Sony Walkman style, fresh tech, heavy fit

It’s a few weeks short of a full four years since Nothing released its first product: the Ear 1 true wireless earbuds. Now, Nothing is taking a huge leap in the audio space by throwing its hat into the over-ear headphones ring. In an increasingly competitive market, the Nothing Headphone 1 stand out by offering a unique design and future-proof features for a reasonable price of $299. I got the chance to test them ahead of launch, and I’m pretty impressed by what the London-based upstart brand has achieved here.

While the Headphone 1 are broadly reminiscent of the shape of the Apple AirPods Max, Nothing brings OS-agnostic functionality and industry-leading tech to iOS and Android fans.

First impressions are everything, and the Headphone (1) follow in true Nothing fashion with eye-catching transparent elements. The rest of the build is aesthetically pleasing and consists of aluminium components and resilient plastic materials. My first thought was that the outer cup designs look like two Sony Walkman WM-4s strapped to your ears, but they promise and deliver up-to-date functionality. The company didn’t skimp on high-end materials, either, fitting 40mm dynamic drivers into each ear cup with 8.9mm polyurethane surrounds. Like 2024’s excellent Nothing Ear buds, the headphones launch in attractive Black and White colorways.

Contrary to many of their competitors, the Nothing Headphone 1 opt for tactile buttons instead of touch controls. While this can inadvertently alter the fit and affect active noise cancelation (ANC) and sound quality during use, I like it in this instance. Despite my longer hair, I found I could conduct most commands without much issue. The only problem I experienced during the review period was with the roller on the right ear cup. In ideal conditions, this can be pressed to play or pause music, held to activate ANC or transparency mode, or scrolled horizontally to adjust volume. However, the roller seems to struggle registering volume swipes when hair gets in the way, which is a little annoying.

The headphones feature an intuitive paddle control for track skipping and for answering or ending calls. If you feel like replaying a catchy riff, you can hold the paddle in either direction to fast forward or rewind songs by 10-second increments. However, this feature isn’t supported ubiquitously — for example, I couldn’t get it to work on Spotify, but I used it successfully with my smartphone’s built-in media player.

In addition to the roller and paddle, the Nothing Headphone 1 sport a small circular multifunction button. This can be customized in the Nothing X companion app to activate your phone’s voice assistant, navigate through ANC modes, enable spatial audio, and more. Tinkerers can even assign a second function that’s executed by pressing and holding the button, allowing easy control of two unique features on the fly.

Nothing phone owners can assign the button to activate the company’s AI-powered Essential Space organizational hub. This lets you capture voice notes, reminders, and fleeting thoughts without having to navigate through your phone. Likewise, the multifunction button can be assigned to Nothing’s new Channel Hop feature, which cycles between recent audio apps and other favorite functions directly from the headphones. However, the latter only works with the newly announced Nothing Phone 3, which is a fairly harsh restriction for long-term Nothing fans.

I’m overjoyed to tell you that, unlike most consumer over-ear headphones, the Nothing Headphone 1 feature an IP52 water- and dust-resistant rating. This spells good news for gym fanatics, as the headphones’ components are guarded against small solid objects and dripping water at a maximum tilt of 15 degrees. Nothing has seemingly put the cans through their paces with over 50 rigorous reliability tests for drops, twists, sweat, and extreme temperatures. This marks them ahead of industry leaders like the Sony WH-1000XM6, allowing fans to trust them as a reliable companion during sweaty workout regimens.

The ear cup padding features polyurethane memory foam that molds to different head shapes. While it’s somewhat firmer than some rivals out of the box, the padding should relax over time. Likewise, despite the current oppressive British heatwave, I only experienced mild heat buildup during testing. Nothing claims the ear cushions are oil and makeup-resistant, too, which is good news if you plan on wearing them to the Met Gala. Just be mindful that being oil-resistant doesn’t mean they won’t stain or need a clean once in a while.

As far as battery life goes, according to Nothing, the headphones should last 35 hours with ANC and up to 80 hours without it. Our sister site, SoundGuys, is hard at work on a review that will contain all the objective testing measurements you’ll ever need, but I can tell you that Nothing’s claims more or less match up with my experience after a week of testing. If this holds long-term, we can expect the cans to outperform the Sony WH-1000XM5, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, and Apple AirPods Max. For context, those headphones enjoy roughly 32 hours, 27 hours, and 20 hours of ANC-enabled playtime, respectively.

Fewer charging cycles generally mean good long-term battery health and slower degradation. However, your mileage will depend on whether you are listening over the SBC, AAC, or LDAC Bluetooth codecs. The last is the most power hungry, meaning you may only receive 30 hours of ANC-enabled playtime and 54 hours without ANC. Nevertheless, those in a bind can fast-charge Nothing’s over-ear cans for five minutes to receive approximately two hours and 24 minutes of charge. Auto-play/pause is also supported, so you don’t need to worry about the headphones marching through your favorite playlist when you lay them down.

I was particularly excited to learn that Nothing packed the Headphone 1 with many desirable features under the hood. For example, the cans support USB-C audio and sport a 3.5mm port. The former is most beneficial, given that smartphones with headphone jacks are basically dead outside select budget phones. Don’t worry if you haven’t stocked up on cables, either — Nothing packages a sensibly long USB-C and aux cable in the box. Those prone to scuffing their belongings in transit will also appreciate the headphones’ 264g softshell carry case.

Downloading the Nothing X app is essential to get the most out of the headphones. For example, you can cycle through the Low, Mid, High, and Adaptive ANC modes. Truthfully, I didn’t hear any tangible difference between each of the modes, but perhaps this will be refined in a future firmware update. Nevertheless, the headphones’ ANC quells an exceptional amount of noise. I wore the cans while boiling the kettle and was surprised to find I could barely hear it. Conversation and clattering dishware cuts through more, but not so much as to infiltrate your mix when listening to music. Nothing’s transparency mode also does an excellent job of amplifying external sounds without being shrill. Just try not to jump when you first hear the breathy sound prompt.

The Nothing Headphone 1 also feature native spatial audio with head-tracking. This transforms any stereo mix into a three-dimensional soundscape without necessarily being mixed for Dolby Atmos. While its application for listening to music is questionable, I enjoyed it immensely while streaming shows on Netflix. I didn’t notice any latency issues, and even so, the Nothing X app supports Low lag mode if you need improved performance during gaming.

Listeners can get set up in a cinch thanks to Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair support. Likewise, those who frequently switch between devices can use Nothing’s Dual Connection feature. This lets you connect up to two devices with the Headphone (1) simultaneously. Once set up, you can listen to music on your laptop and answer calls from your phone seamlessly. If you’re a klutz like me, you can also use Nothing’s Find My feature to locate the headphones. Just be mindful not to test this function while wearing the cans — it’s loud!

The Nothing X app hosts four EQ presets for refining your sound. These include Balanced, More Bass, More Treble, and Voice. I relied heavily on the first, although the last is handy if you frequently listen to podcasts or spoken word. You can also customize your own simple EQ preset by dragging three points on a circular visualizer to adjust the Bass, Mid, or Treble. Cutting usually works best, as you’re less likely to introduce distortion by overamplifying a specific frequency band. I did notice that boosting one frequency range too aggressively made the other two sound significantly quieter.

Audiophiles and the sonic inquisitive will enjoy Nothing’s upgraded 8-band custom EQ. Each band can be adjusted by +/- 6dB, and the EQ features new horizontal sliders for fine-tuning each band’s frequency and quality factor. The latter controls the bandwidth, which is handy if you want to adjust a wide range of frequencies with the same band. There’s even a separate 5-level bass enhancer, if that’s your sort of thing. Fans can import a pre-made EQ profile by scanning a QR code or uploading one from their device memory. Likewise, you can share your proudest, most finely-tuned EQ settings with others by generating one of nine genre-specific QR code images.

Frequent Zoom callers will be pleased to know that the Nothing Headphone 1 have decent call quality. While they don’t hold a candle to dedicated condenser microphones, voices are intelligible in most cases. Using my kettle again, I roped my partner into calling me whilst wearing the headphones and making a cup of tea. Like before, the cans did an excellent job of rejecting the kettle’s low rumble while retaining the voice. The results were similar even when taking calls out on a breezy day and while tapping a computer keyboard. However, while the headphones quieten keyboard clicks when there is no speech, you may hear some taps when conversing. Overall, Nothing claims the headphones provide 37 hours of ANC-enabled talk time, or 53 hours without ANC.

So far so great, but it pains me to call out a few stumbles, starting with my biggest gripe: the Nothing Headphone 1 just aren’t as comfortable as I’d have liked. For starters, they weigh a very hefty 329g. That’s roughly 80g heavier than many top competitors, including the Sony WH-1000XM5, XM6, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. Sure, the aforementioned Apple AirPods Max weigh more, but that’s not saying much. Apple’s over-ear headphones have a fabric headband with a large surface area, distributing the weight more evenly across the head. The same cannot be said for Nothing’s headphones.

Unfortunately, I found my listening sessions cut short by the minimal padding of the headband. While fine at first, my scalp would begin to exhibit some pain around the two-hour mark. Sliding the telescopic arms for a looser fit helps somewhat in alleviating pressure, but this compromises the seal around the ear. Speaking of which, the Nothing Headphone 1 have a noticeably tight clamping force compared to the competition. While this is useful for achieving excellent ANC performance, it can also cause ear fatigue. This was particularly acute for me, as the ear cups are only just wide enough to accommodate my ears. Anyone with a larger head or ears than mine may struggle to achieve a good fit with these cans.

While I’m thankful that the headphones come equipped with a carry case, it’s a shame they forgo foldable hinges. This would have awarded a smaller form factor and made them much easier to stow in a backpack. The rounded-rectangle shape of the ear cups also means they often collide with one another in transit. While I haven’t scuffed them yet, it wouldn’t surprise me to notice a few dings on the corners with repeated use. The Bluetooth pairing button is also fairly easy to miss, given its inconspicuous location on the inside of the right ear cup.

The headphones’ solid sound quality also comes with one minor caveat. Overall, the cans have a pleasing frequency response out of the box, and the available customization is ample. However, the headphones significantly over-emphasize the bass response when ANC is enabled. While this may be rectified in a future firmware update, at present, it requires some rather unwanted fine-tuning with the EQ when switching between ANC modes.

The Nothing Headphone 1 are a reasonably priced and feature-rich alternative to rival flagship brands. For $299, they’re a compelling and uniquely stylish pair of over-ear headphones for those who want handy tech like USB-C audio, Bluetooth 5.3, and an IP52 rating. The Nothing X app is also comprehensive, and the excellent noise canceling and built-in spatial features are worth the price tag. The environmentally-minded will also appreciate Nothing’s claims that the headphones are Amazon Climate Pledge-friendly. Likewise, they reportedly use 100% renewable energy in final assembly, which is a nice touch.

However, there are some questionable design choices that are less of an issue with rival cans. The heavy form factor and poor weight distribution mean the cans are tough to recommend if you want superior comfort. Likewise, those with a larger head and ears may struggle with the minimal headband padding and small ear cup size.

Anyone with a bit of extra cash who wants superior comfort should consider the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones ($429 at Amazon). In addition to more supple padding and foldable hinges, Bose’s cans support Snapdragon Sound with aptX Lossless and have excellent noise canceling.

Meanwhile, price-conscious listeners will appreciate the JLab JBuds Lux ANC ($79.99 at Amazon). These use ear cups with wide openings at the top to accommodate real ear shapes and have a breathable fabric headband. They also support USB-C audio and enjoy decent sound quality. Those invested in the Nothing ecosystem who want to forgo over-ears altogether should grab the Nothing Ear ($149 at Amazon). While their ANC performance isn’t the best, they are comfortable for long listening sessions, have excellent sound quality, and support the LDAC and LHDC Bluetooth codecs.