Unboxing the RØDE NTH-100 Professional Over-Ear Headphones

[Allan Black]

RODE have got the necessary reputation and stand by all their products.

So we can expect more about their new professional NTH-100 headphones and if there are any potential design problems.

Cheers.

[Paul R Johnson]

We will just have to wait and see. Allan. I appreciate you have a strong support for Rode, but you did call them clever. Hopefully an isolated incident and not a trend. A design that features hinges is always going to be a potential problem, especially as many buyers will be heavy users. I just find it surprising this reviewer broke them.

[Allan Black]

Yes Paul I also think it’s surprising that reviewer broke them, he did something stupid. RODE they would have tested the NTH-100s in all situations. But if there is a problem we’ll hear about it, a while ago they did have a problem with an item and released an upgraded version with a recall of the earlier one.

And yes RODE are clever, the unique features of the NTH-100 are a perfect example. And they’re all excited about it, you can actually sense it in the air when you go through their factory. Owner Peter Freedman 63 has just refused an offer of a billion dollars to buy the whole place and why would he, he’s having fun making his many millions.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see RODE release a mobile phone with some clever unique features, maybe in conjunction with Google or Samsung or another established phone manufacturer.

Cheers.

[Andrew Smith]

Their customer service has always been beyond legendary. I suspect they engage in being awesome just for the sake of being awesome. Given that the culture comes from the top down, I suspect Peter Friedman is a top bloke.

After modifying it Mr Freedman produced a quality consumer microphone that could be sold much cheaper than comparable ones.

A salesman told Freedman that: 'Mate, these will sell as fast as a rat up a drainpipe.'

This inspired the brand name Rode, which is short for rodent.

The story about the name seems legit. That sort of thing happens in Australia, and we enjoy being this way and not taking ourselves too seriously.

Andrew

[Allan Black]

That story is true Andrew, I knew Henry Freedman, Peter’s father. Henry ran a guitar repair shop on Parramatta Rd. One day a guitarist bought in a Chinese mic that had a problem. Henry fixed it, and updated some components. The guitarist told his friends about the improved sound and Henry made his own mic for sale. A friend said this will sell like a rat up a drainpipe hence as you say, Rodent RODE with the first mic. being the NT1 to round it off.

This story is slightly different when you read this but it’s very similar … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Røde_Microphones

I was involved at the time of their new NTG 3 shotgun release, at the time it caused a mild sensation. At RODE, blind listening tests put it ahead of the Sennheiser 416 shotgun, the industry standard and importantly, at a much lower price. When I told Peter he said I made his day and we celebrated with a coffee from his new expensive office coffee machine. It’s quality all the way out at RODE.

Peter has just bought a huge area west of Sydney to build a storage facility for materials used in his factory, so he won’t be caught with any import restrictions.

Cheers.

[Paul R Johnson]

YouTube (Short URL)

Another similar one. We'll need to watch this one. I know just two youtube videos is hardly a trend, but they both have the same issue and at least point to a problem.

[Allan Black]

Uh oh, doesn’t look good Paul. Good reviews on the B&H site but there’s another one … ‘The headset broke already. Not even two full months, and I used it very minimally. Reached for it by earpiece, and it broke.’

This is from the RODE NTH-100 manual …

‘Every component was made to last, right down to the wire that links the earcups. These are rated to withstand over 25kg of force, so if it gets snagged on something in your bag, it will not stretch or break.
The cable and earcup sockets are rated to 12kg, and the bayonet connector is made from a slightly softer material than the socket, so if the cable gets pulled in extremis, it’s the* (user-replaceable) connector that deforms, not the*headphones themselves.

We used robotic technology to pull, bend, tug, rotate and stretch the final construction of the headphones thousands of times to ensure they will withstand decades of use and still, look and sound flawless.
The NTH-100s were also put through several environmental testing procedures for durability assurance in a wide variety of potential scenarios – everything from climate and water tests to drop and abrasion tests.
They passed with flying colors.’

Maybe a production run got some inferior ‘softer material’ and they’re now out in the shops. If so, RODE might be able to tell by the serial numbers on the boxes and institute a recall. But these breakages will put many people off buying them, so I guess we’ll hear from RODE soon.

Cheers.

[Paul R Johnson]

Sometimes the tests miss what people do with the headphones, and of course loads of problems. Other than the audio and video stuff I sell and hire two way radios. One brand advertise them as the toughest, and you really can drop them, bash them about and they rarely break. Then a new model had a different antenna, and they started snapping off. Nobody had realised the simplest way to pull them radio out of the charger was via the antenna, and the perfectly good radio and the perfectly good antenna were like a hammer with a thin handle. They simply went back to the old design with a broader screw on base and the problem went away.

The people who reported these breaks both noticed them being broken when they picked them up, not when they put them down. I bet we find the issues is related to this, not when you wear them?

[Andrew Smith]

I've previously been a beta tester for super complex graphics software. Sometimes, despite all of your testing and the scenarios you can imagine possibly ever happening, someone will do something truly outside of the box and crash the released product. You can only test for so much, and the work that has otherwise gone into their headphone product really shows.

They're probably beside themselves as to how this could have happened. Really, it's just one of those things.

You can safely bet they're already working on a solution and it will be going through extra-extensive testing before the updated part is manufactured in bulk and released to the customer base. If I were them I'd simply mail out the updated component to all who have registered their product, with instructions on how to change it over.

Andrew

[Allan Black]

To put all that confirmation in the NTH-100 manual, then have at least 4 people reporting breakages will have RODE worried their bottom line and their reputation is going to suffer. There will be other users not reporting their breakages, and new owners reading this thread will now take more care.

Andrew, knowing RODE I think they’ll institute a recall and replacement via all their outlets, and make a big noise about doing it.
They think any publicity is good publicity.

Cheers.

[Allan Black]

Andrew, thinking about it, once RODE determines what happened, probably some rogue plastic got in their NTH-100 production line, they might well do as you say, it’d be the more economical way to go.

As well as the open back version, we can also expect a RODE Bluetooth version but by then they will have corrected the problem. I’m currently listening to Audio Technica ATH M50x headphones. It’s interesting the way they’ve now released these in 5 colours. I managed to get a second red pair for $A90 at a sale. Maybe RODE will do this too.

Cheers.

[Andrew Smith]

Speaking of sales, I picked up a Rode Procaster today which was on special at $50 AUD off the usual price. No, I'm not addicted to buying microphones and can stop any time I want.

I don't think this short term issue is about to affect their bottom line as the company is way too big with a ton of products. But they still care passionately about everything, including customer service, and it will get resolved in time. At least it's far from many thousands upon thousands of headphone units suffering breakages, else you'd really be hearing it (no pun intended).

(quickly searching for ways to include puns on levels and head room)

Andrew

[Allan Black]

Good buy, the Procaster is a great voice mic. We don’t know how many NTH-100 cans are breaking, but RODE head office probably do, through getting breakage warranty claims, while watching their worldwide sales slowly fall as a result of negative utube and social media. I expect once they resolve the problem, they’ll put something up on their site.

It’s headphone city here, I’m waiting delivery of a new pair of AKG K371 I heard at a mates place. I found mine on Amazon Aust. at a great price, order on line in the morning they deliver before 8pm the same day.

But I’m an Audio Technica ATH M50x fan and AT haven’t stopped, check this out. The features on their new Bluetooth version are mind blowing, including an app with which you can adjust everything. There’s no question RODE will be looking at all these features …

(New 2021) Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2 Headphone Review - Time to upgrade? - YouTube

[Allan Black]

My AKG K371 headphones were ordered on line at 9.30am and arrived on my doorstep at 2.15pm same day, no delivery charge, pretty good service.

To avoid diluting Andrews thread any further I’ll start a new thread.
Cheers.

[Andrew Smith]

Just a quick additional note on how excellent Rode's support is.

With the Rode Procaster I had purchased, I placed it in the shock mount cage on the mic boom arm holder thingy and discovered that in the last decade the shock bands had lost a bit of their elasticity and had become saggy, resulting in a sagging microphone.

Back when I bought the mic holder arm and the shock mount unit, there were no serial numbers on the product and naturally they were not registered. Not that it mattered in the end.

A couple of emails later, and a photo of the saggy shock mount (likely to ensure they were sending me the correct part), I received some new bands via road courier today and they're now on the shock mount unit. No money needed to change hands -- they just sent the thing out.

Ya just gotta love the customer support you get from Rode.

Andrew