Rode NTH-50 reviewed: made for creators

Headphones come at all sorts of price points, but for $199, the Rode NTH-50 takes on engineering headphones with a more affordable approach.

If you’re someone who loves to sit on your computer or iPad or something else with a digital audio workstation and just play and record, you probably also live in your headphones.

Even if you have speakers or monitors, headphones are the place we turn to when it comes to engineering sound. They’re closer to our ears, and handy for not having your music wake up the neighbours (or even your parents).

But not every headphone is made for engineering. Listening to music is usually the point, while engineering and music creation typically requires a different type of sound: a flat sound.

Some headphones are warm (with lovely lows and mids), and others are bright (with more treble. Some again offer hefty lows with earthy rumbles (and plenty of bass).

Most headphones aspire to being balanced, or some variation of it, and those that do are often made for more than just listening to music — they’re made for making it, too.

Balanced headphones used to be a rarity, but these days, the democratisation of audio technology — great audio technologies found in lots of places — has made that more plentiful. But not every pair is great for engineering and creating audio.

Rode’s NTH-50 endeavours to cover that while keep the price down, delivering a pair of wired headphones that works for both uses, and all for under $200 in Australia.

Design and features

A slightly different take on headphones and only the second pair from Aussie microphone specialist Rode, the NTH-50 is a smaller take on the first headphones launched by the brand back in 2022.

Back then, Rode launch a pair of comfy studio-focused around-ear headphones for recording and even for music playback.

Now, three years later, Rode is back at it again with a new pair, designed to be on-ear rather than around-ear.

The latest is the NTH-50, a pair that is wired-only and comes with a 40mm driver in a design pleading aluminium and plastic, a contoured headband, and a detachable cable that also locks in place. It even has the gold spot connected Rode’s gear is known to have.

Inside the box, the NTH-50 headphones are clearly the star of the show, packaged with alongside one headphone cable complete with a 3.5mm screw jack, one 3.5mm to 1/4 inch adaptor, some colour accessories to mark the cable, and a small fabric storage pouch.

In-use

There’s not a lot you need to know about using the Rode NTH-50: plug them in and away you go.

The headphones actually come with a jack on either side, allowing you to plug the cable in to either side, complete with an interlocking cable end to hold the cable in place.

These are wired headphones like any other pair, though their focus isn’t primarily listening like another audiophile-grade pair of headphones. Rather, Rode has built the NTH-50 for engineering and creation.

If you’re making music, these are more focused on that. You can use them for nearly anything, of course, but creation and engineering are where these are made for.

Performance

Tested with the Pickr Sound Test, which you can try for yourself, the Rode NTH-50 offers the level of balance we’ve come to expect from Rode’s headphones, with more heft in the bottom end than expected.

Take the sound on electronic in tracks from Tycho and Daft Punk: we noted nice highs, decent mids, and a reasonable thud on the bass, with some punchy sounds on offer.

The pop of Carly Rae Jepsen was similar, delivering great highs, while Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” provided great balance and decent detail.

This was mostly consistent — rock was a constant provider, with the likes of David Bowie and Paul Simon and Rage Against the Machine standing out. But some tracks felt shallow, as if the detail was lacking.

In FKA Twigs’ “Two Weeks”, the balance was good but the detail felt restrained and lacking, and it was a similar vibe on Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain”.

Every track we tested seemed balanced, but not every track felt as strong as the others.

However, testing the NTH-50 headphones with more than just our regular sound test, and using them for recording and engineering, the balance was noticeable. Our voice came through crystal clear, as did the music we were running through.

If the Rode NTH-50 are designed mostly for creation with listening secondary, mission success. These are made for creators.

Value

The price may well be one of the most interesting aspects, as Rode finds a way to get in under the price of its big brother, the NTH-100.

In Australia, the recommended retail price of the NTH-50 is $199, making them slightly more affordable than the $349 NTH-100, and a little smaller, too.

That sort of saving is handy, especially since music gear is almost always quite expensive. Street price sees you saving a little more, too, with local prices closer to between $160 and $180.

What needs work?

You won’t get a protective case in the box, just a pouch, though Rode does include some cable colour clips, handy if you have too many cables and not enough differentiation.

But the bigger issues with the Rode NTH-50 may be from fit and design.

We’ll start with the first because as on-ear headphones, the fit isn’t always super comfortable.

Some people prefer on-ear to around-ear — supra-aural to circumaural for the folks who know the lingo — and the pads on the NTH-50 are really firm, so they may take some time wearing in before they’re comfortable. That’s distinct to the plush pads on the NTH-100 which are so comfortable, they kind of swallow you the first moment you wear them.

We’ve seen headphones over the years that take time to wear in, and the NTH-50 definitely qualify.

They could also be a touch more portable. On first glance, the Rode NTH-50 appears small, or smaller than the NTH-100. But compare the headphones side-by-side, and there isn’t a tremendous difference in size.

Not helping the headphones is a lack of a hinge or folding mechanism. You can’t fold either side up, and they don’t fold up to fit in your luggage. They’re just headphones.

What we love

Despite being just headphones, they do manage to provide an on-ear style with a reasonable balance to people looking for that.

That’s fine, and there’s definitely a market for it, given the competition.

Rode NTH-50 vs the competition

In terms of the price, there isn’t really much that Rode competes with. Balance doesn’t normally come to headphones below the $200 mark.

But in terms of something designed to be similar, the Sennheiser HD 25 definitely springs to mind.

They’re clearly the obvious target for Rode’s NTH-50, the clear competitor. A similar on-ear supra-aural design, a similar approach in audio, and even a similar design for where the plugs have been built and connected.

There may only be so many ways to design a headphone, but the NTH-50 feels like a slightly economical take on the HD 25.

And in this game, the more expensive Sennheiser HD 25 are the better pair, but at roughly two-third the cost, Rode comes with a different focus: saving money.

However, there’s one more thing to talk about: the price of the Rode NTH-100.

While the $349 RRP may well be what retailers are recommended to charge, the fact of the matter is the big brother of the NTH-50 — what is arguably one of the better pairs of headphones found today — can actually be found for less these days.

A quick glance on Google finds the NTH-100 for between $179 and $200, ranging it both less to a buck more than the newer NTH-50.

Both technically and from our review, the NTH-100 is the better pair of headphones, making it the pair to consider between the two.

The NTH-50 is a little smaller, but not by a lot. Neither is designed to be all that portable, and frankly, we’d pick the NTH-100 between the two every time. They’re better and more comfortable.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

The burden of cost is a critical one for most of us, but if you’re a hobbyist or enthusiast dabbling in music, often more so. Musical instruments and engineering gear can be pretty costly, and saving money where you can while still getting something great is important.

Why sacrifice on quality when you don’t have to?

Rode’s NTH-50 provides an approach for that, shrinking the original price of its larger NTH-100 headphones and offering similar tech in a slightly more compact package.

We did say “slightly”, because while the two headphones look worlds apart, they’re not, at least in size. The NTH-50 looks smaller, but it doesn’t have that much of an edge.

But it does have one on price, marginal as it is. If you can get the NTH-50 for even lower than its $199 price, you might just find a bargain. Rode should probably lower the price further, given how much its sibling runs for, but they’re not bad value, either.