A retro yet futuristic design and sound by KEF, this is what makes the…
A retro yet futuristic design and sound by KEF, this is what makes the Nothing Headphone (1) such an exciting audio product to check out and in typical Nothing fashion, they are doing many things different from the rest, but despite that, is it worth spending RM1099 or $299 on this unique pair of cans?
Compared to most over-ear headphones in the market, the Nothing Headphone (1) really stands out with its unique square-shaped earcups and transparent round case, the build quality is pretty decent and I like the high quality plastic used on the headband that feels like aluminum, the adjustment arm is also smooth similar to a pair of premium headphone.
The Nothing Headphone (1) uses a PU memory foam on the earcups and headband, which feels very comfortable when you put on the first time, but just like any PU material, it gets warm after a while which can be a little uncomfortable, definitely not something you will like to wear outdoors in a tropical weather, but in an air conditioned room, it is pretty manageable.
Although the Headphone (1) can’t be folded, I’m glad that Nothing as provided a pretty nice hard case to store the headphone and it even has a pretty big compartment for storing cables and other stuff. However, I’m not a fan of the invisible zip as it feels fragile and can break in the long term.
In terms of connectivity, the Headphone (1) features the best set of connectivity options that you don’t usually get on similar priced headphone, it supports 3.5mm wired audio, USB-C audio and LDAC wireless streaming, while you can connect to two devices at the same time with Bluetooth 5.3.
The headphone supports Microsoft Swift Pair and Google’s Fast Pair so you will see a popup instantly on your Windows computer or Android smartphone when it is in pairing mode, so connecting for the first time is going to be a breeze and it reconnects back fast as soon as you flip on the power switch.
I love that the Headphone (1) does away with swipe gestures and awkward button presses that you find on most other headphones, the Paddle control is great for skipping music tracks, the roller feels very natural when you want to quickly adjust music volume, there is a customizable button on the right earcup that lets you do either channel hopping between Spotify and Apple Music when you connect the headphone to a Nothing Phone 3, and on other phones, it lets you talk to your phone’s voice assistant.
