Goldring NS1000 issues

setter said:
Ive had mine (from play) about 11 months now, been absolutely flawless, seems i was lucky enough to avoid the bad batches.
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Got mine from Play too with no problems. :)

The only slight issue is the sound occassional dissappears if I put the cable a certain way. :|
 
Got my replacements yesterday. Went to the shop to pick them up.

These have a longer wire (1.5m) for which i am grateful to be honest and little white round L and R markers printed onto the plastic just above the ear cups. Something my other pair didn't have.

I think these are an older pair, so hopefully they will be manufactured before the bad batch.

I've got 18months warranty on these, so plenty of time to show up any faults.

It's good to see that GR have addressed the problem, and shipped me a better quality pair.
 
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RobRX-7 said:
Got my replacements yesterday. Went to the shop to pick them up.

These have a longer wire (1.5m) for which i am grateful to be honest and little white round L and R markers printed onto the plastic just above the ear cups. Something my other pair didn't have.

I think these are an older pair, so hopefully they will be manufactured before the bad batch.

I've got 18months warranty on these, so plenty of time to show up any faults.

It's good to see that GR have addressed the problem, and shipped me a better quality pair.
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That sounds very much like my pair. Is the wire about 1.7-1.8m rather than 1.5m?

Just a thought - maybe these aren't older. Maybe Goldring have told Phitek (the OEM) to sort the problems out? I'd love to see them go back to the earlier spec and then I'd feel able to recommend again.
 
They've been a bit inconsistent over the years haven't they?

Has anyone with L and R markings had the plastic cracking issue?
 
I had mine for a couple of weeks now, so I thought I would add my bit to this thread. The pair I got from the Jersey company had the aforementioned markings for each ear piece and a cable which was 1.8m long. The cable length you get seems to be down to pot luck at the order picking stage at the warehouse, although the official line still says it should be 1m.

The sound coming out of these cans was chirpy at first but settled over time. I just left them to burn in for a few nights on a fairly varied play list (30+ hours or so), and could not be happier with the improved listening experience. I feed them off of a fiio e5, which appears to be just about enough to tackle the NS1000s once noise cancelling is on. It should last until the next time I upgrade my sound setup.

Speaking of noise cancelling - it works! :) I got exactly what I wanted in this department - active attenuation sufficient to block out most background and computer related noise. It is pretty hard to reach me now, which can be a handy feature in a shared house. ;)

The build quality is reasonable on these headphones, although it could be much improved for the money - original retail price - Goldring had in mind. A plastic headband in anything meant for travel is just asking for trouble. I will keep an eye on things here and will see if any cracks develop in future.

Now the quirks:

1) The left ear piece sounded a tad louder from the get go, but not always. After some detective work, I figured out it was the fiio causing this when bass boost feature on it was not enabled.

This particular balance issue with the e5 has been spotted by almost all credible reviewers, so it was easy enough to discover and address.

Fix: turn the bass boost on on the fiio e5 and adjust your sound controls to compensate; alternatively, use a different amp or plug the NS1000s directly into the source.

2) Cacophony bonanza when noise cancelling was on! :D

Fix: swap the stock battery; mine lasted only twenty odd hours and I did not see the flashing LED at the time. :C But hey, that's what rechargeables were made for! If you don't happen to have a spare battery at hand when chaos strikes, just turn ANR off - a non faulty set should be fine working in passive mode.

3) Their impedance goes up, when ANR is on, beyond the maximum specified for an Asus Xonar DG and my little fiio e5.

A non issue for me really, but technically they will be harder to drive and you may experience some clipping or general minor distortion of sound at medium-high to very high volumes. e5 is also known to play up at its maximum output.

Fix: adjust the volume to sensible levels when ANR is on or get a more powerful headphone amp, or a sound card with one integrated e.g. Xonar STX.

Hopefully, this little rant will give folks a few more troubleshooting avenues, if they come up against similar issues.

Overall, I can't fault Goldring NS1000s in the sound department for their current going price - good value, even with risks and possible returns factored in. I struggled to find an alternative with a similar sound signature, which I liked to begin with, and ANR, for the money. Your mileage and tastes may differ, of course.

I feel for people who got faulty goods and were messed about by the retailer - been there myself; however, such is the nature of the online bargain hunt - it is a gambler's paradise and who dares (or complains the loudest), wins. Don't give up people, stick to your guns and demand what you paid for. :D
 
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I run mine through the E5 without the onboard noise cancelling on I think it sounds better.Mine had L R above cups developed cracks but they are years old plus that surely depends on how careful you are with them and how big your head is and they are fine taped back up certainly worth the £50 for years of use.
 
After having mine sat in the box for the past 3 months after cracking/snapping I've finally got around to trying to rma them with play.com. However I'm having issues with their website and this seemed like the perfect place to ask ;)

So I go to returns and it says "Select the item you would like to return (click a red button)".

Yet there isn't a red button anywhere on the page (maybe because it's after 28 days?) and having never needed to RMA anything before I'm a little lost. If anyone can guide me through the process it'd be much appreciated.
 
I received a pair of Goldring NS1000 noice-cancelling headphones earlier this week, after reading great reviews here and and on a few other sites.

Paired them up with the Fiio E5 amp and Fiio L3 line-out cable, and everything was working fine on my iPod Classic.

But yesterday I noticed that almost all music I played had a very obvious distortion - so much so that a lot of music was rendered unlistenable.

The problem was the same whether the phones were connected directly to the iPod's headphone socket or to the Fiio combo.

I've returned them to Play and ordered a replacement pair from SuperFi, as I've read a few reports online that a lot of people have had problems with those headphones when ordered from Play.

What I wanted to ask is:

1) Is it possible that the headphones are too good? That they're revealing distortion that was already on the tracks that just wasn't revealed by less capable headphones?

2) Is it possible that I've broken them through having the volume set too loud?

3) Or have I just been unlucky and hopefully the replacement pair from Superfi will be fine?
 
Or the e5 battery needing charge
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Both e5 and NS1000 have a battery power source, although feeding off of a battery is optional for Goldrings (can run them in passive mode without ANR). If either is running low, you will get sound distortion. Battery life is linked to volume levels, too, so the higher you go the faster you drain the power source.

With properly working NS1000 pair, you simply switch the ANR off if you notice audible artifacts and a flashing LED, when out and about. If e5 starts to give, it does need charging and it may not be so straight forward on the move; but there are accessories for that, too.

It is also worth pointing out that even an iPod Classic will choke a bit on decent high impedance cans at high volume levels. It just does not have the power. Hence the need for at least basic amplification. But let us know how you get on with the pair from SuperFi.
 
On the subject of the E5, i found that a mains usb charger adaptor charges it nicely without any sound interference like i got whilst it was plugged into the mobo usb slots. When it was plugged into the mobo, i got all sorts of weird noises coming through the headphones, but since using the mains usb charger i don't get any.
 
Anyone know a cable replacement for the NS1000's? Mine is tempermental and I need a new one, Don't really want an exact replacement as it's not very long. Anyone know where you can get one with one thin end so it fits into the headphones?

Thanks.
 
Have had the replacement headphones for a few weeks now, and they're perfect. Having heard the first pair and these ones, there's a marked difference in quality. Definitely glad I sent the first pair back.

Do notice a bit of a drop in sound quality when the E5 is low on battery, but aside from that, everything is singing like it should!
 
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