Nothing Headphone (1) Assessment: One thing Particular

As somebody who has been brazenly vital of Nothing’s claims that it’s going to revolutionize the know-how world, I occur to really love the model’s merchandise. From the wonderful Ear (a)—amongst our favourite low cost earbuds—to its reasonably priced smartphones, the model leverages wonderful design and near-top-tier internals to completely dominate the mid-tier of the tech market.

The Headphone (1) noise-canceling over-ears, I’m blissful to say, proceed this custom. They give the impression of being nearly as good (or higher) than costlier fashions from Sony, Apple, and Bose, and so they provide almost all the identical options, for tons of of {dollars} much less. That, plus a really usable set of controls, wonderful passive noise isolation, and an easy-to-use app make these among the many finest headphones you should buy for $300 or much less.

Contemporary Confronted

The place different Nothing headphones straight steal their design cues from posher Apple fashions, the brand new Headphone (1) is clearly its personal factor. The rounded rectangles include clear outer ear cups that showcase a bass chamber contained in the headphones, with a purple dot on the precise ear cup so that you’ll by no means put them on backwards.

They appear to be one thing a Stormtrooper would put on of their bunk between patrols, however for some purpose they don’t make me really feel like a complete weirdo in public. The white-and-silver colorway of my overview unit is flashy, however I think about if you happen to received them within the additionally accessible black-and-gunmetal model, you’d barely get a second look.

One factor you received’t really feel till you place the headphones on is how wonderful the controls are. They arrive with a rolly, clicky wheel on the higher a part of the precise ear cup and a flicky change under that. This lets you alter quantity and play and pause music, in addition to to trip between tracks. You possibly can even maintain the change proper or left to fast-forward or rewind—very good when skipping adverts throughout podcasts. Bodily controls are so a lot better than contact controls in almost all cases, and these are among the finest and most intuitive controls ever designed.

On the underside of the precise ear cup you’ll discover the on-off change (purple when off, additionally very useful), a 3.5-mm cable port, and the USB-C port for charging. These headphones provide a Sony-, Bose-, and Apple-beating 35 hours of battery life, which is nice when on lengthy journeys.

Exterior on the precise, there’s a button that permits you to use your voice assistant (or name up Nothing’s AI when you have a Nothing cellphone), however I like that this button is hidden the place I’ve by no means by chance bumped it—an annoyance on rivals.

Getting a Head

{Photograph}: Parker Corridor

You’ll discover that the headphones really feel very safe in your head, because of an L-shaped steel bar that attaches the ear cups to the scarf from the very exterior. This permits for extra even strain distribution from the artificial leather-based and reminiscence foam of the earpads. They’re agency, however snug sufficient for lengthy listening classes. The one draw back? Although the pads are technically detachable, Nothing presently has no plans to promote replacements. Hopefully that may change.