Nothing Headphone (1) Ears-On: An Impressive First Effort

	Nothing Headphone (1): $299 MSRP Nothing Headphone (1) is a $299 pair of wireless ANC headphones that make very few compromises and deliver excellent value.
	Excellent value Stand-out design Good sound after EQ Digital audio over USB Solid noise cancellation Competitive battery life	Lackluster sound before EQ A bit heavy

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Headphone (1) is meant to compete with today’s best wireless ANC headphones, like Sony’s WH-1000XM6 and Apple’s AirPods Max, while showcasing Nothing’s design language and being more affordable. Nothing already offers a lineup of earbuds with the Ear, Ear (a), and several CMF Buds, which deliver outstanding performance while undercutting the competition in the flagship, mid-range, and budget segments.

Nothing Headphone (1) Design And Comfort

As you can see in our pictures, Headphone (1) inherits Nothing’s unique design language. These headphones really stand out, and will absolutely turn heads. We like the look, but we expect this design to be very polarizing. Each ear cup consists of a rounded rectangular aluminum frame with a transparent pill-shaped plastic pod mounted on the outside, and a black oval memory foam cushion attached on the inside.

Like Nothing’s handsets, various grey shapes, alongside faux holes and meshes are visible under each transparent plastic pod. This design reminds us of cassette tapes. On the rear side of the right aluminum frame, you’ll find a clickable roller (volume and play/pause) and a rocker (next/previous track). A power switch, status LED, USB Type-C port, and 3.5mm jack are located on the bottom edge of the right aluminum frame.
There’s also a circular assistant button on the outer side of the right aluminum frame, and hidden pairing button on the inner side of the right aluminum frame. Each ear cup features slits for three microphones a well. You’ll find the text “sound by KEF” alongside a white mark under the left plastic pod, and the text “NOTHING headphone (1)” alongside a red mark under the right plastic pod, to help tell the left and right ear cups apart.
The headband is made of grey plastic with a black cushion in the middle, and features silent telescoping arms that are connected to the plastic pod on each ear cup via a black S-shaped metal bracket. Build quality is superb; these headphones are IP52 rated, and feel extremely durable. They are also pretty comfortable, though perhaps a bit heavy at 329g. Unfortunately, these headphones don’t fold, making them harder to travel with.

Nothing Headphone (1) Sound Quality And Noise Cancellation

For Headphone (1), Nothing has partnered with renowned British speaker manufacturer KEF. That’s exciting, but it seems like a marketing exercise more than anything. KEF’s reputation is certainly stellar, but Nothing’s earbuds already sound fantastic, so we question the need for this relationship. While designing headphones isn’t the same as making earbuds, we’re sure that Nothing has the chops to get the job done without KEF. Hopefully the co-marketing helps both companies.

Out of the box, Headphone (1), which packs 40mm drivers, sounds rather lackluster compared to Nothing’s earbuds. That’s not to say that Nothing’s earbuds don’t benefit from a little EQ, but these headphones don’t sound at all like what we’d expect from KEF (or from Nothing), and they absolutely need EQ. Below is the EQ curve we settled on, which sounds closest to our beloved BeyerDynamic DT990 Pro and DT770 Pro.
Thankfully, after tweaking the EQ in the Nothing X app, Headphone (1) sounds quite good. These headphones support LDAC, AAC, and SBC codecs (Bluetooth 5.3) for wireless audio, plus digital audio (up to 96KHz / 24-bit) over USB Type-C, and analog audio via a standard 3.5mm jack. Calls sounded loud and clear for both parties, and these headphones did a great job at cancelling background noise during calls.
ANC is solid as well, though not as impressive as what Sony’s WH-1000XM6 or Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra have to offer. We haven’t taken Headphone (1) on public transit or on a flight yet (which is the ultimate ANC test), but we’ll have the opportunity to try this next week, and we’ll update this story accordingly. Around the house, these headphones work well at cancelling the sound of appliances, fans, and running water.

Nothing Headphone (1) Features and Battery Life

Nothing’s Phone (3) will enable additional features when paired with Headphone (1), including Channel Hop, which cycles through recent audio apps or favorites, plus access to Essential Space, Nothing’s AI-powered hub. Battery life for Headphone (1) is rated at 35 hours (with ANC), which is competitive. We haven’t been able to confirm Nothing’s claim yet, since we’re still on our first charge of the 1040mAh cell, but this seems accurate so far.

Nothing Headphone (1): Our Takeaway

With Headphone (1), Nothing is making wireless ANC headphones that deliver a stand-out (if polarizing) design, good sound (after EQ), solid noise cancellation, and competitive battery life for just $299. In other words, Nothing is going head-to-head with today’s best wireless ANC headphones, like Sony’s WH-1000XM6 and Apple’s AirPods Max, and giving them a run for the money without making any serious compromises.