Nank Ultra Clip-on Bluetooth Earbuds Review

The Nank Ultra Clip-on Bluetooth earbuds are an interesting open-ear design which gently attaches over the outer part of the ear to keep them in place. The tiny speaker bud projects sound inwards to the ear canal with a larger bean-shaped control unit round the back of the ear. The Ultras are very light and once clipped on, you hardly notice that they’re there yet they stay on firmly. Unlike earbuds which go into the ear canal itself, there’s isn’t the same audio isolation and you can hear both the music and the outside world. If you are runner or cyclist and need awareness of the environment, these could be worth considering.

The Nank Ultra earbuds come in square-ish box along with a charging case, a short USB C charging cable and some instructions in both English and Chinese. The box is a little bit tricky to get open as the top and bottom slide very snuggly together. The case is an attractive dark metallic grey pebble shape with a USB C charging port at the rear and a small white LED at the front. The top half opens to reveal the earbuds nestling neatly inside the case, with a black loop connecting the silvery pods. One end is pea-sized, the other broad bean-sized. It’s definitely bigger than a coffee bean.

The earbuds snap into place in the case via magnets and Nank cleverly use magnetic polarity to make sure the Ultras slot in the right way round. There’s a small pogo pin connector that allows the earbuds to charge from the case. The specs suggest you get up to 8 hours from the earbuds on a full charge and you can then recharge three times from the case, giving a total listening time of 32 hours. Much as I love reviewing gadgets, I never listened to music for 8 hours straight but the battery life feels about right.

Putting on the Nank Ultra earbuds does take a little bit of thought but there is an easy knack to it. Simply lift the earbud by the black hoop and without twisting or turning the bud, position the smaller pod towards the ear canal and slip the larger bean round the back of the ear. After you’ve done it a few times, you’ll have it down pat. The larger bean is the control surface for the headphones so it helps to hold them by the hoop so as to avoid false touches. It sometime takes a bit of wiggling to get them sitting just right but once they’re in place, they’re so comfortable. I wear glasses and there was no interference at all.

Pairing with a smartphone was easy as out of the box, the Ultras went into pairing mode and my phone picked them up straight away appearing as NANK-Ultra. There’s a small blue-white LED which gives some feedback on the status of the earbuds. Control is done via taps on the bean roughly where the NANK lettering is – one tap adjusts volume, two taps starts / stops the audio and holding moves between tracks. You get the idea.

As I mentioned in the introduction, the Nank Ultra earbuds don’t isolate you from the outside world so there good for people who want to have some awareness of their environment but still want to enjoy their music. They also stay on the ear really well. I tried them running, biking and in the gym and had no problems at all with them coming off. They’re IPX5-rated so they’ll be ok with a bit of sweat but don’t be wearing them in the shower. I wore them for hours in the office and was able to wear them beyond the point where my ears would normally be sore.

When it comes to audio quality, don’t expect these to be IEMs, but they’re still good when compared with other earphones of a similar type. Music is detailed and clear, perhaps a little bright. Stereo comes across well though the sound stage isn’t huge. Bass is good for this kind of open-ear headphone (but don’t expect it to be like pumping bass of an in-ear device – you’re comparing apples and oranges).

Overall, no-one’s going to be disappointed here against other headphones at a similar price point and type. These sound good and the focus here is on comfort, which the Ultra delivers in spades.

Any problems? The Ultra earbuds can be used to take calls or, as I tried, as a headset on a Teams call. Technically it all worked, but feedback from colleagues suggested it didn’t quite sound like me. YMMV.

Pricewise, the full price is around UK£100 but there’s a discount on at the moment which brings the price down to about £45 and they’re available directly from Nank’s online store. Nank have kindly offered a further 15% off with the code “GNCandrew” which further sweetens the deal. To be clear, I don’t get any commission on this – it’s purely a discount code for my readers and watchers.

Thanks to Nank for supplying the Ultra Clip-on Bluetooth earbuds for review.