Nothing CMF Headphones Pro review: Bold and budget friendly

Nothing’s second set of over-ear headphones don’t look anything like their first. The Nothing Headphones 1 made their splashy debut earlier this year, arriving with premium specs and the price to match. 

By comparison, the follow-up is a more modest affair. Sitting within the company’s budget-friendly sub-brand, the CMF Headphones Pro aren’t just made of cheaper materials. The specs are more modest, and the design isn’t nearly as eye-catching. Even so, these shortcuts quickly add up to a cheaper asking price.

Whatever you’re losing in sound quality, you’re definitely gaining back in bang for your buck.

In Australia, the Nothing CMF Headphones Pro are priced at $179. That's pretty budget-friendly by the standards of premium headphones. 

Still, if you're looking to save even more money, it might be worth shopping around. Check out the table below for a round-up of deals for the Nothing CMF Headphones Pro.

The CMF Headphones Pro err in the opposite direction to their premium counterparts. Rather than polished aluminum and transparent plastic, they’re built around a set of pastel-colored circular earcups and a lightly-padded headband. 

Similar to something like the Sonos Ace or Dyson OnTrac, the aforementioned earcups can be twisted and detached at will. There are additional colour variants available via Nothing for those who want to customise the overall look, each priced at $39.99.

On the inside, the CMF Headphones Pro are kitted out with custom 40mm drivers and nickel-plated diaphragms that reduce distortion. On the outside, the earcups are adorned with a variety of buttons and dials. Although the earcups themselves were fairly comfortable, the plastic shell attached to them often comes across as cheap and glossy in a way that’s hard to shake. 

On one hand, I appreciated that Nothing has chosen to stick with physical inputs rather than finicky touch-based ones. Unfortunately, the interface here is significantly less intuitive than the one found on the Headphones 1. There’s an "Energy Slider" on the left that lets you tune the headphones toward treble or bass at will, underneath which sits a button that handles power and Bluetooth pairing. 

The right earcup is where you’ll find a wheel that handles the volume, noise-cancelling and pause/play functionality. Below that sits a shortcut key that can be customised via the Nothing X app. By default, this is set to be a shortcut to your voice assistant of choice. The sides of the CMF Headphones Pro also house a USB-C port used for charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack that can be used for analog audio. 

All told, this setup is a little too crowded for comfort. The buttons on the CMF Headphones Pro aren’t distinct enough, and the functionality attached to each input is so layered that it’s easy to lose track of which input does what. Still, these drawbacks do have to be considered in context. The CMF Headphones Pro aren’t up against the AirPods Pro Max. They’re up against the Sony WH-C520s. 

Even if these headphones aren’t as eye-catching as their Nothing-branded counterparts, they’ve still got a pizazz that most other budget headphones lack when it comes to looks. Even if that illusion doesn’t hold up too well once you take a closer look, it’s still more compelling than what the competition has to offer on the aesthetics front.

Looks aren't the only thing that the CMF Headphones have going for them. The battery life is also pretty solid.

With the noise-cancelling enabled, you can expect about 50 hours of playback from a single charge. Turn that off and you’ll be able to get close to 100 hours of the hardware here. Whenever you’re out of charge, you won’t be left in the lurch too long. The CMF Headphones Pro come with support for fast-charging that can get you 4 hours of ANC playback (or 8 hours with ANC disabled) from just five minutes of charging.

Aside from the general flexibility that the long battery life and fast charging brought to the table, the other thing that I found myself really digging about the CMF Headphones Pro is the way that they integrated with the Nothing X app. 

Although companion software is nothing new (no pun intended), Nothing’s take on the idea remains a pretty compelling one. It doesn’t get in the way of using the headphones, and it makes customising them to your liking a little easier, via support for an equaliser and a number of settings that let you control the sound profile or even latency.

It doesn’t hurt that the noise cancelling here is surprisingly good. At least by the standards of budget over-ear headphones. The CMF Headphones Pro probably won’t cut it when it comes to louder noises like nearby construction or the sound of cars or sirens. Likewise, if you’re listening to a podcast or audio book, you’re likely to end up with some external noise in the mix. 

Even so, if the main thing you’re doing is listening to music at a decent volume then you’ll probably be able to live within the limits of the CMF Headphones Pro can offer in terms of noise cancelling and overall sound quality. 

Subject to our usual testing playlist, the Nothing CMF Headphones Pro performed well above what you'd expect for a set of headphones at this price point. When it came to tracks with a decent amount of bass, they overdelivered. The hardware was a little less exceptional when it came to broader soundscapes like Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”.

The microphone setup on the Nothing CMF Headphones Pro is more underwhelming. The quality isn’t super sharp and my voice sounded significantly quieter when recorded via these over-ear headphones than they did Nothing’s last set. They’re better than nothing in a pinch but not much to write home about. If call quality is a priority for you, there are better options out there.