I am a full time user of Nothing products, and therefore my review might seem a bit biased (and that's why I avoid such biased reviews), but as a rather avid audiophile I can't help but share my completely subjective opinion. (I apologize in advance for the occasional poetic interjections) The design of the headphones itself is perfectly in line with the brand. Some elements are related to previous handsets (e.g. differentiating the sides of the headphones with red and white elements, or the recess on the case, which in Nothing Ear headphones fulfilled both an ergonomic and practical function (keeping the headphones on the charging pins, while at the same time the finger hole parts are easily removed from the pocket). It is a silly thing, but someone who looks for connections in everything, like me, will be pleased). There is another hole for the remaining 4 fingers. Ergonomically it is fine, but this only applies to right-handed users. Let the lefties carry a backpack to put their holster in. The case itself is then covered with a kind of almost hairy surface, which at first seemed impractical to me, because after getting dirty it is not so easy to wash. Over time, however, I have found that this case is non-slip on any fabric, which is especially useful on car seats/Public Transport. The case then has a pocket inside into which you can insert, for example, a charger and when you close the case (which is zipped, by the way, so there is no unintentional opening) you can also use the space between the headphones. The headphones themselves are aluminum, which adds weight, but ultimately helps to better isolate the surrounding environment. Overall, the build quality far exceeds even much more expensive headphones. The manual buttons are intuitive, elegant, and I wish all headphones had a "paddle" like this to switch music. The head bridge is then adjustable via rubber power blocks, which still hold after almost a year of use. As far as sound is concerned, they are quite specific. A little deficient in the bass at times, but without any hint of unbalanced sound. In addition, the Nothings app has a bass boost function that reduces this problem without significantly distorting the sound balance. The mids are strong, and the hiss (frequencies 1kHz-1.3kHz) surprisingly clear. (In these, dare I say, penetrating frequencies, it absolutely crushes e.g. AirPods Max, which otherwise have a very balanced sound) With the treble, we then get to the part of why these headphones are specific. KEF really nailed this part, and at any susceptible frequency one feels as if the sound sounds (sorry for the unprofessional term) sweet. Which may be a bit disappointing for some real audiophiles, but I have tried it on all genres of music, and with classical music and baroque chants I found a strange phenomenon. The "sweeter" tone gives the frequencies of the string instruments (especially the viola) a slightly more pronounced and distinct expression than I got, e.g. for the combination of Sennheiser HD800 headphones with Sennheiser HDV 820 preamplifier. I'm not sure if this was originally intended from the factory, but the final result sounds surprisingly good. I had a similarly pleasant surprise with modern metal (but nothing so groundbreaking there) So the final verdict: If you listen to almost everything, and don't mind not having such nice headphones with a majority plastic, pay the extra 4 grand, and buy the Sony wh-1000mx6. (if you can survive the V-shape sound profile in the base). However, if you like music with strong and penetrating tones (see classical music or some guitar solos), I can only recommend these headphones.
