CMF Headphone Pro review: $100 feels almost unfair
Just a short while ago, Nothing launched its first over-ear headphones, the Nothing Headphone (1). The company had already made earbuds, sure — but Headphone (1) was their first real step into full-size, over-ear headphones.
We did not expect a second pair to arrive this fast. But here we are: introducing the CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro. These sit under Nothing’s more budget-friendly CMF sub-brand and sell for just $100. Yes, the “Pro” model is the cheaper one. We’ll just accept that and move on. Available on Amazon
With a playful, colorful design, a physical bass boost slider, and an aggressive price, it’s obvious who these are aimed at: younger listeners who want style and punchy sound.
But here’s the surprise — with a little tuning, I actually got these to sound legitimately good. Way better than I’d expect for this money.
CMF Headphone Pro at a glance
- 40mm driver
- Physical bass slider
- Tactile hardware controls, including a scroll wheel for volume
- No Advanced EQ in the app
- Bluetooth multipoint (connect two devices at once)
- Removable ear cushions so you can swap colors
- IPX2 rating (light sweat / splash resistance)
Specs and codecs
The CMF Headphone Pro supports the usual codecs: AAC for broad compatibility and battery efficiency, and LDAC if you want higher bitrate wireless audio (and your device supports it).
Battery life numbers are also surprisingly strong for this class.
Design, build, and colors
The original Nothing Headphone (1) had that boxy, squared-off look.
The CMF Headphone Pro goes in the opposite direction — they’re about as round as headphones can get. Think “soft glossy donuts sitting on your ears.” The shiny plastic plus bold color choices gives them a very youthful, playful personality.
Nothing is also pushing customization. The ear cushions pop off with a simple twist-and-pull, so you can mix and match colors. Extra pads aren’t widely available yet, but the first add-on colors will be Light Green and Orange, and it’s easy to imagine more if these sell well.
Controls are all physical. You get:
- A notched (stepped) volume roller that scrolls vertically
- Buttons
- And a brand-new hardware bass slider that literally increases low-end as you push it up
That bass slider is important. I used it as part of the tuning process to get these sounding much better than “cheap starter headphones.”
The headband sizing mechanism is still a friction-based metal slider — no clicky steps, just smooth travel. For $100, that’s impressive. I can’t say how well it’ll hold up over long-term use, but right now it feels solid and doesn’t drift once you set your length.
Comfort-wise: the ear cushions are very soft and seal pretty well, so they already block a lot of outside noise passively. Clamp force is on the firmer side — not painful, just snug — and after longer listening sessions the main thing I noticed was that my ears run a bit hot.
Worth noting: there’s no hard case in the box. Instead, you get a soft pouch. Honestly, at this price, that’s acceptable. You also get a 3.5mm cable for wired listening — but the headphones still have to be powered on, so they’re not “passive analog” cans.
Sound quality
Out of the box, the tuning is… fine. The stock signature is heavy on the bass, even without touching the bass slider. Low end is thick and a little boomy, upper mids can feel slightly pinched, and treble can get a little scratchy.
But there’s a trick.
Like other Nothing audio products, these work with the Nothing X app. You don’t get the full Advanced EQ on this cheaper model, but you do get a Basic EQ. And that Basic EQ is adaptive — meaning if you lower one band, the app will subtly lift others to keep the overall volume consistent, and vice versa. (Some brands do EQ this way. Why? Don’t ask me.)
Here’s what I did:
- In the app EQ, I pulled the Bass down hard, around -5 or -6.
- Then I nudged the Treble up just a little, around +1.
That immediately cleaned up the sound. The bass stopped overwhelming everything, the highs opened up, and vocals got clearer. But that also made the overall signature a bit lean.
Step two: use the physical bass slider on the headphones and bring it up to about 50–60%. That brings back warmth and punch, but without the muddy low-mid “thump in your skull” effect that stock tuning had.
Result:
- Full, warm bass that hits nicely
- Clearer mids with more texture
- Brighter top end without getting harsh
And at that point… if you handed me these blind and said they cost $100, I wouldn’t believe you.
Soundstage is still pretty narrow compared to more expensive over-ears. You’re not getting huge space and instrument separation like premium sets. But for this price bracket? It’s honestly hard to complain.
They also offer a kind of “Spatial Audio” mode with two presets — Cinema Mode and Concert Mode — which try to fake a 3D environment. Sometimes that works, sometimes it just boosts sharp highs or weird whistling mids (especially in Cinema mode, which clearly tries to make voices pop). My advice: leave Spatial off and enjoy normal stereo.
Noise cancellation
Because the pads seal so well, you’re already getting decent passive isolation.
On top of that, active noise cancelation can reportedly reduce low-frequency hums by up to around -40 dB, which lines up with what Nothing claims.
Low drones — air conditioners, bus engine rumble, traffic hum — get toned down nicely. Higher-frequency sounds (keyboard clicks, footsteps on a wood floor, voices in the next room) still leak through. According to the specs, the ANC is effective mainly up to about 2 kHz, and that matches what I’m hearing.
Transparency / passthrough mode focuses on mids, which is good for hearing speech. It actually does a decent job at letting you tell where sounds are coming from around you, even though these don’t have a naturally wide soundstage.
Connectivity
The CMF Headphone Pro supports both AAC and LDAC, so you’re covered whether you’re pairing to iPhone, Android, Windows, etc.
Pairing is painless — you get Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair support.
They also include Bluetooth Multipoint, which means you can stay connected to two devices at once. Music playing on your laptop? Phone call comes in? The headphones will switch focus automatically without you having to dive into Bluetooth settings.
Battery life
Inside is a 720mAh battery, which is actually smaller than the one in the higher-end Nothing Headphone (1). Still, Nothing is quoting very strong listening time — in fact, longer than their own flagship model in some cases.
In other words, you’re not being punished on battery life just because these are the cheaper pair.
Should you buy the CMF Headphone Pro?
Price: about $99 / €99 / £79.
That’s roughly one-third of what the Nothing Headphone (1) costs.
Do they feel three times worse? Definitely not.
Yes, you lose some premium touches:
- More plastic in the build
- No hard carry case
- Cheaper-feeling controls compared to Headphone (1)
- No Advanced EQ in the app
- Default sound that’s a bit bass-blobby until you tweak it
But after a little tuning, they sound shockingly good for the money. You still get solid ANC, long battery life, swappable ear cushions, physical controls, and multipoint Bluetooth. For $100, that’s kind of ridiculous.
If you’re OK with the loud, candy-colored aesthetic, these are absolutely the budget over-ear headphones I’d point most people to first.
Pros
- Genuinely good sound for the price (after a little EQ and bass slider work)
- Strong passive isolation plus decent ANC
- Very good battery life
- Physical controls instead of only touch gestures
Cons
- Limited in-app tuning (no advanced EQ)
- The bubbly, glossy design won’t appeal to everyone
