 These are the Nothing Ear Ones. They are $100 wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation, and they are the very first product from Karl Pei's Nothing tech startup. Or should I say brand? I should definitely say brand. Nothing's first product being wireless earbuds is neither terribly exciting nor terribly risky, and outside of them being partially clear, these earbuds fit that narrative sadly too well. So let's talk about Nothing. Okay Nothing, it's time to show something. By far the most exciting part about these buds is their design. Both the case and the buds are partially transparent to show the inner workings of the product. The case supports Qi wireless charging, has a USB-C port, a pairing button, and enough battery to recharge the buds around six times with ANC turned on. It closes with a slap and is spring-loaded so that the large square top pops open with ease. Overall the case is the same width as an AirPods Pro case, but about a third longer, making it not quite as pocketable. The buds have color-coordinated dots on them, red and white, to indicate which divot they fall into, and a concave dimple on the lid holds them securely in place when the lid is closed. I was really hoping that this dimple would provide like the perfect fidget spinning fulcrum, but sadly it's just a little too off center for that. So the Pixel Buds case will remain my favorite fidget-friendly case. Such a good click. In just a week of testing, this clear case already shows many small scratches and general wear. I am interested to see just how transparent this will be after a year of use. My bet, unless you keep this case in another case, it won't be too pretty after even a few months of daily use. The buds are the same stem shape as the AirPods. A bean-like oval sits in your ear, with the option of three silicone ear tip sizes, while a 3 fourths inch stem comes off the side. The big difference here is again the transparency of the stem with Nothing's logo running along the components on the inside. As someone who is always looking at what earbuds people are wearing, I mean I'm gonna be stoked to see these out in the wild. And I'm absolutely gonna recognize them as something new and different from afar. But for all of the hype created around this design, some small transparent tweaks to an old form factor feels safe. And hell, half of the bud and the case is still wrapped in white. Now, what that old form factor does provide is a comfortable, easy fit. Each earbud weighs only 4.7 grams and has a 4 hour battery life with ANC on and 5.7 hours with ANC off. I was able to wear these buds for the duration of their battery life with no discomfort. And the case has enough battery for 24 more hours of playback, or 34 with ANC off. The buds include the standard touch controls with long press, double and triple tap options, and then the added control of sliding up or down the stem of the bud to control volume. I can understand avoiding a single touch option to prevent mistaken touches, but I do wish I at least had the option for one here. 80% of the time touch controls were responsive, but during the other 20% the buds would either not register my taps or register them and then not skip to the next song or pause my music. I also had to disable the in-ear detection on these buds because I found it far too sensitive. It would often pause or play my music even when the earbud was still fully seated in my ear. Now, this could be because of this one piercing that I have that often gets in the way of earbuds, but regardless it was just too sensitive for my liking. The Ear Ones app houses some limited EQ settings, a few touch control settings, battery levels, a toggle for in-ear detection, and transparency mode toggles. It is sleek, it's easy to use, it even has dark mode, but it is rather limited. Oh, and yes you can use each bud independently of the other. But how do they sound? The Ear Ones have been tuned by Teenage Engineering, a Swedish music technology company that produces some amazing synths. The buds themselves have 11.6mm drivers that put out a punchy bass and they do a fine job of separating highs and lows. They are extremely comparable to the now two-year-old AirPod Pros I have, but they are nowhere near as dynamic as Sony's most recent wireless earbuds, the WF-1000XM4s, or the Bose QuietComfort, though both of those are three times the price. And if you want to hear more about either of those, we have reviews up on theverge.com. The truth is that most wireless earbuds at that $100 price point are going to be indistinguishable sound quality wise between different manufacturers. And unless you're one of us lucky earbud reviewers, you're very rarely going to get to put headphones head to head and really hear the minute differences between them. So for the average listener, the average sound quality of the Ear Ones is going to sound great. And if you really want the best audio quality, well just be prepared to shell out the extra cash for say the Sonys or the Bose. Now one great feature to see at this price point, even if it's not as rare as it used to be, is active noise cancellation. The Ear Ones ANC is only a few steps below the AirPod Pros, and it's certainly not as robust as the Sonys or the Bose. With ANC turned on, they block out just as much sound as your pointer fingers do when you plug your ears. Low level hums are certainly gone, but the upper level pitches, they still come through. I wore these on a train trip to Philly last week, and I was pretty happy with how much noise they canceled out, though I could still hear a lot of the train around me. And I certainly was missing my over-ear headphones with ANC. I think it's time for a mic test. Okay, first up in today's test are the Enactfire A9s. They retail for $66 from Enactfire's website, and they also include active noise cancellation. Next we have the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pros who recently got marked down to $99. Also have ANC and probably have one of my favorite apps amongst earbuds. And the earbud of the hour, the Nothing Ear Ones that retail for $100. How are they sounded? And of course, there wouldn't be a mic test without the gold standard Apple's AirPod Pros, which now retail for around $200 to $250. But how do these $67 headphones sound when there's something in the background? Say running water, for example. I chose all these headphones today because they all have stems, which allow the mics to get a little bit closer. They also all include active noise cancellation. And with a little background noise, how are the Nothing Ear Ones holding up? Are they able to cancel it out? Can you hear me clearly over something running in the background? And one thing the AirPod Pros always do well is canceling out noise. Usually you can pretty much hear anybody over most things with these headphones on. Yikes! I'm not sure these headphones would be my very first pick if I needed a good mic. With the Ear Ones being Nothing's first product to market, I expected some bugs. But y'all, it has been, uh, it's been rough out here. The Ear Ones are plagued by so many early hiccups of wireless earbuds. The most annoying and noticeable is their constant switching of ANC on and off. While riding the subway, sitting at home, working in the office, I have had the ANC toggle on and off at random. Now, it doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough to be really annoying. I've also had bursts of the earbuds disconnecting completely from my phone, only for them to reconnect and then disconnect a few seconds later. And then there was this one time the right bud connected to my laptop while the left bud connected to my phone. And for a split second, I was like, Bluetooth multipoint? But no, no, no. It was just another bug. And while we're at it, why is it that Jabra is the only manufacturer to give us Bluetooth multipoint in earbuds? I would personally give up in-ear detection for that, but maybe that's just me. And one more small annoyance. I really wish these buds had a voice to alert me that they were pairing or a voice to let me know what device the earbuds are connected to. The only audio indications these buds have are in the form of a beep, which in my week of testing, I have not even come close to memorizing. The Ear Ones act a lot like many earbuds at their price point. The ANC works okay, they sound good enough for most people, and they are comfortable for long listening sessions. But they are currently riddled with bugs that I'm sure future software updates will hopefully address. These buds are a safe bet that offer few surprises outside of a unique design. And much like the countless wireless earbuds at this price point, there is very little outside of that design that would inspire me to recommend them to most people. Sadly, they feel too little, too late to the budget ANC market. Hell, even a year ago, this would have been far more impressive. But really, these headphones send a pretty clear message about where nothing is headed as a brand. I don't think nothing's going to reinvent the tech that we use or the way that we use technology. They're going to strip away some paint. They're going to continue to make products that are good enough for most people. And they're going to attempt to create a brand that draws a following. And ultimately, it's going to come down to how many people that brand resonates with, and how well they do at creating a lifestyle around the products that they put out. These headphones, they're not nothing, but they're not really something either, at least not yet. Buds, it was so good to see you back here. I hope that you and everyone you care about as well, if you are in the market for $100 wireless earbuds, Chris Welch and I share this beat on theverge.com and we have reviewed countless number of wireless earbuds. So theverge.com for more on that. We'll be seeing you real soon.