Looks aren’t everything, but they ain’t nothin’ neither. Or, I guess they are Nothing in that the U.K.-based tech company often makes appearance a defining part of its gadgets, and not in an entirely superficial way. Nothing’s products are fun to look at, but their appearance, which incorporates elements of ’90s tech (specifically, a transparent design), also mean something symbolically: that the company is down to Try Things.
What those things are depends on the category. In phones, it’s custom software and flashy lights on the back, which are both meant to wean you off staring at your screen all the time. Nothing has tried lots of other stuff with its earbuds, including open-ear design, ChatGPT integration, and—most recently, with the Ear 3—a novel microphone feature that is better in theory than it is in practice. Sometimes those ideas work, and sometimes they don’t, but there is one category where they have hit more than they miss, and that’s headphones.
Nothing’s Headphone 1 aren’t just a more affordable alternative to high-end competitors like AirPods Max. They also hold their own in the field, delivering on aesthetics, functionality, and more practical features like active noise cancellation (ANC) and sound. Because of those high marks, I was excited to get my hands on the Headphone Pro, which are an even more affordable alternative to the Headphone 1 made by CMF, a subbrand of Nothing. Like the Headphone 1, the CMF Headphone Pro take some chances—and the hit rate is higher than I expected.
CMF Headphone Pro The CMF Headphone Pro give you a good amount for an affordable price. 3.5 Pros Very affordable
Solid sound and noise cancellation
Great battery life Cons Bass slider isn't very useful
Spatial sound features are unusable
Bass-heavy tuning
The CMF Headphone Pro aren’t phoning it in
When it comes to budget devices, the question is always: What are you sacrificing, and to what degree? With personal audio products like wireless earbuds and headphones, the answer is usually sound quality, features like ANC, or maybe battery life. The name of the game is whether those sacrifices are acceptable at the price point in question, and in the Headphone Pro’s case, they generally are.
The first thing you’ll notice about the CMF Headphone Pro when you’re actually holding them in your hand is that they feel a lot cheaper than the Headphone 1. This is to be expected given the $200 price difference between the two, and if you’re willing to accept budget build quality (which I am, though I can’t attest to the comparative durability of the two devices), then you’ll likely get past that difference pretty quickly.
Do these headphones look as cool as the Headphone 1? That’s subjective, but also no, definitely not. The Headphone 1 crush the design part of things, and as someone who’s worn them out in public fairly often, I can tell you that they’re likely to turn heads (I’ve had more than one person ask where I got them). The CMF Headphone Pro have a look all their own, but the vibe isn’t quite as bold. CMF does get points for including a light green color that, especially when coupled with orange earcups, looks different from the rest of the crowd.
In the spirit of uniqueness, CMF also lets you buy additional earcups in different colors. In my case, CMF sent along orange earcups that I paired with the light green headphones. The color combination won’t be for everyone, but I actually like it. It brings a “look-at-me” spirit that makes Nothing’s product design fun, and in addition to aesthetics, also adds a dose of modularity, which is great for longevity. Earcups are often one of the first parts of a pair of headphones to deteriorate, and replacing them is much cheaper than buying a whole new pair. As an added plus, swapping the earcups out couldn’t be easier; just twist them off and then twist different ones back on.
Ultimately, though, the look is really just a first impression and, like all first impressions, subject to change. That’s a point in the Headphone Pro’s favor.
Budget isn’t always bad
If you’re willing to adorn your head with a big pair of over-ear headphones, you’re probably expecting bigger sound than your average pair of wireless earbuds. While the Headphone Pro don’t match the Nothing Headphone 1 in sound quality, they did exceed my expectations at a price that undercuts most headphones and even some wireless earbuds.
I listened across a few different genres and found the Headphone Pro most at home with electronic music. Their quite round-sounding bass worked well with electronic sound-scape-y music from Kitty Ray and groovier, disco-forward electronic tracks from Daft Punk. That round bass, however, is a bit less suited to grunge-y, folk-y tunes from my favorite newer bands like Wednesday.
Even if the bass tuning feels slightly out of place in rock genres, the Headphone Pro still performed better than I expected them to on a fairly wide soundstage, presenting guitars and other midrange frequencies as distinct elements. I would have liked to see the same attention to higher-frequency vocal ranges in rock songs, but premium headphones these are not. As always, I used the companion app, Nothing X, to tune the CMF Headphone Pro to my hearing, and while the hearing test definitely improved the sound a bit (especially vocals), that wasn’t enough to change my mind about the tuning.
If there’s one thing of which these headphones are guilty in the sound department, it’s putting a little too much oomph on the low end and not as much love on the other frequencies, which is funny given what I’m about to touch on next.
Buttons, buttons, buttons
One bit of carryover from the Nothing Headphone 1 to the CMF Headphone Pro is an emphasis on buttons. Like the Headphone 1, there’s a roller for volume that can also be pressed for pause/play and (unlike the equivalent button on the Headphone 1) double-pressed to skip tracks. There’s also a button on the underside of the right earcup for power and Bluetooth pairing, and a red dot button on the left earcup activates a voice assistant on your phone by default.
Those aren’t the buttons I really want to talk about, though; the tactile control I find most interesting is what CMF calls the “energy slider.” In normal person parlance, it’s an adjustable slider that controls the amount of bass. As someone who’s very specific about how headphones and wireless earbuds handle bass in particular, a slider is something I might actually use.
For others like me, I have good and bad news. The good news is that the thing works: Sliding that bad boy up definitely cranks the bass to 11, as a member of the fictional band Spinal Tap would say. The bad news? Well, it’s probably a bit redundant given how bass-heavy the Headphone Pro’s tuning already is. Maybe you’ll use it if you’re a bass junkie that just needs more, but I didn’t end up seeing a need to crank the low end on any song I listened to.
While we’re being honest about the buttons of the CMF Headphone Pro, it’s worth noting that the volume roller feels significantly cheaper than that of Nothing’s Headphone 1. While the Headphone 1’s has a nice pop when you press it, the Headphone Pro’s has a gritty, almost flimsy feel. Though it does work, it’s not what I would call a superb tactile experience. But again, this is the type of compromise you’re signing up for when you buy a budget pair of headphones.
CMF Headphone Pro: Everything else
One thing that caught my eye when CMF was leaking news about its headphones before their release was the battery life. The manufacturer claimed that the Headphone Pro would deliver 50 hours of battery life with ANC on and a whopping 100 hours with ANC off. ANC-enabled listening is the more important figure here, and while 50 hours wouldn’t break any records (companies like Sennheiser and Marshall have gone into the 60-hour and 70-hour mark with ANC on), it’s still a lot of longevity for a pair of headphones that only costs $99.
I’m happy to report that after testing the CMF Headphone Pro for hours, those battery life estimates seem like the real deal. As I’m writing this, I’ve been listening to the CMF Headphone Pro for two hours straight at 75 percent volume with ANC on, and they haven’t budged from the 30% battery mark. I was listening on the train for about 45 minutes before that, and they were on 30% battery then, too. If battery life is a priority for you, these headphones will give you your money’s worth and more.
As long as we’re talking about ANC, it’s also worth noting that CMF does a solid job in that department. These aren’t the most advanced ANC headphones I’ve ever used (Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra take that award), but they hold their own, and if you’re upgrading from an older pair of budget or midrange earbuds, you’ll probably feel the improvement. I still get some noise bleed on the train and when I’m walking down the streets of New York, but the passive and active noise cancelling definitely add up to a decent listening experience.
Like other Nothing and CMF products, there are also some app-enabled software features to take advantage of, including new spatial modes. One of them, Concert Mode, is meant to simulate a more live sound, but I can’t really notice a huge difference when I turn it on. That’s more than I can say for its companion mode, Cinema Mode, which actively makes the sound of movies and TV shows worse. I’m not really sure what CMF was going for here, but when I activate Cinema Mode, which I did while watching Jujutsu Kaisen on my phone, it sounds like I’m watching the show inside a person-sized tin can.
Having just used a spatial audio feature in Bose’s new QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) headphones that feels like it genuinely augments immersion, CMF’s stab at the same effect feels extra off the mark. If you were thinking about watching things with Cinema Mode activated, I would recommend… not. The headphones are perfectly serviceable for listening to movies, TV, podcasts, and YouTube without trying and failing to compound the effects with software.
Am I pro-Headphone Pro?
To many audiophiles, a $99 pair of headphones might sound like a deal that’s too good to be true. But CMF has put forth a very compelling package for that price. The battery and sound aren’t mind-blowing, but they’re both better than I’d normally expect to receive for a third of the price of their ritzy cousin, Nothing’s Headphone 1.
CMF’s Headphone Pro also take some risks here, and some of them pay off. I love the modular earcups, and while the buttons aren’t super practical all the time (I probably won’t be using the energy slider often), they’re still nice to have. If you’re expecting an AirPods Max or Sony WH-1000XM6-level experience for under $100, you may be in for a rude awakening. But if you’re okay with sacrificing some sound quality and ANC, and if you don’t mind touching cheap plastic on a regular basis, the Headphone Pro aren’t a bad pick at all.