Dear Colleagues,
I have been fortunate enough to have been given access to the CMF Headphones Pro as part of the Community Evaluation Programme. I will keep these comments short as they are initial impressions.
My Particular Use Case
My modes of transport include: cycling to school with children and then to the office, driving occasionally when a train/bus service won’t work, or walking with my family. Thus, the only oppotunities to use these are when stationary at a desk or lying on the sofa late night and wanting to watch something. I tend to use them several hours in a row with ANC on. I don’t wear them in the gym as I’m quite sweaty on the rower.
A price point of £79 and quality
All CMF products are made to a price-point and there will be compromises. (This may been my experience with the CMF1 and the CMFW3P considering the screenprotector and mono speaker on the CMF1 and the watch bezel and small memory of the CMFW3P). I find that the compromises made and usually very wise and do not impact the overall experience. My initial take is that there are no compromises in sound quality from the drivers themselves. I find them very bass-heavy, but I think that will appeal to the crowd that purchases at that price point. Also, the materials including the cloth bag for transport (I transport them from office to home in a backpack on a bicycle daily) are decent/durbale enough. The tactile feel of the buttons and knobs are good. There are good overall ergonomics.
NOTHING X integration
I use these daily for multiple hours (maybe 10-20h/week for the 2-3 weeks since they arrived). They connect well and to my NP3 and M1MBA at once and quickly. I find battery life with adaptive ANC on great. I have the recharged them once. The 3-mode EQ is a little lame but I usually run Bass-2. Mid+4, Treble +4. I hardly get any phone calls (maybe 3 per week) and will not try AI through them (chatGPT integration), so I can’t comment.
Long-term Speculation
As always, I will test these long-term and squeeze every bit of life out of them. I was previously using wired Koss Porta Pros at the office and JLab GO Air Pop, both of which has good sound quality and were very durable. I left my JLab’s outside in the rain/mud for a month and they still work well.
I have a feeling that the ANC and sound quality will remain great on the CMF Headphones Pro. I also believe that the drivers and the ear-ends with the hardware (ANC, power buttons, slider, roller) will remain perfect and the material finish is high quality. I have a feel that the ear cushions and the wrap around the overhead-bar will discolour and fade relatively quickly (like 12 months) and that’s where the cost savings is.
But how much can one expect for £79? The sound and fit is great. The tactile feeling is great.
N.B. - I have not had the NOTHING Headphones (1) to compare them to.
I’ll update when I have more time with them (30-45 days) and write a full review.
