Nothing’s design smarts meets audiophile-grade customisation

Nothing has made a big impression in the tech world with their distinctive transparent design philosophy and focus on making technology feel more human and exciting. With the Nothing Headphone (1), the London-based company ventures into the over-ear headphone market for the first time, bringing their signature aesthetic and engineering to a product category dominated by established players. So can the Nothing Headphone (1) compete with the likes of the Apple AirPods Max, Bose QuietComfort Range or the Sony XM5?

So, this is going to be a long review, my original plan was to listen to headphone (1) at home and on a few business trips and ultimately use my measurement setup to get some data on the performance of the Headphone (1). But then I noticed something changed with the last firmware, where Nothing have both improved the audio quality, but also I believe they experimented with some things which I didn’t like. This caused me to spend more time trying to figure out the various quirks with the current firmware, and I hope this review will give everyone an idea of what they can expect from the Headphone (1).

Very few audio companies update their products post-release (I think WiiM is one of the few before now), so I feel it’s so refreshing that Nothing also seems to have this attitude in their DNA with frequent updates. It is something I am used to from my day job (as a Software Engineer), and I think it is refreshing to see (or I should say hear) a headphone getting meaningful audio updates post-release, so I feel Nothing will continue to improve things, and I hope this review will help point out a few things they might change in a future update.

But before I get into nerdy audio details of what it sounds like, what has changed, and what still needs to be fixed, let’s look at the unboxing and build quality of the Headphone (1).

Unboxing and Build Quality

Nothing’s packaging philosophy extends to the Headphone (1), arriving in a minimalist yet premium box that reflects the brand’s design ethos.

The outer sleeve on the box has a very distinctive Nothing design:

The back of this box reveals some specifications:

Removing this sleeve reveals a nice textured inside box:

Opening the box reveals the case:

Removing the carry case reveals the manual:

Carry case

I did see some early reviewer complaints about the carry case, and while it’s not the most premium, I had no trouble bringing this with me on various flights in the past month, and while the zip is probably the weak point of the case I think it’s perfectly acceptable.

Opening the carry case reveals the headphones (1) with their unique design nestled in a well-designed carrying case.

The included accessories are stored within the case and provide good quality usb and audio cables:

Both cables are excellent quality and easy to store within the carry case:

In the box:

• Nothing Headphone (1)
• Premium softshell carrying case
• USB-C charging cable
• 3.5mm audio cable for wired listening
• User guide and safety information

Headphone

The unique build quality immediately impresses with its combination of materials and construction:

Nothing has achieved something clever here, creating a headphone that looks distinctly unique and a really talking point while maintaining structural integrity and premium feel.

The contrast of the rounded rectangular design with the round earcups makes an interesting design choice:

Design and Materials

The design language is the star of the show. This isn’t just aesthetic flourish, it’s a deliberate design choice that gives a sense of the engineering beneath. But with a fun, almost old-school “game boy” vibe I thought.

Fit and Comfort

The ergonomic design of will definitely appeal to users with smaller or medium-sized ears, who will love the comfort of the earcups, but those with larger ears might not find it as comfortable as more typical audiophile headphones.

But one aspect I particularly appreciated is how the memory foam gently conforms to your ears over time, creating a personalized fit that actually improves with use:

The skin-friendly PU material is very comfortable, but I did find it got a little warm after a few hours walking on hotter days:

The headband padding is typical for an ANC headphone, but I would love to have seen more padding or even a more unique suspension design here:

But there are always some compromises made when designing this aspect of a headphone. Especially one that needs to be portable and easily carried with someone on airplanes.

Though, one quibble I have is the size and ear-cup depth, while it does create an excellent seal (which is great for bass and for ambient noise reduction). I did feel it was a bit small compared to typical audiophile and gaming headphones with earcups designed for all-day comfort.

For example, with the Audeze Maxwell you can see the ear-cups are much larger than the Headphone (1):

I did also take some comparison photos of the size of the earcups on the Headphone (1) with a few competitor ANC headphones. As you can hopefully see below, I thought other than maybe the Sony headphone, the other competitors had made similar design choices as far as the actual earcups size:

Another initial quibble I had was with the clamping mechanism, as it was a bit too tight, but actually after a few weeks it loosened up and I now find it to be very comfortable.

The adjustable headband distributes pressure evenly, creating a secure fit that remains comfortable whether you’re sitting at a desk or moving around.

The sliding telescopic arms allow for fine-tuning of the fit and lock securely into place, better than for the example the Audeze Maxwell I mentioned above. I found the adjustment range generous enough to accommodate different head sizes, with a smooth operation that feels built to last.

The swivel mechanism is much stronger than it looks, and this flexibility helps in getting a comfortable fit:

While I didn’t remove them, I did see the earpads are also relatively easy to service and replace if needed:

Controls and User Interface

Nothing has made a bold decision to move away from touch controls in favour of tactile hardware controls, and it’s a choice that pays dividends in daily use. I actually love the simplicity of having a physical on/off switch:

There is no messing about ‘pressing and holding’ a button to turn the headphone on or off like most other ANC headphones.

The three main control elements - the Roller, Paddle, and Button - each serve distinct functions and provide satisfying, precise feedback.

The Roller

The volume roller is genuinely satisfying to use, with a smooth, precise action that makes volume adjustments effortless. A single click plays or pauses music, while a long press toggles between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode. The tactile feedback is excellent, making it easy to operate without looking.

The Paddle

Media control via the paddle is intuitive and responsive. Push right to skip forward, left to go back, or hold to scrub through tracks at speed. The implementation feels natural and works consistently across different devices and media players.

The Button

The customisable button is probably the least useful of the physical buttons, especially on a non-Nothing smartphone, but the Nothing X app does provide some customisation for this button:

The button placement means it is not as obvious to reach for - see it top right hand side of the right earpad:

As an EQ nerd, I love that they included a way to switch EQ profiles via this button, but sadly, it doesn’t switch over to the ‘advanced’ profiles. I would love this feature to offer a which EQ to switch too and include the custom ones. As I would love to do a quick A/B switch between Nothing’s ‘Balanced’ profile and ultimately the ‘Balanced’ PEQ profile I came up with.

Note: I will mention this later, but I might as well mention it here, but switching EQ without volume matching is challenging, so ultimately, if Nothing did offer a way of switching to custom EQ profiles with some auto-volume adjustment, that would be an amazing way to evaluate custom EQ profiles.

Next let’s get into some of the ‘internal’ features:

Features and Performance

Active Noise Cancellation

Over the past month I brought the Nothing Headphone (1) on many flights and various other forms of public transport including boats, trains, and buses. It performed exceptionally well in most conditions, creating a comfortable listening environment — both passively (seal even after the clamp force loosened up) and actively (ANC with strong or the hybrid mode).

Though, while the Cabin noise and engine rumble were reduced to a comfortable background, I feel it wasn’t quiet as good as the AirPods Max that my wife brought on a few flights. I did some swapping and comparing, but it was close to the AirPods and much better than the Sennheiser ANC headphones that I had previously used on flights the previous Month.

ANC Performance Breakdown:

• Indoor Performance: Decent at handling consistent background noise like air conditioning, computer fans, and household sounds
• Commute Performance: Very effective against train and bus noise, with good performance in busy urban environments
• Office Performance: Outstanding at creating a focused listening environment, effectively blocking keyboard noise and conversations
• Outdoor Performance: Good wind noise handling, though not quite at the level of the AirPods Max in challenging outdoor conditions

The ANC is rated to reduce external noise by up to 42 dB (effective to 2 kHz), which puts it in the upper tier of consumer ANC headphones.

Sound Guys measurement the passive and active noise reduction capabilities of the Nothing Headphone (1) and you can see the Passive isoltion does a good job with the upper frequencies while the Active does a pretty good job with the lower frequencies:

Transparency Mode

Transparency Mode in my initial testing was good but not great, but this was one feature greatly enhanced in the latest firmware release and is now one of the best implementations with a very natural sound.

It’s perfect for quick conversations or staying aware of your surroundings during commutes.

Connectivity and Audio Quality

The Headphone (1) supports a decent range of high-quality audio codecs, though it does lack the various AptX codecs that other headphones have:

• LDAC: For high-resolution wireless audio up to 24-bit/96kHz
• AAC: Optimized for Apple devices
• SBC: Universal Bluetooth compatibility

The inclusion of both USB-C audio and 3.5mm wired connections is a nice feature. I have measured the response from all these inputs. The headline is probably the support for loseless audio over the USB-c connection.

Dual-device BT connection works seamlessly, allowing you to stay connected to both your laptop and phone simultaneously. The switching between devices is smooth and intuitive.

Additionally, though I didn’t try these, I see both Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair is also supported, and a low‑latency mode helps keep audio in sync for gaming and video.

Battery Life and Charging

Battery performance is mostly excellent, delivering up to 35 hours with ANC enabled or an impressive 80 hours with ANC disabled. I have almost exclusively used the Headphone (1) with ANC enabled as mostly that is where I feel most people would want to use it, when outside in a noisier environment. However, the battery life has been excellent, though I didn’t get a full 35 hours, I would guess it’s closer to 25/30 hours with ANC, still more than enough.

Call Quality

I found the call quality to be excellent, one of the best of any ANC headphone I have reviewed, even in challenging environments I could join remote meetings and my colleagues could hear me clearly.

Nothing X App and Customisation

The Nothing X app is where the Headphone (1) truly differentiates itself from the competition.

There are some nice tutorials within the App to get you started:

The app provides a comprehensive range of customisation options:

While I only briefly played with the spatial audio, it can both be a gimmick and fun feature. The head-tracking implementation works similar to that on Apple devices where it will automatically switch the ‘center’ of the soundstage after a few seconds:

The Bass enhancement should be a great feature, but this is one that I currently have a little bit of a problem with.

With the latest firmware as it was not that effective as you will see in the next section:

I personally would go with a ‘Balanced’ profile most of the time (but not necessarily Nothing’s Balanced profile), but then ideally turn on a bass enhancement when I am in a very loud environment (to get over the masking effect) and adjust the level of the bass enhancement to my preference, but it currently does not work that effectively.

There are other useful features within the app, for example, the find my headphone:

And the dual connection and the low-latency modes are also very useful especially for gaming or watching videos:

EQ Presents and Custom EQ

I really like how there are effectively 3 levels of EQ customisations (not including the bass boost), to suit different users’ needs. There is a nice tutorial to explain how the EQ works also:

Firstly, there are the default profiles at the bottom of the screen:

Balanced is the default profile, which is a good starting point for most users. Balanced is also the default tonality for the ’neutral’ within the PEQ customisation options.

Then there is the simple ‘custom’ option where the user can choose the level of bass, treble, and midrange to their preference:

8-Band Parametric EQ

But then the fun really starts with the 8-band parametric EQ which provides ‘almost’ professional-level sound customisation in the hands of everyday users.

I said ‘almost’ above because while the hardware has full PEQ support (as you will see in the next section, I decoded and implemented a separate ‘autoEQ’ capability using these inbuilt hardware PEQ). But while the hardware has full PEQ, the App still wants to limit the FR bands to specific ranges (sort of crippling the PEQ to behave more like a traditional fixed band EQ). This makes it more difficult to fine-tune the sound, but it is still possible to get very decent sound customisation with the App and to easily share those profiles with others.

But this is one area where I hope the Nothing X team will fix soon. The hardware is as good as it gets as far as PEQ is concerned, but the App limitations could easily be removed and the App PEQ editing could allow full PEQ to match the hardware.

But in general, this is the feature that transforms the Headphone (1) from a good lifestyle headphone into something special. Each of the 8 bands offers parametric control but with some limited adjustable frequency, a gain range of +-6dB, and flexible Q factor. Seeing the Q factor is especially welcome in a headphone allowing some wideband and very narrowband tuning.

For example, here is one I customised:

And for those used to Frequency response preference curves - this might give you an idea for what I was aiming for with this profile:

1. Tidy up the bass - it doesn’t really need this, but since I had some filters in that region
2. Pull down the midrange slightly to give it more of a spatial sound
3. Increase the treble / presence region to bring forward vocals and piano tones and also give the sound a bit of depth and clarity.

Headophone (1) Hardware PEQ and DevicePEQ

I am a software architect and engineer, and one of my little side projects is to enable devices with onboard PEQ to be easily controlled from the popular online measurements databases like Crinacles https://graph.hangout.audio and various squiq.link sites, including my own at Pragmatic Audio.

So, inspired by the Nothing community projects and the comments made by the Nothing CEO in a recent Video, I decoded the hardware PEQ protocol and then implemented a separate ‘autoEQ’ capability using the hardware PEQ filters. So I can push real-time PEQ adjustments to the Headphone (1) directly from the browser.

Specifically, If you’d like to be able to apply the full PEQ filter set directly to the Nothing Headphone (1) over Bluetooth, the devicePEQ extension makes this straightforward. However, if you push values beyond the ranges supported by the Nothing App, you will ultimately lose the PEQ if you try and edit them within the App.

I’ve put together a short demo that shows the end‑to‑end process, from loading filters to confirming they’re active on the headphone.

Here is an example of the link used in the video above, and if you use Chrome or a similar browser like Edge (but not Safari or Firefox) it should work similar to the video above:

AutoEQ1 Example

Once you have pushed the PEQ filter, you should ‘save’ the profile within the Nothing X app the next time you goto the Advanced EQ page, but it activates the Filters straight away. Once you do launch the Nothing X app again, you can give it a name as per the screenshots below:

One thing though, as I mentioned earlier, any FR outside of the fixed FR ranges within the app will be lost if you ’edit’ the Profile within the app. So it is best to just save it and leave the ‘Advanced EQ’ alone until you want to try a different FR. But if the Nothing Team changes the FR limitations within the App, then I will update this review.

Setup and Firmware

Initial setup through the Nothing X app was mostly straightforward. Though, I did encounter an immediate firmware update prompt on iOS; the first attempt failed, and I completed it successfully using an Android phone. Once updated, performance has been stable and I have installed a few firmware updates since using my iPhone.

I think this is one of the key features of the Nothing Headphone (1) as it is getting regular updates, and so far those updates have provided some meaningful improvements. As I mentioned above, I really appreciate companies that push regular updates and while occasionally updates might cause some issues (as I will show in the next section) a company that pushes regular updates is a company that is committed to providing a great experience for their customers.

As of writing this review, the latest firmware is 1.0.1.74:

Sound Quality

All my subjective opinions where carried out with the ‘default’ Balanced tuning of the Nothing Headphone (1), since I detected some changes with the firmware updates. I actually went back to do further subjective testing with the most recent firmware, but I also decided to listen to some newer music and decided to incorporate comments about my full subjective impressions into this review.

But before I get into my subjective opinions on the sound. I think there are a few things that I found both subjectively and when measuring the headphone on my KB501X soft ear pinna, that I think are important to consider when reading my subjective impressions and those of other reviewers.

These ‘issues’ are mostly likely just bugs that will be fixed in future firmware updates. I will update both this review but also the ‘Pragmatic’ rating if I find they have been fixed as these are mostly the only thing holding this headphone back from having a fantastic customisable listening experience.

So let’s briefly discuss 2 of these issues as they affect how different subjective reviewers will comment on the headphone depending on how load they listen:

Strange Mid-bass FR changes with volume

This is a strange issue, and I don’t believe was in earlier firmware versions, but it is definitely in the 1.0.1.74 firmware. So, as the volume increases beyond about 70% the mid-bass frequency response around 110Hz decreases. I initially thought maybe there was some attempt of an equal loudness / Fletcher–Munson curve but now I think it is just a weird bug:

So as I increased the Volume, the subbass increased centred around 90Hz. Very strange, here is a better example of what happens to the FR at max volume - you basicaly lose a lot of the bass:

I thought possible this might be to protect against distortion, but the distortion performance when playing music at the max volume is excellent, so there are no concerns about distortion:

So, hopefully this strange behaviour will be fixed in the next firmware update.

Bass boost is not working well

Similar to the above issue, for those who like to use a bass boost, they might have different subjective opinions on the sound depending on the firmware version that they were using for their review.

So in the earlier Firmware the bass boost worked very well:

I liked the gradual boosting of the bass, with a decent sub-bass shelf starting at about 100hz.

But, in the 1.0.1.74 firmware the bass boost seems to work differently, here are the 5 levels of bass boost with the latest firmware:

So the Bass boost now is really only changing the sub-bass < 50Hz, so for most music it is not really changing the bass you will hear in most cases, basically the bass boost will be pointless for most music.

It is a pity as the initial bass boost implementation was very nice giving some meaningful boost.

Subjective comments

With those issues discussed and possibly explaining some of the subjective opinions you might read in other reviews, I have the following subjective comments when listening at normal levels < 70% volume without the bass boost.

Firstly, as someone who has reviewed many ANC headphones, Nothing has done an exceptionally good job with the tuning of the Balanced profile, especially with the bass. So many ANC headphones have default sound signatures with boosted bass that it is great that the ‘Balanced’ profile as the default makes this headphone listenable ‘out of the box’ compared to the majority of ANC headphones which immediately need profile changes. But the Balanced profile of Headphone (1) is not perfect, but it is a great start, and we should thank Nothing for the PEQ capabilities.

The main sub-optional feature of the ‘Balanced’ sound signature to be aware of is the recessed vocal presence region, my EQ (which I have above addresses this at least with my unit) but when you see people talking about a ‘veiled’ sound, this is what they are talking about.

So, I have been listening with the latest firmware all this week, to CMAT excellent new Album Euro-Country, so I decided to include some song references to some new songs on that album as well as some classic ‘audiophile’ test tracks. This album I feel both shows off the best aspects of the Headphone (1) but also does highlight some of its issues currently with the ‘Balanced’ profile. The natural vocal reproduction is there, but it’s sitting further back than it should be for many genres, particularly those that depend on vocal intimacy and presence. This characteristic is consistent across the Euro-Country album, where CMAT’s emotive delivery would benefit from a more forward midrange presentation.

Bass Response

The balanced bass works exceptionally well across genres. Testing with CMAT’s “Jamie Oliver Petrol Station” from the Euro-Country album showcases the Headphone (1)’s excellent bass handling, the low-end foundation is solid and textured without any unwanted bloat or bleeding into the midrange. The bass lines maintain excellent definition and control, never overwhelming the track’s intricate arrangement.

This controlled bass response is equally impressive with audiophile classics like Patricia Barber’s “The Moon Song” from Café Blue, where the upright bass maintains its woody resonance and natural decay without the artificial bloom that plagues many consumer headphones. Similarly, the iconic bass line in “Limit to Your Love” by James Blake showcases the Headphone (1)’s ability to render deep sub-bass with authority while maintaining complete control - the rumbling low frequencies never become boomy or overwhelming, instead delivering clean extension that you feel as much as you hear.

Summary:

• Deep extension down to 20Hz
• Excellent texture and detail
• Well-controlled without any bloat

Midrange Performance

This where some listeners might find a “veiled” quality to the sound. The default “Balanced” signature tends to push vocals slightly back in the mix rather than forward, and certain piano and guitar tones are lost in the mix.

This becomes particularly noticeable with CMAT’s distinctive vocal style on “Coronation Street.” While the lower midrange detail is excellent - you can hear every nuance in the track’s instrumental arrangement - CMAT’s voice lacks the forward presence it deserves. The amazing driving piano that should be front and center in the mix gets slightly washed out by the bass emphasis, where it should be pushing through with more authority and immediacy.

This same issue affects classic audiophile recordings like Diana Krall’s intimate vocal delivery on “The Look of Love,” where her voice should be right there in front of you but instead sits frustratingly back in the mix, robbing the performance of its intended intimacy. Even more telling is Eva Cassidy’s “Fields of Gold” from Songbird, where her emotionally charged vocal performance - which should be immediately present and achingly intimate - instead sounds distant and veiled, diminishing the raw emotional impact that makes this recording so beloved by audiophiles.

Summary:

• Detailed lower midrange reproduction
• Good instrument timbre in the supporting elements
• Recessed vocal presence that may disappoint some listeners
• Complex arrangements maintain separation but lack forward energy

Treble Quality

The treble is refined and smooth, almost to a fault. Nothing has clearly prioritized listening comfort over absolute detail retrieval in the upper frequencies. While this approach prevents fatigue during extended listening sessions, it can leave some tracks feeling restrained where they should sparkle.

CMAT’s “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” demonstrates this characteristic well. The track’s higher frequency details are present but held back by the conservative treble tuning. Where you’d expect some bite and energy in the upper registers, the Headphone (1) delivers politeness instead. This restrained approach might be welcomed by those sensitive to bright headphones, but it does rob some tracks of their intended energy and sparkle.

Summary:

• Smooth and non-fatiguing presentation
• Conservative detail retrieval
• Natural timbre but lacking energy
• Benefits from EQ adjustment for more presence

The overall presentation avoids harshness completely, but at the cost of what many would consider appropriate treble presence and air.

Soundstage and Imaging

For an ANC closed-back headphone, the Headphone (1) delivers respectable spatial performance, though you can’t expect the wide soundstage of open-back alternatives. The built-in spatial audio feature can artificially expand the soundstage when needed, but even in standard stereo mode, the presentation is better than most ANC headphones in this price range, but nothing compared to a decent open-back headphone.

However, the imaging is significantly affected by that recessed presence tuning. When listening to the Euro-Country album, the depth and positioning of instruments would benefit greatly from bringing the midrange forward with some parametric EQ. This adjustment really brings forward CMAT’s vocals, the piano tones, and guitar details, providing much more natural depth and dimensionality to the overall sound.

This effect is even more pronounced with complex audiophile recordings like Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” from Both Sides Now, where the subtle interplay between her aged voice and the lush orchestral arrangement loses much of its intended layering and depth due to the recessed presence region.

Overall:

• Decent width for a closed-back ANC design
• Imaging significantly improved with presence boost EQ
• Spatial audio feature is available when needed
• Better than competitors in the similar price range, but needs tuning adjustment for optimal performance

Specifications and Measurements

So let’s get into some specifications and some more measurements:

Feature	Details
Type	Over-ear, Closed-back
Drivers	40mm Dynamic
Impedance	16Ω
Frequency Response	20Hz - 40kHz
Sensitivity	Not specified
Weight	329g
Battery Life	35h (ANC on), 80h (ANC off)
Charging	USB-C, 5min = 2.4h playback
Connectivity	Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, 3.5mm
Codecs	LDAC, AAC, SBC
ANC	Hybrid, up to 42dB reduction
Water Resistance	IP52
Colors	White, Black

For those who want to listen to loseless audio over usb-c, here is the Headphone (1) with the USB-C cable plugged in:

I also really appreciate the IP52 rating, as an ANC headphone I often find myself using the headphone walking around the city center or on public transport and have some water resistance seems like such an obvious feature it is amazing we haven’t seen this on many headphones before.

Frequency Response

After I noticed those strange issues with the FR that I mentioned earlier, I was interested to see if the ‘Balanced’ profile changed a firmware version, but I don’t believe it has, the following differences are really just between different seating on the measurement rig about 1 month apart (possible the loosen of the clamp force also contributes to the slight differences):

When I first started listening to the Headphone (1), one thing I noticed immediately was the similarly especially with presence region with the Apple AirPods Max, which explains both the strengths and the areas where EQ might make significant improvements for some people:

Note: It is important to note that ‘Target Curves’ like Harman OE are really just averages of a large group of the general user preferences, but that means there are large numbers of people who like more or less that the curve. E.g. if 60% like more bass and 40% like less bass, the average ends up possible, appealing to neither group.
So, therefore, there is no one ‘right’ curve, only an average, this is why a preference region can be a better view:

The preference region can be a better way to visualise how good a headphone can be:

I have highlighted 3 areas in the diagram above:

1. Excellent ‘balanced’ bass at the lower end of the preference curve. It is a pity the bass boost is not working well currently as it can be an easy way boost the bass.
2. Lower Midrange is mostly excellent, giving good tonality for a majority of instruments
3. Treble / Presence Region is where the Headphone (1) is recessed as I mentioned.

With the (1) point above I felt it was excellent and the original the Bass boost (before the latest firmware update) gave a perfect boost in just the right way to lift the bass:

You can see one of my PEQ changes and one that I mainly used after my initial subjective listening sessions where I mostly just look to boost (3) above.

But it is also important to check other peoples measurements, than just to rely on a single reviewers measurement, so I noticed Soundguys measurement the Headphone (1) on their more accurate BK-5128 against their preference curve:

And you can see similar areas where a boost is required.

Channel matching is pretty good since the last firmware update:

The other ‘standard profiles’:

With the ‘seal’ broken (for example, with glasses):

And as I mentioned earlier, the Bass Boost feature is not very effective with the latest firmware:

And finally, let’s have a look at the measurements of both the wired and analog connections.

First, the Bluetooth and the USB are well aligned, but sadly, the analog seems to have a similar issue with the lower bass frequency response:

And even when playing lower volume, that problem was still there over Analog:

The other issue with the change in FR as the volume increases is also there with the USB, here is a tiny change increasing the volume slightly, yet the FR around 110 hz goes down a bit rather than up:

Distortion Performance

Distortion measurements show excellent performance across the frequency spectrum, with particularly good control in the bass region where many headphones struggle.

At max volume you can see that odd bass frequencies change, but the overall distortion is well controlled:

EQ Recommendations when playing loud

Since I covered my PEQ preferences earlier, this will be short. I feel even with the current strange changes to the FR in the sub-bass when playing loud can actually be easily addressed by leaving a filter available to boost that area, e.g. I reserved one of the FR ranges to tweak that mid-bass:

The process for deriving your own PEQ should be a step-by-step process where you can manually listen to each filter change and then adjust as required e.g.

Audiophile Neutrality Profile

For those seeking a more neutral, reference-like sound, I recommend the following EQ settings:

And with devicePEQ - you try this link

This EQ transforms the Headphone (1) into something much more engaging and detailed, addressing the slightly laid-back default tuning while maintaining the excellent bass quality.

For example, here is the FR of the Nothing when EQed to Harman compared (above 200Hz) to the Airpods Max:

Other Headphone inspired

Using the PEQ, it’s possible to ‘approximate’ the tonality of other popular headphones.

Note: this is just for fun and not really serious. As a closed back headphone will never sound the same as an open back like the HD600 and even if the tonality is similar on my measurement rig it does not mean you will hear the same tonality, especially beyond the 6K region where headphones FR are highly dependent on the listener anatomy.

HD600-inspired Profile:

• Focus on midrange accuracy and natural timbre

• Gentle bass reduction and presence boost

• Here is a link to the HD600-inspired PEQ

FiiO FT1 Inspired Profile:

• A decent closed back headphone with a natural bass and midrange

• Here is a link to the FT1-inspired PEQ

Rating

I changed my opinions about this headphone a few times in the past few weeks, but since the latest firware I decided to give it a very respectable 4-star Pragmatic Rating, representing excellent performance with minor software (not hardware) limitations that prevent it from achieving perfection.

Rating Breakdown:

• Sound Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent with EQ, very good stock)
• Build Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Premium materials and construction)
• Features: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Outstanding customization and ANC)
• Comfort: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Very good, though ear cups could be slightly larger)
• Value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Strong proposition in the premium ANC market)

Strengths:

• Exceptional 8-band parametric hardware EQ implementation
• Distinctive, well-executed transparent design
• Comprehensive feature set with excellent ANC
• Strong build quality and materials
• Good battery life and fast charging

Areas for Improvement:

• Default ‘Balanced’ tuning could be more engaging out of the box
• Sofware EQ editing has unnecessarily limitations
• Strange mid-bass issues with volume
• Ear cups could be slightly larger for better universal fit
• Missing some HD codecs like AptX

Ideal For:

• Audio enthusiasts who enjoy customizing their sound
• Users who appreciate distinctive design
• Those seeking premium ANC with audiophile potential
• Nothing ecosystem users
• Anyone wanting exceptional EQ customisation in a consumer product

Conclusion

The Nothing Headphone (1) represents an impressive debut in the over-ear headphone market. Nothing has successfully translated their design philosophy and attention to detail into a product that stands out in an increasingly crowded field.

The collaboration with KEF has resulted in a sound signature that works well out of the box with especially good bass, but it truly shines when customized to your preferences. The ability to transform the headphone’s character through EQ, combined with the excellent build quality and comprehensive feature set, creates a compelling package for both mainstream users and audio enthusiasts.

While the default tuning might feel slightly safe compared to more exciting alternatives, this conservative approach actually works in the headphone’s favor - it provides an excellent foundation for customization without any major flaws to overcome. The ANC performance is genuinely competitive with established leaders, and the overall user experience feels polished and well-considered.

The Nothing Headphone (1) succeeds in being both a statement piece and a serious audio tool. It’s a headphone that looks different, sounds great, and offers features that genuinely enhance the listening experience. For those seeking a premium ANC headphone with audiophile potential and distinctive design, the Headphone (1) deserves serious consideration.

It’s an impressive first effort that suggests exciting things to come from Nothing’s audio division.