Nothing’s Headphone A Are Something Worth Considering

After nan merchandise of nan Headphone 1 past twelvemonth — Nothing’s first over-ear headphones — nan institution is backmost pinch nan Headphone A. They’re a slimmed-down over-ear action that support nan Nothing creation artistic and fantabulous controls while decreasing nan weight and bumping artillery life up to a maximum of 135 hours. There are immoderate concessions — middling telephone value and a carrying container alternatively of a lawsuit — but they’re besides cheaper astatine $199. The Headphone A makes much consciousness to maine than nan Headphone 1 ever did, and are a awesome 2nd offering from Nothing.

The Headphone A’s creation is incredibly akin to nan Headphone 1’s. Each earpiece has nan aforesaid rectangular style pinch an oval enclosure connected top. But wherever nan oval enclosure of nan Headphone 1 was transparent, connected nan A it’s an opaque white, yellow, aliases pinkish against nan achromatic lodging (there’s besides an all-black option), and nan receptor ammunition is nan portion pinch nan transparent cover. There’s a reddish quadrate connected nan correct receptor cup and a achromatic quadrate connected nan near 1 — nan aforesaid colour indicators arsenic an old-school RCA cable.

As pinch nan 1, nan A’s lodging and headband consciousness plasticky, but nan swivel hinges are sturdier than before. The memory-foam-lined receptor cups are comfortable for a while, but I did find I needed occasional breaks because of nan clamping unit astatine nan bottommost beforehand of my receptor and really nan headphones remainder connected nan apical of my head. And while nan Headphone A are IP52 rated — galore headphones pricier than nan Nothing, for illustration nan Sony WH-1000XM6, Bose Ultra Headphones, and Apple AirPods Max person nary IP standing — nan receptor cups don’t respire well. I tested them during a Los Angeles February power activity and was sweating astir my receptor successful 20 minutes. IP52 isn’t a peculiarly precocious rating, but nan A are resistant to particulate and safe from sweat aliases a ray rain.

The controls connected nan Headphone A are precisely nan aforesaid arsenic nan Headphone 1, and that’s a very bully thing. Nothing uses mechanical controls alternatively of capacitive ones, pinch a roller for measurement control, a paddle for way navigation, and a fastener for sound adjunct activation. The paddle tin beryllium held to fast-forward aliases rewind done a track, though it doesn’t activity pinch each app (it did pinch Apple Music, but not pinch Qobuz). The measurement roller is besides a play/pause button, and pinch a agelong property will move betwixt ANC and transparency mode. The fastener tin beryllium customized successful nan app to power your phone’s camera shutter, shut up nan mic, activate sound control, aliases prime an EQ preset. I wish nan roller had somewhat much guidance truthful I didn’t overshoot while adjusting measurement during my walks, but it’s a insignificant gripe.

The default Balanced sound floor plan is simply a spot excessively sibilant and sizzly successful nan precocious registers, and nan bass is dense for my taste. Cymbals and nan squeals during Yoshimi’s conflict against nan pinkish robots took complete nan texture of nan music. I bask immoderate listen pinch my ’90s alternative, but Matt Cameron’s thundering tom-toms connected “Spoonman” were excessively boomy for nan track, while nan toms connected Radiohead’s “There There” had excessively overmuch ring.

I was fortunately capable to reside those issues pinch nan EQ successful nan Nothing X app. There’s some a elemental EQ, which allows accommodation of bass, mid, and treble frequencies pinch settings from -6 to +6, and an 8-band parametric equalizer for adjusting nan frequency, gain, and bandwidth (or Q) of each of nan 8 points. It’s a awesome magnitude of customizability for a $200 brace of headphones. It allowed maine to dial backmost nan frequencies that I recovered to beryllium excessively large (between 100 and 250Hz for nan debased extremity and complete 6,000Hz for nan high).

But nan process did return immoderate proceedings and error. While astir EQs will boost a wave erstwhile nan slider is moved up, it sounds for illustration nan Nothing alternatively decreases each of nan different frequencies. I expect this is to support nan measurement astatine a reasonable level while changing nan sound floor plan and keeping personification from blowing retired their ears. But arsenic personification who has adjusted nan EQ connected many headphones and who is utilized to adjusting parametric EQs while sound editing, it’s conscionable counterintuitive to me.

ANC capacity is bully for nan value — amended than nan Sony Ult headphones and astir arsenic bully arsenic nan Soundcore Space One Pro — and manages to artifact little frequencies peculiarly well. They don’t comparison to nan $300-plus flagship noise-canceling headphones disposable from Sony, Bose, aliases Apple, though. There are 3 levels of ANC successful summation to an adaptive option. I recovered that expanding nan level improved blocking of nan debased end, but made nan higher frequencies travel retired a mini spot more.

Unfortunately, sound cancellation connected nan microphone extremity is bad. The Headphones A person 3 microphones — 1 little than connected nan Headphone 1 — to set to inheritance sound and attraction connected your voice, but they struggle to support voices clear and intelligible. They kept postulation to a quiet high-pitched frying sound arsenic I talked to my woman while stepping on a engaged thoroughfare successful Los Angeles, but location were times my sound was heavy compressed. Words sewage mislaid and I would beryllium difficult to understand, forcing her to attraction and conjecture nan missing words to complete my sentences. I listened backmost to a signaling of nan speech and location were times I couldn’t understand what I said, and I’m nan 1 who said it. The Nothing Headphone 1 had akin problems successful our first testing, earlier we realized they were backward. But I double-checked; nan Headphones A were nan correct measurement around. They conscionable struggle pinch ambient noise. You tin get amended telephone value from nan non-pro Soundcore Space One headphones that are $100 cheaper and astir 3 years old.

There’s nary passive listening mode for nan Headphone A; they still request to beryllium powered connected erstwhile utilizing nan 3.5mm jack. When nan headphones are connected to a instrumentality pinch either USB-C aliases a 3.5mm cablegram (both are included), it disables nan Bluetooth and app connection, truthful you’re incapable to make immoderate EQ aliases ANC spot adjustments. Instead, they’ll proceed to usage immoderate settings are selected erstwhile they’re plugged in. You tin complaint them pinch a USB-C plugged into a charger and still usage Bluetooth, though.

As agelong arsenic dual relationship is enabled successful nan app, nan Headphones A tin link to 2 devices astatine nan aforesaid time, allowing for easy switching betwixt devices successful a mates seconds by pausing connected 1 instrumentality and starting playback connected another. It worked flawlessly pinch my iPhone 15 Pro and a Sony Xperia 1 V. You tin person much than 2 devices connected nan database successful nan Nothing X app and move astatine immoderate clip which 2 are connected to nan headphones. It’s a seamless integration and keeps you from having to spell into aggregate Bluetooth menus to link and disconnect.

Nothing’s creation artistic is distinctive, to nan constituent wherever I questioned really galore group would beryllium comfortable wearing nan Headphone 1 erstwhile they came out. The opaque covers make nan Headphone A much subdued, though nan yellowish and pinkish colors still make a statement. The champion improvement, though, is that they’re $100 cheaper than nan Headphone 1 while keeping immoderate of its champion features.

It would beryllium bully to person a carrying lawsuit and a little plasticky consciousness to nan exterior, and nan lackluster telephone value is simply a letdown. But if those aren’t dealbreakers for you, astatine $199 nan Headphone A connection style and coagulated sound, which is amended (and much adjustable) than likewise priced headphones, for illustration nan Sony Ult. If you passed connected nan Headphone 1, nan Headphone A are nan Nothing you’ve been waiting for.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge