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.
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