Unboxing the RØDE NTH-100 Professional Over-Ear Headphones

[Allan Black]

Yes RODE is proud of their reputation and go out of their way to support their customers world wide. They also read the forums and I don’t believe there’s any staff as a member here, so on their behalf, thanks Andrew :)

So far no further news on the NTH-100 breakages. The ratio of known to actual breakages is about 1 to 20, so RODE HQ at Silverwater in Sydney will now have a few breakages returned to examine, and the owners will have or be expecting their new replacement under warranty. Mainly driven by social media, I think we can still expect a NTH-100 revision from RODE.

Cheers.

[Andrew Smith]

Update: The Rode headphones now come with an extra sticker on the box. :-)

Details in a separate post.

Andrew

[Allan Black]

That’s interesting, Rode has obviously had a few broken ones, maybe word has gotten around the traps and sales have dropped.

Their cheapest ‘fix’ is that lifetime sticker, better than their standard 10yr warranty.
If sales don’t improve, stage 2 will be a redesign.

Cheers.

[Andrew Smith]

I don't think that's quite why they are doing it.

I suspect that it was always an excellent quality product that had a couple of surprise points of failure that only showed up once they were out in the market.

The early headband failures showed up with some of the reviewers but I haven't heard complaints since on the socials. They would literally have been given product that was from the first production batch as it was sent out (with embargo agreement) ahead of the formal release date to give time for review. The headband issue could have been fixed with a mere change in the exact type of plastic used in the clip, for example.

I'm thinking that they've comprehensively fixed everything now and this gives them the confidence to upgrade the warranty to lifetime. They have enough data to know that it's not about to break, and the warranty upgrade still gives increased confidence to the market (those that noticed the chance at least, which won't be the regular punter).

All said, Rode are still legendary with their product support. You just can't go wrong purchasing their products.

Andrew

[Allan Black]

Hi Andrew, the Rode NTH-100 lifetime warranty has been available since Nov. 2022.

They say, ‘We are very confident that the build quality and manufacturing expertise that has gone into these headphones will ensure they last as long as you need.’

If they’d improved the ‘suspect’ headband they would have said so …

https://rode.com/en/about/news-info/...etime-warranty

It says to me they were worried about the breakage reports on some audio sites saying some have broken, and they’re obviously trying to counter it. Why else would this lifetime warrranty first appear in Nov. 2022, 5 months after the first release in June 2022.

For the prospective buyer now seeing the new release in a shop, it’s a prominent sticker on the front of the box and is the only Rode product to ever guarantee it. I’d say they are the world’s only headphones with a lifetime warranty.

Don’t get me wrong, it may not read like it, but I’m pro Rode, I knew them when they were starting out in small shop here in Sydney and years ago I did some listening tests out at their factory at Silverwater. Rode is now a huge manufacturing success in Australia and in 2020, founder Peter Freedman paid 9million for the late Kurt Cobains guitar, he’s donated it to the Sydney Festival here.

A few minutes ago I just saw the U.S. Marine Corps band playing and singing their wonderful rendition of Oh Come All Thee Faithful on tv here in Sydney. They had all RODE mics. If you saw this Peter Freedman you should be very proud, happy Christmas mate.

Cheers.