Nothing Headphone (1) review: A distinct vibe

Mint

7 days ago

It's barely been five years since its first product, but Nothing has quite the reputation for defying convention with its liberal use of a now-signature retro-transparent look. With the Headphone (1), its first over-the-ear wireless headphones, Nothing is confident these cans will find a place atop your crown, offbeat design notwithstanding. Yet, while Nothing's earbuds have so far been priced in the mid-range or lower, their first foray into wireless headphones lands at ₹21,999, which then goes up against the likes of Sony, Bose and Sonos. Is it enough to earn Nothing a place on the big-boys table, on its first outing? You bet.
Design daring
At first glance, these headphones look like little else one has seen over the years, a bit of a lovechild of Nothing's retro-cool design language with the milled aluminum Apple favours. With transparent cassette tape-like oval outer earcups sitting atop a squared off aluminum housing, the headphones are available in black or white colourways, both of which are eye-catching—but then again, may not be your thing if you prefer your headphones discreet. No complaints whatsoever with the build quality and finish on the aluminum and plastic elements, and the rather premium feel compares well against its price segment peers. All said, it's definitely a vibe.
What's less divisive is how they feel in use, with the moderate clamping force, plush padding and the adjustable headband allowing for the headphones to be worn for extended durations without headphone fatigue. At 329g, they land in between the lighter Sony WH-1000XM5 (249g) and the slightly heavier AirPods Max (386g), and while I was certainly aware of the extra weight over the distinctively plastic Sony headphones, the extra weight didn't really bear down on me.
When not in use, the headphones fold flat into a softshell case along with the bundled 3.5mm cable and a charging cable, both of which can be used to connect the device for wired, lossless audio. There's support for head tracking for spatial audio too, but in the few tracks I tested, it didn't really add much to the experience.
Click of a button
Not on my bingo card for 2025 headphones was how much Nothing leaned into good ol' physical buttons for the Headphone (1), opting away from the du jour taps and swipes found on the competition. Three very distinctive buttons, each with their own tactile response and purpose—a roller, a paddle, and a programmable button—and that's not counting the Bluetooth pairing button or the on/off switch at the bottom.
The pill-shaped roller controls volume, plays/pauses your audio and toggles between three modes—noise canceling, transparency and off, while the paddle allows you to skip or scrub through tracks. The customizable button can be set to launch a voice assistant, use a particular equalizer preset, mute the mic, or if you're using this with the new Nothing Phone (3), 'channel hop" between different audio apps. It takes the slightest amount of time figuring out the nuances of each button, but once I started operating them by feel, I'm left wondering how I'll go back to the fiddly-in-comparison gesture controls of the next pair of headphones I have to test.
Pairing the headphones to the Phone (3) was seamless, but the cans also support Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair for quick pairing with Android and Windows devices, plus there's multipoint pairing for simultaneous Bluetooth connection to two devices. You'll want to use the Nothing X companion app to play around with the equalizer and the presets or choose which ANC mode and which Bluetooth codec—AAC, SBC or LDAC for higher resolution wireless audio—you'd want to use. Gamers will appreciate the low-lag modes, and there's on-head detection on the right earcup to automatically play/pause the music.
Sound quality
Now, when you pick up a pair of over-the-ear headphones, you're essentially willing to look past the convenience of wireless earbuds for better sound, better ANC, better battery life, better everything, essentially. It's safe to say that Nothing's collaboration with famed audio company KEF has paid off well in the first generation Headphone (1), as the headphones sound great right out of the box—clean highs, respectable bass, and mids that hold their own, with none of the frequencies overpowering each other—and that's before I even ventured towards the 8-band equalizer to tweak the sound signature to my preference.
Bear in mind, while the bass has good attack, it doesn't have the sheer dominance of bass, as say the Sonys do, so you may want to play around with the bass enhancement setting to address that. The soundstage is immersive, the sound airy, and each instrument gets its own space to shine, and across genres, these headphones are a real bundle of fun to listen to, and some purists might even likely lean towards this pair over the segment peers. Active noise cancelation is respectable, and you get a decent amount of sound isolation courtesy the snug seal of the earpads, but it is at a level lower than the Sony WH1000-XM5 and the AirPod Max. Either way, battery life is great, delivering around 28-30 hours of battery life with music streaming over the higher-resolution LDAC codec and ANC turned on, and fast charging takes the battery to nearly half-full in 30 minutes.
For a first-generation product, Nothing is certainly onto something with the Headphone (1). It competes impressively with the Sony and AirPods Max, the latter retailing at nearly thrice the price, while staying true to the stated goal of making something unique, away from the pack. Just one thing stands between you and owning one—the design—and if it's to your liking, Nothing's most expensive, most ambitious audio product is also one of its most compelling.