Nothing Ear (Open) Open-Ear Headphones, Earbuds with Earhooks, Clear Voice Technology with 2 Mics, BT 5.3, Fast Charging, Compatible with iPhone & Android -White

Seriously impressed by these – the hype is real. Coming from Pixel Buds Pro
I saw the deluge of videos on these once they were announced, and they did not disappoint. These are my first open earbuds, so I have nothing in this category to compare with. However, these made a huge positive first impression on me coming from the sealed in-ear Pixel Buds Pro (I never really used the ANC on them anyways – they were in Transparency mode most of the time).They’re plenty loud for me. The sound quality is good for what these are. There’s an objective amount of detail that’s lost due to the open design, but these are impressive for what they’ve accomplished. Just to try it out, I tried pushing the driver closer to my ear canal with my fingers, and the deeper bass and cleaner sound was a lot more evident. At their default volume (about half) they may have even been a bit too loud, so my regular listening volume is at the lowest setting (I’ve yet to try them in a noisy environment, though). I can hear everything around me in a similar way that the Buds Pro had its Transparency mode, except I don’t have something shoved directly into my ear opening.Which leads to the next point – comfort and longevity are the reason I wanted to move to open buds. I can wear these for hours at a time and barely notice they’re there. It’s not an unlimited amount of time, but it’s much longer than I can sustain in-ear buds. They’re not imperceptible, but you have to be conscious of them to notice you’re wearing them.Sure they might be a little dorky looking, but that goes for just about any buds in this style. They have the Nothing touch, so I think they hold their own in terms of design which is a good thing. Nothing has been killing it in terms of their industrial design. I’d love to rock one of their phones but they only come in XL sizes.There is a bit of a delay with the touch controls, but that’s probably to prevent accidental touches. The pressure required to activate the squeeze controls. Some of them are mixes of multiple taps and holds, which is probably another reason for the delay. They’re customizable through the Nothing X app, which you have to download onto your device. The options are adequate and I’ve customized them from default, and placed the Assistant gesture on the right bud.In terms of their size, the case looked huge when I saw it in videos. It’s not small by any means but it is smaller than I expected. If there was something I could change about these, it would all be in the case. A more compact size (similar to the Soundcore AeroFit) and wireless charging would be nice.The packaging is pretty minimal, but it comes with all you need. They’re fully charged out of the box, you get a charging cable and some reading material. There is a firmware update available once you get them connected to the app. For some reason when I first paired them to my phone, only the left bud connected. After putting them back in the case and long pressing the button on the case, all was good to go. Then I was able to proceed with the firmware update. Earlier I mentioned that my regular listening volume is at the lowest, but once they’re disconnected and reconnected they go back to their default volume. I need to determine if this is a phone thing or a buds thing (I haven’t found any indication there’s a setting for it in the Nothing X app).That about sums up my experiences in the hours that I’ve had these. I’ll be updating this review if my impressions change, and I’m overall happy with my first Nothing purchase.

Super quality !