I came so close to loving the Nothing Headphone (1), but the sound held them back — here's what I'd recommend instead
I'd hoped they were going to sound good thanks to Nothing's partnership with KEF, but there were significant sonic issues that I noted in my Headphone (1) review. Any pair of headphones that effectively requires the use of an EQ isn't a good pair of headphones in my mind, given that general audiences don't understand their 100Hz from their 14KHz.
Thankfully, there's a pair of headphones in the $200-$299 price range that you should buy instead that outperforms the Nothing Headphone (1) in most metrics — the Cambridge Audio melomania P100. Here's why you should buy them instead.
The Melomania P100 are an excellent pair of headphones featuring a whole range of features to make them a great alternative to the more well-known competition. They're also a better buy than the Headphone (1), with more battery life, much better sound, and a simpler look for those who don't want Nothing's more out there design.
The Nothing Headphone (1) bring a fancy design to the table and great build quality, but they let the side down when it comes to sound; arguably the most important bit. You do get solid battery life though, and a very good and compact hard case. The physical controls are amongst the best around as well.
There's no denying that the Nothing Headphone (1) have a unique look. They're smothered in metal and transparent plastic, with their cassette motif shining through to get glances from everyone that's walking past.
If you're looking for a pair of headphones that shouts "look at me!" then the Headphone (1) are the headphones you're looking for.
If you're not looking to make as much of a statement and want something that looks solid without being louder than a piledriver on a building site, then the Melomania P100 might be more up your street.
They've got a clean, sleek look, but I really like their subtle design touches. The Cambridge Audio circle on the outside of the cans is a nice feature, and the shape of the earcups is good.
Build is similar to the Nothing Headphone (1) too. There's metal in these earcups, and they feel like they'd survive a brush with a Sherman tank. They're more comfortable in some ways as well especially if you've got ear piercings. They don't press on your lobes like the Headphone (1).
I like the look of both headphones, but while I'm happy that Nothing is shaking things up with the Headphone (1), I'd still go for the more understated style of the Cambridge Audio cans.
The Nothing Headphone (1), on paper, have more features than the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. There's spatial audio and adaptive ANC, amongst others. In actuality, however, they're much closer than they seem on first inspection.
The spatial audio, as with many implementations, is worth leaving off. It thins out the sound of your music, and makes it sound like it's being played down a metal pipe. Worth avoiding.
Adaptive ANC sounds good, but I didn't find any battery gains on paper, and it actually made some things worse when it misread the environment. I just left it on max level whenever I needed ANC as a result — the same level available with the Melomania P100.
After that, the feature sets remain similar. There are strong EQ adjusters on both, and low-latency modes for gamers. USB-C audio can play Hi-res tracks with great bandwidth, although, as we'll find out later, you'll only want to use it with one pair of headphones.
The Cambridge Audio cans last 100 hours with the ANC off, and then 60 hours with the ANC on.
The Nothing Headphone (1) have good battery life. They'll last you for 35 hours with ANC on after a full charge, which rises to 80 hours when you turn the ANC off. That's more than the Sony WH-1000XM5 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — but much less than the Melomania P100.
The Cambridge Audio cans last 100 hours with the ANC off, and then 60 hours with the ANC on. That's a lot of battery, and I can attest to their battery life personally. I took them on a three-day camping trip, and didn't need to charge them once, despite using them to help me climb mountains and circumnavigate lakes. And then they got me home for the 6-hour drive.
Quick charge is similar on both models as well — a 5-minute quick charge gets you 4 hours with Cambridge Audio, while the Nothing cans manage 5 hours. If that's what $70 gets you, I'm not sure I'd bother with the more expensive option.
There's no avoiding it. Despite working with renowned audio brand KEF, the Nothing Headphone (1) just don't sound all that good out of the box. They're far too dark, and need significant work in the EQ to make them sound decent. I certainly wasn't a fan of the way they sounded, and it lost them a whole star and a half in their review.
The Melomania P100 are one of the best-sounding pairs of headphones around — you'll have to spend hundreds more dollars to find something that sounds better.
Harsh? Perhaps, but when you consider how the cheaper competition sound, you'll understand why. The Melomania P100 are one of the best-sounding pairs of headphones around — you'll have to spend hundreds more dollars to find something that sounds better.
They are supremely well detailed, and the soundstage is extremely wide and involving. It places instruments very well, and makes for one of the best listening experiences you'll have this side of $450.
At the end of the day, headphones are all about how they sound. ANC is important, and both are good at it, but it's really all about the sound. And the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 just sound better.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you value in a pair of headphones. But as far as I can tell, the Cambridge Audio smash the Nothing Headphone (1) in most metrics. Battery life, sound quality, price — Nothing leaves bloodied and bruised while Cambridge Audio shrugs off a volley of style points.
For my money I'd save $60 and buy the Melomania P100. They're just a better pair of headphones.
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Android Authority
20 hours ago
- Android Authority
Nothing Phone 3 doesn't win on value, but it won me over anyway
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Most people look for the best value proposition in their new phone, and the Nothing Phone 3 isn't for most people. It doesn't have the 'flagship' chipset, and I wouldn't rate its cameras the best in the segment. But the Nothing Phone 3 has grown on me. At $799, it isn't a good value proposition, but it won me over anyway. What do you think of Nothing Phone 3's design? 0 votes I love it! NaN % It looks odd, but I'm ok with it NaN % What in the smartphone world is this? NaN % Nothing's strong suit becomes more important than ever Prakhar Khanna / Android Authority I love Nothing OS for its widgets and clean but customizable design. It isn't the barebones Pixel-level clean or filled with customizations like Xiaomi's HyperOS. Nothing OS is a mix of both of their best parts. And it is now more important than ever with the Phone 3's polarizing design. I love the ability to add Quick Settings as one-tap widgets. For example, I have a QR code scanner for payments and a Wi-Fi toggle, which turns a three-step task into a single tap. Nothing Phone 3 is ergonomic and comfortable to hold for a big phone. I've grown used to the Nothing Phone 3 because there's not much to complain about in the software or the in-hand feel. I don't play mobile games, so I'm not concerned about the processor. And more so because I haven't had any stutters or lags in day-to-day usage that might trigger me to look for a more capable phone. Add to it, the Essential Key (with Essential Space) is a nice way to quickly save story ideas when I'm reading something on Chrome. (The Essential Search's speed needs improvement, though.) Prakhar Khanna / Android Authority The 6.67-inch AMOLED screen is big and immersive and comfortably legible in most environments, but you can get a brighter display at the same price, depending on where you live. In my usage, the Nothing Phone 3 has lasted me a full day with ease. Notably, I have the 5,500mAh battery variant, as opposed to the 5,150mAh cell you'd find on US or UK units. I got up to eight and a half hours of SoT with social media hopping, intensive Reel-watching, WhatsApp messaging, using Slack for work, and snapping a few photos. The problem is that the Nothing Phone 3a Pro offers a similar experience at a more affordable price. Essential Space, all-day battery, big screen, no-lag performance – it's all up for grabs under $500. For $799, you get the fun of the Glyph Matrix, the best cameras Nothing has put on a phone, and longer software support. More Functional Glyph LEDs and better cameras Prakhar Khanna / Android Authority The Nothing Phone 3 features some strange design choices that play around the edges of uniformity. The periscope telephoto camera sits close to the edge, away from the rest of the layout; the Glyph Matrix screen looks oddly placed when it's not in use. 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It isn't a value-for-money contender but the new Nothing phone delivers top-notch software, fun design quirks, five years of OS upgrades alongside seven years of security updates, all-day battery life, and a satisfactory camera performance. You can get a more capable flagship phone with longer software support but it won't be this fun to use. The Nothing Phone 3 is now available in the US without the need for a beta program and should work with all the major carriers.
Gizmodo
20 hours ago
- Gizmodo
Sorry Haters, the Nothing Phone 3 Looks Good
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Other teardowns by YouTuber JerryRigEverything show us how the makers of the Phone 3 created a wireless charging coil that's shaped like an apple with a bite taken out of it. This odd shape means it could support the special glyph button used to operate the new Glyph Matrix. Whether or not that button is usable or even useful is another question. Instead, we can take in the design and understand more of why it was built the way it was. There's a beauty in that. It's expression through design and engineering, something that's so rarely seen in today's world of Apple-like, all-too-clean tech. The Phone 3 design isn't what anyone would call 'lo-fi,' but in ways it reminds me of how special effects designers imagine technology. Star Wars is one of the best examples of a high-tech setting with a low-tech aesthetic—born out of director George Lucas and the first film's prop crafters' need to make futuristic devices with whatever was on hand. That history of design extends to today's best Star Wars content. Andor's first season is a perfect example of this. In episode 5, the young idealist Karis Nemik extols the benefits of tech not made by the Empire, that it can be remodeled and remade by its owner. His device is blocky, asymmetrical, and dirty. That's because it was likely an old Polaroid camera, specifically an SX-70, with other bits and bobs stapled to its front and sides. We don't know what all those doohickeys are for, but it drives the imagination. Similarly, the Phone 3 wants me to wonder what each random button does, why the cameras are located where they are, or why it has a red camera light. Even if the answer isn't as engaging as the question, I'm glad it made me wonder all the same. 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Android Authority
a day ago
- Android Authority
Here's the real problem with Nothing's quirky Phone 3 design
Ryan Haines / Android Authority I love Nothing's semi-transparent design language. Its debut Phone 1 was the first Android phone in a long time that I can remember being just as happy to look at as I was to use (if only because it didn't work in the US). Then, I watched Nothing refine its style over a few generations of mid-range and budget phones, reworking its Glyph interface and camera placement until it found a combination so cute that Wall-E might fall in love with it. Now, though, I think it's jumped the shark. Its Phone 3 design looks like nothing (no pun intended) I've ever seen before, let alone tried to protect. It has camera sensors, buttons, and a revamped Glyph Matrix scattered across the back panel, and I've never been so scared to go without a phone case. Here's why that's such a big problem. There's unique, and then there's impractical Ryan Haines / Android Authority Like I said, the Nothing Phone 3 is one-of-a-kind. It doesn't make a single traditional design choice other than having a USB-C port on the bottom and buttons on the sides. Other than that, though, chaos. The cameras sit as far apart as boys and girls at a middle school dance, and the circular Glyph Matrix feels like I should be able to raise a Tamagotchi on it. Don't get me wrong, it's a neat look. I wasn't sure I'd like it at first based on Nothing's trickle of teasers and leaks, but the finished product tickles my design-loving brain just right. However, just because I like the look of something doesn't make it a great idea. I loved the idea of Nike's Adapt Auto Max — a shoe that you could only tighten if charged via a proprietary pad — but I would never buy one because it was in no way practical. Nothing's design is clever as can be, but did it have to put a camera sensor so close to the edge? Unfortunately, that's how I'm starting to think about the Phone 3. At times, it feels like Nothing's engineers realized they could, but didn't stop to think if they should. They didn't consider that spreading out the camera sensors and relocating the Glyph Matrix would open the Phone 3 to easier damage, just as long as the finished product looked cool. Like a shoe with moving electronic parts is more susceptible to wear and tear, a phone with too many cluttered corners feels like it's living dangerously in an adventure-filled world. And yes, I know that the now-iconic camera bar that graces the back of every Google Pixel is a less-than-practical choice too. It's a huge bump that nearly splits any would-be phone case in half. However, it also steps in where a case would have trouble, putting a thick metal frame around the cameras and using tough glass to protect all the sensors simultaneously. The Phone 3 doesn't. Its telephoto sensor is so alarmingly close to one edge of the Gorilla Glass Victus back panel. At the same time, the Glyph interface bumps right up against the other edge, making it impossible to find a 'safe' edge on which to drop your phone (not that I recommend dropping your phone to begin with). It took me years to stop stressing about keeping my phone perfectly clean and immaculately protected, but Nothing has brought back all those worries in such a short period. Please, Nothing, all I'm asking for is a good phone case Ryan Haines / Android Authority I hear you, dear reader, yelling at me from the other side of your screen, telling me to put my Nothing Phone 3 in a case. I get it — it's exactly what I should do. After all, we love to recommend phone cases for any and all devices that come across our desks because the best phone is a working, unbroken one. However, I can't do that right now, and it's not my fault — not even a little bit. Instead, it's Nothing's fault. It's Spigen's fault. It's Mous' fault. It's Nomad's fault. Right now, I can blame every case maker for making me live dangerously with my Nothing Phone 3, because none of them has decided to offer a third-party (or first-party) case for protection. Of course, I get it — it's tough to make a highly specific case for an unusual-looking phone that may or may not move decent volume in the US. And yet, if just one of them were to make a case for the Phone 3, it would automatically claim 100% of the market, and I would recommend it without hesitation. There's only one Phone 3 case on the market right now, and it's as impractical as female RPG armor. Well, if it were a normal enough case, anyway. There is one case — er, bumper — er, frame — er, something to protect the Phone 3. Arc decided to take the plunge and launch its two-piece Arc Pulse for the Phone 3, making it the only option for the most cautious of Nothing fans to protect their phones. Unfortunately, I have a hard time trusting it. I can get on board with a one-piece case, or even a two-piece case that covers my entire phone, but the Arc Pulse doesn't do that. Instead, it's more like the stereotypically impractical female armor in RPGs, somehow getting smaller and less protective the more you level up. I'd still be much too scared to let my Phone 3 take a tumble, only for its minimalist aluminum shell to bounce off and leave my phone cracked on the sidewalk. So, it's time for Nothing itself to step up. If nobody else will protect its first proper flagship-ish device, the call will have to come from inside the house. It already makes cases for the Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro, and the Phone 3 costs as much as its siblings put together. If Nothing leads the charge, maybe top phone case brands will follow, but I need someone to take that first step.
