Closed-back Headphones

Monitors / Monitoring > Headphones

Published June 2025

With their second headphone model, Rode are looking to shut out the world outside.

Rode started out making studio microphones, but when YouTube came along, they were quick to diversify into affordable sound‑for‑picture gear. From simple wireless systems and camera‑mounted mics to the superb NT‑SF1 Ambisonic microphone, there’s a Rode device to suit every scenario in which sound needs to be captured and sync’ed to visuals. And the diversification shows no sign of stopping any time soon. You can now buy Rode video switchers, audio interfaces and boom poles, and a couple of years ago, the company introduced their first pair of headphones.

Despite their modest price, the NTH‑100s incorporate numerous design innovations that make a real difference in the studio, such as locking headband adjustment, dual cable ports and ear cushions filled with a special gel that keeps your ears cool. And as a bonus, they also sound better than closed‑back headphones at the price have any right to. Since I reviewed the NTH‑100 back in May 2022, Rode have also introduced a product called the NTH‑Mic. This is a short plastic arm with a microphone at one end and a mini‑jack at the other. It plugs into whichever of the NTH‑100’s dual cable ports you’re not using, and turns them into a comms headset for streaming, online meetings and so on.

When I heard that Rode were about to introduce a second headphone model called the NTH‑50, I initially assumed that this would be an even cheaper, budget version of the NTH‑100. Not so. In fact, it’s a completely new design, developed with a slightly different user base in mind.

On‑ear cans are seldom as comfortable as over‑ear models, but they have their own strengths.

Over Is Out

Most studio headphones, whether open‑ or closed‑back, are ‘over‑ear’ designs, with relatively large earcups that enclose the entire ear, the cushions resting against the side of the user’s head. However, DJs, location sound recordists and people doing audio for picture often favour ‘on‑ear’ models. These are invariably closed‑back, and have smaller earcups that sit right on top of the outer ear. In my experience, on‑ear cans are seldom as comfortable as over‑ear models, but they have their own strengths. The most important of these is that they typically offer better isolation from external sounds.

When I say that DJs and audio‑for‑video types favour on‑ear headphones, what I mean is that they favour a particular model that happens to be an on‑ear design. The Sennheiser HD25‑IIs have been around for many years now and are distinguished by their no‑nonsense, rugged design, their diminutive, circular earcups, and by the vice‑like grip they exert upon your head. And when you remove the NTH‑50 from their packaging, it’s hard not to conclude that Rode have lined up their big guns and pointed them directly at Hanover.

There is, of course, only a limited number of design choices you can make in constructing a pair of on‑ear headphones, but the visual resemblance here is surely deliberate. It’s most apparent in the cables that emerge from the top of each earcup, with the right side terminating in a red plug for easy left/right identification. Instead of carrying over their innovative locking headband adjustment system from the NTH‑100, Rode have also used what is essentially the same mechanism as on the HD25 (and a million other headphone models), with the earcups mounted on a notched strip, along which they can be clicked up or down.

However, you wouldn’t expect Rode to release something that is just a copy or clone, and that certainly isn’t the case here. For one thing, the NTH‑50s are quite a bit larger and heavier than the HD25‑IIs, and they include the same dual cable entry as on the NTH‑100s. The supplied cable has alternating curly and straight sections, and terminates in a locking mini‑jack that can be plugged in either side without reversing the channels. Sadly, there’s no CoolTech gel in the NTH‑50 ear cushions, and they have minimal freedom to rotate either fore and aft or up and down, but in practice I found them considerably more comfortable than the HD25‑IIs. I’d still prefer a well‑fitting pair of over‑ear cans for long sessions, but I could stand to wear these for hours without experiencing serious discomfort. As with the NTH‑100s, there’s no proper case, just a soft bag, and the NTH‑50s don’t fold up for portability. (Nor do the HD25s, for that matter.)

Hearing Things

As on Rode’s earlier NTH‑100, the cable can be plugged into either earcup, so you never need have it trailing across your lap again!The emphasis on ergonomic innovation that marked the NTH‑100s has been dialled down here, then, but what’s going on inside those circular earcups is said to be pretty novel. The NTH‑50s employ a “custom driver array”, which “features a revolutionary acoustic design with an innovative resonant chamber” and is said to offer unprecedented accuracy with minimal distortion. This driver array has a comfortable nominal impedance of 32Ω and is relatively sensitive, delivering 102dB SPL for a 1mW signal at 500Hz. Rode back up their claims about low distortion with some detailed and impressive numbers: a 1mW input produces less than 0.03% THD at 500Hz and less than 0.2% at 100Hz, whilst even at 120dB SPL, a 100Hz input produces only 0.5% THD. Interestingly, although good isolation is cited as one of the selling points of this model, the specified 21dBA ambient noise reduction only betters that of the NTH‑100 by 1dB. (I haven’t been able to find an isolation specification for the HD25.)

I’ve seen online reviews that describe the sound of the HD25 as being ‘scooped’, with prominent humps at 100Hz and 8kHz. My own pair sound reasonably flat at the low end, but they definitely have a strong emphasis somewhere in the treble region. This, I suspect, is actually part of their appeal. You wouldn’t want to mix on them, at least not without corrective equalisation, but their brightness goes hand in hand with their good isolation in making it possible to acquire useful information about what you’re hearing even in difficult circumstances. Dodgy edits, hiss, and click tracks all come through with painful clarity, even if they aren’t represented with perfect fidelity.

True to their word, Rode haven’t gone down the same, er, road, and the NTH‑50s deliver a much more pleasant, hi‑fi listening experience. Like the NTH‑100s, they are quite rich in the low midrange — certainly more so than my HD25s — but from perhaps 300Hz up are refreshingly well balanced. From memory, in fact, the overall sound is not unlike that of the NTH‑100, with a characteristic smoothness and gloss that I normally associate with much more expensive headphones. Both physically and sonically, I found them much less fatiguing than the HD25.

Just like Rode’s debut model, the NTH‑50s sound a lot more expensive than they actually are.

What, then, of the relative levels of isolation achievable with the two models? With no sound playing, both models seemed to attenuate ambient noise by roughly the same amount, albeit with slightly different frequency characteristics. With real‑world audio, I suspect that the HD25s might appear to have the edge because their additional brightness accentuates the contrast between the programme material and the external noise. If I was trying to make sense of mission‑critical instructions in a helicopter, I’d probably go with the Sennheisers. For making critical decisions about music — and actually enjoying it — the NTH‑50s are clear winners. Just like Rode’s debut model, the NTH‑50s sound a lot more expensive than they actually are.

Summary

Rode’s on‑ear headphones are perhaps more conventional than their over‑ear model, but they nevertheless offer a compelling blend of sound quality, isolation and value for money.