36% of 118 verified owners recommend the Nothing Ear (a), based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. YouTube is shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
“The shape of the (a) case is better than the more expensive Nothing (ear) case in my opinion”
“its quite bad even though they promoted it as if its the same as the ear 2024”
“I wish the mic quality was ~a bit clearer on my ear (2).”
“that's quite a drastic difference in ANC performance”
“liked the ear (2) for most of them but the accoustic song”
“are better in every meaningful way”
“That clear and orange doesnt do it for me.”
“I have the new Ear and I love them! I bought my wife the Ear (a) and she loves them as well”
“was pleasantly surprised at how great the sound quality was”
“One thing i was bummed about the ear a is that it doesnt have spatial audio but its honestly not that bad”
“kept the ear (a).”
“4 hours with ANC on is...Nothing.”
“Ear (a) is just muffled, flat and has a 'roll-off' sound in comparison”
“Nothing earbuds are highly slept on.”
“Only thing I don't like about the buds is the red dot being on the starboard ear”
“the bass sounds much cleaner, deeper and punchier”
“I really dislike the Nothing Ear case, I really wish they had the symmetrical design that the a's”
“the left bud's battery gave up and it would only last for like 20 minutes”
“I find it hard from my standpoint to see these as that good if they can't get part right.”
“I would get a pair of ear(a) just for the amazing yellow color.”
“love the design of the ear (a), makes me want to get it over the ear, though dislike how a few features seem software locked”
“The nothing a don't sound as good, in my opinion, as the nothing 2.”
“I'd definitely recommend them.”
“Really hate that they don’t offer both pair in yellow”
Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.
“I suggest to try the following: Through the app set the equaliser to the more treble preset and bass boost to maximum. For some reason my ears really enjoyed this change and am wondering if yours will too.”
“Great, I will look into the warranty process then. Thanks for reminding me about it. I just assumed it was something around 6 months or something.”
“When you are in a noisy environment where you can't hear properly from your phone and the person on call can't hear your voice properly because of the noise, you can use it for much better noise cancellation and clear audio.”
“If they made the drivers a little more lengthier they would have better noise cancelation and would stay in your ears better for sure”
“Happy to see I’m not the only one using an ear (a) with an iPhone/AW lol (photo taken on an iPad so it looks horrible) https://preview.redd.it/68hpgc2va72h1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=14c8f67ab8b10ba9c83c0d62e1f798bdc8cf6fcf”
“Yeah there's an app for that indeed, but phone mic doesn't have that much noise cancelation”
“I went down a rabbit hole before looking for ear tips at audiophile shops and found one that fits me great for another earpod i had previously. But then i found out later to get a real good fit and seal for that my ear hole i had to use 2 very similar but different sizes”
“Exactly, if it's just 8 months you can claim warranty and get the battery replaced.”
“Simply and option to use phone mic and earphones would be even better.”
“Use phone mic + earbud sound? Hello? hard concept to grasp?”
“They all have microphones... For calls and for ANC.”
“I'm pretty sure that they both have microphones.”
“How are the ear a keeping up with the ear 2?”