The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro marks a new step in the London-based tech brand’s push into premium audio, arriving alongside the appointment of V, the BTS star known professionally as Kim Taehyung, as its latest global brand ambassador. Since launching in 2021, Nothing has taken a different approach to celebrity partnerships, building its roster around artists whose relationship with sound, design, and creative experimentation reflects the company’s identity.
Charli xcx became a global brand ambassador and shareholder earlier in 2026. The Weeknd holds a shareholder position. Club Nothing, the brand’s music fund for emerging nightlife curators, was launched this year as a structural investment in the culture the brand wants to be associated with. The appointment of V as global brand ambassador follows that logic directly and adds a dimension that makes the partnership more meaningful than the standard tech-meets-celebrity formula.
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In August 2026, V disclosed publicly that he had been experiencing hearing loss in one ear for approximately three years, a condition that worsened progressively during his 18-month military service. He is currently seeing an audiologist regularly and receiving medication. Partnering with a premium audio brand in that context is not the obvious move, and that is precisely what makes it interesting. “I’m excited to be part of this bold new chapter with Nothing,” V said. “Headphone (1) Pro is a design grounded in creative expression, and I look forward to our journey together.” The campaign, shot in Seoul by Dorothea Sing Zhang, introduces V across Nothing’s full audio lineup and positions him not as a one-product face but as a more extensive creative presence within the brand.
Nothing Raises the Bar With Headphone (1) Pro
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The Headphone (1) Pro is Nothing’s most technically ambitious audio product to date and the first release in what the company is calling its Pro Series. Priced at $399, it features a triple-driver architecture intended to deliver high-quality sound over a wide frequency range, adaptive noise cancellation, and a design that retains Nothing’s recognizable transparent industrial design. Available in black and white, each pair ships with a molded carrying case. The headphone launches September 29, 2026, at Nothingtech, Amazon, and Best Buy locations across North America.
The Pro Series positioning is significant for Nothing as a brand. The company has built its reputation on making well-designed consumer electronics at accessible price points, with the Phone (1) and the Ear series establishing its visual language and community. Entering the $399 headphone category means competing directly with Bose, Sony, and Apple’s AirPods Max, brands with decades of audio credibility and far larger marketing budgets. V’s appointment as the face of that launch makes it clear how Nothing intends to compete: not on spec sheets, but on cultural resonance.
Why V Fits the Nothing Creative Vision
Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing was direct about the reasoning. “V has an instinct for fearless experimentation. He’s always pushing into different sounds and styles; he follows his creative instincts, not tried-and-tested formulas, and that’s exactly what we wanted to capture with Headphone (1) Pro. We’ve built it to give people more freedom and flexibility in everyday listening. V was the perfect choice as we define technical excellence for the next generation of creatives.”
That description maps accurately onto V’s solo work since BTS’s extended hiatus began. His 2023 debut solo album, “Layover,” explored a jazz-inflected, lo-fi aesthetic that sat far outside the K-pop mainstream. His collaborations with Jimin, French artists, and producers outside the Korean music industry have consistently prioritized creative curiosity over commercial certainty.
The Seoul campaign, shot by Dorothea Sing Zhang, captures V across the full Nothing audio lineup, including the Ear (3a), Headphone (1), Headphone (a), and Ear (3), alongside the new Headphone (1) Pro. The breadth of the shoot signals that this is a relationship rather than a product placement, while the creative framing around artistic expression and technical design gives both parties a shared language that the campaign makes visible.
Nothing is not simply selling V’s fame. It is selling the overlap between how he thinks about music and how the brand thinks about sound.
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Nothing’s Bigger Bet on Music and Culture
V’s appointment, coming months after Charli xcx’s ambassador and shareholder deal, confirms that Nothing is building a specific kind of cultural infrastructure around its audio products. The two ambassadors represent different audience segments, with Charli xcx reaching the club and pop crossover world and V reaching BTS’s enormous and deeply engaged global fanbase. Both, however, share the brand’s core positioning around creative individuality.
Nothing is not trying to be the headphone brand for everyone. It is building its identity around people who take both sound and aesthetics seriously, and it is shaping its ambassador roster around artists who embody that combination.
The Nothing Headphone (1) Pro is available starting today at nothing.tech, Amazon, and Best Buy across North America at $399. Further regional availability will be announced in the coming weeks.
Featured image: Dorothea Sing Zhang
