[davidmolliere]

IEMs I know that are closest to the NightHawk are Sony XBA-Z5, but I must confess the NightHawk has me looking at dynamic driven IEMs again, the list is quite short Campfire Lyra, possibly the AK T8ie would be the closest thing to NH in terms of signature. 
 
Back the NH, I have 50+ hours on them now, burn-in is definitely improving the overall balance I find bass better controlled and soundstage is opening a bit. I really like how natural the NH sound, it's very relaxing and engaging but also very refreshing compared to other headphones.

 

[ChookJones1987]

I personally don't see any change to the sound even after about 500 hours. I think that aspect is mostly brain adaption as the NH is a weird sound signature. I'm starting to see the the whole recording accuracy thing. The bass seems elevated because it also has a bit of reverb so it doesn't really escape and it decays slower than say a Audeze.

I personally think the biggest weakness is its tone. It seems to naturalness to me. I find voices have this overly warm, distant voicing to them and instruments sound off. I'll tell you one thing I really love about these is the smell, I want to eat them!

I hope Audioquest sticks with liquid wood for their future products.

 

[inthere]

"Distant?" I just don't hear that.......I think the tone is the Nighthawk's best feature. 
 
I keep seeing guys say "A little more treble" "A little more high mid" "A little more bass" Well, that's what everyone else did. 
 
I'll settle for the NH as is-balanced and smooth...........IEM? Same thing, closed headphone? Balanced...........open headphone? Balanced. Let me hear the music the way it was mixed by the engineers. 

 

[ChookJones1987]

I don't think it needs more treble but the upper mids are certainly the weakest aspect IMHO.

It's hard to pick out vocal detail and I just don't get any emotion from voices, they sound dull and in the background compared to the lower mids. The robe just seems off to me, not natural.

 

[Jackson9696]

I do agree that the upper mids sound a tad distant but they are not lacking in detail and I still think they convey emotion. Sometimes it is nice to have a bit of depth to their voices and this tuning is perfect in this regard for female vocals whereas male vocals are more forward.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

If the vocals sound kinda distant, it means they were probably distant in the recording. I fire up some albums and the vocals are incredibly up front and potent, but in others they do start to drift away.
 
It's worth pointing out that the human voice is from 100Hz to about 1000Hz if we consider bass to soprano. I don't believe the NH has a significant valley in that zone, certainly not across all of it. What's likely happening is the sharper "details" are gone, and the lower sibilance makes it seem like the vocals are missing. There doesn't seem to be a "proper" measurement of these, the various ones I've seen all differ, but none of them seem to have any kind of mid-canyon.

 

[Jackson9696]

The mids definitely aren't as recessed as something like the shure 1540, which many people say have neutral mids, nor are they as forward as the grado ps500e I owned. They sit in the middle of those two which find ideal for my preferred genres.

 

[mochill]

When i heard it i loved the midrange of the NH

 

[joeq70]

I finally figured it out. The Nighthawk is kind of like someone who takes you to a concert but only if you wear a couple pillow cases over your head while you are there.

 

[mochill]

???

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Random troll, don't worry about it.

 

[ChookJones1987]

I think another way to describe it is the vocals can sound veiled(Arghh hate that word) Also the graphs show a dip in the upper mids which confirms what I'm hearing. 
 
 
HD650 is in Yellow and Nighthawk green.
 

 
As you can see, the NH has a jagged response but I doubt many will hear it because the closed cup design and leather pads will have them sounding a bit warm, smooth but changing the pads to let some air flow actually makes the rough response a little more apparent. Treble is decent, it extends to the last octave while the HD650 has a more gentle roll off. The bass on the NH is actually elevated over, well everything. It's down to debate if this is a good tuning, I'm still on the fence but hear it both ways. 
 
650's response is smoother across the whole response and also has a more linear response compared to the NH's almost roller coaster response, Nighthawk has much more bass extension but it also has more of a mid bass hump. The upper mids on the NH measure pretty poorly, this is where all the complaints about recessed mids come from and they are not wrong. It comes down to if the user can look past this to hear it's other traits and obviously, some here can. 
 
Just to add also the Jagged response is common with Bio-c drivers. Some will see this as a con but actually, this is an opportunity to credit Skylar by making a fantastic design, using the correct ear pads to make the rough response difficult to hear and appear smoothed over. I only notice it because I'm very sensitive but many who try it comment how smooth they are. 
 
Measurements are not mine, they are credible and there's a full article. If you want to read it, pm me as it's very interesting. 

 

[ChookJones1987]

The mids definitely aren't as recessed as something like the shure 1540, which many people say have neutral mids, nor are they as forward as the grado ps500e I owned. They sit in the middle of those two which find ideal for my preferred genres.

I actually think they are very similar in frequency response. I'd say there mids are similar but the Nighthawk has better bass extension and also has a more pleasant sound. The 1540 has a couple of bothersome peaks.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Can we get different colors on that graph? I'm colorblind haha. I just see two greenish/yellowish lines.

 

[obsidyen]

Wow, Nighthawk chart looks similar to Earsonics SM64, aka "Electroacoustic Abomination". It's also another controversial headphone (IEM, actually) that has a non-standard FR but is said to be very musical by its fans. I liked it when I had it, but it could be too polite sometimes and lack attack and excitement.