Nothing Ear 3 scores sweet audio upgrades but double-duty case is the low-key star

After launching the Ear and Ear A last year, Nothing shifted its focus to experimenting with offbeat audio products, such as its open-ear earbuds and atypically shaped headphones. However, it’s now returning to a more mainstream design with the upgraded in-ear style Nothing Ear 3 truly wireless earbuds.

On the surface, the Nothing Ear 3 appear identical to the Ear (2024) and Ear 2 (2023), which themselves looked similar to the Ear 1 (2021). Nothing still follows the transparent design language, though the inserts in the stem now have a metallic build to them, which adds a little premium flair.

The same metallic finish carries over to the case. Here, the lower half is now built entirely of 100% recycled aluminum while the lid remains transparent.

Among other upgrades, the charging case features two microphones. This setup, called “Super Mic,” can be used to record your voice just like a portable mic from brands such as DJI. It relays the audio to the connected phone or any device through the earbuds while cancelling background noise up to 95 decibels, emphasizing your voice even in extremely noisy environments.  The case gets a dedicated “Talk” button that switches between the mics on the earbuds and the Super Mic.

The earbuds feature 12mm drivers, marking a slight upgrade over the 11mm drivers on the existing Ear, Ear 2, and Ear A models. These also come with PMI + TPU diaphragms, which are expected to offer better durability compared to the ceramic ones used on the Ear 2.

The Nothing Ear 3 feature adaptive noise cancellation up to 45dB — same as the Nothing Ear and a definitive upgrade over the Ear 2’s 40dB ANC.

Each earbud now features a voice-pickup unit (VPU) that utilizes bone conduction to complement three directional microphones, providing clearer audio input. These mics, along with the VPU, can reduce nearly 25dB of environmental noise, effectively eliminating constant humming sounds such as wind, even without engaging the enhanced ANC.

Meanwhile, the Nothing X app allows users to create and save personal audio profiles, in addition to letting them tune audio using an eight-band equalizer.

The Nothing Ear 3 earbuds also offer support for the LDAC codec, which was previously missing on the Ear 2 but was later added to the Nothing Ear. But interestingly, there’s no mention of LHDC or true high-resolution (24-bit/196kHz) audio playback. Like the previous models, the Ear 3 work with both Android and iOS — though you’ll be limited to AAC playback on the latter.

In terms of battery, the Nothing Ear 3’s case gets a slightly larger 500mAh pack, and the earbuds get 55mAh cells inside them. Nothing claims that the batteries in the earbuds can last up to 10 hours, whereas the case adds an additional 38 hours of use without noise cancellation. Naturally, using ANC, switching to LDAC, or utilizing the Super Mic functionality will drain the battery more quickly.

The Ear 3 case still gets fast wired charging, where 10 minutes of charging allows 10 hours of playback. The case also gets wireless charging, but it can take two hours to charge fully.

All these physical upgrades also come with a $30 price increase, with the Ear 3 priced at $179.