[lugnut]

  Proud to say I'm now a NightHawk owner. I just received my pair yesterday and I already love them. Presently they are burning in on my Asgard 2. I intend to leave them running 24/7 for at least a week. But even now, they don't sound to me, like they are missing a whole lot. I can't wait till next week! Getting used to the aroma from the phones too. So far, so good. Expectations are high though. 

Same here, I have about 100 hours on mine. Use radio paradise 24/7 at a little louder than normal listening levels for about a week for all HP's. Just something I have gotten into a habit of doing, that is relatively free to do. If it helps great, if it doesn't oh well I am just out a little time. I usually make some notes on sound characteristics when I first receive them and then at the end of time on radio. I then compare two sets of notes and memory to see if there is any difference.
I am going to be really curious to see if the bottom end tightens up on the NH, as that was the biggest issue at first listen.

 

[JohnBal]

  Same here, I have about 100 hours on mine. Use radio paradise 24/7 at a little louder than normal listening levels for about a week for all HP's. Just something I have gotten into a habit of doing, that is relatively free to do. If it helps great, if it doesn't oh well I am just out a little time. I usually make some notes on sound characteristics when I first receive them and then at the end of time on radio. I then compare two sets of notes and memory to see if there is any difference.
I am going to be really curious to see if the bottom end tightens up on the NH, as that was the biggest issue at first listen.

I agree. It can't hurt. And by most reports, on the NightHawks anyway, it proves to help significantly. So I'll let them play, and pick them up for a casual listen every now and then. But mostly, I'll just try to enjoy the journey. 

 

[inthere]

I bought these used. Mint condition but plenty of hours on them. I also despise artificially bright headphones. My favorite pair I own is actually my 650. Had to mod my 800 and roll some warm sounding tubes to make it listenable.

It's funny, usually I'm telling people what your telling me now over in the 650 thread when people complain about them being too dark or "veiled".

My Vali 2 is a somewhat laid back amp though, which probably isn't doing these any favors. Need to grab a different tube to better match my Nighthawks, or maybe just pick up another amp.

 
I know this may sound weird, but the NH has much better synergy with solid state amps ime. In fact, I haven't heard a tube amp that sounded great with them yet, and I have a few pretty good ones. 

 

[Mediahound]

   
I know this may sound weird, but the NH has much better synergy with solid state amps ime. In fact, I haven't heard a tube amp that sounded great with them yet, and I have a few pretty good ones. 

Agreed.
 
Skylar does too:
 

  In my experience, NH works best with clean, linear, "transparent" amps, and these tend to be solid-state. I have tested some amps that have higher distortion than NightHawk, especially in the midrange, which potentially means that the characteristics of the amp are more dominant than those of the headphone. For this reason, I tend to favor SS over tube with NH, but there are always exceptions. Ultimately, what sounds best to you is best.

 

[LaCuffia]

Hope to have a different experience....trying out the Little Dot mkiii tonight with the NH.

 

[kman1211]

   
I know this may sound weird, but the NH has much better synergy with solid state amps ime. In fact, I haven't heard a tube amp that sounded great with them yet, and I have a few pretty good ones. 

Honestly the Hawk usually does prefer SS, problem is not many low distortion tube amps put enough power into the hawks with a low enough output impedance, especially in lower price ranges. It's really the low impedance of the hawks that hurt them on most good tube amps. Then there is the whole hassle of tube rolling. Honestly thinking of getting a SS amp specifically for the Hawks, most likely a Lake People/Violectric amp or maybe the Schiit Jot. I do have a Valhalla 2(should work okay on low with the Hawks), but haven't really tried it on the Hawks, I got that amp for my DT 1990 and a couple future headphone purchases I have in mind.

 

[Badas]

  Honestly the Hawk usually does prefer SS, problem is not many low distortion tube amps put enough power into the hawks with a low enough output impedance, especially in lower price ranges. It's really the low impedance of the hawks that hurt them on most good tube amps. Then there is the whole hassle of tube rolling. Honestly thinking of getting a SS amp specifically for the Hawks, most likely a Lake People/Violectric amp or maybe the Schiit Jot. 

There would be a few members that would disagree on the tube amp comments.
 
I have the flagship Violectric amp as you recommend above and as good as it is (it is fantastic) I find my tube amp (Woo WA22) adds more. More magic. Tube amps can work beautifully with Hawks depending on the tubes.
 

 

[kman1211]

 
There would be a few members that would disagree on the tube amp comments.
 
I have the flagship Violectric amp as you recommend above and as good as it is (it is fantastic) I find my tube amp (Woo WA22) adds more. More magic. Tube amps can work beautifully with Hawks depending on the tubes.
 

The best I've ever heard the Hawks was on tubes, so I don't disagree, the problem is finding the right tube amp and tubes for them. I'm a tube guy and pretty much always prefer tubes for any headphone given the tube amp works well for said headphone.

 

[Badas]

  The best I've ever heard the Hawks was on tubes, so I don't disagree, the problem is finding the right tube amp and tubes for them. I'm a tube guy and pretty much always prefer tubes for any headphone given the tube amp works well for said headphone.

Oh! I agree. Even tho the Hawks sound better on the tube amp it is only 5% better. A really good SS amp will get you all the way for a lot less $$'s and hassle.
 
When listening to the Hawks on the V281 I don't really think I'm missing anything. It is only switching to tubes you go wow! what is that??? The sound lifts.
 
Tube amps can be bottomless pit tho. I've probably spent twice the price of the amp chasing the right kind of tubes. I didn't even blink last week when I sunk another $600 on some rectifiers. It wasn't until a few days ago I realize how the $$'s disappear.

 

[kman1211]

 
Oh! I agree. Even tho the Hawks sound better on the tube amp it is only 5% better. A really good SS amp will get you all the way for a lot less $$'s and hassle.
 
When listening to the Hawks on the V281 I don't really think I'm missing anything. It is only switching to tubes you go wow! what is that??? The sound lifts.
 
Tube amps can be bottomless pit tho. I've probably spent twice the price of the amp chasing the right kind of tubes. I didn't even blink last week when I sunk another $600 on some rectifiers. It wasn't until a few days ago I realize how the $$'s disappear.

That's true, but honestly I like going through the hassle of getting the system right. I don't have that expensive of gear, but have luckily heard the best out there. Honestly I think the only things that really help my system sound as good as it does for it's price is the power conditioning and cables. If I remove the power conditioning and use stock cables(the stock NH cable sounds good so no complaints there sound wise) the control of the sound suffers and the system grain fatigues me. Some people forget how much it is the system fatiguing them and may sometimes blame the headphone when it may not actually be the culprit. 
 
True, there is this subtle aspect of the tube sound that can't really be replicated even with the best SS amps. But honestly it's amp quality that matters more than anything despite me finding tubes to achieve slightly better sound at the ultra high end. 
 
Tubes are a bottomless money pit, especially when you have numerous tubes and expensive tube types. I haven't even gotten around to getting tubes for my new Valhalla 2. Is the Nighthawk on your WA22 the best sounding headphone system you've heard? 

 

[LaCuffia]

After only half hour with the Little Dot the only thing I know at this point is that I like it much better than the O2. The O2 I find is too weak at low gain setting and too blaring sounding at high gain. Hard to find a sweet middle ground with it. Little Dot seems like it gives a much more measured and refined sound. Not too warm or fuzzy sounding either. Can only get better with proper burn in. Overall a positive impression so far.

 

[bugeyed]

I am enjoying the NH with Brainwavz angled velour pads through an iBasso DX80 & Garage1217 Ember II w/6SN7. Nice combination! Haven't tried my LD MK IV SE yet. 
 
kev 

 

[LaCuffia]

Just want to add that there also seems to be a nice open and airy sound with the Little Dot as compared to the O2...I have it on gain level '5.' Will probably tinker with it though and test out other settings. I don't find I am losing detail either like some say you do when switching from solid state to tubes.

Only issue is that there is a little noise to the amp when silent but I suspect it's a grounding problem somewhere or interference with my phono preamp or turntable. Have to shift things around and see if that helps.

This is an ignorant question: what is "tube rolling" exactly? Is it simply a term to describe changing the tubes?

 

[Badas]

   
Tubes are a bottomless money pit, especially when you have numerous tubes and expensive tube types. I haven't even gotten around to getting tubes for my new Valhalla 2. Is the Nighthawk on your WA22 the best sounding headphone system you've heard? 

 
No. The Utopia being feed directly from a Bricasti DAC is the best I've ever heard. No amp in the chain. Volume driven from the DAC.
I can't explain how insanely good that sounded.
 

 
It's my mates system. He also has the HE-6, Ether Flow, HD800s, V281 and custom 300B Glenn tube amp.

 

[kman1211]

   
No. The Utopia being feed directly from a Bricasti DAC is the best I've ever heard. No amp in the chain. Volume driven from the DAC.
I can't explain how insanely good that sounded.
 

 
It's my mates system. He also has the HE-6, Ether Flow, HD800s, V281 and custom 300B Glenn tube amp.

Haven't really listened to the Utopia much but could tell it was amazing but my friend is still working on the ideal system for it. The best I've heard was a bass-heavy R10 connected to a custom tube amp(not really sure who made it) and a MSB Diamond DAC V. Dear lord did that setup sound amazing. It's really something when a system can make you literally cry from it's sheer beauty. I'll post pictures of the system when I can. So far I still feel the R10 is still the best dynamic ever made, still definitely has the best midrange and vocals imho, but will need to listen to the Utopia more in the future. I'm really curious how the new Sony Z1R is going to sound on such high-end equipment.