Nothing Headphone (1) Pro vs Sennheiser Momentum 5: Which to Buy?

Is $400 too much to pay for a pair of headphones? If you’re eyeing the premium segment this year, two new names keep popping up: the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro and the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless, and both sit right at that price.

I’ve been a fan of Sennheiser’s Momentum line for a while now, and I’ve also watched Nothing go from “the see-through phone brand” to a company that’s genuinely serious about audio. In today’s post, we’ll be looking at the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro and the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless to see which one deserves your money. Here’s what we’ll cover: design, sound and drivers, noise cancellation, battery life, connectivity and codecs, and price in Nigeria.

To be clear, I haven’t tested either of these yet. Everything below comes from Nothing’s and Sennheiser’s official specs, plus what reputable outlets have reported.

Design

First off, the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro. Nothing launched it on September 29, 2026, and it keeps the brand’s industrial look, with titanium and aluminum in the build, glass panels and a 9H scratch-resistant glass window. You get physical controls instead of fiddly touch panels, a roller, a paddle and a button, and the earcups tilt up to 20 degrees. It comes in Black and White and carries an IP52 rating (basic protection against dust and light splashes).

The catch is weight. At 327g, this one is on the heavier side for an over-ear headphone.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless, on the other hand, comes in at around 290g. Sennheiser announced it in late May 2026, and it went on sale in the US on June 16. It has a lay-flat design with metal accents, but it doesn’t fold, so it won’t collapse into a small bundle for your bag. Sennheiser says the case is 20% smaller than the Momentum 4’s, which helps. You get Black, White and a Denim color that’s a Best Buy exclusive in the US.

Now, the biggest design story here is the battery. The Momentum 5 has a user-replaceable 700mAh battery, and all you need is a Phillips-head screwdriver. That’s a big deal. Headphone batteries are usually the first thing to die, and when that happens most people just throw the whole thing away. With this one, you replace the battery and keep going.

Sound and Drivers

This is where the two take very different routes.

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro uses three drivers per side: a 40mm dynamic driver for bass, a smaller precision dynamic driver for mids and vocals, and an xMEMS solid-state driver for treble. xMEMS is a type of tiny chip-based speaker, different from the usual cone driver, and it’s meant to deliver fast, detailed highs. Nothing says the tuning was done with Metropolis Studios in London, and there’s a physical EQ switch that flips the sound to a flat profile, which is what studio folks and purists like. You also get spatial audio with head tracking and presets like Studio B, Live House, Club and Concert Hall.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 keeps things simple with a single 42mm dynamic driver, carried over from the Momentum 4, with a 6Hz to 40kHz frequency range. Sennheiser has always leaned on sound quality with the Momentum line, and you get an eight-band EQ in the Smart Control Plus app, a Sound Personalization feature, and Dolby Atmos with head tracking.

Either way, both are Hi-Res Audio certified. On paper, the Nothing is the more adventurous design, while the Sennheiser is the proven formula. Whether three drivers actually sound better than one great driver is something only hands-on listening can settle.

Noise Cancellation

Nothing claims up to 46dB of adaptive ANC (active noise cancellation, which uses microphones to electronically cancel outside sound) with 10 microphones. That’s a big, specific number, and it’s the kind of thing that matters if you’re sitting in Lagos traffic with a danfo conductor shouting beside your window.

Sennheiser doesn’t give a dB figure. Instead, it says the Momentum 5 uses eight microphones, four per side, double the previous generation, and that it is up to three times more effective at cutting ambient voice chatter than the Momentum 4. That’s a real improvement over the older model, but it’s harder to compare directly with Nothing’s claim.

Battery Life

That aside, battery is where things get interesting.

Nothing quotes up to 30 hours with ANC on and up to 68 hours with ANC off (on AAC). If you use LDAC, those numbers drop to 28 hours with ANC and 53 hours without. A 5-minute charge gets you about 4 hours of playback with ANC off.

Sennheiser quotes up to 57 hours with ANC on. That’s nearly double Nothing’s ANC-on figure, and it’s one of the longest in this class. A 10-minute charge gives you up to 7 hours, according to Sennheiser’s US store.

In a nutshell, if you mostly listen with noise cancelling turned on, which is how most people use premium headphones, the Momentum 5 is the clear winner here. And with NEPA doing what NEPA does, a headphone that goes almost 60 hours between charges is nothing short of impressive.

Connectivity and Codecs

Here’s where your phone matters.

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro supports SBC, AAC, LDAC and LC3, runs on Bluetooth 6.1, and can connect to two devices at once. LDAC is Sony’s high-quality Bluetooth codec (a codec is the method used to compress audio over Bluetooth), and it’s built into Android itself, so most modern Android phones can use it. You also get 24-bit/192kHz audio over USB-C.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 supports SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless, which is Qualcomm’s CD-quality Bluetooth codec, on Bluetooth 5.4 (Sennheiser says it’s ready for Bluetooth 6.0 via a firmware update). You also get multipoint and lossless audio over USB, plus a 3.5mm jack for wired listening. The thing is, aptX Lossless needs a phone with a compatible Snapdragon chip, so many phones won’t get the full benefit.

Of course, if you’re on an iPhone, neither LDAC nor aptX will work, and both headphones fall back to AAC.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Nothing (1) Pro: triple-driver setup with an xMEMS treble driver and a physical flat-EQ switch
• Nothing (1) Pro: claimed 46dB adaptive ANC with 10 mics
• Nothing (1) Pro: LDAC support, great for Android users
• Momentum 5: user-replaceable battery, so it can last years longer
• Momentum 5: up to 57 hours with ANC on
• Momentum 5: lighter at around 290g, with aptX Lossless and a 3.5mm jack

Cons

• Nothing (1) Pro: heavy at 327g
• Nothing (1) Pro: 30 hours with ANC is only average next to the Momentum 5
• Momentum 5: doesn’t fold
• Momentum 5: no LDAC, and aptX Lossless needs a specific Snapdragon phone
• Neither is officially sold in Nigeria right now, as far as I can tell

Price in Nigeria

The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro costs $399 in the US, £349 in the UK and €349 in Europe. That’s around ₦553,000.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless costs $399.99 in the US (€399.90 in Europe). That’s around ₦554,000.

I couldn’t find either one at a Nigerian retailer like Jumia or Slot yet, so for now you’d be buying through an importer or bringing one in from abroad. Expect local prices to land higher once shipping and the dealer’s margin come in, and do check that you’re getting a warranty you can actually use.

Finally, which one should you get? Here’s my verdict.

Regardless of which you pick, you’re paying the same money, so it comes down to how you listen. If you’re on Android, love LDAC, and want the most exciting sound setup and the strongest claimed ANC figure, the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is the more interesting buy, as long as you can live with the weight.

If you want a headphone you’ll still be using in four or five years, though, I’d go with the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless. The replaceable battery and 57 hours with ANC on make it the more practical choice for everyday life in Nigeria.