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Nothing is back with Ear 3, its latest set of premium wireless earbuds. It’s a follow-up to the Headphone 1, and seems to take a few cues from its over-ear sibling. The Nothing Ear 3 now features longer battery life, a tweaked sound, spec bumps, and a redesigned case. Is that enough to justify the upgrade to Ear 3, which is now about $30 more expensive? Let’s find out.
Nothing Ear 3: Pricing and availability
After social media teasers, Nothing officially announced the Ear 3 on Sept. 18, 2025, and pre-orders are available starting now. Nothing Ear 3 costs $179 in the U.S., and is also available in the U.K. and Europe for £179 and €179, respectively. This is a slight increase in cost compared to the $149 Nothing Ear 2.
You can buy the earbuds in black or white colorways, both of which feature a transparent design and an aluminum and plastic case. Nothing Ear 3 will be generally available as of Sept. 25 on Nothing’s official website and retail partners.
Nothing Ear 3: What’s good
Nothing kept the hardware consistent between Ear 1 and Ear 2 in terms of audio delivery, but that’s overhauled with Ear 3. There’s a new, larger pair of 12mm drivers that upgrades the sound in Ear 3. Nothing says these dynamic drivers feature a PMI dome with a thick TPU surround to add deeper bass, and I believe it. The Ear 3 fully buy into Nothing’s recent sound signature, like what we saw on Headphone 1.
Whether you love this sound or think it could be better probably depends on your taste. It’s not really balanced, regardless of what Nothing claims, and instead prioritizes the bass and lower frequencies more than mids and highs. Like with Headphone 1, I found vocals and high-end sounds a bit muddied and underwhelming on the stock “Balanced” EQ preset. Also like with Headphone 1, I found that switching the Ear 3’s EQ preset to “Treble” nearly fixed all my qualms with the sound.
The good news is that the Nothing X app is very good, and there’s a robust EQ built-in that you can use to customize the Ear 3 to your liking.
While prior editions of Nothing Ear products lacked wider support for high-res audio transmission, that’s finally changing on the Ear 3. There’s still no AptX support, but LDHC 5.0 is gone in favor of LDAC support. This is the right move — while LDHC 5.0 is great if your phone supports it, not every Android model does. Notably, Samsung doesn’t support LDHC but does offer LDAC, so hi-res audio will now work on way more Android phones thanks to this welcomed Ear 3 change.
That’s just one part of the Ear 3’s connectivity upgrades. Bluetooth 5.3 is swapped for 5.4, and there’s a low-latency mode that cuts the wireless audio delay down to under 120ms. This will come in handy for gaming, and matches competing features from OnePlus and Samsung. Ear 3 also supports Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair for near-instant connection with Android and Windows devices.
Battery life was another drawback that came with using Nothing Ear 1 and 2, however, Ear 3 significantly improves the situation. You get up to 5.5 hours of listening time out of each earbud, and that’s with the Adaptive ANC mode turned on. The charging case, which supports wireless charging and USB-C, brings the total to 22 hours. There is one battery life “catch” that we’ll get to later.
Nothing’s big bet with Ear 3 has nothing to do with the earbuds themselves. It added a dual-microphone system to the Ear 3 charging case, and the brand calls it “Super Mic.” There’s a TALK button on the case that, when pressed, switches the audio input from the earbuds themselves to the case. It’s designed for calls and voice memos, and you can use it for longer sessions by double-pressing the TALK key.
Surprisingly, I think there’s a demand for this. It’s not uncommon to see people use wired earbuds or headsets because wired mic quality is just so much better than what we get from wireless earbuds. Nothing Ear 3 flips that notion on its head by adding a mic system to the case that’s better than what you’d get on wireless earbuds or your phone.
Switching between the Ear 3 mics and Super Mic on calls, people I talked to immediately noticed the difference, picking up on the extra loudness and crispness of my voice, as well as the separation between my voice and loud environments. As someone who owns the DJI Mic 3 — the pinnacle of wireless lavaliere microphones — and never uses it because I don’t have it with me when I need it, the Ear 3’s Super Mic is shockingly appealing to me.
Super Mic isn’t the only change to the Nothing Ear 3 case — it’s also partially made out of aluminum. That adds a premium feel to Ear products that can end up feeling cheaper with only plastic materials. The entire package is IP54-rated against dust, sweat, and water ingress, and the company says the aluminum case helps protect the Super Mic hardware inside. I personally think the silver aluminum case is stunning on the white variant.
There are some exclusives you get when pairing Ear 3 with a Nothing phone, and they’re pretty neat. You can save voice recordings to Essential Space merely by pressing TALK and, well, talking. It’s also possible to trigger ChatGPT by double-pinching Ear 3 for quick AI questions. For people without a Nothing phone, that gesture will activate Gemini, Siri, or your preferred voice assistant.
Nothing Ear 3: What’s not good
I may be picky, but I wasn’t impressed by the ANC quality on the Nothing Ear 3. The ventilation isn’t as good as I would like, creating unwanted pressure and discomfort in some situations with ANC enabled. Nothing says its real-time adaptive ANC can cancel up to 45dB of sound, which is about the same as Ear 2.
Transparency mode was the dealbreaker for me, as I depend on this feature for two main tasks: ordering and talking on the phone. I need to be able to tell a flight attendant what I’d like to drink without taking out my earbuds, and hear my voice clearly while on the phone to keep my volume in check. The Nothing Ear 3 struggled to pass these tests, weirdly amplifying background voices while seeming to block out my own — likely because transparency mode wasn’t strong enough to overcome the passive noise canceling from the earbuds.
I still think you can justify buying Ear 3 if you don’t care about ANC features or use them often, and battery life jumps up to 10 hours in that case. But if ANC and transparency modes are must-haves, there are better options at this price point.
I mentioned that battery life is finally improved, and it is. But if you want to use LDAC with ANC at the same time, battery life is cut to just 3.5 hours on each bud. On some devices, you’ll need to enable LDAC in the Nothing X app, restart the buds, and then also enable LDAC in your phone’s settings app — a complicated process for those who want hi-res audio.
Speaking of limitations, I wish Super Mic worked with native Android or iOS video recording. Using the default camera app, a phone will always use its own mics for videos instead. This is a bummer, though it can be rectified by using third-party video recording apps like Blackmagic.
Nothing Ear 3: Competition
The case for the Nothing Ear 3 starts to get dicey when you consider the competition it’ll face at the $180 price point. It’s not a major price increase compared to Ear 2, but the price hike means Ear 3 will face “Pro” earbuds. The AirPods Pro 2, Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, and Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 are all fairly easy to find under $200 if you’re patient enough, as there are near-constant deals on them. I’d take all three of those pairs over the Ear 3, simply because they each sound fuller, richer, and have better ANC.
For what it’s worth, the Ear 3 could eventually see discounts of its own to level the playing field. For now, Nothing’s decision to shift the price from $150 to $180 ends up putting the Ear 3 in the same realm as the upper echelon of truly-wireless earbuds.
Nothing Ear 3: Should you buy them?
You should buy these if…
- You have a Nothing phone or love the brand’s design ethos
- You like Nothing’s signature, bass-heavy sound
- You don’t depend on strong ANC or transparency mode
You shouldn’t buy these if…
- You have Ear 1 or Ear 2 and aren’t compelled by the upgrades
- Outstanding ANC and transparency modes are must-have features
- You don’t want to spent time tuning the Ear 3 via the app’s EQ
Nothing overhauled the Ear 3, bringing new solutions to old problems — and creating some new ones. Hi-res audio is finally more compatible, and battery life is better. That said, combine the two, and we’re right back where we started.
Still, the Nothing Ear 3 are a delightful pair of wireless earbuds overall that aren’t afraid to take risks. The dual-microphone Super Mic system is a big bet that users want better audio quality from their earbuds, and in my testing, it’s a game-changer. If you love Nothing audio, enjoy the sound signature of their products, or want a Super Mic, the Ear 3 will definitely be worth it.
For people who just want the best-sounding and best-ANC earbuds at the $180 price point, you can probably do better with other great options.
Still standing out
The Nothing Ear 3 still manages to stand out in a crowded market with features like Super Mic and great integration with the Nothing ecosystem. If you like the brand’s signature sound, these earbuds could blow you away.
