What It Is

Audio · Consumer Electronics · Benchmarking · Comparison BriefThree launches, Jul 2025 to Mar 2026 · record to 28 Sep 2026

The three, side by side Ratings are the maker’s own, at AAC and 50% volume. Measured figures name the lab.

• 16 minbetween the $299 and $99 models at SoundGuys, ANC on
• 11.5 hbetween the same two at TechRadar, run at the maker’s volume
• −1.0%the $99 model at TechRadar, against its own 50-hour rating
• 0run-down tests of the 75-hour claim, 207 days after its first review

Timeline

Three launches, two labs, one test still running Every dated node. Measurements are dated by publication, not by when they were run.

1. 1 Jul 2025Nothing announces Headphone (1) at $299 / £299 / €299: aluminium, 329 g, a 40 mm driver tuned with KEF, 42 dB rated noise cancelling, IP52. TechRadar’s review runs the same day, scores it 3.5 of 5 and measures just over 38 hours with noise cancelling on, against the 35-hour rating.
2. 4 Jul 2025Pre-orders open. SoundGuys publishes its review, updated since; the current version gives 8.1, 42 h 53 min with noise cancelling on at about 38% volume, 85% average attenuation, and a dark default tuning that needs the equaliser.
3. 15 Jul 2025Headphone (1) ships.
4. 29 Sep 2025CMF Headphone Pro announced at $99 / £79, on sale in the UK and EU the same day: 283 g, Bluetooth 5.4, swappable cushions at $25 / £19 a pair, an Energy Slider for bass or treble, 40 dB rated noise cancelling, and 100 / 50 hours rated. The launch date had been teased on 18 September.
5. 7 Oct 2025CMF Headphone Pro on sale in the US.
6. 13 Oct 2025CMF Headphone Pro on sale in Malaysia at RM429.
7. 31 Oct 2025SoundGuys reviews CMF Headphone Pro: 7.7, 43 h 09 min with noise cancelling on — sixteen minutes more than it measured for the Headphone (1) — about 81% attenuation, and a stiff headband uncomfortable after a couple of hours.
8. 12 Nov 2025TechRadar reviews CMF Headphone Pro: 4.5 of 5, and 49.5 hours with noise cancelling on against the 50-hour rating at 50% volume — about 11.5 hours more than it measured for the Headphone (1). The same month, SoundGuys records that Headphone (1) firmware 1.0.1.74 changed its frequency response drastically.
9. 13 Jan 2026CMF Headphone Pro launched in India at Rs 7,999, on sale from 20 January.
10. 5 Mar 2026Nothing announces Headphone (a) at $199 / £149 / €159 and opens pre-orders: plastic, 310 g, a 40 mm titanium-coated driver with no KEF involvement, Bluetooth 5.4, IP52, 40 dB rated noise cancelling and 135 / 75 hours rated. TechRadar’s review runs the same day: 4.5 of 5, an “open, wide and free-flowing soundstage”, and the battery indicator down 20% after about 13 hours.
11. 13 Mar 2026Headphone (a) on open sale in black, white and pink.
12. 14 Mar 2026SoundGuys reviews Headphone (a): 8.1 — the score it gave the Headphone (1) — 83% attenuation, “odd stock sound” that is “difficult to EQ”, and a battery section it says will not be finished before publication.
13. 18 Mar 2026Headphone (1) firmware 1.0.1.81 fixes the changed frequency response; SoundGuys adds new measurements.
14. 26 Mar 2026Headphone (a) launched in Taiwan at NT$5,990, in four colours.
15. 1 Apr 2026techreviewer.de reports 85% charge left after almost twelve hours of a flight with noise cancelling on.
16. 6 Apr 2026The limited yellow Headphone (a) arrives.
17. 23 May 2026Headphone (a) at $169 at Amazon US, its lowest price to that date.

The Argument

The flagship reviews worst — at one publication The argument this range turns on, and the evidence on both sides of it.

What Others Add

Two labs, the same two headphones, two answers Runtime with noise cancelling on, against the maker’s rating at 50% volume.

• Agreement

  What both labs found

  two independent run-down tests

  • The $299 Headphone (1) beats its own rating at both: by 22.5% at one, by at least 8.6% at the other.
  • The $99 CMF Headphone Pro runs at least as long as the $299 model at both.
  • Nothing’s own ratings are all taken at 50% volume on AAC, so neither lab is testing against a number made under unknown conditions.

• Disagreement

  Sixteen minutes, or eleven and a half hours

  this article’s arithmetic

  • SoundGuys: 2,589 − 2,573 minutes = 16 minutes, 0.62%. TechRadar: 49.5 − 38 = 11.5 hours, and just under that since the (1) ran “just over” 38.
  • The one difference in method either lab states is volume: SoundGuys ran its Headphone (1) test at about 38%, TechRadar at 50%.
  • Volume does not obviously explain CMF: if SoundGuys ran it at the same lower volume, it still lasted 6 h 21 min less there than at TechRadar. Neither lab accounts for that, and this page does not guess.

• Noise cancelling

  Measured once, and in price order

  one lab, one method

  • Rated: 42, 40 and 40 dB. Measured by SoundGuys: 85%, 83% and 81% average attenuation.
  • TechRadar judges by ear only: the flagship on a par with Sony’s WH-1000XM5, the Headphone (a) strong but not mind-blowing, CMF acceptable for the money.
  • Four points across a threefold price is a small difference, reported as small.

Conclusion

Which one for which listener Who each one suits, and what each is best at. No winner: that depends on what you weigh.

• Headphone (1) — $299

  If you want the most silence, the most adjustment and the metal

  85% measured; rated conservatively at both labs

  • The best measured noise cancelling of the three, and the only 42 dB rating in the range.
  • The one whose battery rating you can trust most: both labs measured more than it promises.
  • Aluminium build, an eight-band parametric equaliser, auto-pause, a proper case and wired USB-C audio.
  • The trade-off: the heaviest at 329 g, and a default tuning both labs find needs work. TechRadar scored it lowest of the three; it has sold for as little as $254 / £199.

• Headphone (a) — $199

  If you want the balance, and can wait on one number

  4.5 of 5 and 8.1, from two publications

  • The best-reviewed of the three across both publications: 4.5 of 5 at TechRadar, level with the flagship at SoundGuys.
  • A soundstage TechRadar calls open and wide, 83% measured attenuation at two thirds of the flagship’s price, 19 g lighter, IP52 and wired USB-C audio kept.
  • Its battery rating sits within 2% of CMF’s per unit of charge, and CMF’s has been met — a reason to expect a lot, not a measurement.
  • The trade-off: no auto-pause, a drawstring bag, and a stock sound SoundGuys calls odd and difficult to equalise.

• CMF Headphone Pro — $99

  If you want the least money, the least weight and the most measured runtime

  43 h 09 min and 49.5 h, at two labs

  • The longest runtime anybody has measured in this range — 49.5 hours with noise cancelling on, within 1% of its rating — and at least as long as the $299 model at both labs.
  • The lightest at 283 g — 46 g, or 14.0%, less than the flagship.
  • Swappable cushions and a hardware bass-and-treble slider, which neither Nothing model has; it has sold for as little as £49.
  • The trade-off: 81% attenuation, IPX2, a three-band equaliser, no wired USB-C audio, and a build SoundGuys calls creaky.

• A battery hour is a claim until two people measure it. One lab put the $99 and $299 models sixteen minutes apart; the other put them eleven and a half hours apart. What survives both is narrower and more useful: the cheaper one lasts at least as long.
• Where all three last two working days, runtime is not the deciding specification. Weight, the equaliser, a case and auto-pause are the differences a wearer meets every day.
• Switching to LDAC costs a quarter of the budget model’s rated runtime with noise cancelling on — 50 hours falls to 38 — against about a sixth on the two Nothing models. Anyone buying CMF for its battery should listen on AAC.
• The price ladder is not the same ladder in every currency. The flagship is 3.02× the budget model in dollars and 3.78× in pounds, where the Headphone (a) is £149 against the flagship’s £299.