There was a time when Beats by Dre headphones weren’t just audio gear, they were cultural currency. Big, bold, and instantly recognizable, they blurred the line between tech and fashion, plastered across subway rides and celebrity selfies. Apple may have bought the brand, but instead of pushing it forward, it let Beats quietly fade as AirPods took center stage. That decision left a cultural gap wide open, and CMF by Nothing is making a sharp play to fill it with its new Headphone Pro.
CMF is Nothing’s budget-friendly spinoff, but unlike Beats under Apple, it’s being treated as a brand worth cultivating. The Headphone Pro lands at just $99, yet manages to deliver the kind of design, performance, and personality that could restore over-ear headphones to cultural relevance. What makes them compelling isn’t just the spec sheet, though the spec sheet is impressive, but the way they blend old-school practicality with modern expectations.
Instead of chasing the bass-heavy sound that defined Beats, CMF adds a physical Energy Slider, letting you boost or soften the low end instantly without fumbling through apps or menus. It’s tactile and intuitive, a refreshingly analog move in a world where too much control has been swallowed by screens. Under the hood sit 40mm drivers with a 16.5mm copper coil, backed by Hi-Res Audio certification and LDAC streaming support. Hybrid adaptive noise cancellation promises up to 40dB of reduction, enough to place these headphones in a league above their price tag. Battery life is almost absurd: up to 100 hours with ANC off, 50 with it on, and a five-minute charge buys four hours of playback. Even better, they can charge directly from your phone via USB-C.
Design plays just as big a role here as the hardware. The modular earcups can be swapped out completely, not only extending lifespan but giving wearers a chance to customize color schemes. Base options include Light Grey, Dark Grey, and Light Green, while bold replacements like Orange push the aesthetic further. The controls are equally well considered, with a roller that handles volume, playback, and ANC toggling, while the Energy Slider adds fine-tuned control. There’s even a customizable button for launching features like ChatGPT or spatial audio modes, though those effects feel more like novelty than necessity.
At £79 in the UK, €99 in Europe, and $99 in the U.S. when it launches in early October, the pricing is deliberately aggressive. It undercuts bigger names while offering features they reserve for higher-end models, forcing the question of why you’d pay more elsewhere. More importantly, CMF seems to understand what Beats lost when Apple folded it into the AirPods machine. Headphones aren’t just about sound; they’re about presence, personality, and the feeling that wearing them says something about you. The Headphone Pro takes that idea seriously, combining high-end performance with a design language that makes it fun, expressive, and accessible. Whether it wins the kind of cultural clout Beats once commanded remains to be seen, but it already feels like the strongest contender to step into that role in years.
