Goldring NS1000 issues

After having a couple of dodgy pairs of the ns1000's from Play I was about to order another pair from Superfi, however I was offered a pair of hardly used second hand quiet comfort 2's from a friend, for £65, not a bad deal.

Sound quality of the QC2's is IMO no better than the ns1000's, slightly warmer maybe, but certainly not better. Comfort wise, I think the QC2's are a bit better as they are slightly larger and fit my noggin a bit better, but again there's not much in it. I think noise cancelling is marginally better (mainly due to not having the hissing of the ns1000's), but again it's not by a lot. Not bad for £10 more than I paid for ns1000's from Play. Why anyone would pay £200+ for the Bose headphones though I have no idea, you'd have to be a total nutter.

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything, just offering an alternative to the ns1000's.
 
Well that's Bose all over. Some people like Bose, but you can get equally good or better alternatives cheaper.

A lot of headphones are extortionate money, especially in the UK, and cost far more than they should do. Some people are happy to pay whatever it is, and think they have got a good deal. How some came to that conclusion I have no idea. Maybe most UK citizens are so used to being ripped off, over priced products begin to look like good value.
 
Got my replacement NS1000 today from SuperFi, having sent back the ones from Play. 1m cable included instead of 1.5m. Quality of this set seems so much better. No nasty hiss with the circuit active. Very happy with them. In fairness, Play returns procedure was very simple and the refund was swift.
 
Nice! Another + for SuperFi. :)

Certainly looks like Play have had their chips, until they have cleared out any dodgy pairs they still have in stock.
 
I'm amazed Play haven't pulled them for the time being (at least the batch / batches affected). They must have a stupidly high return rate at the moment.

Depending on how it's being dealt with, Goldring may not actually have been informed by Play.com of the problems.
 
Hey, just wanted to chip in. Ordered from play 17th Jan, didn't arrive, arranged redelivery 3 weeks later (despite my complaints, they just kept emailing me a standard 'you need to wait 3 weeks'), on the 10th feb, arrived 14th feb and plugged it into my HTC desire and fired up the first muse track - horrible distortion in the right speaker. Tried to burn in overnight, no joy, its seems its certain frequencies or something that sets it off.

Will be RMAing and by the looks of it, re-ordering from superfi. I have the long-cable version. Also, the box it came in was bashed quite badly - the plastic window was cracked all the way across. Maybe a return or maybe just bad delivery service.

To test your set, a repeatable method of producing this distortion is to use this: http://www.burninwave.com/generator_dl.htm go to Generator > Pure test tone > (most tones can detect it, but its especially obvious for example at 100mhz). It seems to have a greater effect if you move your head while its playing the tone as well. If it sounds like something plasticy is vibrating in your right ear (for clarification - thats the one with the battery in) - there's the distortion!

Must be a terrible batch. Avoid play for the time being.
 
Ordered 17th February (last Thursday evening 10PM) and came Monday 21st (yesterday). I didn't know they had came until today so I'm just having a fiddle with them now.

Also ordered from play.

So far so great with ANR on and off. The slight hiss in silence seems to be the same as what happy owners are reporting and I'm not bothered about it even when there is nothing playing through the headphones. Distance ocean noises = ZZZzzz... :D.

Build quality seems fine and I'm really impressed with this set so far over my HS-800 Fatality headset. I only bought these as my mate went to make us both a cup of tea and had my (HS 800) headset wrapped around his legs. I look immediately at the back of the PC to see my headset green wire hanging from the back of the tower.... anyhow, I'm not exactly a sound expert but these blow my old headset away. My FIIO E5 amp didn't come with my headset :( so I've still to experience that.

No clicking or creaking at all. I thought one side sounded slightly louder than the other but after swapping them around it seems like I either need to give one of my ears a good cleaning or I'm going deaf lol.

Tried the above Burn-in Generator and it was fine with the 100Mhz as it was with 1000Mhz with NR on and off. I'll try this again when I get my FIIO E5 amp. No change in tones when moving my head also. No clicking, creaking or anything.

1.5 Metre cable.

Padding feels excellent and I especially like the build quality compared to my Fatality headset.

One problem though. When listening to "Sonata No.14 in c#, Op.27#2 'Moonlight'- III. Presto agitato" I was hearing distortion at times with the battery NR on. Since these are just out the box and I've read about burn-in then it might be a case of that for me?. Listening to this same track and it doesn't seem to be as bad this time (448kbps).

Overall I'm well pleased with the NS1000 and had ordered before reading the threads on OCUK which did not help my confidence much. Now I have them cuddling my ears and singing me sweet songs and I'm just happy to not have to send them back (so far). Destroys my old headset easily to the point I'm glad my friend snapped my previous pair.

If I was buying today, for the £7 difference I'd go to Superfi instead of play but I can't fault play at the same time for sending me a lovely pair of headphones. I'm sorry to those that have had problems.
 
One problem though. When listening to "Sonata No.14 in c#, Op.27#2 'Moonlight'- III. Presto agitato" I was hearing distortion at times with the battery NR on. Since these are just out the box and I've read about burn-in then it might be a case of that for me?. Listening to this same track and it doesn't seem to be as bad this time (448kbps).

Personally, I would send them back. I know this seems really bad advice as they seem to be ok but as you said you get slight distortion (as my first pair started as) then I wouldnt hope for that much. Send them back, get your money and order from Superfi. Obviously its upto you if you do this, as play.com are a pain to return too (I should be an expert by now) but I think it will be worth it in the long run. See what others say.
 
I got mine from play about 4 months ago, no issues with creaking and the noise cancelling works fine, supplied cable was 1m in length.
 
One problem though. When listening to "Sonata No.14 in c#, Op.27#2 'Moonlight'- III. Presto agitato" I was hearing distortion at times with the battery NR on. Since these are just out the box and I've read about burn-in then it might be a case of that for me?. Listening to this same track and it doesn't seem to be as bad this time (448kbps).

I'm assuming both times you listened to it in lossless? If you're hearing the distortion in the highs then yes it's almost certainly just because they haven't been burned in yet, you'll notice the tone changes slightly over the next 50 or so hours and becomes more clear.
 
Personally, I would send them back. I know this seems really bad advice as they seem to be ok but as you said you get slight distortion (as my first pair started as) then I wouldnt hope for that much. Send them back, get your money and order from Superfi. Obviously its upto you if you do this, as play.com are a pain to return too (I should be an expert by now) but I think it will be worth it in the long run. See what others say.

I couldn't disagree more, it's probably just because they haven't been burnt in yet! Plus, I got mine from Play.com and they are fine. He's probably more likely to get a dodgy set by sending them back! :rolleyes:
 
I couldn't disagree more, it's probably just because they haven't been burnt in yet! Plus, I got mine from Play.com and they are fine. He's probably more likely to get a dodgy set by sending them back! :rolleyes:

My evidence is based on the 2 pairs I got from play.com, and everyone elses complaints about them from play.com around the same time with all the same issues, hence this whole thread. I did say it was a personal choice, and its one I would make myself. Obviously I cannot hear his distortion, but if it was anything like mine it made listening to anything a burden. My set from Superfi (via the rainforest company) have not hicup'd once. Again, just my personal thoughts.
 
My NS1000 show tiny cracks in two or three places on the headband. I'm well annoyed with that and am considering sending them back as soon as anything major shows up, even if they have to go directly to Goldring.

I've had them for some 6 months now, also purchased from the jersey retailer.
 
My NS1000 show tiny cracks in two or three places on the headband. I'm well annoyed with that and am considering sending them back as soon as anything major shows up, even if they have to go directly to Goldring.

This was how my first pair started too, I don't think I need to elaborate how they ended up. Unless you want a pair like Energize's (he's removed the image unfortunately, it wasn't pretty though) I'd return them now.
 
My evidence is based on the 2 pairs I got from play.com, and everyone elses complaints about them from play.com around the same time with all the same issues, hence this whole thread.

I bought mine from Play.com at the same time and they have been fine. The people posting here are those that have had problems. How many people have bought them from Play.com around the same time and not had problems?

Generally people only post in these kind of threads if they have problems or complaints.
 
Generally people only post in these kind of threads if they have problems or complaints.

Yes - but NS1000s have generally been problem free for 3+ years. To have so many with problems from one supplier in a short space of time is therefore significant.

I will be advising people against buying NS1000s from play.com for the forseeable future. Will probably point people towards Superfi unless OCUK get some. Not least because Superfi are known for relatively decent customer service if anything does go wrong there's an added level of confidence. I do not like what I've heard about Play's RMA service.
 
Personally, I would send them back. I know this seems really bad advice as they seem to be ok but as you said you get slight distortion (as my first pair started as) then I wouldnt hope for that much. Send them back, get your money and order from Superfi. Obviously its upto you if you do this, as play.com are a pain to return too (I should be an expert by now) but I think it will be worth it in the long run. See what others say.

Your following post mentioned they would distort with anything?. Mine has with 2 lossless tracks. Apart from that, they are perfect with everything else so far.

I have 28 days (well 26 now), so I can mess around and see if I'm going to send them back if anything changes. If something isn't broke then I don't want to send it back.

I'm assuming both times you listened to it in lossless? If you're hearing the distortion in the highs then yes it's almost certainly just because they haven't been burned in yet, you'll notice the tone changes slightly over the next 50 or so hours and becomes more clear.

Yes.

I tested a U2 track and again, some highs were distorted. I also noticed using "Crystalizer" with my Xtreme Gamer sound card made things worse but in reality "crystalizer" just seems like a treble boost.

Also tried some Bob Marley in lossless and it was perfect.

If people think this distortion should not be there at all then I would return and go from Superfi. If this is normal as you have said then I'd like to hang on to them. To be honest, the chance I could get another pair that might not distort is slightly tempting although the time I might have to wait is off putting.

You seem to know your stuff so could I ask you a question please?.

http://uk.creative.com/products/productarchive.asp?category=4&subcategory=789&product=10814

This link above is my speaker set up (discontinued). The wired control pod you should see in the picture is what I've been plugging my old Fatality headset (HS800) into instead of directly plugging into the sound card. The only reason I'm mentioning this as when I plugged my headset (HS 800) into the sound card directly the sound would be perfect at the highest volume. When I plug my HS800 into the control pod for my speaker set up instead of the sound card, the volume control for the headphones goes considerably louder at full volume than what the sound card does and sometimes distorted my HS800 so I would have to turn it down a few notches. Is this the control pod pushing my volume higher than it should go with my NS1000s?. I'm fearing it may be this that is causing the distortion.

I'll test today the NS1000 being plugged directly into my sound card instead of the volume control pod changes anything as when I'm plugged directly into the sound card I use windows to control my volume. When I'm using the speakers control pod I use the dial on that to control volume, bass and treble which push these values over what Windows has it set to.

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If you or anyone has advice then I'd be grateful.

I couldn't disagree more, it's probably just because they haven't been burnt in yet! Plus, I got mine from Play.com and they are fine. He's probably more likely to get a dodgy set by sending them back! :rolleyes:

:D That would be hilarious. I send them back although I find very little wrong with them and I'm generally pleased, to receive a shocking pair back.

It might be my control pod for my speakers driving the volume past what it should be regarding the distortion. Waiting to hear if anyone can advise me.

My evidence is based on the 2 pairs I got from play.com, and everyone elses complaints about them from play.com around the same time with all the same issues, hence this whole thread. I did say it was a personal choice, and its one I would make myself. Obviously I cannot hear his distortion, but if it was anything like mine it made listening to anything a burden. My set from Superfi (via the rainforest company) have not hicup'd once. Again, just my personal thoughts.

Yes but I've listened to a good few things now and I've only heard distortion in two Lossless audio tracks at high pitches. Everything else is perfect, in fact beyond perfect as I thought my last headset was decent :o.

Listening to nearly everything isn't a burden for me, far from it and my last headset worked perfectly. So if there were flaws on what you experienced then I think we would be of the same accord. I'd think it's safe to say that the pairs you have had compared to what I used all last night are completely different otherwise we'd be sharing similar stories :). I'm glad you have yours sorted now and I still have 26 days to send them back if I find out something is wrong.
 
Direct to the soundcard is always best, when you start throwing other things between the headphones and the soundcard you start to reduce quality (unless you add an amp then it usually brings out more details than you'd lose). Quality loss shouldn't be percivable in anything more than the cheapest equipment but when you start adding anything that adjusts volume/cheap low quality amps you start to mess directly with the signal which isn't a good thing. I always recommend going either direct from the soundcard, or from the soundcard to an amp and then from the amp to the headphones.
 
Are you able to confirm that the distortion isn't source distortion? I have several lossless tracks where I get the exact same distortion with several pairs of good headphones and can't hear it with cheap ones. That's down to an imperfection in the recording. An example would be the drum intro to Van Halen's Hot For Teacher.
 
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