Røde NTH-50 review

When the Røde NTH-100 burst onto the wired headphones scene back in 2022 and ended up scooping a five-star review and multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards, it was a little like Wimbledon being won unexpectedly by the unseeded wildcard.

Few people quite saw it coming, establishing the NTH-100 as one of our most trusted pairs of recommendable budget wired cans and leaving us keen to see what the Australian microphone company’s sophomore effort would look like when it arrived.

Well, arrived they have! The Røde NTH-50 are here, and while it would have been reasonable to assume that Røde might have considered going up the price ladder with a slightly more premium pair of over-ears, it has in fact launched a more budget pair that sport an on-ear design.

We loved the immense sound-per-pound performance the NTH-100 deliver, so if these new on-ear debutantes can deliver similar, we might have another great pair on our hands.

Price

The Røde NTH-50 cost £99 / $99 / AU$TBC, an appealingly affordable price point that undercuts that of its older sibling. The Røde NTH-100 over-ears landed with an RRP of £149 / $149 / AU$249 back in 2022, although we’ve seen this price dip since to around £105 / AU$199 at the time of writing.

At this level, the main rivals for the new Røde on-ears come courtesy of the excellent, Award-winning Austrian Audio Hi-X15 (£89 / $119) – though do bear in mind these are over-ear rather than on-ear designs.

Build & comfort

It’s been interesting to see Røde deviate from the original form of the NTH-100 and go down a different route with its follow-up effort.

The NTH-100 were classic over-ear headphones, boasting a reasonably comfortable fit thanks to their Alcantara earpads and nicely judged clamping force. These new arrivals have strayed from the path a little, sporting an on-ear design and ditching the Alcantara of their siblings in favour of memory foam-padded earcups.

From what we’ve experienced during our testing, however, the Røde NTH-50 aren’t as easy to get along with as the NTH-100. The cans’ clamping force is a touch too strong, although that will likely ease off with time, while some of our test team found their on-ear design caused discomfort even after relatively short periods of listening.

It’s not a universal experience, so much of this will depend on factors such as head size and whether you wear glasses, but do note that the NTH-50’s slightly unforgiving on-ear design won’t suit all wearers.

There’s not a huge amount of padding on the headband’s interior, either, so these aren’t headphones that make us exactly feel pampered.

Comfort aside, we’re not disappointed by the quality of the build on offer. The headband’s adjustable slider is easy to expand and contract, and we find that the new on-ears are capable of accommodating a range of head sizes.

Note that they don’t fold away or feature swivelling earcups, so for wired listeners who like to roam, the collapsible Austrian Audio Hi-X15 might be a better bet for portable use.

The NTH-50 come equipped with a long 1.7m cable, although that will stretch to even greater distances thanks to an elastic coiled section in the middle of the wire.

The provided cable is 3.5mm-ended, with an included 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter for hooking up to a more diverse array of portable players, laptops and amplifiers, and there’s an in-box carry pouch if you do decide to take the NTH-50 on your travels.

Are the new Røde on-ears built to last? We can’t say for sure given the relatively short time we have with them, but the signs are positive. The headphones seem happy to stretch when we pull the cans laterally from cup to cup, detecting few points of weakness or vulnerability as we do so.

Plastic exterior surfaces, such as the earcups and the headband’s outer rim, are resistant to marks and scuffs as we expose the Røde on-ears to a little light punishment – nothing serious, just a few trips to the office and the occasional scratch with a fingernail.

Inside, the NTH-50 house a set of 40mm drivers which tease “exceptional sonic performance”, with Røde envisioning a swathe of use cases ranging from personal to professional studio production.

The headphones’ custom driver array employs a bespoke acoustic design with an innovative resonant chamber, precision-tuned for “incredibly accurate and detailed audio reproduction with ultra-low distortion”, promises Røde.

Sound

When we reviewed the slightly more expensive Røde NTH-100, we thought that they absolutely nailed their brief.

Here was a pair of affordable over-ears that felt as comfortable in the studio as they did clamped over the ears of a casual listener, with a balance that blended entertainment and fun with an informative, detail-rich character.

Headphones are always walking that tightrope of balancing fun and finesse, but the NTH-100 were, and remain, as composed as a pro gymnast performing in the Cirque du Soleil.

The question is, have the NTH-50 also been blessed with that magical formula? We throw them right in at the deep end with John Williams’ epic orchestral number Duel Of The Fates, immediately discovering those qualities of grip, punch and energy that made the NTH-100 so appealing.

As the music evolves and slaloms from passage to passage, the new Røde on-ears do an admirable job of keeping up. A flurry of horns enters the fray, displaying ample bite and power before operatic vocals come in with authority and passion, while shrill strings have the urgency and texture to make us sit up and pay attention.

Duel Of The Fates lives and dies on its tumultuous energy, and the NTH-50 have the stamina to keep the music moving along with an appropriate sense of drama and import.

These are immensely entertaining headphones, and they excel with tracks that require those extra helpings of sonic bite. If you’re a committed headbanger, you’ll find Slipknot’s Left Behind to be furnished with satisfying levels of wallop, whereas lovers of classic hip-hop will appreciate the weight the Røde give to the anchoring bass thumps on Wu-Tang Clan’s Gravel Pit.

We’re swept up in the fun of it all, but it’s hard to ignore the small nagging doubts we have about the Rødes’ weaker spots.

We switch over to the Austrian Audio Hi-X15 as we investigate further, finding a pair of alternatives that, for the same price, offer a more appreciable sense of clarity and openness when charged with tackling challenging tracks such as Nick Cave’s Galleon Ship or Portishead’s Glory Box.

The Austrian Audio are more detailed, too – the intricate playing on Gustavo Santaolalla’s The Last Of Us soundtrack is more authentically reproduced by the Hi-X15, with greater space around each note and a keener ear for the hard yet mournful tone of that very particular guitar sound. The rendition on the Røde is still enjoyable, but the dexterity and textural insight provided by the Hi-X15 is on another level.

Do these revelations have us forlornly placing the Røde cans back in their large white box, never to be heard again? No, certainly not. The Hi-X15 have a more informative ‘studio-style’ sound, yet the NTH-50’s core qualities of punch, drive and impressive bass reproduction still have us coming back for more.

The Austrian Audios are more well-rounded as do-it-all cans on a budget, but if you feed them the genres they love – rock, hip-hop, big orchestral numbers – the NTH-50 will prove themselves to be great entertainers.

Verdict

If you don’t find them uncomfortable to wear, the NTH-50 are a charming pair of wired on-ears from a brand still establishing a name in the world of headphones. They don’t quite have the perfectly judged balance of their older siblings, and we slightly prefer the Austrian Audio Hi-X15’s clearer, more detailed presentation, but it’s hard not to be won over by the NTH-50’s punchy, assertive delivery.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Comfort 3
• Build 4

MORE:

Read our full Røde NTH-100 review

And our Austrian Audio Hi-X15 review

Our pick of the best on-ear headphones you can buy right now

On-ear vs over-ear headphones: which is better for noise-cancelling, the gym, kids and more