Nothing Headphone (1) Pro Review: Solving All The Problems (Except One)

I have had something of a roller coaster relationship with Nothing, specifically with its headphones. While I find the earbuds it has released to be a pretty good value, I don't prefer them over others. The original Nothing Headphone (1) that I reviewed for SlashGear to be great in the design department, but very meh when it came to sound.

Next came the Nothing Headphone (a) which is an exceptional value at $199. These headphones are so good, I instantly added them to my travel bag, despite the fact that they are over-ear headphones which take up valuable backpack real estate. I still believe these are a great value, so if you're in the market, I encourage you to give them a shot.

Now, we have the Nothing Headphone (1) pro which, in my humble opinion, correct all the mistakes from the Headphone (1), add a couple more worthwhile features, and still manage to come in at a good price point. They might just be my new headphones of choice for on-the-go listening. I've been reviewing them for one week, and here are my thoughts.

If you're familiar with the original Nothing Headphone (1), there won't be many surprises here. The design is very similar, down to the transparent ear cups. They still have the same square design with optimal button placement — I'll recap that in a bit. Instead of a fully transparent pill shape, the aluminum ear cup slopes up to the glass on the outside. Under the glass looks to be a glimpse of the components within the headphone, rather than the cassette tape looking design on the original headphones.

It's a cleaner look that I really appreciate. The ear cup pads are softer, making them more comfortable, though the isolation they provide isn't as good — it's a sacrifice of function over comfort. That's a small sacrifice, but notable when you're on a trans-Pacific flight with a fair amount of turbulence.

The overall design aesthetic though is the same from device to device — you are still a walking billboard for Nothing [to be clear, the logo printed on the headphones is very tiny, but for those that know the industrial design of the product, it's unmistakable]. That's not a bad thing. This is such a distinctive design that people can't help but wonder who makes them — and that's not an accident.

Included with the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is a plastic case that the earcups fit into but the headband sticks out of. It turns the headphones into a small purse. It's like Nothing set out to make a better, less useless case than the AirPods Max, and succeeded, but only slightly. The case does indeed protect the earcups from damage, as a case should, but it leaves the headband completely exposed.

The inside of the case is hard molded plastic, which is nice, but there is no room in the case to hold any cables. The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro ships with a USB-C cable for charging and a 3.5mm cable for wired listening, but there's nowhere in the case to put them. Again, this is molded plastic, so it sure seems as though it would have been very easy to include a slot to slide in cables.

The case also comes with two tether attach points which can be clipped to a lanyard for an over-the-shoulder carry, but it did not include that cord. I managed to solve both problems by attaching a lanyard cable that has USB-C ends to it, but not everyone will have that. For a company that usually focuses on intentional design, this is just silly.

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro has my favorite set of controls from any headphone I've ever reviewed. To briefly recap the already existing controls, starting with the right cup, there's a physical power switch, USB-C port, and headphone jack on the bottom, a roller button and flapper switch on the back, and a button, simply called "the button" on the outside. Add in the stealthily hidden Bluetooth button on the inside of the cup, and there are a ton of controls on the right side, which is great if you happen to be right-handed. I am, but I could see this being annoying for the southpaws of the world.

The left earcup has a single control, which is new. On the inside oof the earcup is a flat-EQ switch. Flip the switch and get all your EQ controls to zero. I'm not positive why this switch exists. I can see the value of flipping a switch for a flat EQ; I'm just not sure what the use case is. Maybe it's an audiophile thing? Whatever the case, the button exists, and you certainly don't have to use it, but for those who want it, it's there. Everybody wins.

My main problem with the original Headphone (1) was the tuning that Nothing was proud to partner with Kef to offer. I'm not a fan of Kef, nor of its tuning, so you can bet I was quick to the EQ to tune that out and get the headphones back to where I needed them to be. The Kef collab is gone, but it's influence seems to have remained. I still tuned the EQ, but we'll discuss that in a bit.

I listened to a variety of music on these headphones including Scorpions, Lindsey Stirling, Pantera and more. The audio is pretty solid. With the flat EQ enabled, I found the midrange to be emphasized more than I'd normally like. There wasn't a ton of bass in there. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's one of the primary things I didn't like about the sound of the predecessors. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

All that being the case, there are no lost frequencies here. You can still hear the music very crisply. The midrange is heavy, but not at the expense of other frequencies, which is really good news.

You can, of course, adjust the equalizer in the app, which is great. The EQ has three areas: simple, advanced, and explore. Simple gives you a three-band equalizer for highs, lows, and mids. Advanced gives you a parametric equalizer, which looks a lot like a line graph. I review a lot of headphones, and I generally know my way around an EQ, but a parametric equalizer is a lot more complicated than something like a 10-band EQ. Not everyone will like the knowledge gap between those two options.

Then there's the explore tab which will allow users to tune their own EQs and submit them to the community. That part is pretty cool, though having reviewed these headphones before launch, there were only a few to choose from. I'm positive that will change in the near future.

The rest of the software is pretty straightforward. While I love the controls on the headphones, I'm not fond of the fact that Nothing won't let you reassign a lot of them. I can see why — I get it — but at the same time, they're my headphones; let me use them how I want, or don't even give me the option and say it's not customizable.

The other part of headphone listening which is really important is ANC and transparency mode. In both cases, Nothing really nailed it. The ANC is really great, though not quite as up to par as flagship headphones from Sony or Bose. Still, it's very good, creating a virtual bubble of silence around you when enabled.

Transparency mode is also very good. There is just a hint of side tone — when you hear your own voice when you talk with transparency mode on. Side tone is famously hard to get rid of entirely, but these headphones get very close.

The one surprising area where these headphones perform well is while biking, but that comes with a huge caveat. The ANC on these headphones is quite good at 22 miles per hour, which I get on the Segway Max G3 I tested. It's important to note that you absolutely should not ride a bike or scooter with ANC turned on. That's a bad idea; you need to stay in touch with your surroundings. But ANC effectively killed all the wind noise headphones are usually bad at getting rid of. Again, don't do this, but they work really well in that situation. Transparency mode does not because transparency mode allows in all noise from the outside, especially wind.

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro will be available in the U.S. on Nothing's website, Amazon, and in Best Buy store on September 29. They'll cost you $399.

That's not a bad price, considering what you get for them. The sound is great, the ANC and transparency in particular are both very good. But they're both very good on the Nothing Headphone (a) as well, which are half the price. Granted, the (a) series isn't as flashy, the transparent elements are gone, which is a bit of a bummer, but I'm not sure that, plus a flat EQ switch is worth that much more.

The fact of the matter is that you can't go wrong with any headphones that Nothing makes. I think the Headphone (a) is the better overall value, but these headphones are quite good for what they are. I'm just not positive the additional features you get are worth the extra price.