Nothing Headphone 1 Review: A surprisingly good first-gen product

Digital Trends

6 hours ago

Nothing Headphone 1
MSRP
$299.00
Score Details 'The Nothing Headphone 1 features the most unqiue design on a pair of headphones, but while it stands out for their design, it doesn't for the default sound profile or build quality. Despite this, it's an excellent first-generation product.'
Pros Balanced sound that needs refining
Striking design
Fantastic battery life
Rapid charging
Comfortable for extended periods
Excellent ANC
Cons Default sound is below average
Multipoint disabled by default
Design won't be for everyone
Concerns about durability
Not the best overall sound
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If you like unique technology, there's a strong chance you've seen products from London-based Nothing. The company, co-founded by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has built a cult-like following with striking designs that were designed to stand out from the crowd.
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Nothing has made earbuds before, but the Headphone 1 is the company's first foray into the world of over-ear headphones that Apple, Sony, and Bose normally dominate. In typical Nothing fashion, the Headphone 1 aims to provide ample sound in a strikingly different design at a price that still offers value for money.
Does the Nothing Headphone 1 deliver on this goal? The answer, as always, is complicated. The Headphone 1 offers a refreshing design with helpful features but falls short of meeting the high standards when it comes to the things that truly matter.
Nothing Headphone 1: design and comfort
The Nothing Headphone 1 stands out with a design like no other pair of over-ear headphones. In typical Nothing fashion, it features an opaque design that is meant to resemble the internals of the headphones. This helps the Headphone 1 stand out compared to the more traditional-styled over-ear headphones offered by its key competitors.
The design is most definitely polarizing, but whether you like it or not, it's bound to be a conversation starter and a way to stand out. Personally, the design has grown on me; I've put different generations of the Sony WH-1000XM6 series side by side and couldn't tell them apart, and that won't happen with these headphones.
The design is also quite interesting in terms of comfort. The square ears feel surprisingly comfortable, and the design gives strong cassette tape vibes, which quickly grow on you. The Headphone 1 weighs 329 grams, which is heavier than its competitors, like the Sony XM6, which weighs 250 grams. The band across the top helps keep some of the weight off, but the Headphone 1 feels heavier than the competition on your head. However, this doesn't impact the comfort even with extended use.
However, I do have reservations about the build. The glossy part of the body is made from plastic, so it doesn't necessarily feel the most premium. The key issue is the aluminum frame, and this is where the Headphone 1 will quickly disappoint you; it took just four days to blemish the frame despite keeping it in the included case when not in use. These are only slight blemishes, but I have concerns about the Headphone 1's overall durability.
Nothing Headphone 1: app, controls, and personalization
The Headphone 1 is probably the most thoughtful pair of headphones I've used in years. Instead of fiddling with touch controls that are anything but intuitive, the Headphone 1 uses analog triggers, such as a roller, a paddle, and a button, to help you navigate tracks and playlists or activate your Assistant.
It's not just hardware, as Nothing put careful thought into controlling the Headphone 1. All of the necessary controls are on the right cup. There's a physical switch for power, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB-C port all at the bottom. There's also a roller for adjusting the volume and a paddle that can be used to swap tracks or even scrub through a track by holding the paddle in either direction.
The app offers a range of additional options, including customizing noise cancellation, adjusting transparency modes, enabling head-tracked spatial audio, and fine-tuning the Bass Enhancer settings. If you choose to pair the Headphone 1 with the Nothing Phone 3, you'll control exclusive features — such as channel hopping between your different music apps and AI-based voice control — from within the app as well.
Nothing Headphone 1: sound, ANC, calls, and transparency
This is where the Nothing Headphone 1 begins to fall short. Out of the box, the default sound quality is slightly above average, but it doesn't compare to devices like the Sony XM6 or AirPods Max, which are both more expensive. The sound isn't terrible, but its price point suggests that the default sound profile should be better.
The sound is well-balanced across different frequencies, so a song sounds as balanced as the artist intended it to be. The mid-range feels solid, the bass is impactful but not overpowering, and the treble delivers a reasonable sound. Yet, the key challenge is that the overall sound feels flatter than that of the competition, especially since the Ear 2 sounds much better and costs a third of the price.
Launch the app, and you can customize the sound to suit your preferences. It's easy to share presets with your friends or the wider community as well. This is where you'll want to spend time tweaking the settings, as once you do — or find a preset — you'll get a richer sound experience that's far more in line with what I'd expect at this price. That's not to say the default sound is bad, but rather that it can be improved with customization.
Then there's the transparency mode, which works fairly well, but your voice feels boomy to my ears. You can easily adjust noise cancellation levels in the app and switch between transparency and ANC modes using the roller button on the Headphone 1. As you switch between the different modes, you'll hear a specific sound. Activating ANC mode plays a short sucking and shutting sound, while you'll listen to an intake of breath when you activate transparency mode. I don't mind the former, but the intake of breath sounds strange to me, even after over 100 activations.
Then there's the active noise cancellation (ANC), and thankfully, Nothing nailed it with the ANC on the Headphone 1. There are four different strength settings — Adaptive, High, Medium, and Low — and while I liked the isolation of the High mode, it's not ideal for situations where you may also want to hear what's happening in the background, such as in an office.
I've found that the ANC is on par with the Sony WH-1000XM5, and the Headphone 1 is among the better headphones for blocking out the noise of a plane or train. It's not as good as premium headphones like the Sony XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra, but the Headphone 1 offers as good ANC as the best in its price point.
Nothing Headphone 1: battery and charging
Nothing promises that the Headphone 1 will achieve 35 hours of playback with ANC turned on and 80 hours with it turned off. These claims put the Headphone 1 above the Sony XM5, which lasts just over 30 hours. Although I've been unable to test it with ANC fully turned off, the battery life has been impressive with ANC enabled.
In my sole full test so far, the Headphone 1 lasted 37 hours on a single charge with ANC enabled, with spatial audio and multipoint enabled. Both of these features draw a considerable amount of power, so the Headphone 1 will likely push closer to 40 hours with them disabled.
Like every Nothing phone, the Headphone 1 also features fast charging, and this is where it shines. A full charge takes around two hours, which isn't particularly speedy, but it comes to life in just a few minutes. A quick five-minute charge is sufficient for 4 to 5 hours of playback with ANC turned off, while a 15-minute charge allows for 10 hours of playback with ANC turned on or just enough for a long-haul flight.
I often find myself at the airport with no battery in my headphones, so I appreciate the rapid charging. It's become commonplace in the best phones, but more headphone makers need to follow Nothing's lead and make this commonplace amongst the best headphones.
Nothing Headphone 1: price and availability
The Nothing Ear 2 set a direction for Nothing in terms of positioning its products as offering excellent bang-for-your-buck and class-leading performance at its price point. The Nothing Headphone 1 was expected to follow suit, and it mostly achieves this, although some sound customization is required to achieve the desired effect.
The Headphone 1 is available in two colors — Black and white — and retails for $299 in the US, £299 in the UK, and €299 in Europe. By comparison, its chief rivals are more expensive; the Sony WH-1000XM6 costs $450 (or £400), while the Bose QuietComfort Ultra costs a similar amount in the US.
Against the landscape of its key competitors, the Nothing Headphone 1 offers good value for money; however, it isn't the most premium product and doesn't offer the best sound available. It is, however, the most unique pair of headphones I've ever tried, and they've grown on me the more I've used them.
The Headphone 1 is a great first-generation product
It's easy to forget that the Headphone 1 is a first-generation product, and at that, one from a company that hasn't been making headphones for too long. In this context, the Headphone 1 is very good, although you'll want to ensure you're happy with every compromise.
Yes, I've concerns about durability, and you may need to modify the sound profile to achieve the best sound, but once you do, this is one of the best first-generation headphones I've used. Given that Nothing's second-generation products are vastly improved, I'm eager to see what the Headphone 2 could offer.