CMF Headphone Pro Review: Nothing Better for $100!

In this article, I’m going to share my HONEST CMF Headphone Pro review for those who are wondering whether they are WORTH IT. I’ll also be comparing the CMF Headphone Pro vs Nothing Headphone 1, Sony ULT Wear, JBL Tune 770NC, Sennheiser Accentum, and more!

I’m going to do my best to share whether these headphones are worth it, and ideally who these headphones are for. I’ve owned these headphones for a while now and have quite a few thoughts.

I’ll be sharing my critical opinion with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, audio engineer, and tech journalist.

Let’s dive right in!

CMF Headphone Pro Review in Short

With some tweaks, the CMF Headphone Pro is now one of the best-sounding wireless noise cancelling headphones under $100. Add in pretty good build quality for the price, 50-hour battery life, and slightly above average noise cancelling, and we may have a new “budget king”. Competes in the wireless over-ear ANC headphone class with Nothing Headphone 1, Sony ULT Wear, JBL Tune 770NC, Sony WH-CH720N, Skullcandy Crusher Evo, Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2, and Anker Soundcore Space Q45.

Watch this Full Review on YouTube!

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CMF Headphone Pro Pros and Cons

CMF Headphone Pro by Nothing next to original box packaging

8.8

Editor’s Choice

CMF Headphone Pro

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POSITIVES

Best sound quality under $100
Very comfortable
Good build quality for the price
Incredible value

NEGATIVES

Needs EQ + LDAC for full sound quality
Noise cancelling could be improved

Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):

CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro Active Noise Canceling Wireless Headphones

$75.06

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02/02/2026 09:00 pm GMT

Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂

CMF Headphone Pro Sound Quality

CMF Headphone Pro vs Nothing Headphone 1 side by side comparison

Let’s get the bad out of the way first.

I don’t love how these sound out of the box.

The CMF Headphone Pro from the factory is much too consumer-friendly with your typical bloated bass, and piercing highs veering on sibilant.

Now, at its budget price point, these are totally meant to be a mass-market consumer product and headphone. I totally get that.

But as someone who has tested over 40+ headphones at this point, I do believe it’s possible to satisfy both consumers and audiophiles with balance.

Not to mention, the Nothing Headphone 1 was one of our surprise standouts of 2025, with sound quality that competes with much more expensive headphones.

That leads us to the silver lining, in that, the CMF Headphone Pro can go from “decent” to “pretty good” with just some simple EQ tweaks. In addition, these have LDAC support, allowing some of the highest quality codec transmission. I tested this and it does result in a nice 5-10% boost in overall sound quality.

So without further ado, I’ll share a few of my favorite EQ settings below that I think transform this budget headphone into a real contender…

Best Equalizer Settings for CMF Headphone Pro by Nothing

V1 – Mainly for Pop, Hip Hop, EDM

V2 – Rock, Metal, Country

Best Equalizer Settings for CMF Headphone Pro by Nothing from RecordingNow V2 for Rock, Metal, and Country

V3 “Smooth” – Most Balanced, Classical, Jazz, Female Vocal Pop

Best Equalizer Settings for CMF Headphone Pro by Nothing from RecordingNow V3 for Classical, Jazz

Result: Bass is still present but much more tamed and tighter. Vocals and instruments have more detail but more natural timbre. Treble is smoother with less sibilance. Use an LDAC Bluetooth dongle for maximum sound quality with the above settings (I recommend Questyle QCC Pro).

Last Updated: 12-5-25

It’s incredible what just a slight EQ tweak and LDAC can do.

Don’t get me wrong, the stock CMF Headphone Pro doesn’t sound bad per se, but they sound so much better when maxed out to their fullest potential.

The massive bass response is a strength of these headphones once tightened up with EQ and LDAC.

The LDAC codec does a great job of adding texture and tightening up the bass response as a whole.

The stock sound profile is mids-recessed, but we are able to bring that out more with EQ.

Lastly, the sharp treble is smoothened out to prevent sibilance and represent a more natural and realistic timbre.

Overall, I find these to be the new budget king for sound quality under $100, and perhaps $200 even.

vs Nothing Headphone 1

The official brand name is “CMF by Nothing”, so naturally, comparing these to the more expensive “big brother” Nothing Headphone 1 makes a lot of sense.

To be frank, although the CMF Headphone Pro does a great job for its price once its full potential is reached, I find them hardware-limited compared to the Nothing Headphone 1.

Simply put, the drivers on the Nothing Headphone 1 (co-developed and tuned by KEF) are clearly more audiophile and higher-fidelity to my ears.

Add in the most advanced EQ in the market currently (aside from maybe the Sennheiser HDB 630), and the Nothing Headphone 1 is firmly more premium and flexible than the simple 3-band EQ of the CMF Headphone Pro.

Sound Quality Score: 8.5 out of 10 (after EQ / 8.2 stock)

Comfort

CMF Headphone Pro by Nothing weight of 280.8 grams on scale

The CMF Headphone Pro is slightly above average for the over-ear, wireless noise cancelling headphones as weighed on my scale:

Sony WH-CH720N – 186.4 grams
JBL Tune 720BT – 223.2 grams
JBL Tune 770NC – 227.1 grams
Skullcandy Hesh ANC – 229.6 grams
Bose QuietComfort – 236.1 grams
Sony WH 1000XM5 – 245.9 grams
Sony WH 1000XM4 – 251.6 grams
Bose QuietComfort Ultra – 254.4 grams
Anker Soundcore Life Q30 – 264.6 grams
Beats Studio Pro – 268.6 grams
CMF Headphone Pro – 280.8 grams
Sennheiser Momentum 4 – 292.9 grams
Anker Soundcore Space Q45 – 297.5 grams
Sonos Ace – 318.1 grams
Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 – 332.3 grams
Apple AirPods Max – 387.8 grams

It’s important to note that most of the budget headphones that the CMF headphone pro competes with tend to be lighter due to cheaper materials.

Overall, I find the CMF Headphone Pro to be decently comfy with no glaring issues.

To nitpick, the skinny top headband reminds me of the Sony WH-1000XM5, and I’m not a fan of this design due to a bit increased top-of-head pressure.

Also the earcups are circle shaped with the tips of my ears slightly touching the inside, so they could be a little more ergonomic.’

That said, I can wear these for hours without much issue.

Comfort Score: 4.5 out of 5

Features / Build Quality / Battery Life / Noise Cancelling

CMF Headphone Pro with included carrying case bag and stereo cable

Features

The CMF Headphone Pro by Nothing was originally released in September 2025, so they have many modern wireless headphone features:

Built-in microphones for taking calls
Bluetooth 5.4
LDAC Support
Adaptive Noise Cancelling
Spatial Audio: Cinema Mode, Concert Mode
3-band EQ
Multi-point connection
Physical buttons and controls
Transparency Mode
Included carrying case bag
Stereo cable

Build Quality

At this budget price range, the build quality is actually quite good for the CMF Headphone Pro.

The hinges feel solid, and although it is a plastic exterior, my research says there is a stainless steel core underneath it.

There are many headphones costing more that have noticeably worse build quality and are less premium feeling.

The only other budget headphones I can think of that offer this level of build quality is the Anker Soundcore headphones.

CMF Headphone Pro Battery Life

The CMF Headphone Pro boasts a whopping 100 hour battery life with active noise cancelling OFF, and 50 hours with noise cancelling ON.

This is firmly above average for the class, although there is a few that have higher battery life with noise cancelling turned on.

By comparison, the Nothing Headphone 1 is 35 hours with ANC on, and 80 hours with ANC off. So the CMF Headphone Pro has longer battery life than the Nothing Headphone 1.

There is also a “Rapid Charging” feature that provides 4 hours of listening time with 5 minutes of charging.

These also feature the modern standard USB-C charging port.

CMF Headphone Pro Noise Cancelling Performance

Being a budget headphone, I wasn’t expecting these to really compete with the elite premium noise cancelling headphones from the likes of Sony and Bose.

And that was the correct thinking.

For its price, I think the noise cancelling is decent actually, and comparable to the more expensive Nothing Headphone 1.

That said, it’s about slightly above average the class as a whole, and not in that elite tier of the current Sony and Bose flagships.

The Transparency mode is pretty decent, at least.

The ANC can be improved in the future, and I expect it to, considering that Nothing just entered the over-ear headphone market this year.

Features / Build Quality / Battery Life / Noise Cancelling Performance Score: 4.0 out of 5

Value

CMF Headphone Pro buttons, sliders, volume wheel, and controls

At the time of this writing, the CMF Headphone Pro retails at $99, but can be found on sale for as low as $80.

I actually purchased my pair for just under $80 during Black Friday.

It is a bit unfortunate that I filmed by “Best Budget Headphones Under $200 for 2025” video right before testing the CMF Headphone Pro.

Because had I tested the CMF Headphone Pro, it would have really shaken up the rankings and awards.

Nevertheless, I think this headphone is one of the few perfect value scores due to simply being an overall incredible package for under $100.

I can’t find any real glaring weaknesses, and I’m very satisfied with the sound quality for the money after EQ + LDAC.

The only other headphones that I think can compete on pure budget value would be the JBL Tune 770NC and Sony ULT Wear.

Value Score: 5 out of 5

Overall Scoring Breakdown

Sound Quality: 8.5 / 10 (after EQ)

Comfort: 4.5 / 5

Features / Build Quality / Battery Life / Noise Cancelling: 4.0 / 5

Value: 5 / 5

Total: 22.0 / 25

8.8Expert Score

Budget King

The Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 is an appealing headphone for bassheads due to its “Crusher” sensory bass feature. It could have better noise cancelling performance and comfort, but is fairly priced, especially on sale.

Is the CMF Headphone Pro Worth it?

I’m pretty blown away with how much value is packed into this sub-$100 wireless noise cancelling headphone, that I got on sale for $80.

Granted, I do think the EQ tweak is necessary to make them enjoyable, and if you can listen through LDAC, even better.

But with those tweaks, there is a new budget king under $100.

Some alternatives that I do like in this price range would be the Sony ULT Wear, JBL Tune 770NC, and Sennheiser Accentum.

Some very strong alternatives in this class of wireless headphones are:

Some Relevant Comparisons in this class of wireless headphones are:

I highly recommend you check those out next!

Lastly, if you’d like to save some money and keep supporting RecordingNOW.com’s 100% independent, unbiased reviews, do consider using some of our affiliate links below to shop and even just compare prices. We purchase all products we review with our own money to maintain the highest level of integrity, and your support goes into that plus a continuously improving site experience.

Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):

CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro Active Noise Canceling Wireless Headphones

$75.06

Buy Now

We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

02/02/2026 09:00 pm GMT

Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂

How We Tested and Our Methodology

RecordingNOW.com is a 100% independent publisher with over 10 years of experience testing and reviewing consumer electronics and headphones.

We currently purchase the products we test with our own money, and are not paid by any company or manufacturer to influence our opinions or decisions.

After purchasing the product, we conduct up to hundreds of hours of detailed hands-on testing in a controlled, acoustically-treated environment.

ODi Productions is our resident expert and author of this article, with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, tech journalist, and audiophile.