The CMF Headphone Pro stand out to me for more than just eye-catching colours

Introduction

Wherever Nothing treads first, its colourful sub-brand usually follows shortly after. We’ve already had earphones and smartphones, and sure enough, now it’s time for a debut pair of headphones to join the line-up. The Headphone Pro keep CMF’s signature styling firmly intact, while also learning a few lessons from Nothing’s debut effort.

Active noise cancelling still makes the cut, as does LDAC connectivity – but rather than repeat the Nothing Headphone 1 beat for beat, these affordable over-ears have their own tactile take on physical buttons.

With prices kicking off from $99/£79/€99, CMF is taking on value kings Soundcore and 1More, as well as the entry-level offerings from more mainstream names. Is there more here than just a head-turning teal colour scheme?

Design & build: sugar-coated style

If Pixar had made a movie about hi-fi kit instead of cars, the CMF Headphone Pro would be my Lightning McQueen stand-in. The simple shapes and soft, pillowy appearance are almost cartoon-like – and that’s before you take the minty Light Green colour scheme into account. They’re a lot less divisive than Nothing’s boxy Headphone 1, that’s for sure.

There are less shouty Dark Grey and Light Grey versions, although you can easily jazz those up with CMF’s optional Orange and Light Green ear cushions. They just twist off, no tools required, and have the added bonus of making it easy to repair should the faux leather padding ever wear out or split. It’s a shame you can’t do the same for the headband, which is made out of the same material.

Both the headband and ear cushions have a good amount of padding inside, and there’s a decent amount of adjustment in the former to get a comfortable fit without applying a vice-like amount of clamping force to your bonce. There’s a small amount of pivot but plenty of swivel, so most head shapes should be accommodated. My ears did start to warm up after a relatively short listening session, though.

These don’t look like a cheap pair of headphones, and while it’s not immediately obvious they were built to a budget when you pick them up, the headphone arms being metal-effect plastic rather than real aluminium gives the game away. Still, none of the on-ear buttons rattled and it doesn’t feel unnaturally light.

The cloth carry case found in the box is a basic inclusion, but one Nothing could easily have left out altogether given the budget brief. It’s useful for travel, as the CMF Headphone Pro doesn’t fold down at all. The ear cups do lay flat, though, to sit comfortably around your neck when not in use.

Features & battery: button it

Nothing made a big deal about its first over-ear headphones’ bespoke buttons, with different ways of interacting so you’d never mix ’em up based on touch alone. The first CMF cans do something similar, with a multi-function roller that handles volume, ANC modes, and playback controls. Having the more basic power and voice assistant buttons (which felt identical to me) on separate ear cups also helps avoid confusion, once you learn which one is which.

Then there’s the Energy Slider, which lets you adjust bass on the fly without having to head into the companion app. I can see it being a big hit with CMF’s typically younger target audience, but the adjustment doesn’t feel very granular and I only really ever used it once; after settling somewhere just north of mid-way, I largely left it alone. You can swap it to control treble instead, but again it felt like a one-and-done use to me. Maybe Nothing should let it be used as a volume dial, and make the multi-function roller skip tracks instead.

I appreciate the inclusion of higher quality LDAC Bluetooth, and had no trouble getting connected thanks to Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair. A 3.5mm headphone port for wired listening is always handy, too. The onboard mics do a decent enough job for voice calls, even if wind noise is more noticeable here than on more expensive pairs of headphones.

CMF’s 100 hour battery claim is a bit of a misdirect, given you’ve got to have noise cancelling disabled and be using the AAC codec. With higher quality LDAC Bluetooth and ANC in use, listening time dives to under 40 hours. AAC listening with noise cancelling was the middle ground in my testing, getting closer to 50 hours before I needed to plug in. That’s still a good showing compared to other low-cost headphones.

Charging speeds aren’t to be sniffed at, either, with a five minute refuel over USB-C being enough for another 4-8 hours of listening depending on if you’re using ANC.

Interface: keep it in the family

All CMF kit now talks to Nothing’s X companion app, which was given a mild makeover this year. While I miss the distinctive dot matrix fonts, I have to admit it’s a lot easier to read. The layout is clean, with the major features all split off into separate sections as you scroll down the main screen. It’s handy to have an exact battery percentage visible as soon as you open the app, too.

Beyond picking the strength and type of noise cancellation and two forms of spatial audio upmixing, you can also toggle the low latency mode and dual connectivity pairing, pick which Bluetooth codec to use, and decide how long the headphones will keep ANC active for after you stop listening to music – all pretty standard stuff, though never guaranteed when spending so little cash.

There are a few things missing you might expect from a pricier pair of headphones, though. There’s no on-ear detection, so your tunes won’t pause automatically when you take them off. The equaliser is also very basic, with just bass, mid and treble adjustment; Nothing’s higher-end audio kit also get an advanced EQ with the ability to save multiple custom profiles and download others made by community members. Here you’re just getting five basic presets – pop, rock, electronic, vocal boost, classical – and a single custom one.

You can at least customise the controls, and the personalised hearing test is well worth trying out. You’re prompted to tap one onscreen button if you can hear a particular tone, and another if you can’t; after two minutes of checking various frequencies, the customised curve it creates will boost any you have trouble hearing. It picked up my right ear weakness for higher frequencies, and the resulting tune definitely sounded more balanced.

Sound quality and noise cancelling: brings the boom

The CMF Headphone Pro’s 40mm dynamic drivers are tuned by Nothing in-house, rather than with input from speaker specialist KEF like the Headphone 1. The result is a more in-yer-face sound, even before you start cranking the bass using the Energy Slider. At the half-way mark, the sub-bass kicks on SAVOY’s Mind over Matter gave my ears a real battering, well before I’d pushed the volume as far as I could tolerate.

That’s not to say there’s nothing but low-end thump here, or that the bass is so boomy it entirely out-shouts the mid-range. The vocals on Knife Party’s Begin Again still had presence – but audiophiles in search of nuance aren’t going to find much of it here. The soundstage isn’t especially wide for a pair of on-ears, either. With an energetic playlist, though, they’re ideal for wearing to the gym or working out.

High-end frequencies aren’t super-crisp, at least on the default equaliser preset, resulting in a little less definition than I’d want. Boosting the treble does help remedy this a little, and as long as you aren’t expecting the precision of a pair costing three times the price, you’ll be happy enough with the overall presentation.

Noise cancellation is a similar story. It definitely strips out the worst of commuter train rumbles and passing traffic, but not to the same extent as the class leaders. Sudden loud noises and higher frequencies seep through easier here, and the telltale ANC hiss is more noticeable. I couldn’t hear a huge amount of difference between the three strength levels, and I’ve heard less artificial-sounding transparency modes too – but they almost always cost more than this.

CMF Headphone Pro verdict

If you’re on a budget, but want your tech to both stand out and sound decent, the CMF Headphone Pro should definitely be on your shortlist. They’re a convincing debut effort for Nothing’s budget brand, with the sort of engaging tune that’ll please the masses and ANC that’s effective enough for most commutes.

The cutesy looks won’t be to all tastes, though, and you don’t have to spend silly amounts more to get a more nuanced listen.

CMF Headphone Pro technical specifications