Nothing Headphone 1

Introduction

When Carl Pei left OnePlus to set up his own company – Nothing – the first product was a pair of earbuds. Between then and now the brand has reeled off multiple new pairs, and a few smartphones, but hadn’t yet braved the world of over ear headphones. At least, not until now.

It’s one of the most mature product categories in the world of tech, so how do you stand out in a very crowded world? The answer – the same way it stands out in the other categories it’s entered: with a thoughtful, eye-catching retro-inspired design and a collection of useful and tactile features.

Design

• Retro-looks
• Transparent design
• 3.5mm audio jack

It wouldn’t be Nothing if the product didn’t scream retro futurism, so in that regard, the Headphone 1 does not disappoint. And just all the other products it’s launched so far, the Nothing over-ear cans will undoubtedly divide opinion.

It’s a headphone that wouldn’t look out of place in a 1980s sci-fi movie, perhaps adorned by the protagonist as they hoverboard through a vast metropolis filled with flying cars loosely based on a Lotus Esprit.

There’s a touch of the AirPods Max aesthetic in the aluminium rectangular cans with rounded corners. But there’s enough of a unique feel to them that it’s very unlikely you’d confuse them for Apple’s – or indeed anyone else’s – headphones.

That outer pill-shaped exterior features Nothing’s usual transparency designed not to show off the internals, but rather some carefully designed patterns, textures and accents.

Those include the usual dot matrix style font, with ‘Nothing Headphone (1)’ printed on one cup, and ‘Sound by KEF’ on the other, hinting at the partnership between the youngling manufacturer and the well-respected, hi-fi speaker-maker.

Just like the looks, I think the material choices will also divide opinion. Mostly around the headband, not necessarily the ear cups. It’s a fairly cheap-looking and feeling matte plastic band that wouldn’t look out of place as the casing on a late 90s Windows PC.

It is flexible though, and combined with its smooth, gliding adjustment and the memory-foam padded cups and upper arch – fits very nicely, even on my pretty wide head.

The material choice also means that there’s no unnecessary weight. Lean forward enough, or head-bang a little too aggressively to your favourite tracks though, and they will slide forwards. Still, it’s comfortable enough to wear for long periods. Even while testing long stints to get a sense of the battery life, I could happily do 2-3 hours at a time without developing sore points, even while wearing glasses.

One thing I think is something of a masterstroke is the intuitive approach to buttons and physical controls. The selection is as much an exercise in intuitive design and tactile delight.

There’s an on-off switch on the bottom edge of the left cup, alongside the Type-C port for charging and the 3.5mm audio port. But where things get interesting is on the back edge of the right cup.

There’s a pill shaped, roller switch that you swipe your thumb across to turn the volume up and down smoothly. Or, you can click it inwards to play and pause tracks. Beneath that is a vertical switch that clicks left or right to skip forwards and backwards through tracks.

Once you know what each of them does, there’s no second guessing, and due to the very different texture and feel, there’s no confusing one for the other. And – crucially – no fiddling around for ages trying to decipher which button is which. It’s pretty wonderful.

For stowing away, the cups rotate to lay flat, but there’s no folding in the arms for extra portability. Still, the gorgeous felt-coated carrying case has quite a slim profile, and should fit easily in any backpacks or messenger bags. Sadly though, there’s no clip or carabiner to hook it on to the outside of a bag.

Features

• LDAC support
• Bluetooth mutlipoint

Read through the feature list of the Nothing Headphone 1 and it looks like a checkbox of all the important modern considerations. It’s got Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair for easy pairing and switching between devices.

There’s a low-latency mode for gaming and video watching, LDAC and Hi-Res Audio certification for those who want a higher quality performance, as well as a audio option for those who prefer to plug in. It’s worth noting – the connection requires the headphones to be switched on, it doesn’t work passively.

There’s the option for multiple Bluetooth connections too, so you can pair it to two devices, and switch between them without having to re-pair the headphones.

As for other smarts – there’s a sensor to detect when the headphones are placed on your ears, and when they’re removed. It’s not enabled by default, so you do have to switch that on.

It works pretty well but there is a second or two of delay between taking them off or putting them on and the music pausing and playing. Likewise, if you want the lag-free audio for video and gaming, you need to switch that on too.

Noise Cancellation

• Adaptive ANC
• Cuts out consistent sounds

The noise cancelling is pretty smart. Nothing says the noise cancelling system is constantly measuring the ambient noise levels (every 600ms in fact) to try and match and counteract that noise.

They do a decent job of it too, reducing the worst of any loud droning noises, there are even mics to detect any sound leakage from the inside the ear cups, to adjust for that.

They cut out pink noise, and droning traffic/engine noises pretty well. They’re not quite as effective as Bose’s flagship offerings, but will make any train and plane journeys calmer and more noise-free than if you didn’t have them on.

Playing music loud enough (around 75-80% volume) with the ANC set to its highest setting is more than enough to drown out the worst of it.

Sound Quality

• Warm signature
• Not the widest soundstage
• Slightly muddy sound

It would be easy to be cynical about Nothing’s ‘sound by KEF’ stamps on the box and the headphones, dismissing it as a branding exercise. But regardless of how much influence KEF has over the tuning and performance of the 40mm drivers in these headphones, the end result is an adept, fairly well balanced pair of headphones.

In the default ‘balanced’ setting, they perform well across a whole genre of music. Although, I did have to crank them up quite loud to get a decent sound. I’d describe them as warm, lacking a little bit of that clear sparkle, or sense of clarity, that you might get in a pair of headphones better tuned to the treble frequencies, but the tuning makes for an enjoyable listening experience most of the time. But if I was being harsh, I’d describe them as a little muddy.

They produce great-sounding bass. Even with tracks that push the limits of those low frequencies like Self Esteem’s I’m Fine, Imagine Dragons’ Gods Don’t Pray or Two Tens by Cordae (feat. Anderson .Paak), the bass is strong, but well controlled.

It doesn’t boom or lose texture, but is powerful enough that it adds its presence and feel to the track. It doesn’t overpower the mids or treble either, with those subtle background elements in the instrumentation still cutting through.

Listening to Black Skin, Black Masks – an instrumental jazz piece – I was struck by how punchy the kick from the bass drum was, and how well textured the double bass or upright bass string was presented. It’s an enjoyable listen.

And those trebles and high-impact top end frequencies don’t burst either. Regardless of the track, I never heard any form of sibilant noises, whether it was a forceful ‘f’ or ‘p’ from the vocalist, the smack of a snare drum, crash cymbal or rim shot. It controls it all well.

I’d like to hear a little more separation between the different frequencies, because there are times when – if there are lots of relatively loud instruments or elements in the track around a similar position in terms of the L/R mix, or frequency, they can trip over each other a little and start sounding a bit messy and indistinct. Listen to metal – for example – and you’ll probably want to tweak the EQ.

It’d also be great if the sound stage was a little wider, with further separation between the left and right channels in the default stereo mix. It didn’t feel particularly expansive a lot of the time. At least, not until you switch on the Spatial Audio head tracking feature.

This boosts that feeling of warmth in the audio, but somehow makes the music feel as if it’s playing around you, rather than just being blasted into each ear. And when you move your head, the audio stays in the same place.

One of the best things about the sound on the Nothing Headphone 1, however, is how customisable it is. Dive into the Nothing X smartphone app for Android and you get a really versatile equaliser where you can choose between using a simple EQ adjuster, or an advanced one.

In ‘Simple’ you can choose between balanced, more bass, more treble and voice. In Advanced mode you get an 8-band EQ with virtual sliders, similar to what you’d see on an old-school amp unit.

You can set each frequency band to your desired level, adjusting the gain per channel until you get the sound balance you want. There’s even a ‘Q factor’ button to adjust the curve between those bands. And you can create and save multiple custom settings, and switch between them when you like. It can take a little time to get the balance you want, but it can be done.

Still, compared with some of the more well-known flagship headphone brands like Bose and Sony, the Headphone (1) does come across a little lacking in terms of that punch, clarity and detail I mentioned earlier.

Switching between different listening modes massively affects the sound of the headphones too. Switching ANC off, and the mix becomes a lot flatter, with less bass and warmth. And – as mentioned – Spatial Audio enabled makes it warmer, more fuzzy.

Battery Life

Getting an exact handle on the battery life isn’t the easiest, with the information in the app and in the Android Bluetooth only updating in increments of 5 per cent. Nothing promises up to 35 hours of music playback with ANC enabled on a full battery.

In my tests – listening to music at 50% volume and with ANC set to ‘high’ – I could easily listen to two hours of music and that battery indicator would still show it was at 100%. After around 6 hours, it had dropped somewhere between 15-20%. That would suggest Nothing’s promise of 35 hours isn’t too far off the mark.

Obviously if you listen to higher res LDAC audio, that drops a bit more too.

Should you buy it?

FAQs