[mrscotchguy]

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

NightHawk's damping is mechanically dominated, so electrical damping is not needed as much as with some other headphones. That said, the general guideline is: the source's output impedance should be 1/8th the headphone impedance. So I must officially recommend that NightHawk be paired with a headphone amp having an output impedance of 3 ohms or less.

I have done extensive testing and listening throughout the development process against sources with output impedances ranging from less than 1 ohm up to 30 ohms. Actually, the distortion measurements I posted earlier in this thread were made by driving NightHawk from a 30 ohm source—not particularly well-paired according to the 1/8th guideline. However, NH performs exceptionally even with high-Z sources. This is partially because the driver's impedance-vs-frequency characteristics were optimized to be quite linear.

Officially, I have to recommend ≤ 3 ohms source output impedance. Unofficially, one can use a source with much greater output impedance, and I would not expect any great deviation in performance if any.


Regular production begins next week.


Music Direct's timeline sounds about right.

There actually have been many changes and tweaks since November, and we have been making small improvements even up to a couple weeks ago. Some of these improvements came from our experience with the pre-production line operation and environmental torture tests. Other tweaks/changes were directly influenced...with care...by feedback from listeners, reviewers, and dealers.

It has taken much longer than we anticipated to initiate final production, but we have not been waiting. Rather, we have been quite laboriously refining NightHawk and its underlying production processes. We only get one shot at a first impression, so we will take the time needed to reach AudioQuest's stringent quality standards.

Thanks for hanging with us guys & gals. We are extremely close.

Thanks for the updates! I am looking forward to hearing this headphone at my local AQ vendor. They are so stoked to carry it, which is unusual because this specific Hifi store has very little headphone-related interest. It's the first time I've had a conversation longer than 2 minutes about Head-gear.

I really do think the NightHawk will be something special. I'm happy to hear the delays are due to performance tweaking. Waiting patiently (on the edge of my figurative seat).

 

[wnmnkh]

Thank you for the update. I am really looking forward to hear the final result.

 

[ashutoshp]

Hello Skylar et al, I know you said the Nighthawks were semi-open headphones but do you have any idea/measure as to how much isolation they provide from the world? 
 
I am thinking of a measure along the lines of what Tyll Hertsens measures in dBr for Innerfidelity.
 
For example, the isolation (-9 dBr) provided by the Philips Fidelio L1 is ideal (http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/PhilipsFidelioL1.pdf), but the -2 dBr that the Hifiman HE-400i provides is not (http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE4002014.pdf).
 
Besides being a fan of open headphones in general, for some reason, I get anxious when I am COMPLETELY cut-off from what's happening around me. A little cut-off is desirable, if that makes any sense.
 
Sorry if this topic came up again but I couldn't find this info anywhere

 

[dpump]

I called Audioquest customer service yesterday to get an update on when the NightHawk would be available. The rep told me Audioquest was hoping to receive them by the end of June. So it looks like it will be July before we receive them. Hate to complain, but this just keeps going on and on. I was told May, then June, now it looks like July. Going to be 8 months since the original announcement on November 11, 2014. Seems an excessive amount of time since the announcement, but I'm very hopeful it will have been worth it. As you can tell, patience isn't one of my virtues

 

[Beagle]

The amount of time left to wait is a very small percentage of the total time between November 2014 and July 2015. That's my positive spin for the day. Looking forward to the Nighthawk!

 

[HiFiGuy528]

unboxed if anyone is interested...
 

 

[hardtarget666]

I won a pair at the raffle that was held at the Cambridge Head-fi meet

. I was told I would get a pair as soon as they went into production. I did get an opportunity to listen to the demo pair and I was well impressed. I was just dissapointed they didnt let me have the demo pair

 

 

[Hachiko270296]

unboxed if anyone is interested...

impressions..We want impressions.

 

[Oregonian]

impressions..We want impressions.

Ditto.  Unboxing............not much use for that. 

 

[Sound Eq]

please impressions

 

[wahsmoh]

yes no tickling us.. just get to the sound

 

[Synthax]

what impedance do they have?

 

[Synthax]

ok, 25 ohm, sorry

 

[dpump]

I'm curious if anyone who is famliar with having products made overseas and importing them into the USA can tell us why it is taking so long for the NightHawk to be available? According to what Skylar posted earlier, at the end of this week the NightHawk should have been in final production for 6 weeks. After contacting Music Direct and checking their website, they have an ETA of mid-July. Mid-July will be 8 & 1/2 weeks since production was supposed to start. Does it always take 2 + months from the time production starts for a product to be available? Would the headphones be coming to the USA by plane or by boat?
 
It would seem to me that Audioquest would fly early production to he USA to expedite delivery since it has been over 7 months since the NightHawk was announced. Mid-July would make it over 8 months. HiFiMan made this same mistake last year when they announced the 560 and 400i in Juanuary and then didn't ship until August and September. I think HiFiMan learned a lesson about such long delivery times since the HE1000 was announced fairly recently and is now available for purchase.
 
All in all I think Audioquest has done a poor job of marketing these phones. I realize they wanted to let a lot of people listen to the prototypes to see if any changes were needed, so why didn't they tell us that? Why didn't they tell us they were proceding slowly and give us some timeframe? I signed up on Audioquest's site for updates on the NightHawk last November. I have received zero emails from them. No news, no updates, nothing. All their site says about the NightHawk is that it is coming in 2015! If you are a manufacturer and ask people to give you their email address to keep them informed about a product, wouldn't you want to release updates about the product to keep people informed about what is going on? I wonder how many people who initially signed up have totally forgotten about the NightHawk?  This whole process has become very frustrating as it drags on and on.
 
I initailly ordered the NightHawk in March and was told I would have it in May. In May I was told it would be June. In June I'm being told July. If I didn't have such high hopes for this phone I would have canceled my order long ago. At least I can finally hopefully say we are getting close!  

 

[AxelCloris]

  [snip]

 
Most businesses that have China-based production facilities will have their product shipped to the US. This is the most economical method. They also wait until they have a pre-determined number of units ready before offering them for sale. They often need to have inventory for their distributors and only having a few on-hand is not ideal for the manufacturer.
 
As a manufacturer I would consider it wasteful and irresponsible to fly a small batch of headphones from China just to allow a small number of customers receive theirs and then force the vast majority to wait on the shipping company to deliver the remainder of the initial product run. That sort of situation often only serves to be more aggravating for the folks who are still waiting.
 
Yes it can be irritating to put down money for a product only to have it delayed. I've been there many times myself, it happens often with pre-ordering a new product. When it comes to new productions it's best to expect delays. That way when it happens you're not upset but when it doesn't you receive a pleasant surprise.