Summary
- The Nothing Headphone 1 features a bold, retro-inspired design that stands out from the crowd.
- Headphone 1 features include LDAC and multipoint connectivity support, USB-C and 3.5mm ports, as well as IP52 water and dust resistance.
- Far and away, my favorite part about the Headphone 1 is that it embraces traditional, tactile hardware buttons for media control.
After successive generations of true wireless earbuds (including an open-ear-style model that Pocket-lint Editor-in-Chief Patrick O’Rourke finds to be incredibly comfortable), Nothing has released its first-ever pair of over-ear headphones in the form of the recently-released Headphone 1.
As ever with a Nothing-branded gadget, the Headphone 1 basks in aesthetic eccentricity. Its external chassis featured a retro-inspired design language with elements of translucency, and with ear cups that trade circularity for a clean and modern rounded rectangle look.
The Nothing Headphone 1 is listed at an MSRP of $300 USD / $370 CAD, and it’s available in colorway choices of white or black.
Of course, there’s more to a pair of headphones than looks alone. Thankfully, the Headphone 1 is stacked with a fair bit of tech on the inside, including 40mm drivers, real-time active noise cancellation (ANC), spatial audio, LDAC, multi-point Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, USB-C charging, a 3.5mm auxiliary port (thank you, Nothing), IP52 water and dust resistance, and an array of six microphones.
In terms of audio quality, I’ll defer to Pocket-lint contributor Tshaka Armstrong, who, in his dedicated review, describes the Headphone 1’s soundscape in the following terms: “The stereo imaging and immersion, the nuance and texture at this price point are nothing to sneeze at.”
- Battery Life
-
Up to 80 hours with ANC off, 35 with ANC on
- Wireless?
-
Yes
- Microphones
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4 mic ENC architecture
- Compatible With
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Android, iOS
- Brand
-
Nothing
- Frequency Response
-
20hz – 40kHz
The Nothing Headphone 3 is a looker
These are some seriously unique-looking cans
While I’m personally far from an audiophile, I can certainly speak to the overarching user experience of using the Nothing Headphone 1 in the real world. Appearance-wise, this pair of cans are a slam dunk. I love a tech product that incorporates see-through windows, even in this case, where it’s more decorative than representative of the internal ongoings of the device.
The unit itself is nice and lightweight, despite using aluminum around its ear cup housings and its hinges. There’s no creaking to speak of, the swivelable cups and headband smoothly articulate, and the plush lining material feels like a pillow on my head whenever I throw them on. The inability to fold the headphones up for better portability is a bummer, however.
Speaking of portability, I appreciate Nothing’s in-box inclusion of a dedicated charging case for the Headphone 1, in addition to both a USB-C charging cable and an aux cord. Unfortunately, the case’s zipper is cheap, which dampens the overall experience slightly.
It’s all about the buttons
Tactile control over media playback will always reign supreme
Putting aside the design of the Headphone 1, I want to take a moment to appreciate Nothing’s decision to outfit the device with honest-to-goodness, tactile physical controls. There’s an on/off switch, which is satisfying to toggle back and forth, and I much prefer it to a drabber on/off button. The Bluetooth pairing/audio source switching button is standard fair, though its out-of-the-way placement within the left ear cup is a design win in my books (I hate having to fumble around with multiple similarly-shaped buttons in proximity to one another).
However, it’s the combination of both a paddle and a roller that seals the deal for me, and that has me returning to the Headphone 1 time and time again. The paddle is a narrow strip that makes it easy to skip tracks or scrub through audio efficiently, and the roller is a highly-satisfying volume and ANC combo button that spins like a proper knob.
I’ve long advocated for physical media controls when it comes to audio devices, as they allow for a build-up of muscle memory, they’re precise, and they can be built in a premium and satisfying manner. I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones that I use on the regular, but I genuinely dislike the finicky touchpad-style interaction model characteristic of the pair of cans.
…when I’m out on a walk with the Nothing Headphone 1, or when I’m sitting at my desk with the product on, swiping through media and dialing in my volume levels is nothing short of a treat.
With a roller button on deck, Nothing is offering a solid and (relatively) affordable headphone solution for someone like me who can’t be bothered with touch controls, and who heavily misses the prominent, rotating wheel of Microsoft’s seemingly abandoned Surface Headphone line. It’s also the closest equivalent out there to Apple’s Digital Crown, which I adore on the AirPods Max.
As mentioned, I’m not an audiophile in the slightest, and so I’m hardly privy to the ins and outs of sound stages, ANC competency, equalizer tunings, or any other metric of audio fidelity. What I can say with confidence, however, is that when I’m out on a walk with the Nothing Headphone 1, or when I’m sitting at my desk with the product on, swiping through media and dialing in my volume levels is nothing short of a treat.
