CMF Headphone Pro Review: Best Budget Headphone?

THE SCORECARD

CMF Headphone Pro

• Build quality and fit

  8/10

  The build feels better than the price suggests, with a light 280 g fit, balanced clamp and spacious ear pads.

• Battery life

  9/10

  Battery life is rated at 50 hours with noise cancelling on or 100 hours with it off.

• Controls

  8.5/10

  The roller, customizable button and bass slider cover the essentials, but there is no wearing detection.

• Connectivity

  9/10

  You get Bluetooth 5.3, LDAC, multipoint, low-latency mode and wired listening through the included auxiliary cable.

• Call quality

  7/10

  Voice pickup is not the loudest or clearest, but windy-condition performance is strong for a budget headphone.

• App customization and extra features

  8.5/10

  The Nothing X app is well refined, although its three-band EQ is limiting.

• Noise cancelling

  7/10

  Low frequencies are handled well for the price, while middle and high frequencies are less effectively blocked.

• Transparency mode

  7.5/10

  Transparency has minimal occlusion and little hiss, though voices and distant sounds are slightly muffled.

• Sound extras

  9/10

  Sound leakage is low, volume should suit most listeners, and an auxiliary connection is available while powered on.

• Sound quality

  7.5/10

  After customization, the sound is immersive and open, with rich bass and a slightly boomy low end.

The Pros and Cons

How comfortable and well built is the CMF Headphone Pro?

CMF has done a really good job with the build. The ear cups have a smooth matte finish, the protein leather feels nice, the headband adjustment holds in place well, and the hinges move smoothly without the creaking or cracking that is common at this price.

There is not much headband cushioning, but at 280 g I still get a light feel on my head. Clamp is balanced enough for training and quick bends forward should not shift the headphones too much. With my larger head, the clamp is a little tighter. The ear pads are wide enough for my larger ears, although they could be taller because my ears make slight contact at the top and bottom.

The pads are replaceable, though I could only find blue and orange replacements. The main physical drawback is portability: these do not fold in, and the included case is soft, so they take up more room in a bag. They also carry an IPX2 water-resistance rating, which is better than nothing but not a reason to use them in the rain.

Battery, controls and connectivity are the strong points

Battery life is properly impressive: 50 hours with noise cancelling on and 100 hours with it off. A 5-minute charge gives 4 hours of playback. You cannot listen over Bluetooth while charging, though.

Controls are mostly excellent. The multi-function roller handles volume, playback, track controls and noise modes, while the extra customizable button can control the voice assistant, noise control, spatial audio or microphone control. The left-side slider boosts bass by default, but it can be changed to treble in the app. Wearing detection is the missing feature that stopped this being a perfect controls score.

Connectivity is loaded for the price. There is Bluetooth 5.3, SBC, AAC, LDAC, Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair, multipoint and a low-latency mode. The included auxiliary cable supports wired listening, but the headphones must be powered on to use it. There is no USB-C audio, and you cannot listen wired while the headphones are powered off.

Are the calls, ANC and transparency good enough?

Call quality is not the loudest or clearest in a quiet room, which is why I scored it 7 out of 10. Still, it did decently in my Windy City test, the toughest noise environment to block, and that is why I awarded it the best call quality for budget headphones.

Noise cancelling is fine for the money. Like most budget headphones, it handles low-frequency noise fairly well but struggles more with middle and high frequencies. The Earfun Tune Pro gives you stronger noise cancelling for less money. CMF does give you strength adjustment and an adaptive mode, while the rear microphone placement keeps wind pickup low. EQ shift with ANC is barely noticeable.

Transparency is also pretty decent at the price. There is very little blocked-ear effect or white-noise hiss, so speaking with the headphones on does not sound overly muffled. Voices and distant sounds are slightly muffled, however, and conversations can become harder in a noisy place.

CMF Headphone Pro sound quality needs some setup

The stock tuning is a little bland to my ears, so I would run the personalized hearing test and then dial both bass and treble down by 1 dB. I had to repeat the hearing test three to four times because it often boosted the bass too much. A proper five-band EQ would make this much easier than the supplied three-band EQ.

Once I had it set up, these sounded great. Bass is powerful, full and rich with some punch, although it remains slightly boomy and is hard to reduce precisely. Mids sit slightly behind the mix, but vocals stay clear and separated, while boosted lower mids give male vocals a rich character. Treble has a crisp, airy balance with good detail without becoming too much.

The standout is the open soundstage. For a noise-cancelling headphone at this price, I think it is the most open sound you can get. Compared with the Earfun Tune Pro and One More Sonoflow, the CMF gives me a more immersive listen, fuller bass, a noticeably wider stage and slightly more detail once it is dialled in.

The Nothing Headphone (1) sounds better if you want a more balanced presentation, with noticeably stronger vocal separation and clarity. I also have the Sony ULT WEAR half a point higher for clearer vocals and crisper, airier treble. The bass slider is fun if you want extra bass, but pushing it all the way up sounds terrible. Spatial audio is not too bad for headphones, although I still think spatial audio is pretty useless on most headphones and earbuds.

Why the CMF Headphone Pro is my highest-scored budget headphone

The CMF Headphone Pro finishes on 81.5 out of 100 and is the highest-scored budget headphone on my ranking. It is not close to perfect: it does not fold, ANC and transparency are merely good enough, and the sound customization needs work.

You can spend less on the Earfun Tune Pro for stronger noise cancelling, but you sacrifice build quality, comfort, transparency and call quality in windy conditions. You can spend more on the Sony ULT WEAR or Nothing Headphone (1) for stronger ANC, slightly clearer transparency and a small sound-quality improvement. I do not think that extra spend is really justified.