Nothing drops the Headphone (1) Pro – Hands-on Review

Smartphone and consumer audio brand Nothing has dropped its latest set of over-ear headphones, the Headphone (1) Pro, and they’re very impressive right across the board. Iconic design and premium materials; fantastic audio with detailed frequency control; lightweight construction for all day listening comfort. From the specs, it seems they’ve earned their “pro” credentials but Nothing were kind enough to send me a pair of the (1) Pro to review. I’ve been using them in secret for about two weeks so let’s take a look and a listen to see if they deliver on their promises.

Based in London, Nothing have extended their audio portfolio upwards with the new Headphone (1) Pro. These follow on from the well-received Headphone (a) and Headphone (1) while keeping the rectangular design aesthetic. Available in two colourways, black and white, these are recognisably Nothing but now they’re upgraded with glass, aluminium and titanium. In the hand, the metal feels cool and smooth yet soft, and it’s definitely a premium look. I love the transparent ear backs. Putting on the headphones, there’s good adjustment in the headband and the cups exert just enough pressure to keep them in place without your head feeling like it’s in a vice. The ear cushions are lovely and soft and easily go over my ears – nothing feels crushed. I’ve worn these for several hours at time simply at a desk and also while out gardening and mowing the lawn and I’m not having to constantly adjust the position. The ear cup assemblies rotate through about 110° so they’ll adjust to your head but can be laid flat in the their case (which I’ll come to later).

The right ear cup hosts the majority of the controls and buttons, many of which can be customised in the Nothing X app. First up is an exterior button that out-of-the-box can be used to summon your preferred voice assistant. Alternatively it can manage the noise cancellation or mute conversations. On the rear side, there’s a roller for volume control and when pressed, will play or pause. There’s a nice bit of tactile feedback on the roller too. Just below, there’s a small paddle for moving through music. Push to skip, push and hold to fast forward.

On the bottom side, there’s a 3.5mm jack, a USB C port and on on-off slider which will turn on a tiny LED. Normally the LED is white but will change colour when the battery runs low. On the top inside, there’s a Bluetooth pairing button. Moving to the left side, there’s a single tiny slider (a little bit fiddly) but it allows you to turn off all EQ effects and revert back to the headphone (1) pro’s flat frequency response. I found the controls were positive and easy to use with the different shapes meant there was never any doubt as to which control I was using.

The Headphone (1) Pro offers multiple listening connectivity options. As mentioned in the previous section, there is a 3.5 mm jack and a USB C port, both of which can be used to connect up. As you’d expected there’s Bluetooth as well. If you feel the need to listen with wires, Nothing includes bright white cables in the box. It’s a nice touch but I think I would have preferred dark grey ones to go with the headphone’s colour….it’s a minor quibble. It’s Hi-Res Audio on the digital side, coping with 24-bit / 96 kHz on both wired and and wireless transmission using Sony’s LDAC codec.

All this beautiful design is for nothing if the sound doesn’t live up to expectations so let’s get on with the audio side….Nothing are touting two key acoustic developments for the Headphone (1) Pro. First is the triple driver architecture where Nothing has managed to squeeze three drivers into the ear cups, each covering a different frequency range (the driver is the component that converts electrical signals into sound). A bass driver covers 20 Hz to 10 kHz with a precision dynamic driver looking after 5 kHz to 15 kHz and the treble driver takes care of 10 kHz up to 40 kHz. At my age I’m not going to notice that top end – speaking of which, the Nothing X app has a hearing test that will build a personal sound profile for your ears’ particular hearing response

The second feature is that Nothing’s engineers have tuned the headphones for a completely flat frequency response out-of-the-box. I don’t have the lab gear to test this but to my ears, it sounds fairly plausible as when listening with all the EQ turned off (switch on left ear cup), no part of the frequency range appears to particularly dominate. The benefit of this is that the complimentary app, Nothing X, lets you tweak the frequency response to suit your preferences, the music genre, the setting or a combination, such as rock in a music hall.

Specifically for the headphones, Nothing worked with London’s Metropolis Studio, to bring the sound of six music genres with a British twist to the headphones. The Nothing X app offers EQ (equalisation) settings for each genre that can be loaded onto the headphone (1) pro, including Grime, Bass, British Rock, Neo Jazz, Electronica. And if that’s not enough, the app lets you tweak the EQ profiles for both drivers, adding additional points in the frequency response and adjusting the gain. It’s fun to play with but I think I’ll leave that to the professionals to be honest.

If you’re into Spatial Audio, the Headphone (1) Pro offers five dynamic Spatial Audio modes including Standard, Live House, Club, Concert Hall and Studio B at Metropolis. There’s an option for Head Tracking too which I believe is handy when it comes to gaming. If you are a gamer, there’s a Low Lag mode that can be turned on to reduce latency.

So what do the Headphone (1) Pro sound like? As you might expect, they’re really, really good. The triple drivers combined with the Nothing X equaliser lets you pull out detail in whatever genre you prefer right across the frequency range. Bass, mids, presence – it’s all there. The clarity was amazing at times – I was listening to tracks from the 60s and 70s and I felt I could hear the detail in each kick-drum beat, though maybe I’m imagining things that aren’t there! Very impressed.

The ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) is very impressive as well. Unlike other pairs of headphones I’ve tried, it was almost impossible to tell from the music whether I had the ANC turned on or off. It was the only the presence or otherwise of outside sound that gave it away. I tested the Headphone (1) Pro out while mowing the lawn with a petrol lawnmower and it did an incredible job reducing the sound of the engine. Amazingly, I was able to take a phone call while doing the grass and the person on the other end of the line was able to hear me fine. He could tell that it didn’t sound quite natural but I was perfectly understandable despite the noise. Nothing’s says that there’s a maximum of 46 dB noise reduction using the 10 microphones to pick up the outside world.

Battery life is up to 68 hours depending on ANC use which will bring it down to less than half that. My feeling is that those estimates are about right as I used the headphones on and off for nearly two weeks and didn’t have to charge once: it’s down to about 20% now.

Finally for this review, let’s take a look at the hardcase. This is a clamshell design that encloses the ear cups but leaves the headband outside the case to use as a handle. It’s brilliant and I love it. It’s perfect for travel and if you’d prefer to use a strap or lanyard, some additional case loops are included to thread through the case.

I can’t find anything to complain about except for a few tweaks here and there in the Nothing X app. Seriously, the Headphone (1) Pro is that good.

Pricewise, the headphone (1) pro are landing at UK£349 / US$399  which puts them amongst some pretty stiff competition from some very well-known audio brands. However, there’s no one else in the Android smartphone market producing over-ear cans at this level. Yes, there are earbuds from the likes of Google, Samsung and Oppo but I can’t find any at this prosumer level (aside from Apple and the AirPods Max series….and they’re not Android).

Overall, Nothing’s Headphone (1) Pro delivers on its promises. Sonically detailed and with impressive ANC, they’re well-designed, feel great in the hand and comfortable on the head. Pricey but worth it.

Disclaimer: The Headphone (1) Pro was provided by Nothing for review at no cost.

https://youtu.be/ChnsaXg2kDE