Nothing Headphone 1
Deal: The Nothing Headphone 1’s.
To an extent, Headphone 1 represent the pinnacle of Nothing: a playful, finely tuned pair of headphones with Teenage Engineering influence, a seamless software experience that leaves no iOS or Android user behind, and a feel and finish that could split any room into two.
Also: I have no problem ditching my AirPods for these earbuds – especially at this affordable price
The design will undoubtedly turn heads and start conversations, but it’s the audio performance that will make everyone stop and listen. It did for me. But is it worth the $299 listing price? Here’s my verdict after testing.
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Let’s start at the beginning. There are effectively four parts to the Headphone 1: the padded headband, memory foam earcups, squircle frames, and transparent modules that house the drivers, batteries, and other internal components. Together, you’re looking at roughly 329 grams of aluminum, plastics, and foam that doesn’t weigh down on the head an uncomfortable amount.
To operate the headphones, you’ll have to familiarize yourself with three controls, all of which are tactile and fairly intuitive.
- Roller: Dialing the roller left or right adjusts the volume level. Pressing it triggers play/pause, and a long press toggles between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode.
- Paddle: Pushing the Paddle left or right skips tracks, while a long push rewinds or fast-forwards.
- Button: A customizable button on the outer frame of the right earcup launches your connected device’s smart assistant or Channel Hop when paired with a Nothing Phone 3, which switches between multiple media platforms, such as your music player, video player, or podcasting app.
Also: I ditched my daily driver Bose headphones for the XM6 – and I’m hesitant to go back
I found the controls to be very straightforward to use, and I much prefer the tactile feedback of them over standard tap/touch gestures, as those can more often lead to misinputs. The only drawback I have is the ergonomics of the buttons, as they’re a bit too far back for me to use in a natural motion. I often found myself reaching behind with my thumb, trying to get a feel for which button is which, and then awkwardly scrolling and pressing.
It helps that the headphones’ active noise cancellation and transparency modes are so reliably effective. The former rejects ambient sound so that my ears don’t feel pressured within the cups, and the latter reproduces voices, bird chirps, and other sounds in an organic way.
I was especially sold when I conversed with my wife, took the headphones on and off, and barely noticed the difference in her voice. I just wish the headphones did just as well with blending my speaking voice into the playback, as it often comes off as shallow and echoey.
Also: I replaced my QuietComfort Ultra with these midrange headphones – and I’m sticking with them
As far as battery life goes, the Headphone 1 lasted me about four days of heavy usage (ANC on and volume at around 65%). That’s a little less than the Nothing’s 37-hour rating (or 80 hours with ANC off), but still very impressive compared to the likes of the AirPods Max (20 hours), Sony WH-1000XM6 (30 hours), and Bose QuietComfort Ultra (24 hours). These are easily the longest-lasting wireless headphones I’ve tested to date.
ZDNET’s buying advice
That’s to say, Nothing’s first pair of over-ear headphones, the Headphones 1