Nothing's $399 Headphone (1) Pro adds three drivers per ear and a studio EQ switch

The headphones keep Nothing's recognizable transparent-tech aesthetic while making one major change under the hood: three separate drivers per ear instead of the usual single dynamic driver.

• Bass: A 40mm dynamic driver handles low end.
• Mids: A precision dynamic driver tackles vocals, pianos, and guitars.
• Treble: An xMEMS silicon driver handles sharp transients like cymbal hits.

The catch: splitting frequencies across three drivers instead of one adds complexity and cost, part of why the Pro costs $100 more than the standard Headphone (1) at $299.

The standout feature is a physical Flat EQ switch tucked into the inside corner of the left ear cup, developed in partnership with Metropolis Studios, a London recording and mastering space where Mark Ronson produced Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black."

In real life If you're a musician or mixing engineer who wants to hear a track without headphones adding their own coloration, flipping this switch removes the EQ and spatial audio processing so you're hearing something closer to a flat, unprocessed signal.

The Verge's review says it's a feature the reviewer hasn't seen before on consumer headphones, disabling EQ and spatial audio entirely rather than just offering another preset.

Nothing's chief brand officer Charlie Smith framed the appeal broadly rather than as a niche studio tool: "People are making music on the go and need studio-level sound wherever they are."

Flipping the switch does change the sound noticeably. According to The Verge's testing, Nothing's default Balanced EQ pushes mids and highs forward, with present vocals and sizzly cymbals, while Flat EQ pulls those frequencies back in line with the bass.

By the numbers: research on listener preference known as the Harman Curve, developed by Dr. Sean Olive and colleagues, shows most people actually prefer elevated bass, neutral mids, and slightly boosted highs rather than a truly flat response. That means Flat EQ mode is a genuinely useful studio tool, but not necessarily what most casual listeners will want for everyday use.

The reviewer noted a preference for using the app's parametric EQ to tame some high-end edge instead of relying on the Flat EQ switch for regular listening.

That distinction matters for anyone deciding whether the switch is a genuine reason to buy the Pro model. It's a real tool for the specific audience Nothing is courting, working musicians and mixing engineers, rather than a marketing gimmick aimed at everyday listeners who will likely leave it off entirely.

Nothing says the Headphone (1) Pro has its best active noise cancellation yet, built around 10 microphones filtering ambient sound, compared to eight microphones on Apple's AirPods Max.

The see-through glass panels on the sides, made from 9H Panda glass, show off part of the internal driver architecture. Nothing associate principal industrial designer Philipp Von Lintel told Wired the glass survived durability tests including 18 drops from over a meter, and even if it cracks, an internal plastic film keeps the driver chamber functional. Repair technicians can also heat the glass from outside to remove it for internal repairs.

That repairability detail matters more than it might seem. A lot of premium headphones treat any kind of internal access as effectively impossible without specialized tools, so designing the glass panels to be removable with heat rather than force is a deliberate choice aimed at extending the product's usable life beyond the first crack.

Battery life drops to 68 hours with ANC off, compared to 80 hours on the standard Headphone (1), a tradeoff for the added driver hardware and glass construction. The headphones also don't fold, shipping instead with a fitted carrying case similar to Apple's approach with AirPods Max.

They're rated IP52 for dust and water resistance, enough for light rain but not a substitute for actual weatherproofing on a soggy commute. That's a modest rating compared to some rivals, and it's worth checking before relying on these for regular outdoor workouts or unpredictable weather.

There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack included alongside hi-res wireless and USB-C connectivity options, a detail that matters most to anyone still using wired studio monitors, professional audio interfaces, or older equipment that lacks Bluetooth support entirely. It's a small inclusion, but one plenty of flagship headphones have quietly dropped in recent years in favor of wireless-only designs.

At $399, the Headphone (1) Pro undercuts every major premium competitor by a real margin, not just a token discount.

Why it matters: Sony's WH-1000XM6 and Apple's AirPods Max 2 rarely see meaningful discounts outside major sales events, while Nothing is launching below all three from day one. That pricing puts real pressure on buyers who assumed a flagship-tier headphone automatically meant spending $450 or more.

Whether Nothing's triple-driver approach and Flat EQ switch actually compete on sound quality with headphones that have years of tuning behind them is a separate question the company is betting reviewers and customers will answer in its favor.

The Headphone (1) Pro doesn't exist in isolation. Nothing, founded by Carl Pei in 2020, built its reputation on a distinctive transparent design language that shows off the internals of its phones and audio gear, starting with the original Ear (1) earbuds in 2021.

What's next: 2026 alone has brought a steady stream of audio releases from the company, including the Headphone A at $199 and the Ear (3a) earbuds under $100, both of which The Verge's reviewer called solid or surprisingly good. That left an obvious gap at the top of the lineup for something more expensive and more technically ambitious, which is exactly the space the Headphone (1) Pro fills.

Building a following around transparent design and tactile controls has worked well enough for Nothing's phones that extending the same philosophy into premium audio, where established brands like Sony, Bose, and Apple already dominate, is a natural next test of how far that reputation actually travels among a very different, pickier audience of serious audio buyers.