When I opened the swish black Nothing Headphone (a) box set and tried these headphones, I did what everyone will probably do: I treated it like a sequel to Headphone (1), the brand’s KEF-made premium overhead headphones. That’s the wrong way to look at it.
Headphone (a) isn’t trying to outdo its predecessor. In many ways, this is Nothing repositioning, moving away from the moulded metal finish of Headphone 1 and reworking the design for a new, younger user, the old refinement pushed aside for energy, a mix of louder colour, longer battery life, and more everyday wearability. It's not a coincidence that Headphone (a) have released alongside the new mid-range Nothing Phone 4(a), and shares a similar design approach.
