The Headphone (1) Pro are Nothing’s newest pair of cans, the company announced Monday at an evening event in New York City. The headphones look similar to Nothing’s first over-ear headphones that debuted last summer, although the design and fit have been refined. However, the key change is the audio quality. Instead of a single dynamic driver producing sound in each earbud, Nothing has equipped the Headphone (1) Pro with three drivers for each ear. Most headphones use a single 40mm dynamic driver, so a single speaker ends up handling the bass, mids, and treble of your tracks. That can cause some confusion and distortion. Adding more drivers, one for each specific frequency spectrum, gives the sound more room to stretch and shine. There is a 40mm dynamic bass driver to handle the bass. Then there’s a precision dynamic driver to address midrange sounds like vocals, pianos, and guitars. The company says this controller will reproduce those “S” and “T” sounds in more detail. Finally, there is the treble controller for the treble. The Nothing’s driver uses xMEMS technology, which is based on a silicon diaphragm that should make transients (high-pitched bursts like a cymbal hit or a pointed synth prick) sound clearer. Courtesy of NothingAll of these drivers working together should produce a richer, more detailed sound overall. Every headphone manufacturer claims that their device produces the best sound on the market, but at least Nothing has attempted some technical feats here to try to convince you. The nice thing is that you can see elements of the triple driver architecture on the sides of the headphones. Nothing has added a pair of Panda 9H glass panels so you can see the technology inside. The rest of the earcups are largely aluminum with titanium accents. You will undoubtedly be worried about the glass breaking; Nothing claims it’s “shatter- and scratch-resistant,” but Philipp Von Lintel, associate principal industrial designer at Nothing, says the glass had to survive durability tests 18 times from a drop of more than 1 meter. Additionally, the construction of the glass should not affect repairability much: repair technicians can heat the glass from the outside to remove it and access the internal chamber for repairs. “Even if you break it, there’s a plastic film that keeps the camera working,” Von Lintel tells WIRED. The Headphone (1) Pro is slightly lighter (2 grams) than the Headphone (1), with a wider headband and thicker padding, although battery life isn’t as long, up to 68 hours with active noise cancellation off versus 80. It has an IP52 dust and water resistance rating, so keep the hood of your raincoat up on rainy days.
