Nothing brings a classy pair of open headphones to the market for $149

Few hardware startups have launched a full product line as quickly as Nothing. The London-based company announced the next iteration of its Ear Open in-ear headphones on Tuesday. As the name suggests, these are open-ear devices designed to preserve a sense of situational awareness rather than the approach of drowning out the world through active noise cancellation.

The new headphones cost $149, the same as the company’s Ear 2 and $50 more than the budget Ear A, and $20 more than the new AirPods 4 (without ANC). Like the Ear 2, the new Opens offer voice access to ChatGPT queries through the Nothing X app.

Like other open-ear headphones, the new pair is designed for situations where the user needs to hear what’s going on around them, such as riding a bike or walking through city streets. Some sound leakage is inevitable with headphones that don’t have ear cups or inserts for passive noise reduction.

Nothing says on the subject: “This open-back design is engineered with Sound Seal and directional speakers to minimize sound leakage, ensuring privacy while delivering a perfectly balanced soundstage.”

The Open certainly maintains the emphasis on style that has defined Nothing products since the beginning. They largely carry over the design language of the company’s Ear products. That’s nice, because open-ear headphones often look like they’ve been pulled from a Dollar General dumpster.

There’s no telling the buds are 30% lighter than “typical in-ear headphones.” They’ll also have eight hours of playback on a single charge, and 30 hours total when you include the case.

Pre-orders begin Tuesday. Shipping to the US, Canada, UK and Europe will begin October 1.