The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro has features I wish every headphone had

What do you do when you’re ready to level up? Nothing has been taking on established names in the market for a few years now, but so far the brand has focused on entry to mid-level headphones. That is, until today’s release of the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro. Meant to offer the tech fan a step up from the Headphone (1), the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro has improved build materials and features. But is it enough to earn your attention? Let’s talk turkey.

What’s it like to use the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro?

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is a fascinating set of headphones, with a slew of top-shelf features and an interesting aesthetic.

Design

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is Nothing’s attempt to make a higher-end version of the Nothing Headphone (1). And at first glance, it certainly looks the part. With an improved chassis with softer pads, hardshell case, and Panda Glass backings to the ear cups: the new headphones definitely have a lot of visual cues that the new model is higher-end. The headphones also use some machined titanium parts, absent on the older Headphone (1).

And on paper, the upgrade seems to be substantial: the new headphones also use a triple-driver design per side, with an xMEMS tweeter that covers everything from 10kHz on up to 40kHz… though humans really can’t hear above 22kHz at best. In addition to the paddle and wheel controls, a new switch pops up on the inside of the ear cup to toggle a “flat” EQ mode engineered by a recording studio partner for content creation purposes. The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro seems to be pretty ambitious to take on the role of do-it-all cans, but we’ll get into the performance bit later on.

The softer pads mean that the hefty 327 gram mass is fairly well dealt-with, and I appreciate just how much easier it is to get the pads on and off. You don’t have to be gentle, just yank ’em off to clean them every now and again, and you can press them back into place. In my listening sessions, I was able to wear these for a few hours at a time, though the light padding on the band is still an issue — but if you’re dead-set on these headphones, the craftier among you could easily sew your own snapping pad wrap for the top.

Gym rats might see the IP52 rating and take that as a green light to go sweat it out with the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro, but pump the brakes — it doesn’t mean what you think it does. Here, that “2” just means that dripping water shouldn’t be an issue for the exterior, provided it falls at 15 degrees. It’s definitely not something I’d trust to get super wet.

That hardshell case is a bit unusual — much like that of the AirPods Max — but I appreciate that it doesn’t come with the same hangups and shortcomings as the Apple cans. Said case has a much better build and durability than similar ones, even though it leaves the headphones’ band exposed as a sort of handle.

Features

Via the Nothing X app, the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro comes with a slew of useful features baked in. There ‘s an expanded set of spatial audio modes, personal sound test, find my headphones, and wear detection. If you’d like to customize the multi-function button or the wheel press behavior, you can easily do that within the app as well — though the options are fairly limited there. But the most interesting features to me are the ways the headphones use their cutting-edge Bluetooth implementation for some truly creative value-adds.

If you don’t want to do the personal sound test, you can use a simple equalizer, download presets from Nothing’s community, or use the parametric EQ. As an upgrade to the parametric EQ of the Headphone (1), the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro allows users to set their own center frequency for each filter, rather than only being able to apply filters in narrow ranges with limited overlap. This is exactly how a parametric EQ is supposed to work, and I’m happy to see this change made.

New to the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro are a number os spatial audio modes that virtualize your audio to appear as though you’re in one of a number of different settings. I found these to be hit or miss, but then again: I’m not the biggest spatial audio fan.

How does the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro connect?

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro connects to your computer, phone, or other devices via Bluetooth 6.1. The headphones support SBC, AAC, and LDAC for music listening, and LC3 when using the Broadcast Audio feature. Though the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro does not support true Multipoint, it can connect to two devices at a time and swap audio streams between the sources.

Those who prefer wired listening will find the ability to use a 3.5mm TRS cable handy for analog sources, while the USB-C port the headphones charge from can also carry a digital signal to the headphones’ onboard DAC. Said DAC supports up to 24-bit/192kHz files, so you should have zero trouble with your lossless library.

Additionally, the headphones can use Auracast, which will make your headphones far more useful in places where a low-energy broadcast would be helpful. For example, assistive hearing tech in classrooms, churches, and venue halls rely on Auracast broadcasting, and some airports broadcast language-specific announcements using the tech. But interestingly enough, you can also use the headphones to broadcast audio using the… Broadcast Audio feature. This will broadcast whatever you’re listening to over Auracast to devices nearby that you want to share with.

How long does the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro’s battery last?

According to Nothing, the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro can last up to 30 hours with the ANC on, or up to 68 hours with the ANC off. Because we haven’t yet been able to put those claims to the test, we’ll simply note that these headphones seem to fall in that ballpark in our normal use, and that manufacturers typically fall within 10% of our tests with their estimates. For now, the score above reflects this advertised estimate until we can replace it with our own tests.

How well does the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro cancel noise?

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is able to isolate you from about 78.2% of outside noise, while the total average attenuation with the ANC unit on sits at 87.4% — which explains the scores above. Of course, this was collected in a lab with ideal conditions, and not on your head: so your results will vary depending on fit.

I wear glasses pretty much all the time, so my experience with the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro was hit or miss. Luckily, the padding is soft and pliable enough to work around the arms of my specs — and this is probably why the isolation was so good on our test head as well. Because of that, the leak my glasses made in the seal wasn’t as bas as it could have been. When travelling on the Vancouver SkyTrain, I always take headphones through a particularly screechy tunnel, and the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro held up where others fell flat.

But the news isn’t all good. One of the issues I ran into with the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is that it’s extraordinarily difficult to get an ideal seal, and that can sometimes mean you run into issues with the noise attenuation. For example, while chewing, talking, or doing anything that requires your jaw to move. That can break the seal of the headphones, and drop the effectiveness of the noise attenuation. Though it’s a potential problem of any ANC headphones, it’s a much more common occurrence with the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro. You may also find that the fit that sounds the best to you doesn’t cancel noise the best either, as I found in the lab:

Though the ANC still fairly effective, you’re looking at a performance hit if your head isn’t quite ideal for the headphones — which is fairly likely if you have long hair or other features that would make a seal difficult. I experienced a wide range of ANC effectiveness in my daily life, and some truly vexing noises getting through.

How good is the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro’s Transparency mode?

The included transparency mode of the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is fairly decent, and it’s something that Nothing typically does fairly well at. I didn’t feel like it was too difficult to tell where different sounds were coming from, and I didn’t notice any stark deficiencies in hearing voices or important noises near me.

How does the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro sound?

Multi-driver setups in headphones can be risky, but Nothing isn’t known for playing it safe.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Can you use the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro for phone calls?

Like most ANC headphones out there, the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro can handle phone calls no sweat. Below are sample recordings in five standardized noise scenarios so you can make comparisons to any other product we review.

Nothing Headphone (1) Pro microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro?

Nothing as a company has been taking big swings, and it’s really cool to see. If you’re a tech-obsessed music lover, the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is one of those purchases that could make you very happy given the right circumstances. But it has a lot going for it that can cover up its worst flaws, while also providing features that should be more prevalent today — but aren’t, for some reason. It’s definitely not for everyone, but the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro’s ability to act as its own transmitter like the JBL Tour One M3 ($449.95 at Amazon), its true parametric EQ, and extensive app give it a big leg up for people who like to explore more functions of their headphones.

That said, these don’t come cheap — and many may feel more comfortable with more established brands. The sticker price of $399 puts the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro in tough company when it comes to competitors. For example, the Sony WH-1000XM6 ($448 at Amazon) and Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Generation) ($449 at Amazon) aren’t much more expensive, and enjoy much more reach and recognition. Similarly, the aforementioned JBL Tour ONE M3 is at a similar price as well, and has comparable features.