This Is How The Most Stylish Headphones of 2025 Sound
The first time I saw an ad for the new over-ear headphones from Nothing, I did a double take. In a world of monolithic black plastic and shiny metal accents, these cans zag into retro. The look evokes a cassette tape on the back of each ear cup.
These headphones are a collaboration between London tech brand Nothing, currently on its third iteration of fashion-forward smartphone, and high-end British purveyors of sound KEF. Without question, this is the most striking headphone release of the year so far. The design swings are impressive in a market dominated by Sony's sixth iteration of the same headphone and the five year-old AirPods Max that both look fine, sound great, and cost a lot. The only question here is how do they sound?
I put them to the test to find out if the Nothing Headphone (1) is the debut of the year or just a budget version of better noise-cancelling headphones.
- Intuitive and tactile button controls
- Impressive 80 hour battery life
- Especially good for podcasts and movie/TV watching
- Price undercuts the competition
- A good app, for once!
- Noise cancelling severely compromises sound quality
- Default sound is flat and dark, requires EQ tweaking
- They don't fold and feel big in the travel case
In person, the Nothing Headphone (1)—the official title—is as much an aesthetic accomplishment as it seems. Comfortable too. This is a pair of headphones that takes design and tactile feedback seriously.
Most evident of this philosophy are the controls. Volume is controlled using a roller and all you need to do is click it in to pause and play. Below that there's a paddle that lets you skip backward and forward between tracks. The on/off switch has actual on and off positions. And there's a customizable button. All of these controls work flawlessly and the physical feedback makes me nostalgic for a time when touch controls weren't the default.
The Nothing Headphones impress in the battery life category. A single charge (less than two hours to full) will last you up to 80 hours of playback. I've only had to charge mine twice throughout three weeks of daily use. I would almost say they are perfect travel headphones, only that's where my issues begin.
So yeah, they are pretty much a design wonder but they aren't perfect. While I really love the look, the large squared off ear cups make hanging them around my neck an impossibility. And they don't fold up like some other over-ear headphones. As a result, once stored in the travel case they become a bit bulky. These aren't dealbreakers by any means, just things that could be improved next time around.
Sounds Woes—The Only Time I'll Recommend The AppDepending on how much of an audiophile you are, your mileage with the Nothing Headphones may vary. The potential for good sound quality is quite high, but by default I felt my music was coming in pretty flat. I was hearing clear voices and dialogue when I listened to podcasts or watched something. But when I listened to music, I was missing a brightness as well as a bass note.
Then I downloaded the Nothing X app. As it turns out, all I needed was to turn off the noise-cancelling and turn up the bass enhancement. I know, that's not exactly intuitive and I'm not usually a fan of needing an app for my device. But this one is pretty good all things considered—it's got good UI and makes EQ adjustments simple. It reminds me a lot of Bang & Olufsen's excellent app. Only you don't have to pay for $2,000 headphones.
You can also use it to customize all the physical controls and buttons on the headphones. One thing that irked me was the button is set to voice assistant by default. Why? The button can easily be programmed to adjust noise-cancelling and I'd argue this should always be the default. Anecdotally I don't know many people that actually download them, which means there are going to almost certainly be people who buy the Nothing Headphones and never touch its noise-cancelling settings.
Which is a bummer because the active noise cancellation on the headphones is actually quite good at blocking outside sound. But it does hamper the sound quality to a noticeable degree, at least for me.
Final VerdictThe Nothing (1) Headphones are a fashion statement. More importantly, they are decently priced over-ear headphones that sound pretty good. Far from the best headphones I've tried, but for $270 they punch in their weight class.
The app is required to truly get the most out of these. If you're the kind of person who is allergic to downloading more apps on your phone—or don't plan on using these with your phone at all—this might not be the pair for you.
- Intuitive and tactile button controls
- Impressive 80 hour battery life
- Especially good for podcasts and movie/TV watching
- Price undercuts the competition
- A good app, for once!
- Noise cancelling severely compromises sound quality
- Default sound is flat and dark, requires EQ tweaking
- They don't fold and feel big in the travel case
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