Nothing Headphone (1) review: Vintage flair and clear sound for a premium price

Indian Express

2 days ago

I wouldn't call myself an audiophile, but I have always been passionate about personal audio. That's why, whenever I need inspiration in life, I go back to the good old days of the Walkman and iPod to listen to music. Like all classics, they endure because of their timelessness, simplicity, clean design, and unique character. Headphone (1), Nothing's first-ever pair of over-ear headphones, designed in collaboration with British audio company KEF, give me the same feeling. These headphones look classic, discreet, and polished like a Swiss-made high-end watch, without completely forgoing modern elements.
When I tried the Headphone (1) at the London launch last week, my first impressions were positive. But honestly, with a personal audio product, it takes time to appreciate the finer details, or to uncover the flaws and quirks that might surface with everyday use. These headphones have so many great elements that they easily overshadow the few shortcomings I found. I spent a week with the Nothing Headphone (1), and here is my review.
What: Nothing Headphone (1) |Price: Rs 21,999
I put them on every day when I start my morning at 5:30 a.m. I wear them during my morning walk and use them occasionally while sitting at my desk. When I am travelling—which I do often—you will find my headphones on for the entire flight. I also use them frequently for calls. I prefer over-ear headphones to TWS earbuds. It's no surprise I enjoy working from cafés, my headphones travel with me just like my laptop and iPhone. They are my third most used device in a day.
With headphones in general, I have observed that they tend to either become overly complicated or remain overly simple, often just to grab attention. However, the Headphone (1) steers clear of that trend, and that's a good thing in my opinion. Nothing isn't necessarily trying to start another trend with the Headphone (1). Rather, the company seems to exist in a bubble of its own, a good bubble, where it creates products that resonate with a certain kind of user.
One of the things that initially attracted me to the Headphone (1) is the strong sense of value found in its vintage-inspired design. It appeals to those with a particular taste, something we don't often see in today's tech products.
Instead of the typical round or oval shape that many premium headphones have, Nothing opted for a square design—let's call it a squircle, since the corners are rounded off. While not an exact match, one pair of headphones that comes close to the design of the Headphone (1) is the Bowers & Wilkins P5.
Trends come and go in cycles, but when it comes to vintage-inspired designs, they never really go out of style in the first place. Nothing's choice to go with this particular design feels both nostalgic and modern at the same time. These are beautifully crafted headphones, produced with meticulous attention to detail and expertise. That much is clear, you don't need to be an expert to see it.
Each ear cup features a rounded rectangular aluminum frame with a transparent, oval-shaped pod mounted on the outside—reminiscent of a cassette tape. It made me nostalgic, reminding me of when my father bought me my first Sony Walkman years ago. The headband is made of grey plastic with a black cushion in the middle and includes silent telescoping arms, which connect to the plastic pod on each ear cup via a black, S-shaped metal bracket. Meanwhile, the ear cushions are oil-resistant and offer comfortable memory foam that conforms to your head and passively seals out ambient sound.
The headphones felt comfortable and sturdy, and I wore them for hours, even during my morning walks. At first, they may seem heavy at 329 grams (for comparison, the Apple AirPods Max weigh 385 grams), but I didn't feel uncomfortable. I found them well-balanced, and thanks to their shape and design, they are comfortable enough for long listening sessions.
Perhaps what made the biggest difference for me, as a user, was how Nothing implemented physical controls on these over-ear headphones. It might not seem like a big deal to many, but once you start using the Headphone (1), you begin to realise how flawed the control schemes on most headphones really are. Nothing has ditched touch controls entirely on the Headphone (1) in favour of physical ones and they are cleverly executed.
There's an actual on/off switch, a clickable roller button for adjusting volume and toggling through noise-canceling settings, and a paddle button that lets you skip tracks forward and back. Alongside there's a circular button on the outer shell of the right aluminum frame that activates your voice assistant. It can also be programmed as a shortcut to other features like Nothing's Channel Hop feature, which allows you to toggle between recent audio apps like Spotify and Apple Music.
A power switch, status LED, USB Type-C port, and 3.5mm jack are located on the bottom edge of the right aluminum frame. Each ear cup also features slits for three microphones. There's no unnecessary branding on the Headphone (1); all you will find is the text 'sound by KEF' alongside a white mark under the left pod, and 'NOTHING headphone (1)' plus a red mark under the right plastic pod to help distinguish the left and right ear cups.
I wouldn't say the Headphone (1) are the best-sounding headphones I have ever heard. And that's a tricky claim to make anyway, considering audio is such a personal, and therefore subjective, experience. They are not aimed at audiophiles, either. Or rather, I should say the Headphone (1) is designed to impress regular consumers like you and me, people who just want to put on their headphones and listen to music without any intrusion.
The sound is pleasing to the ears: rich, well-balanced, with clear vocals, though it falls slightly short of delivering that expensive, pure audio quality. Still, it offers a consistent listening experience with no distortion, even at higher volumes. 'Take On Me' by A-ha is a joy to listen to, while 'Masakali' by Mohit Chauhan and 'Pasoori' by Shae Gill and Ali Sethi are a pleasure to the ears. A minor tweak to the EQ settings can further enhance the sound quality, especially the bass.
In terms of tech, the Headphone (1) features 40mm drivers with a nickel-plated diaphragm, rim and dome. According to Nothing, this adds rigidity, which helps improve clarity in the highs and power in the bass.
I paired the Headphone (1) with the Nothing Phone 3 (review coming soon) and iPhone 16 Pro using Bluetooth. The headphones support both AAC and LDAC audio codecs, though LDAC isn't supported on the iPhone. They also support wired listening, with a 3.5mm jack for analog input and a USB-C port for digital wired connections.
The noise-cancelling is top-notch, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. To test it, I roamed around the streets of London and New Delhi, experiencing the busy interactions of these cities with the Headphone (1) on. They basically mute your environment. No matter where I am, once the ANC is activated, you are fully immersed in your music. The transparency mode is equally good.
In this mode, the microphone actively funnels the environment's sounds into your ear, allowing for quick conversations to order coffee and croissants or to hear announcements on trains and airplanes. And when using the Headphone (1) for calls, you can hear yourself clearly—and be heard just as clearly by the person on the other end, thanks to its six microphones, four of which are dedicated to voice calls. This has made my life a lot simpler, as I don't have to carry a pair of TWS earbuds with me all the time.
Battery life is pretty decent for over-ear noise-cancelling headphones. With noise-cancelling turned on, you get up to 35 hours of listening time at moderate volume levels, and up to 80 hours with it off. A five-minute charge gives you 2.4 hours of battery life with ANC on, which is fantastic.
The Headphone (1) is a premium pair of headphones, and its features are equally high-end, though many of them have now become standard across over-ear models. Features like ear-detection sensors that pause your music when you take the headphones off and resume playback when you put them back on, a spatial audio mode with head-tracking, a low-latency mode for gaming, and multipoint Bluetooth pairing are all included. These headphones use Bluetooth 5.3.
I was impressed by the Nothing X app (iOS and Android).
The app is very clean and easy to use—companies like Bose and Sony could learn from it. I especially liked the equaliser, which offers two modes: a simple mode with options like 'Balanced,' 'More Bass,' 'More Treble,' and 'Custom,' as well as an advanced mode with an eight-band equaliser for fine-tuning the sound as per your liking.
Nothing's debut Headphone (1) over-ear headphones are feature-rich, comfortable, and distinct in their design. They also sound great. However, they aren't made for everyone – they are aimed at people like me who are a bit obsessed with design and want a unique-looking product, though not necessarily something audiophile-grade. I wouldn't say the Headphone (1) is overly expensive, but they are priced on the higher side, like most premium headphones. That said, if you are on a tighter budget or looking for the best value for money, the Headphone (1) might not be the right choice.