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Unusual Design

Review: Nothing Headphones 1 - Stylish 

Nothing's first over-ear headphones match the phones in style.

Elias Nordling
Published Modified

British Nothing has become a rising star in the mobile industry, but their first product a few years ago was a headset that sounded far better than its price. Since then, they have made both mobiles and watches, and for that matter, a range of headsets too, but Nothing Headphones 1 is their first headset in the format with two cups that cover the ears.

Nothing's focus can be said to be on design that stands out, without being any less affordable, and this also applies to Nothing Headphones 1. Most Over Ear headphones look pretty much the same, and above all, they don't look like this. The ear muffs are attached to two square metal plates, and on the outside, two ovals in transparent plastic reveal some of the interior.

A case comes with the headset, but it cannot be folded to become really compact. You also get two cables, the headset can be used as wired headphones both with a 3.5 mm cable and with a USB-C cable.

The soft ear cushions are really comfortable, and I can wear the headset for a longer time without it chafing. However, I do get sweaty from it on a hot summer day. The downside is that the headset is difficult to use when, for example, working out at the gym, as it slips off when lying down. It shares this with all other headsets in this form factor I have tested.

Excellent control

The headset's buttons are located on the right ear cup, there are four of them with a placement and shape that makes it impossible to mistake them. It's an original set of buttons that allows me to control most things from the headphones. For example, there's a toggle button that I can slide one way or the other to change tracks or fast-forward the music. The rubber-like play-pause button can also be swiped to adjust the volume up and down. There is also a button for the AI assistant, and the on-off button is a distinct slider.

The music sound is calibrated by the British audio company Kef, and can be said to provide a warm sound with slightly rounded trebles. It sounds really pleasant for music, but when I listen to podcasts, I might miss a bit of clarity in the upper registers that makes voices clearer. The bass reproduction is natural and detailed, but if you want extra bass, there's a button for that in the Nothing X app, where you can turn up the bass in several steps. There is also an equalizer function with a preset mode for voice that solves that problem. By the way, the voice assistant button can be programmed to switch between different equalizer modes. In the app, you can also enable LDAC for high-resolution audio on Android phones.

The headset is equipped with automatic noise cancellation which, in addition to the ear cups themselves blocking out ambient noise, digitally filters out noise. The noise reduction is really good. Not Sony-good, but definitely good enough to remove the sound of the annoying lawnmower or engine noise on the bus.

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The call sound is not the headset's strongest point, those I talk to think it sounds a bit tinny, but it is at least possible to have conversations without too much suffering for the person I am speaking with.

According to Nothing, the battery life is 80 hours on a single charge, but that's with active noise cancellation turned off. With ANC, the battery life drops to 35 hours. 

Nothing Headphones 1 costs 3500 kronor. It is, after all, quite a lot for a headset and at that price, you might expect an audiophile product. The music sound doesn't quite reach that level, but if you want an Over Ear type headset and have fallen for the unique design, you are unlikely to be disappointed with Nothing Headphones 1.

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