Nothing Ear (2) vs. AirPods Pro: Which is Better?
The wireless earbuds market has grown rapidly over the years with Apple's AirPods leading the pack. AirPods are known for their great sound quality, noise cancellation, transparency mode, and battery life. However, there are always new players in the market, such as Nothing Ear (2), promising the same features as AirPods Pro at almost half the price.
Nothing Ear (2) was released, and after spending almost a month with the product, it was tested with all sorts of smartphones and laptops with all sorts of media files to come up with a fair assessment. In this article, we will discuss how Nothing Ear (2) fares against AirPods Pro in terms of design, fit and comfort, controls, connectivity, and noise cancellation.
Nothing Ear (2) vs. AirPods Pro
Design
Nothing Ear (2) has a unique design, just like the previous Nothing products. While it doesn't have those fancy LED lights, it still looks striking and visually iconic. The Ear (2) has a distinctive kind of charm, but it has a lot of AirPods resemblance. The package comes with three silicon ear tips in the box, and the default medium size ones fit comfortably in most ears.The earbuds also passed the ear tip fit test in the Nothing X app. However, just like fingerprints, ear shapes are fundamentally different, and some people may find it challenging to put them on, including the author. The Ear (2) uses pinch control, which was not as elegant as expected, and would frequently reposition in the ear.
Fit and Comfort
Fit and comfort are essential when it comes to wireless earbuds. While a bunch of friends and colleagues found the Ear (2) to be comfortable, some found it challenging to put on. The Ear (2) is not likely to fall off the ear, but readjustment is often necessary. AirPods Pro 2 is still better in terms of fit and comfort, according to the author.Controls
Nothing Ear (2) has switched from touch to pinch control, which is not as elegant as the author hoped. Every time the author interacted with these earbuds, it would simply reposition in the ear. However, Nothing Ear (2) lets users customize the controls easily, and it has some unique features such as adjusting volume levels directly from the earbuds, making it more convenient.Connectivity
The Nothing Ear (2) features the latest Bluetooth 5.3 standard, along with Google's fast pair and Microsoft Swift pair support. That means Ear (2) is much easier to pair and connect with all sorts of devices, be it Android smartphones, tablets, or Windows PCS. Ear (2) has dual connection feature that lets users connect the earbuds with two devices at a time and switch between audio sources without having to meddle with the whole pairing and unpairing process every time.Noise Cancellation
The Nothing Ear (2) promises to cancel up to 40 decibels of ambient noise, which is commendable for its price. The AirPods Pro's noise cancellation is some of the best in the business, but Ear (2) does a fantastic job of canceling out noise. Ear (2) is great at getting rid of consistent low frequency sounds, but AirPods Pro still sounds quieter to the ears for low pit sounds or high-pitched ones like a car horn.The earbuds can also dynamically adjust ANC settings under the Adaptive profile, but the author found it to be rather counterproductive. It often failed to determine the surrounding noise level accurately to make any meaningful changes to the noise cancellation level.