Inside, things get even more interesting. The headphone uses a triple-driver design—a bass dynamic driver, a precision dynamic driver, and a treble xMEMS driver. The idea is that each driver handles a different frequency range, delivering clearer, fuller, less distorted sound. When every other major ANC headphone brand uses a single dynamic driver for the full frequency range, this triple-driver design is a big risk. Fortunately, sound quality is outstanding.
I’m not going to pretend I’m an audio engineer (I’m not). But songs I’ve listened to for years came back to life with the Headphone (1) Pro, with added emphasis, clarity, and energy in the midrange and treble I didn’t expect.
I don’t usually make the stank-face to “Staring at the Sun,” by TV on the Radio, but I did pretty consistently with these headphones. Stevie Wonder’s “Another Star,” with its dense mix of vocals, hi-hat, trumpet, and guitar, sounded more spacious on the Nothing headphones than on the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen). Bass is clear, but not as punchy as headphones like the Sony XM6. I didn’t mind, but it was a little less fun with artists like Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar, or anything in the EDM genre. A simple EQ adjustment changed this (more on that later).
This focus on engaging mids and highs meant that music on the Nothing headphones commanded my attention more often. I actually had a harder time achieving deep focus at work with these headphones than with more bass-forward mixes on the Sony XM6 and Bose QC Ultra 2nd Gen.
That was a lot of sound talk, and everyone has different ears, different hearing, and different taste. Luckily, you don’t have to settle for one sound profile with these headphones.
Photograph: Harry Rabinowitz