s a bit of room on the case, though, so pocket lint can easily get caught and roll into the gap, which is annoying. Judging by my other transparent devices, this could only get worse.

The Ear Stick buds themselves continue this design language from Nothing, with transparent casing around the tips and a dot-matrix font denoting each stem. There is a red dot on the right bud to help users ensure they are going to the right ears. However, they don’t have silicone tips compared to the Ear 1, so they sit loosely in the ear. This means there’s a good amount of noise getting in, regardless of the noise-cancelling technology.

The story goes on

Nothing says the buds went through 200+ rounds of mods, and I think it was worth it: they’re comfortable. Weighing in at 4.4 grams (0.15 ounces) each, they’re also lighter than the Ear 1 buds. I know a lot of people (and several Engadget editors) prefer this kind of loose fit, since AirPods Pro, Galaxy Buds, and many others put a little too much pressure on their ear canals. The Ear Stick is aimed at these people – but are there enough of them?

In noisy environments – like traveling on public transport or playing sports – I’m forced to crank the volume up to maximum to keep up with all the ambient noise. Still, they’re comfortable and snug enough for buds without detachable tips not to lose them on the go. I still wasn’t completely comfortable running or jumping in them, but they didn’t fall out with regular use.

I haven’t tested the battery life extensively, but Nothing’s seven-hour rating seems about right. Expect a total playback time of 29 hours with the case, which translates to almost a week of intermittent listening for me. There’s a quick-charge feature that can juice the buds with two hours of playback on just a 10-minute charge, which already came in handy on long trips around London, where I’m based.

Nothing has also made a new, bespoke dynamic driver in this generation of buds. The company claims it’s the most sensitive found on the wireless bud market, and while I can’t vouch for that, I’ve found the Ear Stick to work best when listening to spoken word or phone calls; They sound noticeably clearer and clearer than the Ear 1. Also, Nothing says it’s packaged in a Bass Lock feature that attempts to meter the sound leaking out of the semi-open design, but I’m struggling to hear that it’s for the overall sound sufficient loss.

However, nothing can do much with a half-ear design like this to maintain bass levels compared to the competition. There’s something tinny about music and noise that I don’t think any algorithm can fix, given the half-open bud design.

The software

You can improve this a bit with the customizable equalizer from the companion app, and if you’re already a Nothing Phone 1 user you’ll get handy shortcuts from the Android drop-down menu. It’s a nice touch that matches the smoothness you get when using Samsung Buds with a Galaxy phone etc.

Nothing also fixed some of the connectivity issues that plagued the Ear 1. It’s moved the antenna further down into the buds, which supposedly minimizes signal blockage. In use, the Ear Stick connects and pairs more reliably than Nothing’s other headphones. They’re less likely to drop the connection as I move around my apartment and further away from my phone. The stick is also a lot less finicky about pairing with phones, laptops, and other devices. While I was initially impressed with the Ear 1, its inconsistency when pairing with iPhones, laptops, and even Android phones meant I eventually switched back to my AirPods Pro. Thankfully, nothing learned that lesson with its second pair of wireless buds.

I’d love to adopt the Stick’s audio and signal enhancements, but unfortunately I’m not as excited about the Ear Stick as I am about the Ear 1. I need my noise-cancelling and silicone tips. I’m looking forward to Ear 2, however, or whatever Nothing wants to call its third attempt when it hopefully combines the best of both buds.