Goldring NS1000 cans

Agreed! Mine arrived today as well and have been running them in all evening whilst working and then just finished watching Frost vs Nixon and just before bed decided to have a listen - happens to be playing Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn right now and it sounds downright lovely!

Can't wait to have a proper listen to them now!

Gerrardasnails:

What an amazing difference from in ear phones. Like being in a room with music on at a decent level with no other noise apparent, compared to having to have the music on loud just to block out the noise on trains etc.

Yes, yes, yes, yes! Fabulous aren't they.

I gave my OH a demo of them and she put it as "it's like your ears are receiving the sound as they should, as oppossed to being pumped into the ear canal" (or something like that). Like so many people nowadays it was the first time she'd heard headphones that aren't in-ear so a complete revelation for her. Alas she's sticking to the in-ear's as she thinks she'll look silly wearing cans on the train, lol.

margetti:

Gerrardasnails:

What an amazing difference from in ear phones. Like being in a room with music on at a decent level with no other noise apparent, compared to having to have the music on loud just to block out the noise on trains etc.

Yes, yes, yes, yes! Fabulous aren't they.

I gave my OH a demo of them and she put it as "it's like your ears are receiving the sound as they should, as oppossed to being pumped into the ear canal" (or something like that). Like so many people nowadays it was the first time she'd heard headphones that aren't in-ear so a complete revelation for her. Alas she's sticking to the in-ear's as she thinks she'll look silly wearing cans on the train, lol.

professorhat:

Agreed! Mine arrived today as well and have been running them in all evening whilst working and then just finished watching Frost vs Nixon and just before bed decided to have a listen - happens to be playing Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn right now and it sounds downright lovely!

Can't wait to have a proper listen to them now!

 

Gerrardasnails:

And they keep your ears warm!

For sure - I enjoyed them more for their ear-warming ability than their sonic ability on Tuesday just gone!

Very tempted to get some myself. Prof can you do a review (and anyone else), in particular in relation to anyother headphones you have. Thanks.

Will do though haven't really had time to have a good sit down with them yet, hopefully tomorrow. They've been running in for about 25 hours now so should be coming into their own.

Trouble is, I've never actually owned a decent pair of on-ear phones so I'll have to compare them against my Shure E4c's which are (or at least were at one point) equivalently priced in-ears.

Thanks, but I am itching to hit the buy button now as they may go back up in price.

EDIT - I just could not resist the temptation. I have been looking to get closed backed cans as opposed to NC, but there are universally good to great reviews for the NS1000s on the internet, so I hit the buy button. I had been tempted by reviews of the Denon AH D1001, but a trial at John Lewis (£110) found them bass overload and quickly tiring. I then tried the cheaper AH D501s in a headphone display in PC World of all places. They were awful, the worst cans I have ever tried and they were £51. The Bose On Ears were good, but I did not like the build which has been criticised and again they are £100 plus. Various Senns were also tried and they were all very good, but for some reason I cannot put my finger on I never find them great. My review of the NS1000s to come as well.

I think you'll be happy - I haven't actually tried the noise cancelling aspect yet (nicely there's no separate box for the noise cancelling aspect, it's all held in the left headphone). So at the moment, with the few small tests I've done, I'm just running them with with no battery so there's no noise cancelling going on.

Thanks professor, closed backed as opposed to NC performance is what I am really interested in.

I think the NS1000s sound better with the noise-cancelling on. idc, I cannot offer a review in relation to other on-ears, but they are a massive improvement on the in-ears I have: Beyerdynamic DTX-50s. They will sound very claustrophobic compared to your AKGs, but that's not really a valid comparison, I guess. I mostly use mine on planes, and they really make the journey a lot more enjoyable. At £50 they're a great buy! (I bought mine about a year ago when Play.com had the same offer).

Hedgehog 

Thanks Hedgehog.  I see from the specifications that the NS1000s are 100 ohms with NR off and a mighty 300 ohms with it on. There is also a split in reviews and comments as to whether they sound better with NR on or off. I got the impression that with NR on there can be background hiss, and with it off the sound is more detailed, but with less bass, which is my preference. One comment I read was that with a powerful amp they really start to sing. How do you find them with the X-CAN?

hated mine - sold them on - the sound was in my opinion (can't rem which way round now but with the ns on/off they) either sounded dull and bassy (although the levels of bass was was very good) or really bright and tinny ie lost the nice bass i really liked - def not worth the £150 price tag - bought mine for £50 also from play ages ago - very middle of the road ear phones in my opinion. the noise cancelling was ok but only really blocks constant noice - plane engines/trains noises ect

sorry hated was too strong - they just missed the perfect sound to me - on the plus side they fit nice and are comfy 

Matengawhat, that is the first really negative opinion I have read. I dont expect (want) them to be as good as my main cans. They just need to be better than what I have already tried so far from Sennheiser, Denon and Bose.