Nothing has just introduced the Ear (Stick), its second wireless earbuds after introducing the Ear (1) last year. As the name suggests, the new earbuds come in a stick case and it’s priced slightly lower than their first product.
Nothing Ear (Stick) Malaysia Price
The Nothing Ear (Stick) is officially priced at RM469 in Malaysia and it only comes in white. That’s slightly cheaper than the Nothing Ear (1) which was launched for RM499. As highlighted last week, Nothing is increasing the price of its Ear (1) effective today and it is now priced at RM599 in Malaysia.
If you’re interested, the first batch of Ear (Stick) stocks will be released on 28th October 2022 and you can purchase them in Malaysia from the Crossover store.
Nothing Ear (Stick) specs and features
Unlike the Ear (1) which has an in-ear design with replaceable silicon tips, the Ear (Stick) gets a half-in-ear design which is meant to provide comfortable all-day usage. According to Nothing, they have optimised the design for comfort and to ensure that it fits with different ear shapes. The tips are coloured in white while the stems still feature Nothing’s signature semi-transparent design. The new buds are slightly lighter at 4.4g (ear (1): 4.7g) and the overall case is much more compact.
Unfortunately, the Ear (Stick) doesn’t offer active noise cancellation (ANC) and it also loses out on wireless charging. However, Nothing claims that they have made significant improvements to the way it sounds by using a larger 12.6mm dynamic driver (ear (1): 11.6mm) which is said to be one of the most sensitive in any wireless earbuds. For an optimal hearing experience with a half-in-ear design, it relies on software to detect the bass loss and it will tune the equaliser curve to the optimal level.
For better audio pickup during voice conversations, Nothing has three high-definition mics with an intelligent algorithm to reduce unwanted background noise for wind-proof and crowd-proof calls. Another nice touch is the press controls on the stem which replace the touch and swipe gestures on the Ear (1). According to Nothing, this prevents accidental touches and it also works with wet fingers. To adjust the volume, you can press and hold the left earbud to bring the volume down and do the same for the right earbud to turn it up.
The Nothing Ear (Stick) is compatible with Android and iOS devices and it connects by Bluetooth with support for Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair. The gesture controls and EQ settings can be adjusted via the Nothing X app. It also has in-ear detection and IP54-rated dust and water resistance.
On a single charge, the buds themselves can last up to 7 hours of listening time and up to 29 hours in total with the case included. As a comparison, Ear (1) can provide up to 5.7 hours of listening time and a total of up to 34 hours in total with the case with ANC turned off. With ANC enabled, it can last up to 4 hours or up to 24 hours with the charging case.
A quick 10-minute charge of the buds in the case can deliver up to 2 hours of listening time while a quick 10-minute charge of the case itself via USB-C can push up to 9 hours of listening time. According to the spec sheet, the Ear (Stick) is tuned by Nothing instead of Teenage Engineering for the Ear (1).
Would you buy the Nothing Ear (Stick) over the Ear (1)? Let us know in the comments below.
