Hands-on with the Nothing Ear (Open): A design you don’t see often

Nothing has a new pair of wireless earbuds on the market, and they’re the company’s most unorthodox yet. They’re called the Open, and they’re designed to loop around your earlobes and rest nicely on your ear’s opening without going inside so you can still hear the world around you.

When I first saw these buds, I was skeptical, but after using them, I’m sold on the design and when I unwrapped them at my parent’s house, where I’ve been relaxing this week, both my parents were extremely into the on-ear design since neither of them enjoy having earbuds in their ears.

It’s kind of giving Lobot, but the comfort makes up for it.

When I put them on, I was surprised by how comfortable they were, even with their bespoke design. The soft silicone feels nice wrapped around my ears, and they’re well-balanced, so they don’t move very much when you have them hooked on. I wore them on a short jog in the woods one morning, and while they did move a tiny bit, they didn’t fall off my head. Once I got used to them, I gained a lot of trust in their ability to stay on and stopped worrying about them falling. The over-ear hook also balances the buds nicely, helping with comfort.

You might be worried that the sound quality would be degraded with earbuds like these, but after tearing through my usual test tracks with no disappointments, I decided to walk down memory lane and re-watch the final Tragically Hip concert. The earbuds sounded great, with Gord’s voice shining through and the crowd roaring in the background. If you were in a really loud environment, the open design would allow more sound through, but the directionality of the speakers pumps the sound right into your ears, blocking out a decent amount of ambient noise once you get the tunes blaring.

The case is long and flat, but the thinness helps it stay pocketable.

On Nothing’s product page, the company says you can get eight hours of listening on a single charge. As of the time of writing, I’m at about four hours, and my buds are at 65 percent. With the case, you can push that up to a total of 30 hours before you need to recharge.

Stay tuned for a more comprehensive review after I use the Opens for more than a week, but if you really want a pair of open earbuds like these for something like biking or you hate in-ear buds, you can pre-order the Nothing Opens for $199 CAD. The buds will start shipping on October 1st and only come in white with Nothing’s signature transparent elements.