As the chilly winds begin to blow, the season for headphones has arrived. Unlike earphones, headphones offer the advantage of keeping your ears warm while delivering a much wider soundstage and deeper bass. Moreover, they’ve recently become popular fashion items, making it easy to spot people wearing stylish headphones on the street.
However, the essence of headphones ultimately lies in their sound quality. No matter how pretty or trendy they are, if the sound isn’t good, they’re useless. And if they come with a reasonable price, that’s even better, wouldn’t you agree?
Nothing is a British brand known for its transparent design and unique philosophy, while its sub-brand CMF releases cost-effective products that more people can enjoy. The newly launched CMF Headphones PRO are garnering significant attention overseas, despite their price point in the early 100,000 KRW range (roughly $70-80 USD).
Let’s take a closer look now to see if the Nothing CMF Headphones PRO truly live up to their reputation for value.
Specifications and Contents
The Nothing CMF Headphones PRO feature 40mm custom drivers, a battery life of up to 100 hours, and noise-cancelling performance capable of blocking out up to 40dB of sound.
Product Specifications
Driver: 40mm Nickel-plated Diaphragm
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz
Weight: 283g
Noise Cancelling: Hybrid Adaptive ANC (Up to 40dB)
Battery Life: 50 hours with ANC on / 100 hours with ANC off (based on AAC codec)
Charging Time: Approx. 2 hours (4 hours of use with 5 minutes of charging)
Bluetooth: Version 5.4
Codec Support: SBC, AAC, LDAC
The package includes the headphones themselves, a soft fabric pouch, and a 1.2m 3.5mm audio cable. While the pouch is a soft type rather than a hard case, it’s perfectly adequate for everyday storage and portability.
Appearance and Features
The Nothing CMF Headphones PRO are available in three colors: Light Gray, Dark Gray, and Light Green. Their minimalist design, centered around circular forms, embodies Nothing’s philosophy while offering a more restrained feel compared to existing Nothing products.
The weight of headphones is a crucial purchasing factor for many, and at a lightweight 282g (actual measurement), these headphones cause less strain during long periods of wear.
The earcups have a glossy finish, and their rounded design gives them a unique feel.
The headband provides ample cushioning and is adjustable in length to fit various head sizes.
The earcups are made from polyurethane synthetic leather and memory foam, providing a comfortable fit. Notably, the earcups are designed with ample depth, preventing your ears from touching the housing, which ensures comfort even during extended wear.
One of the unique features of the CMF Headphones PRO is the ability to easily replace the ear cushions. They can be detached simply by twisting a screw, and additional green or orange cushions can be purchased from the Nothing official brand store.
Various control buttons are located on the earcups. The left earcup features the power/pairing button, a 3.5mm audio jack, and an ‘Energy Slider.’ The Energy Slider is a first-of-its-kind feature from Nothing, allowing real-time adjustment of specific frequency bands of the sound.
The right earcup houses the USB-C charging port, a customizable action button, and a roller for volume and playback control. Specifically, you can adjust the volume by rotating the roller, press it once to play/pause, twice for the next track, and three times for the previous track. A long press changes the ANC mode, making it highly intuitive.
A total of five built-in microphones ensure excellent call quality and effective noise-cancelling headphone functionality. This enables hybrid adaptive noise cancellation, which rapidly detects the surrounding environment to provide optimal noise suppression.
Connectivity
The dedicated Nothing X app supports both Android and iOS. When you power on the headphones, a popup automatically appears on your smartphone for easy connection, along with app installation guidance.
Through the app, you can configure various features of the Nothing CMF Headphones PRO, which include advanced functionalities that are hard to believe for headphones in the early 100,000 KRW price range.
Noise cancellation offers four selectable options. Adaptive mode, increasingly found in value-for-money products these days, automatically detects ambient noise levels in real-time and adjusts the optimal noise-cancelling intensity.
Spatial audio provides three modes: ‘Basic’ for general stereo sound, ‘Concert’ for a sense of space akin to a live performance venue, and ‘Theater’ for a surround sound experience like in a cinema, enhancing immersion.
One of the most impressive features of the Nothing X app is the creation of personalized sound profiles. Utilizing Audiodo technology, this function analyzes the user’s hearing characteristics through an approximately 3-minute hearing test, then generates a sound profile optimized for that individual.
The equalizer offers 6 presets, including a custom option. While the custom EQ is limited to 3 bands, which restricts fine-tuning, it’s a perfectly satisfactory level for this price range.
The action button on the right earcup can be customized to suit user needs, allowing you to set it for functions like voice assistant activation, noise control switching, or spatial audio mode toggling.
It supports AAC, SBC, and LDAC codecs. LDAC can wirelessly transmit Hi-Res audio up to 24bit/96kHz, allowing you to enjoy wired-like sound quality wirelessly.
Sound Test
The sound of the Nothing CMF Headphones PRO generally follows a V-shaped tuning. With rich bass and clear treble, they are optimized for listening to popular music. They not only offer delicate vocal expression but also provide a solid foundation for bass lines. As previously explained, the Energy Slider allows you to adjust the treble and bass appropriately depending on the genre of music being played.
This is a spatial audio test. Switching to ‘Concert’ mode gives you a sense of being in a concert hall, while ‘Theater’ mode adds a surround sound effect. Although the video above tests with the same song, you’ll definitely experience a different feel when watching actual Netflix content.
Noise Cancelling Test
The hybrid adaptive noise cancelling of the Nothing CMF Headphones PRO demonstrates impressive performance, even among noise-cancelling headphones in the 100,000 KRW price range.
According to test results from international reviewer SoundGuys, these headphones block approximately 81% of external noise on average when ANC is active. I also conducted a test in three scenarios: actual subway interior sound environment (80dBA), wearing the headphones (ANC OFF), and noise cancelling ON (High). The results showed effective noise suppression.
Concluding the Review
Considering their price point in the early 100,000 KRW range, the Nothing CMF Headphones PRO are an astonishingly well-rounded product. The biggest appeal is that all these features – hybrid adaptive noise cancelling, up to 100 hours of battery life, LDAC support, personalized sound profiles, and the unique Energy Slider – are offered at such a reasonable price.
In particular, the ability to instantly adjust bass or treble via the Energy Slider adds to the enjoyment of listening to music, and the replaceable ear cushions allowing for personal style expression are also appealing points for the younger generation.
If you purchase this product through EDO Company, the official domestic importer, you can also receive reliable after-sales service. So, for those looking for value-for-money noise-cancelling headphones, this product is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
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