Nothing ear (1) buds review: these seriously stylish earbuds are almost perfect

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) was a big selling point for these buds and what’s meant to decisively set them apart from competitors at the same price point. The three built-in mics emit sound to cancel out, not just block, background noise. Again, the app provides four options: off, light, maximum and “transparency”, which allows voices through.

While the ANC worked well, effortlessly blocking out traffic, background construction noise and the blaring dance music at the gym, we couldn’t tell much difference between the modes. However, the “maximum” option in particular did reduce music sound quality a touch. But overall, it’s an excellent feature at this price point and one lacking from Samsung’s Galaxy Buds+ (£99) and Google’s Pixel Buds A-Series (£139).

But now for the downsides. Phone calls, unfortunately, were a mess. Voices sounded warbly and cracked through the buds, while the sound quality on the other end was distorted. It’s disappointing given ear (1)’s marketing boasts of high-definition mics and sound-improving algorithms. Of course, this is a common complaint even for the much more expensive AirPods – but we ended up swapping to wired earphones for Zoom meetings.

Fast pairing was another hitch. The buds use the latest 5.3 Bluetooth connectivity, and Android phones are supposed to pair right away by simply holding them near the ear (1) case. After a couple of attempts, we gave up and paired through the Bluetooth menu, which was painless.