They promised something special.
Nothing did it with plastic windows and retro vibes. The buzz was instant. Audiophiles nodded. Trend followers grabbed their wallets. You? You should hold off a minute.
Yeah the design turns heads. Inside though, the package is messy. Great noise cancellation. Decent battery. Good sound. But rough edges everywhere. Unboxing them feels like a gamble. You’re either thrilled or annoyed. I’m here to tell you which side of that coin I landed on.
The Paper Specs
Numbers don’t lie. Mostly.
- 40mm drivers
- 20 Hz to 40,0000 Hz response
- Adaptive ANC with AI mic noise reduction
- KEF acoustic tuning
- Bluetooth 5.3 LDAC support
- USB-C lossless
- IP52 resistance
- 35 hours battery with ANC (80 without)
- Black or white
Pairing is weird. Cool weird. There is a Bluetooth button hidden inside the right earcup rim. Power it on, it connects. iOS sees it. Android gets the Fast Pair magic. The Nothing app handles the rest. Firmware updates. EQ tweaks. Your call.
Controls are all on the right cup. An action button for mutes or assistants. A roller for volume. Scroll up or down. Press it to change modes. Below that is a paddle for calls. It works. Actually works well. No fumbling here.
Looks vs. Reality
Let’s be real. The design is polarizing.
It doesn’t look as sleek in person as in the promo photos. Press shots are edited. Life is not. But you can’t deny the craft. The white box opens to reveal an embossed headphone shape. Minimalist art. The cassette tape shapes on the yokes? Pure Walkman nostalgia. The rectangular earcups? Vintage hi-fi vibes. Angular arms. Dot matrix prints. It’s chic. IP54 rating means sweat won’t kill them.
Then you hold them.
They’re heavy. 11.6 ounces is no joke for long sessions. Clunky too. When you fold the cups, the metal housings clank. That noise isn’t reassuring. It’s worrying. The paint chips eventually. That metallic finish shows wear fast.
Sound and Silence
Audiophile awards? Probably not.
KEF tuned these though. The out-of-box sound is pleasant enough. Tweak the EQ and it gets better. You have four presets. Balanced is safe. More Bass shakes. More Treble? That’s where I found stability. Crisp. Clear.
Green Day’s “Walking Contradiction”? The riffs hit hard. I wanted to headbang. Run the Jewels got heavy bass that decayed perfectly with every snare. Mariah Carey? Her vocals were bright, cutting through the mix without piercing your ears.
Android fans win here. LDAC keeps the bitrate high. No compression artifacts on Spotify. My MacBook Pro sounded muffled. My OnePlus 11 sounded alive. Lossless USB-C playback changes everything. Plug it in, Apple Music reveals details you missed. Spatial audio? Meh. Not Apple level. Not Bose level. Acceptable for movies though.
The ANC is the real star. I underestimated it. Voices? Gone. Appliance hum? Gone. Baby cries? Diminished significantly. Transparency mode is useful too. I cook with it on. I hear my partner from the other room without taking the cans off. Outside, I hear cars coming from a block away and pedestrians approaching. It feels natural.
Battery life is solid. 35 hours is reasonable. Turn off ANC, hit 80. Five minutes of charging gets you five hours. Handy for airport rushes.
The Rough Edges
It’s not all good news.
Multipoint connection stutters. Move three feet away from your phone and the audio glitches. The included 3.5mm cable and USB-C cable are too short for desk setups. Useless for desktop listeners. Wear detection? Barely there. When it works, it lags three seconds. Three seconds is an eternity.
And they don’t fold flat.
Big miss. The case has to accommodate the unfolded shape. Less portable. More exposed to damage. If you throw these in a bag, hope they survive.
The Cheaper Brother
Nothing dropped the Headphone (a) in March 2026.
It costs $199. One hundred dollars less. What’s the catch? Less audio tech. No KEF tuning. Weaker spatial audio. Plastic build instead of metal. A pouch instead of a hard case. Mashable noted these cuts clearly.
But the battery is insane. 75 hours with ANC. 135 without. Same controls, mostly. The Bluetooth button moved to the top interior. If you don’t care about the metal finish, save the money.
Final Verdict
Is it worth it?
Maybe.
If you love the brand, if you need the retro look, and if you want capable ANC, these work. The sound is good once you dial in the EQ. The silence is impressive. Battery life covers trips.
But look at the flaws. The weight. The clanking hinges. The connectivity glitches.
I’ll say it straight. The Headphone (1) looks better as a sketch than a product. The nostalgia sells it. The reality is clunky. For the price, other headphones offer less friction. Maybe stick to the concept. Or buy the (a).
