I’ve had my Nothing Ear earbuds for a few weeks now, and I’ve spent some time fine-tuning the sound to my personal preference. Although the earbuds sound good, the multiband compression that’s being used is clearly not calibrated 100% correctly. While I can somewhat understand the use of a multiband compressor in a consumer product, the way it’s implemented here often strips a track of its dynamics and “air,” which is unfortunate for a product that has the potential to sound great. You can clearly hear the compression working against you as soon as you start using the advanced equalizer.
The thresholds set for the multiband compressor are too low, so when you boost certain frequencies, any gain you make is cancelled out by the processing that kicks in. The equalizer also lacks a master volume control to compensate for this overall, so you’re left with only one solution: set the EQ in a way that stays within the “sweet spots” of the multiband compressors. That means lowering the gain by a few dB on almost all bands instead of boosting them, and in doing so, shaping a spectral balance that also respects the low thresholds of the multiband compressor.
When you do this, you’ll immediately notice that everything gains more body and air, and that dynamics are better preserved during louder passages. Maybe Nothing could address this in a future firmware update so the compression has less impact on your settings?
Below is the QR code for my EQ settings. I’m using the personal sound profile – with the “softer” setting and an intensity of 28%. If you’re into bass, you can enable bass enhancement at level 1, but otherwise, feel free to leave it off. I also don’t use ANC or transparency mode.
Enjoy the preset, and feel free to let me know if it works for you too!
