Rode's Astonishingly Good Headphones Just Got A Snap-On Microphone Upgrade
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Rode is snapping a useful accessory onto its NTH-100 headphones, with the new NTH-Mic turning the reference cans into a content-creation tool, too. Launched in March 2022, the NTH-100 headphones distinguished themselves from rivals by virtue of their transparency rather than their outright tuning, aiming for the ears of audio and video editors familiar with the brand's microphones. That meant a flatter frequency curve than headphones you might ordinarily reach for when listening to music or movies, where the EQ is typically biased to emphasize bass or the high-end for speech.
Throw in super-comfortable memory gel ear pads and plenty of headband adjustability, and it was clear Rode was onto a good thing. If there was an omission from the — at $149, surprisingly affordable — headphones, it was the absence of a microphone. That's something Rode is addressing now, taking advantage of the dual 3.5mm ports that already allowed for more headphone cable flexibility, with the new Rode NTH-Mic plugging in on the other side.
Plug and play
It's a short boom microphone, adding just 5 grams to the overall weight of the headphones. Rode promises "broadcast-grade audio" from the omnidirectional miniature condenser capsule, with a 20Hz-20kHz frequency range and 67dB signal-to-noise ratio. Interestingly, there's also the promise of decent plosive rejection — the pops that you get from certain letters in words like "p" and "t" — thanks to the shape and positioning of the boom, rather than the more traditional fix of some sort of pop-shield.
It's designed to plug into the right headphone cup, and like Rode's headphones cable, the NTH-Mic has a locking plug that holds it in place. That way, even if the cable gets snagged, there's less likelihood of it being disconnected unexpectedly.
Rode will sell the NTH-Mic separately, for those who already have the NTH-100 headphones, for $59. There'll also be a Rode NTH-100M bundle, with the headphones and microphone, for $189.