By vaulting into the over-ear headphone market, Nothing is facing a very stiff level of competition. On rival is the Sony WH-1000XM6.
The WH-1000XM6 are one of the best wireless headphones on the market, and in a number of ways they are the benchmark for many to pit themselves against.
So how do the Nothing Headphone 1 fare? We’ve compared key areas to give you an idea of how they measure up against one another.
The Sony is the more expensive option
The Nothing Headphone 1 go on sale at £299 / $299 / €299, which for a premium pair of over-ears, is actually towards the less expensive side (if you can believe that).
The Sony WH-1000XM6 are more expensive at £399 / $399 / €450. That’s up to 100 to 150 more expensive depending on the currency you’re buying in.
The Nothing Headphone 1 have a bit more stamina
There’s a slight caveat with the Nothing Headphone 1’s battery life as the brand quotes two numbers. At 35 hours, the Nothing Headphone 1 have more battery life than the Sony WH-1000XM6’s 30 hours. But, that’s 35 hours on AAC Bluetooth.
Compared on the more power-hungry LDAC Bluetooth, then it’s even. Sony quotes 30 hours regardless of which Bluetooth codec you’re using.
However, with noise-cancelling turned off, the Sony offers 40 hours compared to the Nothing’s 54.
Where does that leave us? With noise-cancelling on they’re pretty much the same. Without it, the Nothing ekes out a longer lasting performance. Arguably you’ll be wearing the headphones with ANC on most of the time anyway…
They both support LDAC
This will be a quick one. Both the Nothing Headphone 1 and the Sony WH-1000XM6 support LDAC, which offers a higher quality audio performance over a Bluetooth connection. You do need an Android device to experience LDAC, however.
What the Nothing headphones don’t support is Auracast, which the Sony does. Aurcast allows for audio devices to connect to screens and other headphones in public spaces. In short, it’s the future of connectivity and we’re seeing more headphones support it. As far as we can tell, the Nothing Headphones 1 have opted against including it.
They’re both tuned by experts
Everyone wants the best sound, but everyone has different ideas of what that sound should be. When in doubt, call in the experts.
The Nothing Headphone 1 have been tuned by KEF, the British loudspeaker company (who also had a jab at headphones). Nothing describes KEF’s involvement as “delivering immersive audio that feels natural, detailed, and true to life across genres.”
We found the performance on the warm sound side, but fairly well-balanced and clear. We would have liked if the bass carried more punch and that the soundstage was wider, though.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 were developed in collaboration with mastering engineers at studios across the world, with Grammy-winning engineers who have worked with Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Adams.
We’d say the headphones sound better than the Nothing do, offering a wider soundstage as well as punchier bass, clearer highs, more detail and a better overall balance.
The Nothing Headphone 1 don’t fold
After choosing to go for the non-foldable design with the WH-1000XM5, Sony changed its mind for the WH-1000XM6 and went back to the collapsible design.
The Nothing Headphones 1 didn’t get the memo.
They are headphones that don’t fold inwards or collapse, which means you can’t really save space if you put them in your bag. While the carry case is flat, it’s still rather large in size.
You can record voice notes on the Nothing Headphone 1
When connected to the Nothing Phone 3, you can press the ‘Button’ to record a voice note. The phone’s Essential Space feature will, according to Nothing, “automatically sort it into the right collection”.
You can mumble your creative ideas straight into the headphone and your smartphone will keep them safe. At least as long as you’re using the Nothing Phone 3.
There’s not really a comparable feature on the Sony WH-1000XM6. You can start talking and the heapdhones will automatically pause audio so you can have a conversation with someone else; but there’s no ability to record notes.
Early Verdict
There’s a quite obvious price difference between the Nothing and Sony headphones, and that will have an impact of the feature, noise-cancelling and sound quality.
While the Nothing look more distinctive the Sony come with a barreload of features, as well as Sony’s experience in crafting an exemplary noise-cancelling experience.
The Nothing Headphone 1 are more selective, and more of their own thing than trying to mix it with the established group. They’ll have appeal to those who are more fashion-conscious but for everyday use, the Sony are one of the best.
