Nothing Headphone 1 review: unique design and 80-hour battery life
At $300, the first pair of over-ear headphones from Nothing are top contenders for the best of 2025
🏆 Rating: 4/5
✅ Pros
🎧 Stellar design that stands out
🔋 Up to 80 hours of battery life
🔊 Great sound quality that’s lively and well-detailed
🔇 Active noise cancellation works well
🎛️ Dependable controls
📐 Slim carrying case for portability
💧 IP52 certification for sweat resistance
💰 Good price
❌ Cons
🏋️♀️ Hefty weight
🔥 Earcups are much warmer than other headphones
🦻 Transparency mode is tinny
🎙️ Microphones are a bit muffled
The Shortcut review
I’m far more impressed with the Nothing Headphone 1 than I thought I’d be. Are they the best headphones you can buy right now? No, we’d still say the Sony WH-1000XM6 are. But the first pair of over-ear headphones from London-based company Nothing are a strong contender for some of the best headphones of the year, especially in their price range.
The headphones lean into Nothing’s design chops with a transparent look on either earcup, helping them stand apart from the Bose and Sony cans scattered across the market. An array of controls on the earcups make it easy to manage playback and take phone calls, and the inclusion of a 3.5mm audio jack is a welcome bonus. Sound quality is surprisingly great, ANC is better than you’d expect, and they last up to 80 hours on a full charge (which is high-key insane).
At $300, the Nothing Headphone 1 offer a compelling package that calls into question whether you should bother saving up for something more expensive. Will higher-end headphones give you better versions of noise cancellation and transparency mode? Yes. Are other headphones a bit lighter and more comfortable to wear longer? Absolutely. But between the design, sound quality, battery life, and the price tag itself, the Nothing Headphone 1 bring something fresh and new at a fair price in a world of legacy brands jacking up their prices every generation.
Full review
👀 A very unique look. The Headphone 1 have a strong AirPods Max vibe to them, thanks to their rectangular design. Coupled with Nothing’s signature transparent aesthetic, these headphones can’t help but stand out among other over-ear headphones. They look like nothing we’ve ever seen before; it’s like strapping two cassettes to a headband and wearing it. There’s something both retro and appropriately modern about the look. The headphones come in both black and white finishes, but if I can be point-blank for a second, avoid the black model and get the white - it pops way more.
🤷 It’s divisive, but I like it. I handed these headphones to a few of my friends and asked them for their honest opinion on the look, and it was a mix of “oh those look sweet” and “do people actually want their headphones to look like this?” In person, the headphones look a bit more normal, but it’s still a bold look that could be a bit too much for some. I’m personally a fan of how different they look, but I get it if it’s not for you.
🔥 Feel the heat (and heft). The biggest downside of the Headphone 1 design is the size. These cans weigh 329 grams, 75 grams heavier than the Sony XM6 (254 grams) and 77 grams heavier than the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (252 grams). While not as heavy as AirPods Max (385 grams), you’ll definitely notice the heft after wearing them for a couple of hours, which isn’t great if you plan to use them while traveling. The memory foam earcups are also a lot warmer than other headphones I’ve used. Yes, I’m testing these headphones during summertime in New York City, but my XM6s don’t get quite as warm as these do over time. On the bright side, at least they’ll come in handy this winter.
🎛️ Convenient controls. Nothing opted not to include touch sensors on its headphones for controlling audio. Instead, it includes a button, a roller, and a paddle, each of which has a unique function. You can use the button to activate your phone’s assistant or take voice notes for Essential Space on Nothing phones, use the roller to granually adjust volume and switch between sound modes (ANC, transparency), and flick the paddle to switch tracks or fast-forward through podcasts. The controls take a minute to learn, but once you get the hang of them, they become quite intuitive.
🎒 Slim traveling case. The case that Nothing includes to store the Headphone 1 is delightfully slim. The headphones fold flat and keep a low profile in the case, which also includes a pocket to keep the included charger and 3.5mm audio cable. Its footprint is a bit bigger than I’d like (it’s noticeably bigger than the case for my XM6s), but overall, I like it a lot.
🔊 Lively audio with deep bass. How do the Nothing Headphone 1 sound? Pretty great, actually. The headphones come with custom-built 40mm drivers that kick out well-detailed audio. Low-end is thunderous and satisfactory, mids are clear and spacious, and treble avoids getting screechy at high volumes. I listened to a lot of different music for this review, from today’s country like Morgan Wallen to classics like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Frank Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning. The soundstage is vibrant and focused, with plenty of detail in instrumentals even in complex productions. While it’s not as wide as I’d like it to be, the audio quality is top-notch for headphones of this caliber.
🐶 Do they sound as good as the big dogs? Honestly, yeah. The sound profile is very close to what you’ll find on the Sony XM6, Bose QC Ultra, and the AirPods Max. Switching between my XM6s and these, I struggled to find a difference other than a bit of extra bass from the Nothing headphones. Beyond that, the Headphone 1 will sound virtually as good as any other pair of high-end headphones on the market for most people. (I imagine serious audiophiles will find issue with them, but they find issue with every pair of headphones.)
🤔 Does “Sound by KEF” mean anything? You’ll find a label reading “SOUND BY KEF” on the left earcup, highlighting Nothing and KEF’s partnership on the headphones. KEF, renowned for its experience in high-resolution audio devices, was brought in to help acoustically engineer the sound profile. It’s hard to say whether this made a huge difference in development or if it’s more of a marketing play like OnePlus’ partnership with Hasselblad for its phone cameras, but they sound great nonetheless. Maybe it means something, maybe it doesn’t.
🔇 Noise cancellation works very well. Nothing’s active noise cancellation on the Headphone 1 is surprisingly good. It’s not quite on the same level as my Sony XM6s, but it’s good enough to keep subway trains quiet and background noise at a cafe to a minimum. The headphones adapt to your surroundings by scanning your area every 600 milliseconds to adjust how aggressively sound is blocked, while also adjusting noise leakage using a “wear-detection system” that knows how you’re wearing your headphones. It’s a smart way to dynamically adjust noise levels depending on where you are, which keeps the Headphone 1 in the same ballpark as top competitors.
💨 Wind is an issue. Noise cancellation on the Nothing Headphone 1 isn’t great at suppressing wind. From light gusts to windy days along the water, the headphones struggle to block out the roaring noise of the wind when it’s blowing in your face or on the side of you. The physics of a pair of headphones will never allow for full wind suppression, but I’ve noticed it’s a bit worse with these compared to other headphones I’ve tried.
🥫 Transparency tin-can mode. Another area of struggle for these headphones is transparency mode. The way Nothing processes external noise and pumps it into the headphones makes everything sound like it’s in a tin can. Other transparency modes like on the AirPods Max work far better at making it seem like you aren’t wearing headphones at all, but the Headphone 1 can’t keep up. You can still hear everything, but not quite as clearly as you’d hope.
📻 LDAC, Hi-Res, low-latency, oh my! For the audiophiles out there, you’ll be happy to know that the Nothing Headphone 1 come with LDAC and hi-res audio playback support, meaning you can play higher fidelity audio over Bluetooth and a wired 3.5mm connection to get the most out of your music. For the gamers, Nothing includes a special low-latency mode to make sure the sounds in your game are aligned with whatever’s happening on your screen in real-time. You also get head-tracking support with spatial audio, but I’m personally not a fan of these features and didn’t use them much. They seemed to work well, though.
🎚️ EQ with bass boost. In the companion Nothing X app, there’s a set of EQ controls you can utilize to customize the sound profile however you’d like. It’s not the most robust I’ve ever seen, but it gets the job done. There’s also a dedicated bass boosting switch you can flick to give your music an extra kick, if the mood strikes.
🎙️ Mic quality could be better. I made a few phone calls while wearing the Headphone 1, and folks on the other end admitted that my voice sounded quite muffled. I recorded some audio to my phone with the mics and had the same experience. These microphones do a semi-decent job at picking up your voice in a quiet room, but once there’s any noise involved, it’s hard for them to highlight you speaking and cancel out background sounds.
🔋 #1 in battery life. If you need your next pair of headphones to last a long time on a charge, it’s hard to recommend anything but the Nothing Headphone 1. With ANC turned on, the headphones can last up to 35 hours on a full charge, which is longer than the Sony XM6 and Bose QC Ultra. When ANC is turned off, endurance extends to a whopping 80 hours. That’s some of the best battery life we’ve ever seen in a pair of over-ear headphones. During my review period, I failed to drain them with ANC turned off, and they died after around 25-30 hours of playback with ANC on. Plus, you can get 2.4 hours of ANC-enabled playback after charging for just five minutes. There’s no question: these are the headphoens to buy if you care the most about battery life.
📱 Great for cross-platformers. While Nothing’s headphones pair best with its phones and other Android devices, the Nothing X app makes it easy to use the Headphone 1 regardless of what device you own. The app works well on both Android and iOS, it allows for multi-device connections so you can pair them with your laptop, and there are only a few features exclusive to Nothing OS like Essential Space integration. In a similar vein as Bose or Sony, Nothing ensures you can use its headphones regardless of which device you own, which is great to see.
Should you buy the Nothing Headphone 1?
Yes, if…
✅ You want insanely-long battery life
✅ You want great sound quality with punchy bass
✅ You want a pair of headphones that stands out
✅ You’re shopping on a budget
No, if…
❌ You rely on transparency mode a lot (get the Sony WH-1000XM6)
❌ You want lighter headphones that won’t weigh down your head (get the Sony XM6 or Bose QC Ultra)
❌ The design is a bit too quirky for you
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.