[obsidyen]

Active speakers make sense because usually speaker amps are huge and active speakers can sound as good as if not better than passive speakers. The amps in them are optimized for the transducers so it's actually better than passive speakers for me. Active headphones on the other hand is a terrible idea. Headphones are worn on head so extra weight is not something I desire. Also I only buy easy to drive headphones which Nighthawk is one, so my very small Meridian Explorer2 can drive it with ease. Actually Explorer2 can even drive 300 ohm Sennheiser HD650. Thus, cons of active headphones outweight the pros.

 

[Beagle]

  Active-headphones. I believe Blue Microphone's Mo-Fi is probably the best example.
While the advantages are there, disadvantages are too great. Despite being a dynamic headphones, Mo-Fi is about as heavy as Audeze's LCD-2... Certainly hard to use it as anything other than home-use, which defeats the whole purpose of being active-headphone in the first place.

 
Very true...although you could use it at the office, I suppose.

 

[DingoSmuggler]

Skylar,
 
How much does the Nighthawk's performance suffer when driven from higher impedance (resistive) sources?
Is there a significant/noticeable boost at low or high frequencies in output level or THD when driven from 10 ohm or 33 ohm source?

 

[bbieringer]

I'm curious to see how the Nighthawk ends up competing with the Philips X2; it seems like they will be in direct competition with each other. The Nighthawk shares several similarities with the X2, such as an emphasis on deep bass, suspension headband, & the (semi) open, dynamic driver.
 
Makes me excited to see how the X2 competes. It is common knowledge at this point that it is a great value, so if it competes with the Nighthawk then it will prove that the X2 DOES come close to headphones twice the price. Will be unfortunate for Audioquest if their first flagship headphone is bested by a company that sells their flagship for half the price...
 
Let the battle begin

 

[dpump]

  Skylar,
 
How much does the Nighthawk's performance suffer when driven from higher impedance (resistive) sources?
Is there a significant/noticeable boost at low or high frequencies in output level or THD when driven from 10 ohm or 33 ohm source?

Also hope we get an update soon from Skylar as to when regular production will start.

 

[ninjapirate9901]

I see that a vendor on Amazon UK is listing the Nighthawk as in stock: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audioquest-Nighthawk-Reference-Headphones-Semi-Open/dp/B00T65D31S
 
Pricespy UK is also showing Custom Cable as having them in stock as well: http://pricespy.co.uk/product.php?p=3010363
 
Have these been officially released?

 

[Beagle]

 
Also hope we get an update soon from Skylar as to when regular production will start.

I think that once they choose the correct sonic signature, then they can begin production. I'm not sure if they have finished the final version yet.

 

[XERO1]

When I heard these at the SoCal CanJam, they sounded really rolled off in the highs.
 
But since then, Skylar has explained that they are just extremely low in distortion, so I am beginning to believe that the lower the overall distortion of an acoustic transducer is, the more 'soft' and 'smooth' it will sound in the higher frequencies.
 
So perhaps the NightHawk should have its treble boosted by a couple of dB's above dead flat to help compensate for its perceived (but not actual) lack of HF extension.
 
Just my $0.02

 

 

[grizzlybeast]

^makes sense to me.

 

[Hachiko270296]

  When I heard these at the SoCal CanJam, they sounded really rolled off in the highs.
 
But since then, Skylar has explained that they are just extremely low in distortion, so I am beginning to believe that the lower the overall distortion of an acoustic transducer is, the more 'soft' and 'smooth' it will sound in the higher frequencies.
 
So perhaps the NightHawk should have its treble boosted by a couple of dB's above dead flat to help compensate for its perceived (but not actual) lack of HF extension.
 
Just my $0.02

 

Oh god no! we have enough balanced headphones. We need more lush and warm.

 

[jamor]

  Oh god no! we have enough balanced headphones. We need more lush and warm.

 
Agreed!

 

[grizzlybeast]

He just means more balanced in the highs. Its possible to have full mids, balanced highs and full bass without sounding too dark.

 

[dpump]

In Post#292 on April 14, Skylar said he was going the following week to oversee the final preproduction run of the NightHawk. He was hoping regular production would begin by the end of May, but no promises. I ordered from Music Direct in March, so I called them yesterday to check on the status. Music Direct is one of Audioquest's largest dealers, so I think they are 'in the loop' so to speak. The guy I spoke with has heard a prototype and he liked it. He expects to receive the first shipment in the latter part of June.
 
From everything I have read about the NightHawk it seems that Skylar's design was finalized when he showed them last November. It doesn't appear any changes have been made since then. Seems he has been going to shows all over the world to get feedback but hasn't changed anything. I don't exactly understand why Audioquest would wait so long to get these into production since it appears the design has been finalized for a while, but I assume it's because it's their first headphone.
 
So, we're getting closer to actually receiving these phones. Looking forward to it.

 

[Beagle]

   He expects to receive the first shipment in the latter part of June.
 

 
Oh great...

 

[SkylarGray]

Sorry, guys. I am in Europe for the majority of this month, so my Head-Fi access is limited. 

 
Quote:

  Skylar,
 
How much does the Nighthawk's performance suffer when driven from higher impedance (resistive) sources?
Is there a significant/noticeable boost at low or high frequencies in output level or THD when driven from 10 ohm or 33 ohm source?

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.
 
 

 
Also hope we get an update soon from Skylar as to when regular production will start.

Regular production begins next week.
 
 

  In Post#292 on April 14, Skylar said he was going the following week to oversee the final preproduction run of the NightHawk. He was hoping regular production would begin by the end of May, but no promises. I ordered from Music Direct in March, so I called them yesterday to check on the status. Music Direct is one of Audioquest's largest dealers, so I think they are 'in the loop' so to speak. The guy I spoke with has heard a prototype and he liked it. He expects to receive the first shipment in the latter part of June.
 
From everything I have read about the NightHawk it seems that Skylar's design was finalized when he showed them last November. It doesn't appear any changes have been made since then. Seems he has been going to shows all over the world to get feedback but hasn't changed anything. I don't exactly understand why Audioquest would wait so long to get these into production since it appears the design has been finalized for a while, but I assume it's because it's their first headphone.
 
So, we're getting closer to actually receiving these phones. Looking forward to it.

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.