Nothing’s slightly economical take on tech is joining noise cancelling headphones with a pair that’s well under the price of others.
If it seems like every gadget maker has a pair of headphones and then some, you’d probably be right. But while some gear makers focus on the same ol’, some look to challenge expectations.
Phone and earphone maker Nothing did that earlier this year with a pair of headphones designed to be premium that you could see through, following the company’s transparent take on tech that has seen it get attention since it arrived in Australia.
Now, Nothing’s more budget-focused brand looks to be doing the same, adding to its options of economical earbuds and Android phones, with a similarly wallet-friendly take on headphones in the CMF Headphone Pro.
Because “CMF” stands for “Colour, Material, Finish”, these headphones look a little different from Nothing’s transparent take with the Headphones (1), but the feature list does read similar albeit with a lower price.
You’ll find active noise cancellation in these cans complete with support for the same “Nothing X” app both brands use, and there’s also some similarity in the controls.
The Nothing Headphone (1) featured some roller controls, and the CMF Headphone Pro does, too, offering a roller (basically a notched dial) for volume with a button behind it for pause, play, and switching noise cancellation modes.
There’s also a custom button you can map, plus a slider you can set to control treble or bass levels, handy if you like your headphones to have more of one element specific to a song at times. If you need to pump up the bass for one song, you can dial it in specifically using CMF’s “Energy Slider”, and then dial it back when you don’t need it.
CMF also includes support for spatial, high-res audio and LDAC, handy if your media supports it, but the most impressive aspect could be the battery life, capable of playing up to 50 hours of playback with noise cancellation on, or doubling it to 100 hours when you turn active noise cancellation off.
We’re not sure why you would — that bubble of sound ANC is known for is difficult to move past — but there’s a lot of battery life here, for sure, with a five minute charge providing up to 4 hours of listening, likely 2 with ANC.
The pricing is the other compelling aspect of the CMF Headphones Pro, achieving a sub-$200 price point in Australia and New Zealand, arriving for $179 in Australia and $199 in New Zealand, and available in three colours: a dark grey, a light grey, and a light green.
