The Nothing Ear 2 bring a few important upgrades on their popular predecessors including a boosted battery life and improved sound. But are these £129 headphones a potential Apple Airpods alternative for runners? Run Testers Nick and Kieran have put them to the test to find out. Hit play for our Nothing Ear 2 review.
JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
0:00 – Intro
0:37 – Key specs & what you need to know
2:35 – Fit
4:25 – Controls
5:12 – Sound
8:06 – ANC & Awareness
9:55 – Battery life performance
11:33 – Verdict
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Hi people welcome to the Run testers in This video we're looking at the nothing Ear 2 earbuds these are a Budget-friendly rival for the apple Airpods and the airpods pro I was a big Fan of the first generation and the Nothing earbuds 2 are back with a few Upgrades that make them even more Interesting like the airpods these true Wireless headphones are designed for Daily use but they also pack plenty of Running and fitness credentials too so Are they better than the first Generation are they a potential running Headphones bargain and how do they hold Up on the Run well we put them to the Test so in this video we're going to Help you find out hit play to see what We made of the nothing ear 2. So let's whip you through the key specs Then when it comes to battery life and Charging you're going to get just short Of six and a half hours run time on the Buds that's with active noise Cancellation of and that's up from five Hours on the earbuds one there's a Further 29 hours of runtime in the Charging case and those official numbers Drop to four hours on the buds and 20 And a half hours with active noise Cancellation on when it comes to fast Charge 10 minutes with the buds in the Case gives you eight hours of run time I Think that's using buds consecutively
Moving on to the design and the controls And well the buds weigh four and a half Grams each that's at the lighter end of The true Wireless scale it's lighter in Fact than the airpods pro 2. the case Well this weighs 51 grams that's about The same as an Airport's case and it's Fairly pocket friendly running belt Friendly but it's not as compact as some Controls on the earbuds are now press or Squeeze rather than touch durability Wise they're now ip54 rated up from ipx4 Rated that basically means that they're Not protected against dust and debris But they are Splash and sweat resistant The case is also now ip55 rated 2 so That has a little more weather Resistance too with water and dust Protection that's also more durable on Paper than the Apple airpods Pro 2. now When it comes to sound you've got 11.6 Mil Dynamic drivers up to 40 decibels Personalized active noise cancellation And a transparency mode there's custom EQ so you can create personalized sound Profiles there's customizable controls In the simple partner app as well There's also an ear tip fit test to help You get good sound connectivity wise the Nothing here to Sport Bluetooth 5.3 and You can stay connected to two devices at Once there's also inner detection Google Fast pair and you can use the buds Independently when it comes to price the
Price has jumped up a chunk on the first Generation the nothing earbuds 2 now Cost 129 pounds or 149 dollars in the US Okay so I'm joined by Nick and we are Going to be talking about the nothing Ear 2 headphones and starting off with Fit how did you find the fit of these Nick uh not great I mean I don't really Get on with any headphones so this exact Same story is the Apple airports Pro uh To and pro one they just weren't Themselves loose over time when I'm on The right so actually luckily the case Is big enough to fit in my third-party Silicon wings that I bought for the Air Force Pro which also fit these Headphones perfectly because they have Very similar form factor that solves the Fit issue immediately but yeah I don't Tend to get them with any headphones and These unfortunately were no different They're probably on an easy run I could Get through a couple of Miles without Them falling out but I'd always be kind Of nudging them so I think it really is For me only the jabras that never really Sat in my ears do you do you think That's your your ears yeah definitely Yeah yeah how it is yeah so all in your Headphones just don't really work for me Um I tend to actually would prefer the Nothing stick headphones which have just The open fit just sit in the air very Lightweight so it's only the earlier
Ones that sit entirely in the ear like Jabras that tend to stay in my ears with A little this just fall loose but I'm Probably that's different for you right Yeah I mean for me it's simple I think They've got a great fit they fit me Perfectly the thing I really like about Them actually I think the main thing About the fit is they're very very Lightweight the buds yeah so they they Just sit really comfortably they don't If there's nothing tugging they're not Kind of being pulled out by the weight Of the kind of exterior kind of um I Guess all the all the brains of it and They yeah I've had absolutely no Problems at all I really like them they Disappear when I run them they aren't Comfortable to wear like exact same like They're getting the airport spray They're really comfortable to wear for Long periods because they don't have Wings and then if you can just get here I mean these silicone wings cost me five Pounds like 30 pairs they're all over my House I keep losing them but I've got Enough I can put them on the headphones Each time and they do immediately create A very secure fit they're actually Better Wings than some Brands make Themselves like more comfortable and so If you do get them and have that problem I would look at those third-party Wings Maybe
So then moving on to controls and design Have you found that good yeah little Squeezies little squeezy works well it's A very tactile thing it does a nice Little click you can really know what You're doing with them the controls work Really well even on the track today Obviously able to click and mess around With them no problem yeah same same for Me I've had no problems with these I Mean I as I've said in the other Headphone videos I don't tend to mess Around with the controls too much but When you need to or if you have to this Is good I will control my volume but I'm Always running on my phone so I tend to Use the volume on the phone because it's Just much easier to do yeah um other Things yeah other controls I found got a Nice and easy and I think because They're like you don't you know Controlling the stick you don't do too Much of the kind of tugging where you Can pull them out I think no it's just Squeeze it's okay yeah [Music] So in terms of sound then I guess one of The big things he's going up against is Kind of the airports right in the Airpods Pro And you look at it are these good enough To be a sort of budget alternative to That have you have you found the sound Does it does it live up or does it does
It punch above its way uh I for me it Punches at its weight I think it's okay Uh I think for I think it's very very Bright sound like um and almost when I'm Listening to stuff I just do there's Lots of things like Lana Del Rey or the National or uh boy juniors lots of vocal Lead singer-songwriter stuff and I find In the upper range is that there's a Little Brash for my taste uh you can't Mess with the uku actually and mess Around with it a bit but I think it's a Lot stronger at the base end of things Where I think it sounds a bit better to Me so I don't love the sound but it Certainly sounds good enough uh more More than good enough for its price I Think it's similar in standard to the Other headphones around this price but You certainly get I think quite a big Upgrade in how natural certainly My Kind Of Music sounds Um the other day and I've been doing a Lot of children's songs lately and if You can listen to uh colors of the win From Pocahontas you are a slightly Classier soundscape than you get with These I said a bit Brash for Pocahontas's delicate voice but um in General I do think they have a lot of Power at the lower end which is just not Necessarily the continues if I listen to A lot of but yeah which is exactly Takeaway is nice it's exactly why yeah
Yeah I quite like the sound on these Because of that you know I'm always Listening to lots of European dance Music yeah yeah I mean yeah I'm going For kind of yeah trance and techno yeah Got those like and I so I quite like They kind of big Bassy a Brash kind of Sound so for me they do a good job I'm Not a huge kind of sound connoisseur oh Same for me yeah when it comes to these Things I'm not it's not the primary Factor when I buy the headphones like I'm not an audio file essentially yeah I'm quite happy if it's big and loud and Plays the music So and I think for the price these do a Really good job of that it's not you Know it's not tinny it's not light I Think it's quite well balanced I think You can obviously get more out of it if You fiddle with the with the EQ yeah It's your your tones and that that's Great if I remember I don't think you Can save custom presets though okay Right um so you can fiddle with it and Have it whilst you run but I don't think You can save lots of different profiles In there if I think I'm right on that Which I I like to do yeah I normally Need to have one I know kind of having Done a lot of headphone testing the Exact EQ wave I like in particular but Yeah so I think I do think they sound a Bit better than nothing here once I
Always had that um but for me yeah in Those upper ranges it could be a little Harsh but yeah I think for the money It's okay I do think now we are getting Amazing sounding headphones around this Price so it can be a bit at risk on that From things like the Sennheiser true Sport one but they're much bulkier Bigger headphones especially a lot more Room for drivers and such Um yeah I know my audio drivers and such So I think it's okay but it's not there It's not the most I think detailed and yeah sound at the High ranges yeah you're not gonna you Know you're I think you are you're right You're getting what you pay for here Right so it's yeah yeah but it's Probably certainly sound better but they Are low for double the price yeah [Music] Oh so moving on from sound over on to Active noise cancellation and awareness Modes these have both how did you find Them it's quite similar to sound Actually it's very much pitched around This level it's got the ANC of Headphones at this price like on the Train today it cut out a fair bit but When I use like the Bose QC earbuds or The Apple Airbus Pro they cut out the Whole train like they're brilliant the ANC on these some of these headphones is Generally amazing uh so it's okay and
Then the awareness mode is is does Suffer the problem of most in it but Which is on the run it's a bit of a win Mode like um on the track today I turned On I had I had to put the noise Canceling on because it was just I Didn't need Awareness on the track Obviously but um I'll be very aware of My deserted tracker Um but uh yeah I do think it's not great For On the Run it's more for a general Use thing you're wearing smoke because You are going to get a lot of wind sound But I didn't get a lot of wind of noise Canceling that which I do sometimes so That's good Um so yeah again very much down the line What you pay for I think here yeah I Tend to agree I mean I've used I think The the crossover value of these when You want to use them for work purposes I Think the active noise cancellation has Helped when I'm sat in cafes and I'm Trying to work in busy places Particularly kind of again doing editing They've been good for that you know Solid not not outstanding yeah the Awareness mode yeah I don't really tend To use it to be honest I'm I've always Got my music up so loud it's definitely I'm like I get the Apple notifications To be honest if I want to like yeah the Wind's a problem so if I want to hear More around me I'll just turn it down
Yeah so I wouldn't yeah I wouldn't be Buying these for either of those two Modes particularly I think they do a Solid job it's okay yeah it's around Very similar to the Jabra Elite Four Active ones it makes a little taste Takes the edge off your train ride but Won't delete that and actually some Headphones are so good these days but Again it's price points isn't it Battery life battery life is up on the Nothing Year too compared to the ear one It's a bit not not hugely 20 or Something up yeah but have you found It's kind of lived up to its billing Yeah I have um I think it has with a mix Of music and podcasts I've not had any Noticeable like odd drop-offs um it's Fine six hours is not outstanding but These are small buds I don't really know How they make them and how they fit Things in but you know there are some Out there that can offer a little bit More battery life but we've given Everything going on here that's fine and The case holds quite a lot for a small Case Um so I think it's fine actually yeah You notice any big drop-offs for you I Did for some particularly with ANC on oh Yeah it was like burning through 30 for An hour which is not great oh I never Got that back okay I mean maybe I don't Know maybe I'm listening to my music
So if I just I need to turn it down Nothing like that yeah um but yeah Overall it's been fine and I think yeah Having that case is super portable and Having the extra 29 hours in the case to Back up the six is great if you Particularly like that you want to do Ultras or you're going out for four or Five hours longer you've got that back Up and it's nice and easy to to carry With you it's a good case it's not as Cool as we're not going to review these So I keep mentioning them they're Nothing here sticks that's it was sick Yeah I would rotate it but I've already Made to connect these to my phone once And ruined a lot of videos so I won't do It again but yeah that is the ultimate Impossible cases I mean I'd love the Design of these as well we should have Spoke about earlier but I do like the Way they look they look cool I mean They're different yeah they look pretty Cool yeah Um it's not something on I'm Particularly good at judging So yeah battery life basically I think Does what it says on the tin So onto the verdict then Nick are you Are you buying these are you Recommending these or is there something Else I don't know if you've got these You won't be disappointed you could get Them with the in-ear fit they're good I
Prefer the Jabra Elite proactive fit and I think the sound suits me slightly Better as well um so I'd be getting Those especially they're often in sales Now and um that is something to consider Because I think they're very similar Headphones all round but I slightly Further fit and sound off the jabras Maybe a slight longer battery life as Well so that is a big Contender for me I Would say you know there are good Headphones if you're looking at them as A comparison to the Apple airpods 2 Which is what they're never going to be Compared to they aren't as good on sound And ANC as you'd expect but you know you Are spending 120 quid less yeah Something like that and I would Definitely if you don't struggle within The headphones check out the nothing Sticks because although we're not Reviewing those right now they're pretty Good sound for open headphones Reasonably cheap Um compared to the airports Pro 3 which Is what they're up against and um they Have a fit that suits me really well Because I don't get all the inner Headphones but you really like this game You'd really recommend these the price Right these are these are the headphones That I reach for I use them basically Day in day out I've done actually I was Using the nothing year one before I love
The design I like the fit I think for me The audio is good enough quality I think For the all-round package that you get And the way they they look you know They're a good kind of crossover Headphone for for work for running I think they're a pretty good All-rounder I think they represent Really good value I I kind of love them There's just enough of everything you Know there are things that they miss you Know maybe there's you know there's Maybe not as much kind of in terms of The sort of custom presets and all of That kind of stuff there's some features But you get All of the basics I think done to a Pretty good solid standard and for the Price I just think they represent all Around a pretty good package yeah I Suppose the other thing with them I've Never seen nothing headphones in sales Really ask you anything so that's one Area where they can get because Jabra Just every Prime day get rinsed on the Sale so that is one thing to consider so They're more of a you know Boutique Product in that regard but um yeah like I say they you're not going to buy them And be disappointed I'd say yeah but um There are times isolated for that so There you have it that has been our Review of the nothing earbuds too hope It's been useful if there's anything
We've missed hit us up in the comments Below feel free to ask us those Questions don't forget to like And Subscribe ring the bell share this video With other people who think might find It useful all of those things are really Helpful to the channel but otherwise It's been a pleasure to talk to you About these headphones and we hope to See you again soon on the Run testers
