Nothing has just announced that it’s partnering with British hi-fi institution KEF on new audio products that are “the next step in expanding Nothing’s audio journey,” according to Andrew Freshwater, Head of Smart Products Marketing at Nothing. The new products are due “later this year.”
This kind of partnership between electronics manufacturers and hi-fi firms has a long history, and is littered with plenty of disappointments as well as successes.
I was never sure we got that much from LG and Meridian Audio working together, and Belkin’s collaboration with Devialet (arguably not really a hi-fi company, but still) never produced anything I liked. But TCL’s work with Onkyo on TV speakers was successful (and the company is now partnering with Bang & Olufsen), while the tie-in between Philips TVs and Bowers & Wilkins produced some stunning results.
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(Panasonic’s long history of delivering sound tuned by Technics in its products doesn’t count; it’s cheating if you own the hi-fi company in question.)
I’m optimistic about this collaboration, though, because Nothing has shown itself to be a lot more serious about good audio quality in the last year or so, and KEF has a history of making headphones that sound very fine, but couldn’t compete on smart features.
(Image credit: Future)
We were blown away by how good the sound in the Nothing Ear (a) is for the price, and we still rate them as being among the best earbuds around today, with a five-star score.
And the slightly more expensive Nothing Ear are crammed with smart features that work well, and are a strong value. If Nothing is thinking of going higher-end with new earbuds – or perhaps competing with the best over-ear headphones – KEF’s a good partner to help ensure the sound is up to standard, while Nothing provides the features.
Not that KEF has a terrible record in smart features – the wireless KEF LSX II LT speakers got a cool five stars in our review.
Let’s get fantastical
I also wouldn’t be surprised at all if Nothing gets into the world of the best Bluetooth speakers, which could be a real hit if they keep the company’s cool see-through aesthetic – and KEF’s experience with loudspeakers would obviously be a massive benefit.
Although this is perhaps unlikely for a launch late in the year, since companies generally try to get Bluetooth speakers launched ready for spring/summer in the northern hemisphere.
However, my dream product from this collaboration would be an affordable wireless speaker design that includes KEF’s Uni-Q driver. This speaker design puts a tweeter speaker right in the center of the larger woofer dynamic driver, with the idea being that this helps to perfectly align their sound for one unified outcome with big dynamic range. It also gives KEF’s speaker their awesome, simple looks.
The KEF Uni-Q driver (Image credit: Future)
I strongly suspect that either KEF would like to keep Uni-Q to itself, or that it would be too expensive to implement – or both.
My money is on KEF doing sound tuning and design advice for Nothing’s own designs – but that could be enough to make a big impact. The Nothing Ear (a) already kicked Sony off its perch as the king of value earbuds for us.
Is there something coming for Sony’s more premium headphones next, or JBL’s portable speakers? Or both – Nothing’s statement says that there are “several acoustically co-developed products already in progress”.
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