Nothing’s New (1) Pro headphones are designed for the studio

The helmet (1) Pro is Nothing’s new pair of cans, the company announced Monday at a party in New York. The headphones resemble Nothing’s first-ever over-ear headphones that launched last summer, although the design and fit have been refined. The key change, however, is in the audio quality.

Instead of a single dynamic driver producing the sound in each earbud, Nothing equipped the Headphone (1) Pro with three drivers for each ear. Most headphones use a single 40mm dynamic driver, so a single driver ends up handling the bass, mids, and treble of your tracks. This can cause some confusion and distortion. Adding additional drivers (one for each specific frequency spectrum) gives the sound more room to expand and sparkle.

There is a 40mm dynamic bass driver to handle low frequencies. Then there’s a precision dynamic driver for tackling midrange sounds like vocals, pianos and guitars. The company claims that this driver will render “S” and “T” sounds with greater detail. Finally, there is the treble driver for the highs. Nothing’s driver uses xMEMS technology, which relies on a silicon diaphragm that should make transients (sharp bursts like a cymbal crash or sharp synthesizer hit) clearer.

Thanks to nothing

All of these drivers working together should produce a richer, more detailed sound overall. Every headphone manufacturer claims that their gadget produces the best sound on the market, but at least Nothing has tried some technical feats here to try to convince you.

What’s interesting is that you can see elements of the three-driver architecture on the sides of the earbuds. Nothing added a few panes of Panda 9H glass so you can see the technology inside. The rest of the headphones are largely aluminum with titanium accents.

You will undoubtedly worry about breaking this glass; Nothing claims it’s “shatterproof and scratch-resistant”, but Philipp Von Lintel, associate principal industrial designer at Nothing, says the glass had to withstand durability tests 18 times following a fall from more than a meter. Additionally, the construction of the glass shouldn’t 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 crack it, there’s a plastic film that keeps the chamber functioning,” Von Lintel tells WIRED.

The Headphone (1) Pro is slightly lighter (by 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 turned off versus 80. It has an IP52 dust and water resistance rating, so keep the hood of your rain jacket up on rainy days.