How do you try to stand out in a sea of headphones that are increasingly all looking the same? This was the challenge facing Nothing with its first over-ear headphones, the Headphone 1, which was just announced in London, alongside the new Nothing Phone 3.
Built in partnership with KEF, the company’s answer to this conundrum is to focus on design, usability, and customizability, and the Headphone 1 delivers on all three fronts. I’ve spent a couple of days with the Headphone 1, and while it’s too soon for a definitive verdict — stay tuned for our review later this week for that — one thing has become particularly clear: these are unique, stylish, and surprisingly good.
After 48 hours with the Headphone 1, here’s why I like them so far, and why they’re better than I expected.
A funky design with real purpose
Like its phones, Nothing has chosen a unique design for its first over-ear headphones that stands out, albeit in a polarizing way, although less so than the design of the Nothing Phone 3.
The transparent design of the ear caps, combined with the boxy design, helps the Headphone 1 stand out from every other pair of headphones. However, look beyond the ear caps and you’ll realize that the Headphone 1 has several useful design features.
There’s a paddle that makes it easy to change tracks and a roller to adjust the volume easily. Then there’s a customizable button that can be used to launch everything from your favorite voice assistant to Nothing’s innovative Channel Hop feature, but more on that below.
Heavy on the head, a joy in the ears
The Nothing Headphone 1 weighs 329 grams, which is much heavier than the Sony WH-1000XM6, which weighs almost a third less at 250 grams.
This is one of the biggest challenges, as the Nothing Headphone 1 is fairly heavy on the head, but the materials have a soft finish that still makes them quite comfortable to wear for extended periods. If you have a slightly wider head like I do, you’ll likely also find that it can crimp on your ears, but it hasn’t reached a point yet where it’s too uncomfortable to wear.
That’s a good thing, as the Nothing Headphone 1 sounds great, albeit with a caveat that you’ll likely want to adjust the equalizer settings in the Nothing X app. Once you do, you’ll find a balanced sound that is particularly pleasing, especially with the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC).
The fit of the Nothing Headphone 1 means that the ANC is largely effective at reducing consistent noise, like a train. This allows the mids to come through at a quieter level, but when the background noise is inconsistent — such as with a fire engine or police siren — the Headphone 1 ANC struggles to achieve the same quality.
Like every pair of headphones, there’s also a transparency mode that allows you to hear the sounds closest to you without needing to pause the track or remove the headphones. This is where companies like Apple and Sony have better transparency modes, but the Nothing Headphone 1’s transparency mode works fairly well, albeit with a noticeable reduction in audio quality.
Hardware meets software
If you choose to pick up the Nothing Headphone 1, you’ll want to ensure that you also install the Nothing X app to tweak the overall equalizer settings and the output sound.
Out of the box, the default Balanced mode offers solid bass reproduction, but lacks the same quality as my Sony XM6, which are my favorite headphones. In some tracks, the Headphone 1 lacks the bass you would expect — especially when it’s a track you know — but in others, the artist’s vocals come through clearly and sound great.
While this is an initial test in Balanced mode — which is how most of our review will be conducted as well — the true test is once you start to adjust the EQ settings. Here, you can find a balance that sounds great in all areas, and you can tweak eight different settings to find the perfect sound for you. Unlike its key competitors, this is something you’ll need to do with the Headphone 1.
The Channel Hop feature — which is activated with a customizable button — is a software feature that more headphones should have. It works when paired with the Nothing Phone 3 and is designed to let you cycle between recent audio apps, playlists, or functions, without needing to search through different menus and settings.
The rest of the key specs
Beyond the specs above, the Nothing Headphone 1 also packs a lot of the key specs you’d expect from a premium pair of over-ear headphones.
The 40mm dynamic drivers provide great overall sound reproduction, Bluetooth 5.3 delivers solid range and quality, and the 20Hz – 40kHz frequency range should ensure it can reproduce the frequencies used in most audio tracks. There’s also IP52 waterproofing, which means you can keep using the Headphone 1 even if you get caught in a short downpour while on your daily commute.
Then there’s the battery. The Nothing Headphone 1 is designed to offer up to 35 hours of battery life with ANC turned on, and up to 80 hours with ANC turned off. This puts it slightly higher than the Sony XM6, which offers up to 30 hours of battery life on a single charge with ANC turned on.
The Nothing Headphone 1 offers more than just a stylish design
It’s easy to judge the Nothing Headphone 1 based on the outward appearance, but to do so would be to overlook the useful features that Nothing has also included. In particular, I want every headphone maker to move away from touch keys — which make it hard to change tracks or navigate features without looking — and adopt Nothing’s hardware approach.
Yes, I do have some concerns about the Balanced audio profile out of the box, and it requires more tweaking and setup than its rivals, but I’m quite impressed with the Nothing Headphone 1 overall. At a cost of $299 (or £299 and €299 in the UK and Europe), they aren’t the cheapest headphones, but after 48 hours, I’m fairly impressed overall.
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