Perhaps it’s the "love me, love my dog" effect at play. As a long-time Nothing fan who has bought multiple Nothing phones one after another, Xiao Lei has always been quite fond of Nothing’s earbuds and CMF smartwatches.After all, in the current consumer electronics industry, backed by mature supply chains, "good functionality" has become the baseline for earbuds and smartwatches. Only products that are both practical and aesthetically pleasing stand a chance of standing out in the market.

photography by Leitech

Take the Nothing Ear 3 launched last year as an example: it sports an exceptional design while delivering outstanding audio performance. In fact, based on Lei Tech’s hands-on testing, the overall performance of the Nothing Ear 3 is even superior to that of the over-ear Nothing Headphone (a).

So, can the newly released Nothing Ear (3a), at the 699-yuan price point, carry forward Nothing’s fine tradition of making earbuds that are both great-looking and highly functional?

photography by Leitech

The transparent design is retained, but the hand feel of the charging case has regressed

At first glance, the Nothing Ear (3a) is still the Nothing we’re familiar with:

For this hands-on review, Xiao Lei tested the transparent-and-black variant. The charging case lid still employs Nothing’s iconic transparent design, allowing the earbuds and the Glyph Bar-style power indicator to be seen straight through. It still looks sleek and futuristic.

photography by Leitech

However, compared to last year’s Nothing Ear 3, Nothing has revised the shape of the Ear (3a)’s charging case: on top of the standard oval form factor, the Nothing Ear (3a) case features an added raised rim around its edge.

Admittedly, this rim design is quite a creative touch. But from a practical standpoint, the rim on the Nothing Ear (3a) somewhat reduces the leverage of the case’s opening notch. With most other TWS earbuds, you can easily flip the case open one-handed using the friction along the edge. With this rim getting in the way, however, Xiao Lei had to pry the Nothing Ear (3a) case open with his knuckle.

As for the earbuds themselves, the Nothing Ear (3a) does a solid job. The buds are compact with noticeably shorter stems, so they don’t feel intrusive when worn. What’s more, thanks to the shorter, slimmer stems, even though Xiao Lei can’t get a secure fit with the AirPods Pro, the Nothing Ear (3a) never feels like it’s about to slip out.

Of course, the Ear (3a) isn’t without its minor downsides.

The transparent material of the Nothing Ear (3a) looks great, but it’s rather fussy about daily use. If you frequently toss the case into a bag with keys, cables and other small items, scratches will appear on the surface very easily. In addition, the Nothing Ear (3a) carries on the brand’s signature fingerprint-magnet trait. If you can’t stand seeing scuffs and smudges on glossy plastic, the Nothing Ear (3a) might not be the right pick for you.

Sound quality and noise cancellation deliver a genuinely good experience

Compared to scratches and fingerprints, audio performance is probably the least of your worries with the Nothing Ear (3a).

Its sound signature is close to that of the Nothing Ear 3, following a clean, balanced and easy-listening profile. The low end isn’t artificially cranked up — it has moderate weight and decent bounce, without overpowering vocals or instruments. When listening to pop, rock or electronic music, there’s enough rhythmic punch, without that bloated, overwhelming bass often forced in to cater to casual listeners.

The midrange is where the Ear (3a) feels most pleasant. Vocals aren’t overly forward, but they’re clear and natural, with neither male nor female voices sounding thin or hollow. For most pop tracks, Xiao Lei’s verdict can be summed up simply: easy on the ears.

photography by Leitech

The high frequencies stay consistent with this tuning approach. They don’t deliver a strikingly bright extension or a sharp sense of analytical detail, but their strength lies in being clean and free of harshness. Given that the Ear (3a) is almost certainly priced below the Ear 3, this sonic performance is already remarkably good.

For noise cancellation, Nothing hasn’t published specific noise reduction figures for the Ear (3a) this time. Even so, in an office setting, it clearly dampens the hum of air conditioners, keyboard clicks and distant human voices. What’s more, the Nothing Ear (3a) also manages wind noise very well even while riding a bike.

To be clear, the noise cancelling capability of the Nothing Ear (3a) isn’t on par with the "full isolation from the outside world" experience offered by flagship over-ear ANC headphones. But compared to the Nothing Headphone (a), which has poor sealing around the rear of its ear cups, I find the noise cancellation performance of the Nothing Ear (3a) actually superior.

Notably, the Nothing Ear (3a) also does an excellent job with ANC pressure equalization — even with noise cancellation set to the highest level, wearing them causes no obvious discomfort.

Built-in call recording, a boon for iPhone users

As noted earlier, since Nothing phones are not sold in mainland China, we can’t experience the native ecosystem integration of the Nothing Ear (3a).

However, from Xiao Lei’s regular use of Nothing phones, even if you do own a Nothing Phone, most functions of Nothing earbuds rely on the Nothing X app to work; and that app can be installed on any Android device.

Opening Nothing X, you’ll find its UI keeps the familiar black-and-white aesthetic, visually aligned with the earbuds themselves. Standard features including ANC mode switching, EQ adjustment and firmware updates are all available.

photography by Leitech

On top of that, Nothing has added a highly practical feature for the Nothing Ear (3a) within the Nothing X app: call recording.

Squeeze both earbuds simultaneously to activate the call recording function of the Nothing Ear (3a). Whether you are on a regular phone call or a WeChat call, as long as the audio signal passes through the Nothing Ear (3a), the earbuds can record and save the conversation from both sides.

That is not all. To avoid missing out on recordings, the Nothing Ear (3a) even supports a pre-recording feature: simply drag the left slider to a negative value, and the Nothing Ear (3a) will save audio from before you squeeze the earbuds — much like the emergency footage on a dashcam, or NVIDIA’s Instant Replay function.

photography by Leitech

Within the Nothing X app, Nothing has even added a dedicated AI voice transcription feature to complement this call recording function. For iPhone users, the call recording capability of the Nothing Ear (3a) is genuinely quite practical.

A More Accessible Pair of Nothing Earbuds

Before we analyze who the Nothing Ear (3a) is best suited for, let’s first summarize its pros and cons following Lei Tech’s review template.

Pros:

1.Unique and distinctive earbud design;

2. Clean, balanced sound profile with excellent noise cancellation performance;

3. Built-in call recording functionality.

Cons:

1. The opening notch on the charging case is relatively small, making it less convenient to open the case and retrieve the earbuds;
2. The transparent plastic lid is prone to scratches.

Overall, the positioning of the Nothing Ear (3a) is perfectly clear: it is not designed to replace the Ear 3, nor to go head-to-head with mid-range TWS models from other brands. In Lei Tech’s view, Nothing’s core goal for the Ear (3a) is to bring the most recognizable hallmarks of Nothing earbuds to a more consumer-accessible price point, thereby raising the profile of Nothing’s audio products in the Chinese mainland market.

photography by Leitech

So who is the Nothing Ear (3a) for? If you prioritize top-tier noise cancellation and a full suite of flagship features, the Ear (3a) may not be your optimal pick. When it comes to sound quality, plenty of great alternatives are available under 1,000 yuan.

However, if you are fond of Nothing’s design language, or simply want a pair of stylish, functional TWS earbuds and do not mind the price, the Nothing Ear (3a) is definitely worth your consideration.

WAIC2026—under the theme “Smart Partners, Co-Creating the Future”—has concluded.

AI narratives have evolved from raw model-parameter scaling toward tangible agent-driven productivity; heterogeneous computing and photonic computing continue pushing computational limits upward; embodied intelligence accelerates real-world applications—bringing robots into homes and factories, turning physical AI into reality.

LeiTech’s WAIC exhibition team has returned to Guangzhou and is now conducting intensive post-event analysis—stay tuned!