There's a microphone inside the Nothing Ear 3's case

Nothing has made a rather unusual decision with its latest wireless earbuds: it shoved an extra microphone inside the battery case. 

While there's still a microphone on each of the buds that make up the Nothing Ear 3, the charging case has a dual-microphone "Super Mic". Nothing says the case microphone is better at focusing on your voice, and can cut surrounding noise as loud as 95 decibels. By default, the Ear 3 use the on-bud microphones, but pressing the "Talk" button on the case will swap to the Super Mic. 

If you're using the Ear 3 with a Nothing phone like the recently released Phone 3, the case can effectively work as a voice recorder - even when you're not wearing the earbuds. The voice notes are saved to the "Essential Space" on the phone, along with a transcription. 

In terms of sound, Nothing says the Ear 3 feature an "upgraded 12mm" driver with boosted bass, more treble, and a wider soundstage. The earbuds can last up to 10 hours per charge with noise cancelling off, and up to 38 hours before the case needs to be recharged. This drops to 5.5 hours and 22 hours with voice cancelling on. A five-minute charge gives up to an hour of extra playback time. 

The Ear 3 retail for $299 in Australia. They're available for pre-order from today, ahead of a September 25 release date. 

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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