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Nothing continues to be sticking to its roots as an eccentric tech startup, and the model’s first pair of over-ear headphones is proof of that. Often, that is the time in an organization’s life cycle when it begins to play it protected, however the Nothing Headphone 1 do something however. These headphones double down on what folks love about Nothing, providing a singular design, aggressive characteristic set, and an attractive worth proposition.
At simply $300, Nothing’s Headphone 1 undercuts the likes of premium over-ears such because the Bose QuietComfort Extremely, Sonos Ace, and Sony WH-1000XM6. Surprisingly, the Headphone 1 holds its personal in comparison with these opponents. The expertise feels decidedly premium, and luxury is top-notch.
Audiophiles will nitpick the headphones’ sound signature a bit, however the Nothing Headphone 1 is a compelling bundle anyway. It does sufficient issues rather well at a sexy value level to make you take into account shopping for them, even when you do not have a Nothing cellphone already.
Nothing Headphone 1: Value and availability
Nothing formally revealed the Headphone 1 in a YouTube livestream on July 1, 2025, and pre-orders open globally as of July 4, 2025. The headphones retail for $299 within the U.S., £299 within the U.Okay., and €299 elsewhere in Europe. They’re out there in black and white, and each colorways characteristic a clear window giving a sneak peek at what’s inside.
Nothing Headphone 1 was made in partnership with KEF, a famend audio model, to offer the headphones a customized sound. They are going to be out there for buy beginning July 15, 2025, and that is when pre-orders will ship. You’ll be able to signal as much as be notified when pre-orders open, and buy the headphones when out there, on the hyperlink under.
Nothing Headphone 1: What’s good
After unboxing the Nothing Headphone 1, it is exhausting to not instantly deal with the headphones’ putting design. At first look, Headphone 1 seems to be considerably like an AirPods Max lookalike. That impression fades away fast, and shortly you understand it seems to be like if you happen to took a Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional and turned it right into a pair of headphones.
Personally, I believe Headphone 1 seems to be cool. The oblong form of the headphone chassis, made out of aluminum, feels premium. Then, the oval-shaped plastic window sits atop it to supply a bit of little bit of aptitude. The translucency is a little bit of a gimmick, as you possibly can’t actually see a lot inside, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a neat addition that matches properly with different Nothing merchandise.
Regardless of the loud design language, Nothing Headphone 1 is pretty compact. The ear cups and primary chassis are solely 78mm thick mixed, and most of which might be the polyurethane foam-filled ear cushions. They weigh 329 grams, which is lower than the gargantuan AirPods Max however greater than most different over-ear opponents.
Nonetheless, I believe I underestimated the Headphone 1’s skinny plastic headband. Whereas wanting a bit low-cost in comparison with the aluminum housing, the adjustable and telescoping headband will get the job completed. Nothing’s Headphone 1 is correct up there with a few of my favourite headphones for consolation, together with the Sonos Ace.
I might put on Headphone 1 for hours-long listening periods with no discomfort, and located an excellent match inside seconds of placing them on.
The Nothing Headphone 1’s design is not the one factor distinctive about this pair of headphones. The sound signature and audio expertise is completely different, too. On the coronary heart of issues is a customized 40mm dynamic driver surrounded by 8.9mm of polyurethane to reduce distortion. It options customized tuning in partnership with KEF, and Nothing says Headphone 1 “presents a sound profile that reproduces music because the artist supposed.”
After listening to hours of music with Headphone 1, I might say they sound typically good, however I am unsure the above description is correct. Nothing’s Headphone 1 are tuned to prioritize the bass and decrease frequencies greater than mids and highs. In comparison with one thing with a flatter frequency distribution — I usually use Audio Technica’s ATH-M50X’s for reference — Headphone 1 actually provides its personal distinctive taste.
In my expertise, the Nothing Headphone 1 will sound nice about 90% of the time. Nonetheless, you are more likely to run into a couple of tracks that simply pontificate as a result of the vocals or high-end sounds are muddied by an overreaching bass. If certainly one of these songs simply occurs to be one you take heed to loads, the distinction in sound may be apparent. More often than not, you are going to get a really full sound out of the Nothing Headphone 1.
The rationale why this is not too huge of a deal is that Nothing may be very clear about Headphone 1’s sound signature, for essentially the most half. You’ll be able to see this prioritization of lows and mids within the visible vary for the Balanced EQ mode within the Nothing X companion app.
Should you do not prefer it, you possibly can simply modify it. I discovered myself switching to the Extra treble EQ preset if I knew I used to be actively listening to genres like folks, various, or jazz, and that addressed a few of my issues. The headphones’ spatial audio modes assist add separation to the soundstage, too, and the pinnacle monitoring is efficient. I do not at all times like listening to music in spatial audio, however on this case, it added the readability to issues comparable to vocals or cymbals I used to be craving.
The extent of management you recover from Headphone 1, each within the app and on-device, is what makes the headphones nice. As an example, you possibly can select between having energetic noise-cancelation or transparency mode on or off, however it’s also possible to modify the energy of the ANC. That is helpful, and I choose it to how different headphones deal with ANC modes, as it may be exhausting to inform after they’re on or off.
Talking of on-device controls, it is not possible to not point out every thing the Nothing Headphone 1 presents. You get a paddle for playback management and a curler for quantity, play/pause operate, and ANC modes. There’s additionally one other button for voice assistant management and a devoted Bluetooth pairing button. Oh, and Headphone 1 has its personal on/off change too.
I might reconfigure the controls barely, setting the voice assistant button to cycle by means of ANC modes as an alternative. In any other case, they’re extremely useful, and manner higher than capacitive contact controls or a clunky button with too many capabilities. Paired with a USB-C port and three.5mm jack, Headphone 1 goes old-school with {hardware} controls and ports, and I adore it.
Nothing Headphone 1: What’s not good
Nothing bought loads proper with the Headphone 1, however I’d’ve favored to see the pair deal with a greater diversity of songs extra constantly. As I alluded to earlier, Headphone 1’s sound tuning does not favor each type of observe. Once you run into that one music that does not sound fairly proper, it’d bug you. By comparability, one thing just like the Sonos Ace can deal with extra songs with out you needing to interrupt into the Nothing X app equalizer.
One other a part of the Headphone 1 expertise that’s principally good are the buttons. It is nice that they’re right here, however the paddle specifically might be simpler to make use of. By default, the paddle could be flicked left or proper to restart a music or change tracks. You are alleged to double-flick the paddle to go to the earlier music, however have to take a clumsy pause to do it. Should you attempt to flick the paddle too shortly, it merely will not do something.
Lastly, the Headphone 1’s battery life is great, lasting as much as 35 hours with ANC on and as much as 80 with it off. I simply want the three.5mm jack would work as a fallback when the battery runs out, which it does not. You continue to want the battery to have juice so as to use the analog ports, and to me that barely limits their utility.
Nothing Headphone 1: Competitors
It is necessary to do not forget that lots of the over-ear headphones I might take over the Nothing Headphone 1 value rather more. The Sonos Ace, Bose QuietComfort Extremely, and Sony WH-1000XM6 all value round $450 — that is $150 greater than the Headphone 1 retails for.
Quite, the Nothing Headphone 1 competes extra straight with a pair of over-ears just like the Beats Studio Professional. They retail for $350 and are regularly on sale, and I’ve used them for months. Nothing’s over-ears blow the Studio Professional out of the water, as Beats’ providing is made out of low-cost plastic and has a mediocre sound. So, when you think about the Headphone 1’s value level, it is simpler to look previous a few of its flaws.
You may be capable of snag an older pair of Sony or Bose headphones for across the similar value because the Headphone 1. You possibly can actually discover a pair of wired headphones for lower than the Nothing Headphone 1 that sound higher. But when we’re speaking about new, wi-fi, over-ear headphones with ANC, the Nothing Headphone 1 match the $300 value level very nicely.
Nothing Headphone 1: Do you have to purchase it?
You should purchase these if…
- You want Nothing’s eccentric design language
- You desire a pair of wi-fi, over-ear headphones with ANC
- You could have round $300 to spend and prioritize a premium construct
You should not purchase these if…
- You desire a pair of headphones with a extra balanced soundstage
- You’re feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of buttons
- You do not just like the loud design
Nothing merchandise aren’t for everybody, however Headphone 1 may be the model’s most interesting product for the plenty but. It is concurrently a wonderful match for Nothing cellphone homeowners and Android customers on a wider scale that merely desire a high quality pair of over-ear cans for $300.
So long as a bass-focused sound signature is not a dealbreaker — let’s be sincere, many individuals choose this id — the Headphone 1 are a straightforward advice. They really feel premium, nail consolation, and customarily sound good with high quality ANC fashions and top-notch customization.
A sneaky-good worth
Nothing’s Headphone 1 may not stack up completely towards the highest over-ears from Bose, Sonos, and Sony, it does not should, as a result of it is less expensive than all these choices. On the $300 value level, Headphone 1 supplies a extra premium expertise than its price ticket would recommend.
