What Nothing Headphone 1 Really Hides — My Experience with These $150 Headphones After Six Months

I’ve been listening to music with the Nothing Headphone 1 — the brand’s first over-ear headphones — for a year, and I’ve come to a simple conclusion. The headphones and Nothing’s smartphones have far more in common than it seems: both products win you over not with a big name, but with design, honest sound, and a price that makes the alternatives look like overpaying. The headphones cost around $150, and I haven’t regretted a single penny. Of course, there were some nuances — here’s what I’ve concluded after a year of use.

Spent six months with the Nothing headphones. Here are my impressions

Nothing Headphone 1 — Is It Comfortable to Wear Every Day

The first thing you need to know — Nothing Headphone 1 are very beautiful. The design is original, no one else has anything like it: transparent elements, geometric ear cups in the signature “engineering” style. Both the white and black versions look great, but I went with the black ones — they’re universal and don’t get dirty easily. The aluminum body is a separate pleasure: always cool to the touch, pleasantly heavy, weighty, feels like an expensive product.

The headphones are incredibly beautiful. But the design doesn’t get in the way of daily use

On the sides of the ear cups there are glass panels — they get smudged over time, but that’s a minor issue. The package includes a sturdy case that’s convenient for storing the headphones along with cables. The downside — the exterior collects all the cat hair, so you have to clean them regularly.

Fingerprints remain, which is unpleasant. But it’s easy to fix

The headphones fit well and can be adjusted by the headband size. For home use, they’re top-tier: listening to music at the computer, gaming, just chilling on the couch — fantastic. But for sports, they’re a bit heavy — maybe it’s a matter of getting used to them, but I wouldn’t take them on a run.

I want to specifically highlight the physical controls — Nothing made everything for the people. I never in my life used buttons on headphones, but here I got into it right away: a convenient volume wheel, a track-switching slider, a dedicated noise cancellation button, and a power key. All of this is additionally customizable — you use it and never even pick up your phone.

Sound and Noise Cancellation of Nothing Headphone 1

The sound was tuned by acoustic company KEF, and you can hear it. At first, it seemed like the headphones were quiet even at maximum volume, but that’s not the case — from the outside, you can clearly hear the music literally blasting. It’s just my professional bias from years of DJing and using in-ear monitors. Once you get used to them, find the right equalizer settings and a good fit — the headphones fully reveal themselves.

Great fit, great sound

The sound signature is warm and expressive, with emphasis on the midrange and vocals. I liked how different genres sound: there are no extremes anywhere, tracks reveal themselves completely differently than with earbuds, and you can listen for hours without discomfort. I genuinely got hooked on my music library — it’s a different listening experience. Inside there’s a 40mm driver, support for LDAC, AAC, and SBC codecs, wired connection via USB-C and a 3.5mm jack. The sound through the included cables is also great, but keep in mind — when powered off, the headphones don’t work via cable.

I’ve never seen such convenient headphone controls anywhere else

Everything is customized through an 8-band equalizer in the app. There’s a library of presets from other users, but personally none of them worked for me — I built my own profile. My sound engineer friend rated the headphones very highly: he said he’d never encountered such clean sound before. Previously, I used much more affordable models. The sound on Nothing Headphone 1 is significantly cleaner, and they feel completely different on your head — but that’s obviously expected given the price difference.

Regarding noise cancellation, I’ll be honest: I’m no expert, but once I almost missed a boiling kettle while wearing them, and you completely stop hearing the background TV and neighbors’ renovations. The active noise cancellation here is adaptive, so everyone can find the right level for themselves. The transparency mode, on the other hand, is one of the best in its class: you can easily have a conversation without removing the headphones.

How Long Does the Nothing Headphone 1 Battery Actually Last

Draining the Nothing Headphone 1 is practically impossible. The 1040 mAh battery provides up to 80 hours without ANC on the AAC codec and up to 35 hours with noise cancellation enabled. On LDAC, the numbers are more modest — around 54 and 30 hours — but that’s still one of the best figures in its class. Although I didn’t notice a difference in sound quality.

There’s a charge indicator on the bottom that glows red when the battery is low

In practice, I listened for 3-4 hours a day, and even at that rate, the charge lasted 2-3 weeks. Charging speed is also a lifesaver: 5 minutes from USB-C gives about 2.4 hours of playback. The only downside in this regard — no wireless charging, but that’s a luxury.

Nothing Headphone Compatibility with Smartphones

The headphones are configured through the Nothing X app — it has everything: from customizing button actions to firmware updates. It looks extremely convenient, almost like Apple. The app works on both Android and iOS, so the Nothing over-ear headphones work equally well with any smartphone.