Nothing\u2019s pitch is that the beamforming microphones in the case can deliver clearer audio and better noise cancelling, which probably mostly comes down to the fact that you can hold the case right in front of your mouth \u2014 traditionally where microphones go \u2014 rather than inside your ears.<\/p>\n
You need to have at least one earbud out of the case and connected to your phone to use Super Mic.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been testing the Ear 3 for a week or so throughout a vacation in New York, and have given the Super Mic a bit of a test along the way. Nothing is definitely right that it sounds better than the buds by themselves, especially in relatively quiet areas \u2014 audio recordings are a little less tinny, with more rounded sound and depth to my voice. That said, the first time I tested it during a voice call with my partner, she could hardly tell the difference, so for some it will clearly be a subtle improvement, especially if connection quality is an issue.<\/p>\n Things are more mixed in noisy areas. Nothing has built in some fairly powerful noise cancellation to both sets of microphones. It\u2019s impressive at blocking out unwanted noise \u2014 I stood a few feet away from a jackhammer and couldn\u2019t hear it in the recording \u2014 but it\u2019s so aggressive that it chopped up my voice in the process, the sound dropping in and out like it might on a call made from a moving train. This happened on both the earbuds and the Super Mic, and the latter suffered from it just as much.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a bigger problem if you hope to use this for video: latency. Using the Blackmagic camera app I spotted an improvement in sound quality whenever I activated Super Mic, but my audio pretty immediately dropped out of sync with the video, my speech no longer lining up to my lip movements. That won\u2019t be a problem for voice calls, but for video calls and especially any hopes of recording footage for the likes of TikTok, it might kill a lot of Super Mic\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n This green light activates to let you know Super Mic is on.<\/p>\n There are other downsides to Super Mic. Holding the case to your mouth means, well, holding the case. Buds don\u2019t always sound great, but they are hands-free, and this isn\u2019t. Moving it too far away from your mouth or pointing it in the wrong direction will also ruin your audio pretty quickly. That might make it annoying for longer calls, especially on the go, but probably won\u2019t bother you too much if you just need to record a quick voice note or video.<\/p>\n Compatibility is a headache too. Super Mic will work anywhere that your regular earbud microphones would \u2014 your phone actually can\u2019t tell the difference, since the switch between microphones is handled by the buds themselves \u2014 but that means it doesn\u2019t work everywhere.<\/p>\n Most voice and video calls support it, including the likes of Zoom and WhatsApp, along with some audio recording apps, like iOS Voice Memos. But you can\u2019t use it to record WhatsApp or SnapChat voice notes, and most Android phones\u2019 camera apps only work with the phone\u2019s own microphone. iOS 26<\/a> just added the option to select an external microphone for video recording at least, so compatibility is actually better for iPhone users, despite Nothing making its own Android phones.<\/p>\n The company wants to be clear that this isn\u2019t its fault. \u201cMost of these apps default to the phone\u2019s native microphone and don\u2019t give users the option to select another input,\u201d Andrew Freshwater, head of global smart products marketing at Nothing, said when I asked about the limits to support. \u201cThat\u2019s an OS and app-level decision, not ours. We\u2019d love to see this flexibility opened up so more people can benefit from Super Mic.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be testing Super Mic out more over the next few days, along with the rest of the Ear 3\u2019s audio, for a full review next week.<\/p>\n Photography by Dominic Preston<\/p>\n 0 Comments<\/a>Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Dominic PrestonClose Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All by Dominic Preston<\/a><\/p>\n AudioCloseAudio<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Audio<\/a><\/p>\n GadgetsCloseGadgets<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Gadgets<\/a><\/p>\n HeadphonesCloseHeadphones<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Headphones<\/a><\/p>\n ReportCloseReport<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n![\"Nothing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nothing-ear-3-5.jpg\"\/)
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