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Review: Nothing Headphone 1 Pro - Luxurious headphones with brilliant sound and noise cancellation

Nothing Headphone 1 Pro impresses in virtually every area, from music sound to noise cancellation and call quality.

Published 1 October 2026 - 10:20

Britain's Nothing is still considered a start-up; it launched its first product, a pair of headphones, just over five years ago. Since then, it has launched everything from mobile phones to watches, and has mostly remained in a price range from budget models to just below flagship level. The Nothing Headphone 1 Pro headphones, priced at SEK 3,990, therefore feel like a new step for the company. At that price, they are in the same bracket as Sony's WH-1000X series and other premium headphones.

Competition in this category is fierce, with plenty to compete on: build quality, sound quality, comfort, call quality and active noise cancellation. I am impressed by how well the Headphone 1 Pro performs in all of these areas.

Starting with the design, I am initially somewhat sceptical. The ear cushions have an unusual shape that does not leave much room for the ears, and the headphones are fairly heavy. However, they prove to be genuinely comfortable, even when I wear them for extended periods. The headband has a titanium arch rather than an aluminium one, which is intended to reduce the weight.

Distinctive design

In appearance, the Nothing Headphone 1 Pro is recognisable from Nothing's previous over-ear headphones. With their square earcups and glass fronts that reveal some of the electronics inside, the design will not be to everyone's taste, but they are certainly distinctive and considerably less boring than most headphones. Compared with the Nothing Headphone 1, the new Pro model uses more luxurious materials, with aluminium earcups and scratch-resistant Panda Glass.

There are no fewer than six buttons on the earcups, the most important of which are a small slider for turning the headset on and off, a scroll wheel that you press to play or pause and rotate to adjust the volume, and a small lever that you can press in either direction to select a track or skip within a track. The remaining buttons are one for Bluetooth pairing, a programmable button intended for an AI assistant but usable for other functions, and a toggle button for sound reproduction, which I will return to. Most of the buttons are distinct and easy to tell apart.

A case is also included, which you fasten over the earcups while leaving the headband outside, making it look like a small handbag. I do not understand how they managed it, but the case weighs more than the headphones themselves. It certainly protects the earcups, but together they weigh 710 grams!

Impressive for music

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Moving on to music playback, it is powerful. Each earcup has no fewer than three drivers: a 40 mm driver for lower frequencies, one for the mid-range and one for treble. This is noticeable in the breadth of the sound, and in how they can deliver rumbling bass while never sounding muddy when I listen to podcasts. The headphones support high-resolution audio, for example via LDAC on Android or when connected by cable to an iPhone.

The headphones’ preset sound profile delivers enhanced bass without sounding tasteless or uncontrolled. That slider I mentioned earlier switches to completely neutral sound, with no equaliser influence, and it is a little shocking how much more boring I find it sounding, despite having thought I was immune to such effects. According to Nothing, the button is intended for professional musicians who need to listen to sound as close to the original as possible when producing music.

Nothing does, however, let you choose your own equaliser settings if you wish, and not just at a number of fixed points: you can select the frequency ranges yourself. There is also a hearing test that can create a personalised equaliser setting tailored to your hearing and preferences.

Nothing has also put a great deal of effort into spatial audio, with different modes that simulate different types of spaces and extra precision in the motion sensors. For me, spatial audio is and remains a gimmick that does not interest me, but if you feel differently, the Nothing Headphone 1 Pro goes further than most in this area.

Top-class noise cancellation

The active noise cancellation (ANC) is also genuinely impressive. The unusual design of the ear cushions is apparently partly intended to ensure they form a tight seal so that the noise reduction works as it should. In addition, the noise cancellation has no fewer than ten microphones to work with. The result is noise cancellation that cuts out most high and low frequencies alike and truly creates a quiet bubble. It is genuinely top class.

By holding down the scroll button, you can switch between active noise cancellation and transparency mode, where the microphones are instead used to let in surrounding sounds. This also works very well, and I can hold conversations without any problem without taking off the headphones.

The microphones are of course also used for phone calls, and call quality is at least above average. When I speak through the headset while the kitchen extractor fan is on and I am clattering dishes around, the person I am speaking to finds it difficult to tell whether I am talking through headphones or on the phone, which is high praise. If I instead go out onto a windy street with traffic, I am noticeably harder to hear, but it is still possible to hold a conversation.

Decent battery life

One area where the headphones do not impress is battery life. You can get 68 hours of playback on a single charge, admittedly, but that is without active noise cancellation. You will want that switched on, and then battery life drops to 30 hours. Not exactly bad, but not particularly good either.

Auracast, the Bluetooth standard for broadcasting audio to several headphones at once, is also worth mentioning. Nothing Headphone 1 Pro can not only receive Auracast but also transmit it, allowing you to send on the audio you are listening to to a second headset using the headphones.

Overall, Nothing has succeeded well with a headset that justifies its price of SEK 4,000. With original design, a premium feel and excellent sound in every situation, it deserves to be compared with the Sony WH-1000XM6 or Apple AirPods Max.

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