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CMF Headphone Pro: two-minute review
Anyone familiar with Nothing and/or its affordable sub-brand CMF (often written as “CMF by Nothing”, but the company has seemingly dropped the last two words of its traditional moniker for this particular product) knows that a normal-looking set of headphones was never going to be on the brand’s bingo card.
And true to form, the CMF Headphone Pro neither look normal nor behave normally for the level – and I mean that in a good way. They’re modular, with the option of buying extra ear pads if you want an even more striking look (pistachio with orange, anyone?) and there are three thoroughly abnormal on-ear controls, too, including an ‘Energy Slider’, an excellent ‘Multi-function roller’ and an ‘Action button’. All of which I’ll get into later.
How’s the sound? Actually, really good for the level – easily as detailed, nuanced and energetic enough to skip to the top of our best cheap headphones information. And whereas they will not compete with the extra flagship fashions in our best headphones roundup for neutrality or audiophile-grade perception (and the noise nixing will not problem pricier units from Bose, Cambridge or Apple in our best noise-cancelling headphones record), there’s readability, an incredible circumaural supply, two varieties of spatial audio, LDAC and hi-res wired connectivity.
And all of this implies I can not – nay, will not! – choose an excessive amount of fault for the cash, particularly when I’ve in contrast them to Nothing’s authentic Headphone (1) and truly most popular the audio within the newer cans…
Oh, and that is earlier than I get granular on the truth that the CMF Headphone Pro embrace one of the detailed listening to checks of any set of cans I’ve ever tried on the degree, which the headphones use to create a outstanding private profile on your listening. It’s one thing I totally advocate you’re taking quickly after shopping for them.
OK, your EQ is restricted to 3 tabs if you wish to create a preset your self, you aren’t getting a hard-shell case (or perhaps a USB-C charger) within the field and the ‘Energy Slider’ feels a bit of surplus to necessities once they’re a bit bassy to start with (though some will like it – notably grime and drum ‘n’ bass followers). But the battery life is nothing in need of wonderful for the cash and for me, the sound high quality greater than atones for these minor drawbacks.
All in all, you would do a lot worse for $99 / £79 – and having seen a number of wholesome reductions already, I discover myself recommending them much more urgently…
CMF Headphone Pro review: price & release date
- $99 / £79 / AU$179
- Launched on September 29, 2025
The CMF Headphone Pro launched on September 29, 2025, with a list price of $99 / £79 / AU$179, but in the UK I’ve already seen them discounted to £49 (at the time of writing, Black Friday approaches). This is big as a result of for that cash you will not remorse this buy, I guarantee you.
At their common record worth, the CMF Pro Headphone’s closest competitors is probably going the 2024 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 at $89 / £99 / AU$130, which additionally boast an incredible battery life and maybe edge it for ANC efficacy, however the construct is a tad flimsier, together with the buttons. Also the 1More’s app is neither as seamless or fulfilling and to be trustworthy, the design would not precisely wow me – not just like the CMF Headphone Pro’s does, anyway.
Meanwhile, Nothing’s personal flagship Nothing Headphone (1) launched on July 15, 2025 with asking charges of $299 / £299 / AU$549 – ie. a minimum of triple the worth of the CMF Headphone Pro, relying on the place you are shopping for. So, you recognize, meals for thought there…
CMF Headphone Pro review: Specs
|
Drivers |
40mm (nickel-plated diaphragms; 16.5 mm copper voice coil; dual chamber design) |
|
Active noise cancellation |
Yes (low; mid; high; adaptive) |
|
Battery life |
50 hours ANC on; 100 hours ANC off |
|
Weight |
283g |
|
Connectivity |
LDAC, AAC, 3.5mm – 3.5mm hi-res certified |
|
Frequency range |
20Hz-20kHz |
|
Waterproofing |
None |
CMF Headphone Pro review: features
- Excellent Personal Sound curation
- Class-leading battery life
- Premium-feel companion app
Here’s the thing with the CMF Headphone Pro: they surprise you at every turn. The Nothing X companion app is slick, chic and helpful. Make no mistake, the experience here is thoroughly Nothing, which is to say that it still feels premium, rather than budget-grade.
The excellent hearing test software – which takes roughly three minutes and involves struggling to listen to ever-quieter tones piped first into your left ear, then your right – creates a graph of your hearing in each ear, then one of the best Personal profiles I’ve had the pleasure of testing at this level.
Aside from support for the more hifalutin LDAC Bluetooth codec, the CMF Headphone Pro also offer wired 3.5mm Hi-Res certified listening, albeit only when they’re powered on, rather than passively. I hooked them up to my FiiO M15S (which is a good bit smaller than the FiiO M23 participant) and Teenage Fanclub’s Satan was each bit as jagged, petulant and angsty by way of the ragged intro as I might’ve wished for, even at 45 per cent quantity.
There’s a twin connection toggle within the app which primarily means multipoint is on the menu and why you’d ever toggle it off I do not know – it turns into important in a short time for chopping and altering between music from my telephone and staff conferences on my laptop computer.
Also right here within the Nothing X app, you may discover noise cancellation in low, mid, excessive, adaptive and off increments, in addition to a transparency choice. The transparency profile specifically is superb, augmenting close by voices in a helpful method and with out making frequencies inside my music go tinny and unsightly.
The ANC is ok slightly than incredible at dulling extraneous noise (the declare is as much as 40 dB noise discount, though that feels optimistic to me), nevertheless it does so with out upsetting my music’s timbre and element. Ultimately I’d slightly have it than not, which isn’t one thing I say about all price range noise-nixing software program and at this degree that is greater than ok. Serious, weapons-grade energetic noise cancellation actually does nonetheless require climbing additional up the meals chain, as a result of I’ve but to seek out something for this cash that gives Bose-grade ANC. OK? OK, good to make that clear.
While I’m as regards to mics (as a result of these are crucial for the aforementioned ANC), the Headphone Pro include three of the what Nothing calls “HD microphones” and with that very same metallic wind-resistant mesh round every of them, they do look nearly an identical to these on the Nothing Headphone (1). Aside from ANC, these mics present Clear Voice Technology in a bid to maintain your voice sharp in calls. Now, I’ve been informed my dulcet tones have been certainly audible and clear in calls, however maybe as a result of the cups are fairly large and the padding so ample, passive isolation can be good to the purpose that I might barely hear my very own voice when speaking. There’s no sidetone-adjacent tech to spice up your personal speech both. Would I count on that at this degree? No, nevertheless it’s my job to level it out as a really minor difficulty.
Elsewhere, there are two flavors of device- and streaming service-agnostic spatial audio: cinema mode or live performance mode. Cinema mode broadens the soundstage a contact, for clear dialog and respectable pew-pew bullet results in motion pictures; live performance mode is all about plonking you in the course of a live performance. Neither gives a dynamic, head-tracked presentation along with your telephone because the supply system, thoughts, however I nonetheless loved live performance mode for decreasing me into the melee a contact extra.
CMF Headphone Pro review: sound quality
- Punchy, expressive and zealous – a true circumaural listen
- Nuance and detail with both wired and LDAC listening
- Limited in-app EQ options; energy slider gives mixed results
I’ll talk a lot about the energy slider to amp up the treble and bass in the ‘design’ section of this review, below (since this unusual button is a key part of the headphones’ design) but know this: if you want the most detailed, layered, unadulterated sound, you should probably leave this kind of tinkering alone.
There’s a low lag toggle in the app to minimize issues when watching content, but I keep that off to test the sound over LDAC. And here, Billie Eilish’s WILDFLOWER is emotive, textured, layered and underpinned by inky-deep and resonant keys.
Uh Oh by Tate McRae is a great test of the CMF Headphone Pro’s bass impact and, let me tell you, if you like to feel a beat in your molars, these headphones can oblige. It’s a head-nodding, cohesive mix with snap and crisp leading edges of notes, particularly through those zealous bass registers.
Switching to Girls Like You by Maroon 5 and I hear the intentional blurring of the axe in the intro, with Adam Levine’s vocal upfront, up-close and central in an expansive and exciting soundstage. It’s Amazing to Be Young by Fontaines D.C. is a similar story – and here I perceive treble elements in the intro that lesser headphones can’t reach, along with oft-overlooked happier inflections is Grian Chatten’s voice.
It’s an emotive mix overall, but Nothing has just about stayed on the right side of faithful here, rather than succumbing to parlor tricks to get you in the feels – unless you want to deploy those with the slider. Every Other Freckle by alt-J is a good one to to prove this. I really get the sense that Joe Newman wants every other freckle, even at 50 per cent volume, with certain lines (like ‘let me be the wallpaper that papers up your room’) jumping out more readily in what is a highly complex track.
Did I listen against the original Headphone (1)? I did. And while the presentation is a touch more neutral in the inaugural (and much more expensive) product, I did feel that the CMF opens the audio out just a touch more. It’s also a more full-throttle listen to boot.
Could the CMF Headphone Pro offer even more detail – even more nuance through the rise and fall of each musical passage? Yes, of course, but if the ultimate in audiophile sound quality had been achieved for this money we could all go home. There are compromises in terms of true neutrality and an ounce or two of clarity here and there over much pricier options. But know this: for the money, these headphones sound a lot better than I expected.
- Sound quality score: 4.5/5
CMF Headphone Pro review: design
- Nothing isn’t afraid to be different – but no cassettes on your ears here
- Extension arms are silent; comfort is good
- On-ear controls work well, but the Energy Slider is a tad gimmicky
If you’d asked me to sketch what I thought a set of headphones made by Nothing’s budget sub-brand CMF should look like, I can confidently tell you that I would not have drawn the CMF Headphone Pro.
Where the CMF Buds Pro 2 are all angular traces, barely odd circle and grid motifs, brushed matte plastic (accessible in darkish grey, blue, or purple and with a silver rotary dial within the nook of the case), the CMF Headphone Pro are available completely completely different mild inexperienced, mild grey or darker grey shiny finishes with a resoundingly cushioned, polyurethane artificial leather-based and reminiscence foam construct throughout the scarf and ear pads.
My evaluation pattern is giving two tubs of pistachio ice cream and, for me, the construct high quality is rock stable for the extent. The band is snug over the crown of my head, extends silently and gives respectable clamping pressure with out ever hurting. The ear cups are generously padded and rotate to lie flat (though they do not concertina up into the band for simpler storage) and the buttons are under no circumstances flimsy.
So let’s clarify what is going on on with these, lets? On the left ear cup, in between two mics you may discover energy/pairing, your 3.5mm in and an ‘Energy Slider’. The perform of this stable little slider will be switched between ‘Bass Tuning’ and ‘Treble Tuning’ within the Nothing X app.
I cue up Kehlani’s Folded to toy with the bass slider and ramping issues up does increase the low finish, albeit to the purpose of marginal bloating – however hey, it is a method of replicating that genuine ‘standing just a bit too near an enormous (probably blown?) sub at a gig’ really feel. Switching to the treble choice and the observe does sound a bit of too candy and even tinny when shifting the slider by way of its vary, however then I do know from numerous listening to checks that my very own ear hones in on treble frequencies in most mixes. Having been on the fence about all of this for every week or so, I’ve determined that it does add novelty and for some grime tracks it is likely to be a winner.
On the fitting ear cup and above the USB-C port, there’s a bit of round button with a purple dot on the heart. In the X app, that is merely known as ‘Button’ and your choices listed here are a single press or lengthy press. A single press can deal with voice assistant entry, noise management, spatial audio profiles and even change the mics on or off (there’s one other on this ear cup). A protracted press? That can carry out any perform from this identical menu.
But above that is the place I believe Nothing has actually knocked it out the park, as a result of this brings me to the ‘Roller’ within the controls menu. And in addition to with the ability to roll this to shortly tweak the quantity (looks like a small factor however actually is not – particularly if you’re on the go) you’ll be able to press and maintain it to scroll by way of noise-cancellation profiles, single press it to pause and resume playback or reply/hold up on calls, double press to skip a observe or triple press to return.
There’s no IP ranking for rain or mud ingress, which is not uncommon on the degree (or perhaps a rung greater up) however since you additionally solely get a easy material bag for transportation, you would possibly need to consider carefully about taking these out within the rain.
One different factor: you get a 3.5mm cable within the field, however no USB-C charger cable – a lot much less an precise wall plug for it. In 2025, you nearly actually have one among these already within the wings, ready for the job, however if you happen to have been hoping for an additional (or one within the CMF Headphone Pro’s winsome pistachio inexperienced, say), you may be disillusioned.
CMF Headphone Pro review: value
- An excellent all-round budget package
- No charger or hard-shell case – but these are minor omissions
- As a sound-per-pound proposition, there’s top value here
I mean look, for this money I struggle to argue with even basic headphones, provided they sound good for the level. But the CMF Headphone Pro are not basic headphones – just see the hearing test software and extra on-ear controls for that. They’re a lot better than basic and a lot better than their fee suggests.
Market saturation does of course drive pricing and here, that’s very good for us.
OK, those wanting bubble-of-silence ANC will not find their ideal set of cheap headphones here (the ANC is adequate, it just isn’t shutting out the entire world), but those wanting zealous, bass-blasting sound and/or a quirky design that actually is not a case of style over substance just found a great inexpensive option to step out with.
Should I buy the CMF Headphone Pro?
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Rating |
|---|---|---|
|
Features |
Excellent battery life, LDAC, top-tier app, adequate ANC |
4.5/5 |
|
Sound quality |
Big bass energy and commendable detail, with phenomenal hearing tests for the level |
4.5/5 |
|
Design |
Finessed, yet unusual – even among CMF by Nothing’s other audio gear. You love to see it. |
4.5/5 |
|
Value |
Great audio, incomparable design, OK ANC, amazing battery life and a super-low price. |
4.5/5 |
Buy them if…
Don’t buy them if…
CMF Headphone Pro review: also consider
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
CMF Headphone Pro |
1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 |
Earfun Wave Pro |
Sony WH-CH720N |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Price |
$99 / £79 / AU$179 |
$89 / £99 / AU$130 |
$79.99 / £79.99 (about AU$13) |
$149 / £99 / AU$259 |
|
Drivers |
40mm (nickel-plated diaphragms; 16.5 mm copper voice coil; dual chamber design) |
40mm dynamic |
40mm dynamic |
30mm dynamic |
|
Active noise cancellation |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Battery life |
50 hours ANC on; 100 hours ANC off |
65 hours ANC on; 100 hours ANC off |
55 hours ANC on; 80 hours ANC off |
35 hours ANC on; 50 hours ANC off |
|
Weight |
283g |
246g |
268g |
192g |
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth version not stated; LDAC, 3.5mm |
Bluetooth 5.4, 3.5mm |
Bluetooth 5.3, 3.5mm |
Bluetooth 5.2, 3.5mm |
|
Frequency range |
20Hz-20kHz |
20Hz-40kHz |
20Hz-40kHz |
7Hz-20kHz |
|
Waterproofing |
None |
None |
None |
None |
CMF Headphone Pro review: How I tested
- Tested for four weeks
- Used at home, on the Eurostar to Paris, at the (blustery) beach
- Predominantly tested using Tidal and Apple Music, or wired to my FiiO DAP
I tested the CMF Headphone Pro over a period of four weeks, using my MacBook Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and LDAC-toting FiiO M15S as source devices.
I listened to everything from my heavy rotation Three Bean Salad podcast on a long walk on Weymouth’s blustery beach, to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska ’82 Outtakes on the Eurostar train to Paris from London. I listened in both wired and wireless modes and found much to celebrate in terms of audio chops across the frequencies and energy.
I maxed out the battery and got 49.5 hours from them using ANC too – which, given their 50-hour claim at 50 per cent volume is no meat feat.
I’ve been testing audio products full time since 2019, first on TechSwitch’s sister publication What Hi-Fi? as a lowly Staff Writer, then Senior Staff Writer at TechSwitch and, since early 2024, Audio Editor (hey, career progression is gradual sometimes in journalism… and that’s fine when you’ve got music).
- First reviewed: November 2025
- Read more about how we test