AudioQuest NightHawk Impressions and Discussion Thread

[retwisted]

Oh, and now you talk about biocellulose drivers, I remember the IEM Vsonic gr07 also having complaints about sibilance, and they also seem to use biocellulose drivers. Maybe it is indeed as you say, ColorJones. Now, I am a bit dissapointed. I totally love the nighthawks for everythng except the sibilance issue. And I'm am easily irritated by sibilance. It distracts me from the music itself. I love a totally smooth treble. On many songs where the sibilance sounded soft on the HD600, it sounded alot sharper on the nighthawks.And that is not because the nighthawks have more treble than the HD600, but because the nighthawks treble is just rougher. Sweeping through the frequecies with Sinegen, I hear a big peak at the 11k. Reducing it seems to reduce the sibilance by quite a bit, but it at the same time makes it sound darker, which is definitely not desired, especially as the boosted bass will muddy the sound. I let my little brother listen to them, and he told me he also hears it, but he isn't bothered by it. So it seems it is just me that is really sensitive to  it.

 

[inthere]

  I always listen on high volume. I really like to have the vocals on a good volume, and tend to level my volume based on that. For the nighthawks, this means cranking it up even more compared to the hd600, because the mids are a more subdued back compared to the bass and treble. And because of this, the rough treble is really apparent to me.

Actually the bass of the HD600 is rolled off, making the mids appear more up front. I've run 32 headphones through a binaural microphone and compared them with the original audio file, here is the HD600 and the original file: https://www.hightail.com/download/ZWJWanZzTkxRR2N3anNUQw
 
HD650 has rolled off bass AND treble also when I compare it to the original audio file, so it should sound a bit smoother than the HD600. 

 

[retwisted]

 
Actually the bass of the HD600 is rolled off, making the mids appear more up front. I've run 32 headphones through a binaural microphone and compared them with the original audio file, here is the HD600 and the original file: https://www.hightail.com/download/ZWJWanZzTkxRR2N3anNUQw
 
HD650 has rolled off bass AND treble also when I compare it to the original audio file, so it should sound a bit smoother than the HD600. 

 Yeah that's what I mean. On the HD600 there is more mids in comparison to bass, when you compare it with the Nighthawks. And since I level my volume according to the volume of the mids, I generally listen a bit louder on the nighthawks. And that together with the rougher treble makes the sibilance more pronounced on the nighthawks according to my ears. This is what I hear, and may be different to someone elses ears. But some measurements of the nighthawk on the internet do show a rougher treble, so that means that I'm not necessarily spewing out nonsense.

 

[inthere]

A lot of online graphs are inaccurate because of the use of each site's personal "curve", that's why they differ from each other. 
 
 And as far as sibilance goes, if you go by inner fidelity's graph that shows a 10k peak, well that is actually out of the "rough treble" range because stridence is in the 2-4k range and sibilance is in the 5-8k range. a 10k peak that you mentioned wouldn't come up as treble, that would be "air" and "soundstage"
 
http://www.digitalprosound.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/mixing_excerpt1.htm

 

[waynes world]

Oh, and now you talk about biocellulose drivers, I remember the IEM Vsonic gr07 also having complaints about sibilance, and they also seem to use biocellulose drivers. Maybe it is indeed as you say, ColorJones. Now, I am a bit dissapointed. I totally love the nighthawks for everythng except the sibilance issue.

I had the gr07's, and I sold them due to the sibilance. The nighthawks don't exhibit sibilance at all! This whole conversation is bizarre.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I'll never get why someone would want to spend so much time trashing a headphone they don't like. Go to the thread for the one you do like or the one you're interested in buying, get what makes you happy, move on.

 

[Mediahound]

  I'll never get why someone would want to spend so much time trashing a headphone they don't like. Go to the thread for the one you do like or the one you're interested in buying, get what makes you happy, move on.

Well, this is the impressions and discussion thread. Impressions are not and should not be limited to only positive ones. Nowhere does it state "only positive impressions are acceptable'. 
 
If someone doesn't like the headphones, they should be able to voice their opinion and back it up with their reasoning for it, the same way with someone who likes the headphones. 

 

[SomeGuyDude]

 
Well, this is the impressions and discussion thread. Impressions are not and should not be limited to only positive ones. Nowhere does it state "only positive impressions are acceptable'. 
 
If someone doesn't like the headphones, they should be able to voice their opinion and back it up with their reasoning for it, the same way with someone who likes the headphones. 

 
No doubt, but if your impressions were negative, what's the point of hanging around trying to argue about it? I've tried lots of headphones I didn't care for, I'm not wasting my time going into those threads trying to explain why I think my preferences are the "correct" ones. 
 
Pop in, say your piece, if there's a disagreement, find a better use of your time. 

 

[socks mk2]

[redacted]

 

[Mediahound]

   
No doubt, but if your impressions were negative, what's the point of hanging around trying to argue about it? I've tried lots of headphones I didn't care for, I'm not wasting my time going into those threads trying to explain why I think my preferences are the "correct" ones. 
 
Pop in, say your piece, if there's a disagreement, find a better use of your time. 

By your logic, and if you desire to treat positive as well as not so positive impressions equally, someone who likes the headphones should also just 'pop in, say your piece, if there's a disagreement, find a better use of your time:"

 

[SomeGuyDude]

 
By your logic, and if you desire to treat positive as well as not so positive impressions equally, someone who likes the headphones should also just 'pop in, say your piece, if there's a disagreement, find a better use of your time:"

 
haha, fair!
 
What I mean is that if you're set in your ways, and you just don't like X headphone, why spend time in that thread? Like, if you're really open to discussion and the like, sure, but I feel like sometimes people just try a headphone, dislike it, and get into the thread and do nothing but start arguments. 
 
I bounce around, if you look through my post history you can see when I've owned various headphones, from the M100 to the X1, HD600 and 650, K712, EL-8, here (that's missing various IEMs and etc). I try stuff all over and want to know about stuff, but if I decide that a given product isn't for me, I don't spend any energy on it. I'd rather spend time on what works for me, not what doesn't. What am I expecting, if I argue enough that the engineers will change the product for my tastes?

 

[elnero]

I absolutely adore the NightHawks. They do so much right but I also know that they're not perfect. I initially had some issues with exaggerated sibilance on my pair. That was with the Resonessence Concero HP, less so with the Schiit Bifrost Multibit / Asgard2 combo and now I don't have any issues with Chord Mojo and the Moon Audio Blue Dragon headphone cable. 
 
I think there's probably a few explanations for the differences in perception, first, as I've shown above, is system synergy but also, some people are going to be more sensitive to certain frequency anomalies than others. I also suspect there could be a slight bit of driver variation. I was tempted to buy a second set to test this theory but then any issues I was having went away after I got the Mojo and Blue Dragon.

 

[DanDorn]

To my fellow Nighthawk peeps: Bought the Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable for them, and they're a beautiful match, making the mids pop more. Expensive but worth it (sort of).

 

[all999]

  To my fellow Nighthawk peeps: Bought the Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable for them, and they're a beautiful match, making the mids pop more. Expensive but worth it (sort of).

Pics or didn't happen.

 

[DanDorn]

  Pics or didn't happen.

I'll work on that.