Beyer DT770 vs Goldring ns1000

C64 · 2 Apr 2011 at 15:41

Anyone got experience with both and can compare ? my ns 1000 finally cracked and I don't think I should risk buying another set what with all the build quality issues lately not to mention this is the second set of goldrings that have cracked after about 2 years.

Any new kids on the block in and around the £100 mark that are better than the ns1000 through the e5 yet ?

shroomz · 2 Apr 2011 at 17:58

I don't know about the e5 but I'm demoing a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50 just now and really like them, I actually have a thread here about it

Auraomega · 3 Apr 2011 at 02:50

Both me and Uriel are in agreement that the DT770s sound better than the NS1000s, however while I think the difference justifies the extra cost (at the time they were 3x the cost) Uriel disagrees, take from that what you will.

I've written a review of the DT770s here that might interest you, bear in mind though that they are around £135 right now which is over your £100 budget.

Rroff · 3 Apr 2011 at 04:33

DT770 are definitely better than the ns1000, worth the money over them I'm not sure but they are exceptionally crisp and imo work really well with off setting the way dolby headphone tends to slightly muddy sound if you use DH.

jon86 · 3 Apr 2011 at 06:11

I borrowed a pair of NS1000 from a friend (he got them for £50 on offer) and found they were adequate. When I tried to buy some, the offer was not available and they cost about £100. As I needed to spend about £100 to get the NS1000s, I decided to look further afield and ended up getting some Shure SRH 840s for only £20 more. I am really glad I got these and have found the sound clarity superb.

C64 · 4 Apr 2011 at 13:53

Did you listen to the ns1000 through the e5 amp ?

Uriel · 5 Apr 2011 at 00:53

I have DT770 Pro 250 ohm. Generally better than NS1000 in most respects. The only things the NS1000s did better was synergy with Dolby Headphone soundstage and realism of vocals.

The DT770 Pros sound a lot better than NS1000 unamped. They don't require an amp in the way that NS1000s do with ANR off. The benefit of amping is still there but it's very subtle compared to NS1000s.

Until recently I would have bought another set of NS1000s ahead of DT770 pros on the basis of value for money but the recent breakages haven't gone un-noticed. The DT770 Pros are solid and practically everything is user-replaceable if they did break.

titaniumx3 · 5 Apr 2011 at 14:29

Personally I'd be concerned about the effect of the noise cancelling circuitry on sound quality, even when it's off. Clearly the fact that you need an amplifier to run it with ANR off is indication that it is affecting sound quality (even if it's not readily obvious).

Goldring should release a normal version of the NS1000 without ANR and improved build quality.

Auraomega · 5 Apr 2011 at 15:59

That logic makes no sense, the ANR acts as an amp, if you removed the ANR circuit then you'd still need to amp it.

titaniumx3 · 5 Apr 2011 at 18:44

Auraomega said:
That logic makes no sense, the ANR acts as an amp, if you removed the ANR circuit then you'd still need to amp it.

Maybe the ANR circuitry increases the impedance to the drivers.

I see no reason why the drivers in NS1000 require amp when other larger headphones don't require one.

C64 · 5 Apr 2011 at 18:48

So which versions of the dt770 are the best ? the old 32ohm versions ? looking on head fi just gets even more confusing as a few people there saying the 600ohm versions are the only good ones ? lol there's about 6 different versions

Auraomega · 5 Apr 2011 at 20:44

titaniumx3 said:
Maybe the ANR circuitry increases the impedance to the drivers.

I see no reason why the drivers in NS1000 require amp when other larger headphones don't require one.

Impedance has no effect on how easy or difficult something is to drive, 100 ohm isn't that big compared to pro headphones which usually sound much better amped. All drivers benefit from amping at different magnitudes, why is it hard to believe that the drivers inside the NS1000s might benefit from amping significantly more than some more expensive or bigger drivers? Size really doesn't count either, I've heard IEMs which sound clearly better amped and I've heard headphones which the difference is negligible, there is no simple explanation to what makes amping more beneficial than others.

C64 said:
So which versions of the dt770 are the best ?

Depends on what you want to do with them; for use with portable devices you'd probably be better off with the 80 ohm version, if you love bass then the 600 ohm will have the best bass response if I remember correctly. 250 ohm are the standard and seem to most balanced. You could try and hear them all for yourself but I doubt there will be much in it if I'm honest.

titaniumx3 · 5 Apr 2011 at 21:00

Auraomega said:
Impedance has no effect on how easy or difficult something is to drive, 100 ohm isn't that big compared to pro headphones which usually sound much better amped. All drivers benefit from amping at different magnitudes, why is it hard to believe that the drivers inside the NS1000s might benefit from amping significantly more than some more expensive or bigger drivers? Size really doesn't count either, I've heard IEMs which sound clearly better amped and I've heard headphones which the difference is negligible, there is no simple explanation to what makes amping more beneficial than others.

So it's purely a coincidence that the NS1000 benefits greatly from amping (more than normal) and also has ANR circuitry?

Auraomega · 5 Apr 2011 at 21:37

Pretty much.

EDIT: It's also possible that, based on the fact the NS1000s are designed to be travel headphones (and thus be used with the ANR on) that cheaper drivers which are significantly harder to drive were used, but removing the ANR would again still leave you requiring an amp if all things were equal.