Can anyone look at the Nothing Headphone 1 for the first time without cracking a smile? It was the talk of TechRadar’s Sydney office when I unboxed it for the first time and has practically everyone else I’ve shown cooed over. And that’s because it wears its best aspects on the outside.
The Nothing Headphone 1 is a breath of fresh air among otherwise well-tuned but very same-same headphones. I’m sure I’ll have stirred some strong reactions with that statement, but hear me out, please.
I might be focused on covering smartphones at TechRadar (having just gone hands-on with the Nothing Phone 3), but it’s still pretty obvious in my opinion that the overwhelming majority of over-ear headphones feature neutral, uninspired aesthetics, incorporating ovular cups and typically single-tone colorways without much style to speak of. Touch buttons are common, as are limited color options.
In protest, the Headphone 1’s cups are squared, with the exterior sporting an aesthetic evoking retro sci-fi hits like Blade Runner and Akira. A combination of metals and plastics have been employed to make the Headphone 1 feel unique wherever your fingers may land, and unlike the company’s phones – which you’d be inclined to put in a case – the aesthetic of these headphones are on full display at all times.
And, best of all, there are no touch controls – a feature I’m growing increasingly tired of across all the tech that I review, from wearables to electric cars. This is the bit I’m most head over heels for, and when mixed with a fairly modest price point, I believe the Headphone 1 represents the best realization of Nothing’s vision yet.
The Nothing Headphone 1 is iconic and, by my estimation, it’s the tech of the moment.
Nothing’s cooking
I don’t believe Nothing needs its headphones to offer the best sound quality among its close competition. Indeed as you would have read in our Nothing Headphone 1 review, sound can come across as compressed from these cans – but I’m smitten by all the aspects that the company aces to place too much weight on its soundscape – after all, sound is a personal preference.
Nothing’s distinctive aesthetic will no doubt weed out many potential customers, but as with Nothing’s phones, the style has its fans. This is exactly the kind of aesthetic that appeals to me, harking back to retro designs while also feeling fresh and unique in its own regard. It’s bold, different and to some extent underscores the design chops that companies like Apple were known for years ago (think the iMac G3).
And I could harp on about the aesthetics for an entire article, but I’ll save you the boredom by moving onto Nothing’s silver bullet – real buttons. The tech industry at large, so dedicated to efficiency and maximized savings, forgot that tactile buttons actually feel really great to use, and give the user much more confidence over their product (in that they’ll be better informed about what buttons have been pressed, ergo what functions are activated).
The volume is controlled by what Nothing calls the Roller, a horizontally moved cylinder on the edge of the headphones, which can also be pressed to pause, play, and switch between ANC and transparency (more on that later). It’s a button of all trades, in effect, and something rarely seen in the headphone industry these days. The Sonos Ace and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones have multi-function buttons, but I’m not aware of many sets that give one button so many functions.
Meanwhile, a ‘paddle’ below the Roller selects the next or previous track, while also offering answering and rejecting calls. An additional button to the top right of the right cup then activates your voice assistant on Android and iOS platforms, but can also be bound to several other functions on Nothing OS (or if you use a Nothing Phone). There’s one more button on the inside of the right cup, but that’s only used for Bluetooth pairing.
This just makes me so happy! So long and farewell to the annoyance of not activating a function like skip or pause because a touch control failed to notice the delicacy of your finger press.
Better yet, with most of the headphones’ exterior left without any buttons in the way, the headphones are showing off quite a lot of free space. On the one hand, that’s space I’m happy to leave exposed as they look great. On the other, I want to cover these bad boys in stickers, and that’s the kind of thought Nothing’s fun philosophy feeds into.
Wrapping up the things I really love about these headphones, the active noise cancellation is extremely impressive – on par with Sony headphones I’ve used in the past – and powerful enough to sufficiently remove the audio from a room with a live DJ standing right beside me. I like getting work done with noise cancellation turned all the way up, so this is super satisfying for me.
Nothing’s perfect
There are only a couple of things that I’m hoping Nothing will change with either software updates or upcoming product releases.
The first might seem kind of strange, but believe me when I tell you it’s unnerving. Nothing’s sound effects with the Headphone 1 are uncomfortable. Switching to transparency mode gives an effect that sounds like someone’s breathing in your ear, while other sound effects feel aggressive and way too tight – such as a bass thud when switching on noise cancellation, or a sci-fi computer beep when switching off ANC or transparency.
I get it, Nothing has a very deliberate approach to aesthetics and design, and that extends to its sound effects, but this is just too much – you can be unique without being weird.
Another is that the headphones are quite tight on my head – and I have a fairly average-sized head! After a while of use, the Headphone 1 starts to feel uncomfortable, so I’m hoping the company releases an upsized model or makes an adjustable band for the second-gen model.
There’s also obviously the issues reviewers have raised with sound. Indeed my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones produce more balanced sound despite being a slightly older set of cans, with deeper bass and richer audio. For a pair of headphones as expensive as they are, you’d certainly expect the Headphone 1 to be up to scratch – especially as they’ve been tuned in collaboration with British hi-fi stalwart KEF.
Now, don’t get me wrong: the sound is great and passable, but I’d certainly like it to be better. Unfortunately, while you’re given a decent amount of audio profile tweaking via the Nothing X app, you can’t make the headphones produce sound that just sounds more dynamic.
I would still encourage anyone who appreciates the design to audition the Headphone 1, of course, as what may not sound quite right for me may sound fantastic to you – as I’ve already alluded, sound is personal. Reviews can only provide so much information, if you like the sound a product produces, then that’s the right one for you.
Apart from that, I genuinely don’t think there’s anything else wrong with the Nothing Headphone 1: it’s well weighted, can go flatly compact and has some of the best ANC I’ve ever heard.
Nothing’s on the rise
Four years after releasing its first product, the Ear 1 earbuds in 2021, followed by a competitive portfolio of aesthetically interesting tech, Nothing has finally tipped its hand to reveal its most impressive product yet – a device that genuinely one-ups the competition with an exceptional user interface.
It’s really that simple. The Nothing Headphone 1 might not have the best sound quality of all the headphones on the market, but it’s certainly one of the most exciting options. The aesthetic rocks, it has a great feature set and ultimately it’s not priced inaccessibly (and chances are you might find it getting a good discount when Black Friday 2025 comes calling later in the year).
I’m really excited to see what a next-generation set of Headphones from Nothing shapes up to be like. For now, I think I’ll be using the Nothing Headphone 1 as my daily audio device instead of my Sonys or my Samsung buds, and that is saying something.
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