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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-20 · 6 min read · Independent comparison
• Nothing Ear — biggest strength: A proper audio-first design: 11 mm ceramic-diaphragm dynamic drivers, Hi-Res streaming over LDAC and LHDC 5.0, up to 45 dB adaptive ANC, and 40.5 hours of total playback with the case.
• Nothing Ear — biggest trade-off: It's earbuds only. No screen, no fitness tracking, no watch functions — you need a phone or watch for everything else.
• Tuanzi X9 — biggest strength: A 2-in-1 device that combines a 1.85-inch smartwatch, TWS earbuds stored inside the watch body, and a speaker, with health monitoring, multi-sport modes, NFC and app notifications.
• Tuanzi X9 — biggest trade-off: Earbud battery life is far shorter (roughly 4 hours per bud from a 25 mAh cell), audio specs are basic Bluetooth 5.0 with no codec detail, and it's built around the watch experience rather than sound quality.
• Pick Nothing Ear if music, calls and noise cancelling matter most to you.
• Pick Tuanzi X9 if you want one gadget on your wrist that handles workouts, notifications and quick listening.
Nothing Ear is, first and foremost, a pair of earbuds built for people who care how music sounds. The 11 mm dynamic driver uses a ceramic diaphragm, and Nothing says airflow inside each bud was increased by 10% for lower distortion and clearer detail. On the wireless side it supports Hi-Res streaming — up to 1 Mbps at 24-bit/192 kHz over LHDC 5.0, and up to 990 kbps at up to 24-bit/96 kHz over LDAC. That's a meaningful spec list for anyone who streams lossless audio from a compatible Android phone or player. Note the catch: your source device has to support LHDC or LDAC for those higher rates.
Noise cancelling is the other headline. Nothing Ear offers up to 45 dB of adaptive ANC, and it actively checks for leakage between the bud and your ear canal, then adds more cancellation to compensate. In practice that's the kind of feature that matters when you're on a train, in an open office, or on a plane and your seal isn't perfect. There's also Transparency Mode, switched by pinching and holding the bud.
Battery and convenience are genuinely strong. You get 8.5 hours per charge with ANC off, over 40.5 hours total with the case, and a 10-minute fast charge that Nothing claims delivers up to 10 hours of playback (ANC off). The case supports up to 2.5 W wireless charging, including reverse charging from compatible devices. Bluetooth 5.3 handles dual-device connection, so you can play from a laptop and jump to a phone call without re-pairing.
Who should skip it: if you want wrist-based heart-rate tracking, step counts and a screen you can glance at, Nothing Ear simply doesn't do that. You'd be buying it purely for sound, ANC and battery.
Tuanzi X9: Who It's For
Tuanzi X9 takes the opposite approach. Instead of chasing audio specs, it crams three devices into one: a smartwatch, a pair of TWS earbuds that live inside the watch body, and a speaker. The main shell is glass lens plus zinc aluminium alloy, the strap is silicone, and the whole thing weighs 145 g with a 13 mm-thick case.
The watch side is where most of the value sits. You get a 1.85-inch 320×385 colour touchscreen, heart-rate monitoring via a dedicated HX3605 chip, multi-sport modes, and exercise records covering pedometer, calories and mileage. There's NFC, an alarm clock, weather forecast, call reminders and rejection, shake-to-take-photos, and information alerts from SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook, Skype, Line, Viber and more. The app is Flow Fit, and it works with Android 4.4+ and iOS 8.0+.
Battery life is split across two systems. The watch body carries a 240 mAh polymer cell, while each earbud uses a 25 mAh cell rated at about 4 hours of playback, with a single bud weighing 2.45 g. The watch body can recharge the earbuds for 2–3 cycles, which is the clever part — you don't need a separate charging case. Both the watch and buds are rated IP67 for water resistance to 1 metre, so sweat, hand-washing and rain aren't a problem.
Controls are a mix of physical buttons and gesture recognition, and the earbuds use tap gestures: press for 2 seconds to power on, 1.5 seconds to reject a call, 3 seconds to power off, double-tap to answer or hang up, triple-tap left for previous and right for next, and four taps to wake Siri. The earbud pairing also requires four keystrokes to switch between Chinese and English.
Who should skip it: if lossless codecs, adaptive ANC and long per-charge listening sessions are your priority, the X9's earbuds will feel like a bonus feature rather than the main event. There's no ANC spec listed, no LDAC or LHDC, and roughly 4 hours per bud is a fraction of what Nothing Ear offers.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best sound quality → Nothing Ear. Ceramic-diaphragm 11 mm drivers plus LDAC and LHDC 5.0 support make this the clear audio pick.
• Best noise cancelling → Nothing Ear. Up to 45 dB adaptive ANC with leak detection. Tuanzi X9 lists no ANC spec at all.
• Best battery life → Nothing Ear. 8.5 hours per charge and 40.5 hours total with the case, versus roughly 4 hours per X9 bud.
• Best for fitness and health tracking → Tuanzi X9. Heart rate, multi-sport modes, pedometer, calories and mileage, all on your wrist.
• Best for notifications and calls without your phone → Tuanzi X9. NFC, call reminders, message alerts across major apps and Bluetooth calling.
• Best for gaming and low latency → Nothing Ear. Game Mode brings end-to-end latency under 120 ms.
• Best for travelling light → Tuanzi X9. Buds store inside the watch, which also recharges them for 2–3 cycles — no separate case to carry.
• Best waterproofing → Tuanzi X9. IP67 on both watch and buds, including 1 m water resistance, versus IP54 buds on Nothing Ear.
In my opinion, most people should buy Nothing Ear. It does one job — great wireless audio with strong ANC and long battery life — and it does it with specs that hold up: Hi-Res codecs, adaptive 45 dB cancellation, dual-device Bluetooth 5.3 and over 40 hours total. The Tuanzi X9 is genuinely clever as a watch-first hybrid, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants health tracking and notifications on their wrist with earbuds as a built-in extra. But if music and calls are why you're buying, the Nothing Ear is the one I'd pick. Check the current price on Amazon before deciding.
Yes, based on the specs. Nothing Ear uses an 11 mm ceramic-diaphragm driver with LDAC and LHDC 5.0 Hi-Res streaming, while Tuanzi X9 lists only Bluetooth 5.0 earbuds with no advanced codec support.
No active noise cancelling is listed for the X9. Nothing Ear, by contrast, offers up to 45 dB adaptive ANC that adjusts for leakage between the bud and your ear.
Each earbud has a 25 mAh battery rated at about 4 hours of playback. The watch body can recharge them 2–3 cycles, so you don't need a separate case.
Tuanzi X9 is the more natural gym pick because it tracks heart rate, steps, calories and workouts on a 1.85-inch screen and is IP67 waterproof. Nothing Ear is sweat-resistant at IP54, so it's fine for workouts too, but it won't log your training.
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