Nothing's CMF C and M are ultra-cute musical milk cartons

CMF M speaker render. — (Image credit: CMF)

Nothing is a pro at making boring, stick-in-the-mud tech more interesting. It has now set its sights on the portable speaker with the CMF S and M Bluetooth speakers.

For the uninitiated, CMF is the sub-brand Nothing uses for its more affordable gear. And this pair is shaping up to be a potential bargain.

But the bit you’ll notice first? The CMF S and M look a bit like old-school milk cartons.

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The CMF S is a semi-dead-ringer for a pint carton, the CMF M more like a two-pinter. Nothing’s real success is that, at least from the images we’ve seen so far, these look like the kind of stuff hyped brand Teenage Engineering might put out, but at just a fraction of the cost.

A CMF S will set you back £49, the CMF M £99. What’s the difference on the inside?

The smaller speaker has a single active 45mm driver with two passive radiators, a classic combo for a petite wireless speaker that does not want to sound small.

The CMF M ditches the passive radiators altogether but has a much larger 70mm bass driver, plus a 16mm tweeter. Nothing says this design — despite being sealed rather than ported (another way to boost bass output) — brings the bass floor down from 70Hz in the CMF S to 60Hz in the CMF M. Not bad.

Either speaker comes in green, orange, white or black. And they are made with 3D printing nerds in mind, as both the front panels and knobs can easily be removed and replaced.

There’s no hot-swappable or easy-change battery, though. It lasts up to 18 hours in either model (at 50% volume). And both speakers are 85mm wide, so the larger unit is mostly taller (and a little deeper) rather than much bigger all-round.

Want more of the features and specs? These speakers have IP68 water resistance — ready for a dunk. There are EQ modes to tailor the sound to your tastes, and they have NFC to let you pair up a couple of these speakers as a stereo pair, or just to boost the output in party style.

The CMF S and M also support Auracast. It’s not going to be relevant for many folks right now, but this is a very neat transmission tech that lets a source send audio to an unlimited number of Auracast devices — speakers, headphones and the like.

The CMF S and M are available to order now direct from Nothing.

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Andrew Williams has written about all sorts of stuff for more than a decade — from tech and fitness to entertainment and fashion. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff, enjoys going to gigs and painting in his spare time. He's also suspiciously good at poker.