Nothing Headphone (a) Review: chunky battery monster with surprisingly clean sound

I’ve been using the Nothing Headphone (a) in yellow as my main pair for a bit now, swapping them in place of my usual Sony WH-1000XM4 and some older Bose. I use headphones every day for work calls, YouTube, Spotify, and a bit of gaming at night, so they didn’t sit in a drawer. These got thrown straight into my usual routine: commuting, working at the desk, cooking, and a couple of long train trips.

What jumped out first wasn’t the sound, it was the battery. I charged them once on day one, then basically forgot about the charger. With ANC on most of the time and LDAC active on Android, the battery percentage barely moved compared to what I’m used to. I usually top up my Sonys every two or three days. With these, I was charging more out of paranoia than necessity.

The other big thing is the controls. Instead of the usual touch gestures that half-work when your fingers are cold or a bit greasy, Nothing went with a roller, a paddle, and a button. It sounds like a gimmick, but in real life it’s just nice to have something you can feel without looking. Volume, tracks, ANC/transparency – all done blindly after a couple of hours of use.

They’re not perfect. The ANC is good but not in the same league as high-end Sony/Bose, and the carry solution is basically a soft pouch, not a real hard case, which is annoying if you travel a lot. But overall, they feel like a pretty solid package for the price, with a few compromises you should know about before hitting buy.

I paid around the same ballpark as the Amazon reviewers (roughly £80–£150 range depending on promo), and at that price, these feel like good value. You’re getting: long battery life, solid sound with proper EQ control, decent ANC, comfortable ear pads, and a design that’s a bit more interesting than the usual black blob. There are definitely better-sounding or better-cancelling headphones out there, but they usually cost more or don’t give you this kind of battery endurance.

Compared to big names like Sony or Bose, you’re trading a bit of ANC performance and that super-soft headband comfort for a much longer battery and a lower price. If you mostly care about absolute best noise cancelling on planes, I’d still lean Sony/Bose. If you mainly want something that sounds good, lasts ages, and doesn’t feel cheap, these make a lot of sense. The Nothing app is also ahead of what many brands offer in this price bracket – the parametric EQ and customisable controls are actually useful, not just filler features.

There are a couple of value annoyances, though. The soft pouch instead of a real case is the main one. When a listing says "protective case", I expect a hard shell, not a thin bag. So factor in the cost of a third-party case if you care about that. Also, if you never use LDAC or don’t care about the Nothing aesthetic, you can find simpler ANC headphones a bit cheaper, though usually with weaker battery life and worse apps.

Overall, I’d rate the value as strong in the mid-range segment. They’re not a miracle deal, but they’re definitely not overpriced for what they offer. If you can catch them closer to the £80–£100 mark, they’re a pretty solid buy. At the upper end of the price range, they still hold up, mostly thanks to the battery, sound tuning, and the user-friendly controls.

If you’re into discreet, these are not it, especially in yellow. They look like someone mashed together studio headphones with a bit of gamer aesthetic, but without RGB nonsense. There are visible screws, a clear Nothing-style industrial vibe, and the yellow really pops in real life. Personally, I kind of liked that they don’t look like the usual anonymous black plastic blobs, but I can see some people finding them a bit too loud for office use.

The shape is pretty classic over-ear with fairly big cups, but the details are what stand out. The roller and paddle on the right cup give them a slightly retro feel, like an old Walkman control stuck on a modern headset. In practice it’s handy, and visually it makes them look more like a tool than a fashion accessory. The branding is there but not screaming at you, which I appreciated. From a distance, people mostly notice the colour and the chunky headband.

Compared to something like Sony WH-1000XM series or Bose QC, these look less "polished" and more "mechanical". That’s not a complaint, just a style choice. I wore them on trains and in the street and did get a few looks, but nobody came up to ask what they were, so they’re not some crazy sci-fi object either. If you liked Beats’ louder colours but hated the big glossy logos, this sits somewhere in between.

Overall, the design is distinct and a bit polarising. If you want something that fades into the background, grab the black or white version, not the yellow. If you don’t mind your headphones being part of your outfit, the yellow is fun. Just be aware they don’t scream "premium" at first glance the way some metal-heavy designs do – they scream "different" more than "luxury".

The battery is honestly the main selling point here. Nothing claims up to 135 hours of playback, and over 75 hours with ANC. Obviously, that’s in ideal conditions and probably at lower volumes, but in real life it’s still very impressive. With LDAC on, ANC on most of the time, and mixed use (music, YouTube, calls), I was only dropping around 10–15% per heavy day, which lines up with what some Amazon users reported. I went nearly a full week before feeling like I “should” charge, not because they were actually close to dying.

Fast charging also works well. They say 8 hours of playback from 5 minutes of charge. I didn’t stopwatch it, but I did plug them in for roughly 10 minutes before heading out once, and the battery jumped enough to cover a full afternoon of music without any stress. A full charge from empty took around 2 hours for me, which matches the spec sheet. Basically, battery anxiety just disappears with these. If you’re used to babying your wireless headphones, constantly checking the percentage, this is a nice change.

Compared to other ANC headphones I’ve used, they’re clearly ahead. My Sony WH-1000XM4s are already decent, but I still charge them every 2–3 days with heavy use. With the Nothing Headphone (a), once or twice a week is plenty, even if you’re hammering them. If you travel a lot, this is very practical: you can do a couple of long-haul flights and still have juice left without hunting for a socket in an airport.

So yeah, battery is one of the strongest points. It’s not just a spec sheet trick; in day-to-day use you really feel the difference. If long battery life is high on your priority list, these tick that box hard. The downside is just that the headphones are not ultra-light, but for me the trade-off is worth it.

I’ve worn these for full workdays, including long calls and music in between, so roughly 6–8 hours at a time. The ear pads are genuinely comfortable. They’re soft, fairly deep, and my ears never touched the drivers, which is something that annoys me on a lot of cheaper over-ears. Even after a few hours, I didn’t get hot spots on the ears themselves. Clamp force is moderate: tight enough that they don’t wobble when you move your head, but not skull-crushing.

Where comfort slips a bit is the headband. Multiple reviewers mentioned it, and I agree: the padding could be a couple of millimetres thicker. It’s not painful, but after 2–3 hours straight, you start to feel a bit of pressure on the top of your head, especially if you don’t have much hair up there. I ended up adjusting the headband position every now and then to shift the pressure point. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s the one area where they feel more mid-range than high-end.

Weight-wise, at around 308 g, they’re not ultra-light but also not crazy heavy. For comparison, they felt a bit heavier than my Bose QC but in the same ballpark as many ANC over-ears. On my head, the weight distribution is decent; it’s just that slightly firmer headband padding that reminds you you’re wearing them after a while. If you mostly use them for 1–2 hour sessions (gym, commute, Netflix), you probably won’t care. If you’re doing 8-hour shifts with them on, you will notice.

Heat build-up is normal for closed-back headphones. My ears got warm after an hour or two, but not sweaty to the point of wanting to rip them off, which I’ve had with fake leather pads on cheaper models. In short: very comfortable on the ears, acceptable but not perfect on the head. If you’re sensitive on the top of your head, that’s something to keep in mind.

The headphones are mostly plastic, which is normal at this price, but they don’t feel flimsy. The headband has a bit of flex without creaking, and the hinges feel solid when you adjust them. The cups rotate enough to sit flat on your chest and to fit different head shapes. After tossing them in a backpack a few times (inside the soft pouch), I didn’t notice any scratches or scuffs, though I was not throwing them around like a maniac either.

The moving parts – especially the roller and paddle – are often the weak points on this kind of design. Here, they feel pretty robust. The roller has a nice resistance and doesn’t feel wobbly, and the paddle has a firm, clicky action. I didn’t feel like they would snap off easily. Time will tell, but the first impression is that Nothing didn’t cheap out on these parts. The adjustment sliders also hold their position well; they don’t slowly slip bigger or smaller as you move your head.

One area that could be a concern long-term is the ear pads. Like most over-ears with synthetic leather, they will probably wear over a couple of years of heavy use. I didn’t see any immediate peeling or issues, but it’s something to keep in mind. I didn’t find clear info on how easy they are to replace, which would have been nice. At least the stitching and seams on my unit looked clean, with no glue residue or loose threads.

The biggest negative for durability is again the lack of a hard case. A thin drawstring bag just doesn’t protect them properly if you travel a lot or tend to throw bags around. The headphones themselves feel nicely made for the price, but you’ll want to spend a bit on a third-party hard case to keep them from getting crushed in luggage. So structurally, they feel solid; the weak link is really the storage solution, not the headset itself.

Sound-wise, these are tuned for everyday listening with a bass tilt, but not in a dumb way. Out of the box, the bass has punch and a bit of weight, which works well for hip-hop, EDM, and pop. It doesn’t completely bury the mids though, so vocals still come through clearly. One of the Amazon reviewers compared them favourably to Sony’s ULT series, saying the Sonys had too much bass. I’m on the same page: the Nothing Headphone (a) gives you plenty of low end without turning everything into a muddy mess.

The mids are slightly forward, which I liked for podcasts and vocal-heavy tracks. Voices are easy to follow, and you don’t need to crank the volume to understand dialogue in movies. Treble is on the safer side – not harsh, not super extended either. If you’re used to very bright or analytical headphones, these will feel a bit relaxed up top. The upside is that they’re easy to listen to for hours without fatigue, even at higher volumes. And if you don’t like the default sound, the Nothing X app has an 8-band parametric EQ that actually works well. You can dial back the bass, lift the highs a bit, or tweak the mids to your taste.

ANC is good but not class-leading. It handles low-frequency rumble (train, bus, fan noise) pretty well, cuts a decent amount of office hum, but it doesn’t fully match Sony or Bose in killing constant noise. High-pitched sounds and voices still come through, though at a lower level. For the price bracket under £150, I’d say the ANC is respectable: enough to make commuting and open-plan work easier, but not total isolation. Transparency mode is handy and sounds fairly natural; you can hold a conversation without taking them off, though it still has that slightly processed character.

For calls, the 5-mic setup does a decent job. People on the other end said I sounded clear during indoor calls. Outside, with wind and traffic, background noise was reduced but not fully removed – you’re still clearly understandable, just not perfectly clean. Latency for video and casual gaming was fine over Bluetooth; I didn’t notice any major lip-sync issues on Netflix/YouTube. If you’re doing competitive gaming, you’ll probably use the wired connection anyway.

On paper, these tick a lot of boxes: Bluetooth, LDAC, ANC, wired options, and a battery spec that honestly looks a bit ridiculous. You get Bluetooth (listed as 5.0 in the specs, marketed as 5.4), LDAC for higher bitrate audio if your phone supports it, and both USB‑C and 3.5 mm for wired listening. They’re over-ear, 16 ohms impedance, 20 Hz–40 kHz range, so very standard modern spec with a bit of hi-res marketing sprinkled on top.

In the box, you don’t get a lot of extras: the headphones, a USB‑C cable, a 3.5 mm cable, a soft drawstring pouch, and the usual paperwork. Despite the listing saying "protective case", it is really just a fabric bag, not a rigid case. If you throw your headphones into a backpack with keys and random junk, you’ll want to buy a proper case separately. That mismatch between description and reality is a bit annoying and worth calling out.

Function-wise, they cover the basics and then some. You’ve got:

• ANC with three levels plus transparency mode
• Physical controls: roller for volume and play/pause/ANC toggle, paddle for track skipping, button for assistant/EQ/mic mute, etc.
• App support with an 8-band parametric EQ and presets
• Multi-device use (switching between phone and laptop is workable, though not flawless)

Overall, the presentation is "no-nonsense but thought-through". You’re not drowning in accessories, but the basics are here, and the features are not just for show. The only real let-down at this level is the so-called "case" and the fact you’ll probably end up spending extra on a proper one if you care about protecting them.