Nothing’s statement headphones sound great and deliver solid value

Earbuds and phones put out so far by British tech firm Nothing follow a formula: eye-grabbing designs, a playful take on controls or interface and a little power sacrifice relative to rivals so they come in at a lower price than you might expect. The new Nothing Headphone 1, the most expensive audio device the company has shipped to date, nails that same formula.

For its first over-ear headphones, Nothing collaborated with audio outfit KEF, which handled the tuning. It’s clear the in-house audio and design teams also have a great passion for the product, and have grown confident over the past four years of creating various wireless earbuds. These headphones will turn heads, don’t look like anything else and deliver really good sound.

In keeping with other Nothing devices, Headphone 1 has a transparent finish exposing interlocking panels that give the impression of the underlying tech. In this case, the brand’s trademark red square serves as a handy reminder of which side needs to go on your right ear. The flat two-layer design gives an industrial vibe compared with most current headphones, which tend to be rounder and softer, and that’s reinforced by the printed text and the idiosyncratic roller and paddle controls (more on those later).

The unit I tested is called white, or more accurately two kinds of grey on silver aluminium, with black cushions. At first glance I thought the design was a bit much, with a lot of detail and many different shapes, but I’ve come to like them. By the time I saw the black versions at Nothing’s local launch event, I thought the reduction in contrast made them look too subtle compared with the white.

They don’t feel as eccentric as they look, with decent cushioning on the headband and cups, a firm but not uncomfortable pressure to keep them on your ears and a smooth adjusting action. The cups can turn inwards to rest naturally if you wear them around your neck. My one physical design complaint isn’t actually about the headphones but the hard travel case they come with; the tiny zip puts up a fight to open every single time.

The headphones are a bit less weird in black, though ‘less weird’ isn’t necessarily a good thing in this case.

Sonically, the sound stage of the Headphone 1 isn’t as expansive as you’d expect on more expensive models such as Apple’s AirPods Max or the Sonos Ace, but by default the sound is rich, bass is quite present, and everything’s clear and well imaged. Dive into the app and you’ll find an extensive and detailed equaliser that gives you full control over the sound. There are smart presets and simple settings like a bass boost, which I found brought the lows forward successfully without distorting them or rattling my skull. You can also turn on head-tracking spatial audio, which can be handy for movie watching.

In terms of high-resolution support, the Headphone 1 can connect to a supported device via AAC or LDAC, and is certified for 24-bit/96kHz sound. If you prefer a wired connection, the headphones support USB-C and 3.5mm, but they need to be turned on to work, so wired mode won’t help you keep listening once the battery’s flat.

Active noise cancellation (ANC) is impressive. For use on public transport or near busy roads or to block out household sounds while working, they were fantastic. The transparency mode was noticeably less selective than something like Apple’s AirPods Pro (meaning I could hear myself moving and talking a bit too loudly), but it’s easier to hear speech or cars approaching without needing to take the headphones off. Only on a plane did I notice the Headphone 1 doesn’t quite do as complete a job as Sony’s best-in-class XM6, or even Bose’s lower-priced QuietComfort. The droning was still effectively sent to the background so I could listen to music without turning up the volume, but I noticed extra noise bleeding in if I looked over my shoulder or put on my glasses.

There are three levels of cancellation, with Nothing claiming that the highest level removes more noise at the cost of extra battery use. An adaptive option is designed to adjust the level depending on your ambient noise, so for example if you move from a noisy street to a quiet alley, the level should step down to save battery. In practice, it seems to work well – I didn’t notice the cancellation staying too low when things got noisy. Nothing estimates 35 hours of use on a full charge with ANC on, or 80 hours with it off.

The mouse-like roller on Headphone 1 can be spun to change volume.

As with most commuter-class headphones, Nothing’s can do a bit more than just play music. They can also help operate your phone, and are covered in microphones for making voice calls and talking to voice assistants (and for managing ANC).

The Headphone 1’s tactile controls are a big selling point if you’re not a fan of the touch-sensitive swipes and double-taps of many noise-cancelling headphones, and their quirky layout makes it easier to remember what everything does.

The roller feels like a soft mouse wheel, except it moves laterally rather than forward and back, and can be scrolled to adjust volume. Pressing it in plays and pauses, while holding it switches noise-cancelling modes. I was initially surprised by the sound effect that comes with this; a breathy exhale for transparency mode and a sharp inhale and bass thump for ANC. Meanwhile, the paddle skips tracks forwards and back, scrubs if you hold it (if supported by the app) and answers or rejects calls.

The button is customisable in the Nothing X app, and you can set a function for pressing and for holding. Options include summoning Siri or Gemini, muting the mic, changing the spatial audio setting and switching the EQ preset. There are a few extras added if you’re using a Nothing phone.

For example, on iPhone or Android the button can be programmed to invoke the default smart assistant, but on Nothing you can also set it to talk to ChatGPT if you have the app installed, or to invoke the AI news reporter from Nothing’s Essential News service. You can also set it to act as the phone’s Essential key, meaning you can hold it to record voice notes held by the AI-powered Essential Space.

The primary Nothing-exclusive feature, Channel Hop, is currently only available when using the new Nothing Phone 3. The idea is that you add your favourite albums, playlists and podcasts in the app, and then you can use the button to cycle through them as though they’re stations on the radio. It works fairly well, though only Spotify and Apple Music are supported for now. If you have a few go-to music sources you’d like to switch to when your phone is unavailable — say if you keep it in your bag, or if you’re running on a treadmill — it’s a handy way to access them. If you’re going to get a Nothing 3, these headphones are an obvious choice.

When not used on a Nothing phone, I still think these headphones do enough differently to be an appealing alternative to the second-tier Sony and Bose models at the same $550 mark. Sound quality, feature set and noise-cancelling are about as good as you could expect for the price. You could pay a little more to get more impressive sound or better cancelling, but the unique look and feel of Nothing’s product go a long way.

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