I ditched Sony and Bose to try some unique British headphones instead

There are plenty of excellent noise cancelling over-ear headphones on the market but most of them have relatively drab and uninteresting designs. Market leaders such as Bose, Sony and even Apple play it relatively safe when it comes to headworn audio.

If you’ve been waiting for a pair of headphones to arrive on the market that will truly stand out from the crowd, today is your lucky day.

UK tech firm Nothing has just announced the Nothing Headphone 1, its first ever over-ear headphones, and there’s no way you could accuse them of being drab.

Launched alongside the new high-end Nothing Phone 3 Android smartphone, the £299 Headphone 1 has a bold metal and transparent plastic design that echoes the look of the brand’s phones and wireless earbuds. They come with noise cancelling tech, support for Hi-Res audio, lossless playback via USB-C, and even a 3.5mm headphone jack for connecting via a supplied cable to audio devices that have one.

But it’s the divisive design that’s the first talking point. I’ve had the Headphone 1 for a couple of weeks, and showing them to people elicits responses from mostly opposite ends of the spectrum – it’s either love or hate. The rounded memory foam earcups are one part of a three layer sandwich that also takes in a rounded metal shape with oval plastic on the outside, which is transparent.

Similar to other Nothing products, this reveals intentional design flourishes rather than actual internal components.

I’ve found the look to have grown on me. At first I thought them ugly but after a few days they seemed much less offensive. They’re certainly unique.

Perhaps it helps that I didn’t mind having them clamped to my head. They are relatively light despite metal being used as part of the construction. At just 329 grams, they’re more comfortable than the 386 gram Apple AirPods Max. 57 grams doesn’t sound like a lot, but it makes a difference when it’s on your head for hours at a time.

But none of this matters if the Nothing Headphone 1 doesn’t sound good. Thankfully, I think they just about justify their £299 price tag, though this isn’t exactly pocket change.

The noise cancellation is great, blocking out most office and train sounds as well as voices. People were trying to talk to me a metre away and I couldn’t hear them. The transparency mode is also good, and has very little static so you can chat away without taking the cans off.

Like Beats headphones, these cans are tuned for all the bass-heads out there. The low-end is well represented, making the Headphone 1 an excellent pick if you listen to a lot of hip hop or dance music. That said, I found most genres sounded great, with a little tuning.

Using the Nothing X app on both iPhone and Android, you can adjust the EQ either with presets or a more granular slider set up. The soundstage of the headphones is very good, with a baseline of audio quality that sounds on par with Bose headphones I’ve tested around the same price point.

Streaming Spotify using an iPhone sounds decent, but you can unlock better sound quality with the Headphone 1 if you pair them with a compatible Android phone that supports Hi-Res Wireless standards. Nothing also ships the headphones with a USB-C cable for charging but also to plug into a phone for lossless audio playback, plus there’s a 3.5mm headphone cable to plug them into a device with a headphone jack.

Nothing says the Headphone is “designed for both audiophiles and everyday listeners”, which shines through with the pleasing number of audio options at your disposal.

Unfortunately, Nothing’s spatial audio mode makes most tracks sound worse, often muddying and thinning out vocals. Ironically, audio sounds less spacious when the mode is on. It also doesn’t work with the bass enhancement or equaliser options, turning them off when triggered.

Thankfully, bass enhancement is excellent. It really draws out the bass guitar on tracks such as Abel by The National and Scratchcard Lanyard by Dry Cleaning. But Kendrick Lamar’s Money Trees truly comes alive here and showcases the Nothing Headphone 1 at their best. Rock tracks sound good but hip hop sounds phenomenal, partly because the headphones cope better with the bass and high ends, and struggle a little more with the mids, where a lot of rock and guitar music plays.

Hopefully Nothing can tune a little of this out in software update improvements, which it is very good at with its smartphones. What doesn’t need improving are the controls, which are great. I’m happy Nothing has mainly buttons for this, with only volume a swipe action. It’s so much easier to press a button when you can’t see it than use all touch controls, like Sony insists on.

The Nothing Headphone 1 is impressively refined for a first go at over-ears. I’d happily use them as my main pair, and they undercut the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones by more than £100. That’s a win in my book – as long as you like the look.

You can pre-order the Nothing Headphone 1 from July 4 for £299 from Nothing.