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AudioQuest NightHawk Impressions and Discussion Thread
Jul 1, 2015 at 1:22 PM Post #31 of 10,194
does anyone know whether AQ(or ANY cable manufacturer) will be offering balanced cables for the NightHawk?
 
Jul 1, 2015 at 2:05 PM Post #32 of 10,194
joeybgood said:
  does anyone know whether AQ(or ANY cable manufacturer) will be offering balanced cables for the NightHawk?
Click to expand...

Sent you a PM.
 
Though the NightHawk cable is already fully balanced, it is terminated with a 3.5mm phone plug in its stock configuration.
We are working on a version with balanced termination, but to meet AQ standards, we must design the 4pin XLR from the ground-->up. We will release this cable as soon as possible.
 
If you own NightHawk and want a balanced cable in the meantime, send an email to info@audioquest.com
edit: just to clarify...by sharing your need for a balanced cable via the email address above, it helps us gauge interest and also decide what kind of terminations are most popular aside from 4pin XLR. It will take some time before we are ready to supply these. I am very sorry to make everyone wait.
 
Jul 1, 2015 at 7:39 PM Post #33 of 10,194
skylargray said:
  Sent you a PM.
 
Though the NightHawk cable is already fully balanced, it is terminated with a 3.5mm phone plug in its stock configuration.
We are working on a version with balanced termination, but to meet AQ standards, we must design the 4pin XLR from the ground-->up. We will release this cable as soon as possible.
 
If you own NightHawk and want a balanced cable in the meantime, send an email to info@audioquest.com
Click to expand...

Do you guys have plans on releasing more affordable headphones? Those Nighthawks look killer though...
 
Have you guys ever considered using some sort of ceramics for the cabinet pieces? ( I would imagine some sort of rubber coated sprayed on the insides to help tone down acoustic resonance.) It would I imagine be cheaper, extremely renewable and easier to manufacture. 
 
Jul 2, 2015 at 4:39 PM Post #34 of 10,194
solduios said:
  Do you guys have plans on releasing more affordable headphones? Those Nighthawks look killer though...
 
Have you guys ever considered using some sort of ceramics for the cabinet pieces? ( I would imagine some sort of rubber coated sprayed on the insides to help tone down acoustic resonance.) It would I imagine be cheaper, extremely renewable and easier to manufacture. 
Click to expand...

Yes, we do have plans to introduce headphones that are more affordable than NightHawk. We also plan to intro headphones that are more expensive (these won't be for a while though—lots of research needed).
 
In the past I have built prototypes using ceramics, but they typically end up being twice as heavy as other alternatives, so that seems like a dead-end since minimizing weight in a headphone is so crucial in my opinion. The resonances are also a concern as you mention.
 
NightHawk's liquid wood cups were a serious challenge to develop. But now that we have refined the process and material over about 1.5 years, our cups are much easier to manufacture than would be from ceramics. Also, ceramics are limited with regard to dimensional stability, fine details, and wall thickness. For instance, we would not have been able to integrate stiffening ribs with ceramics like we were able to do with liquid wood. Further, liquid wood beats out ceramics for sustainability since we are essentially reclaiming the raw material from an industry where it would otherwise be wasted by incineration. Ceramics would probably be cheaper...but not significantly so.
 
Your idea about using rubber to coat an enclosure for resonance damping is spot on. That's why we do this on the internal surfaces of NightHawk's earcups. This makes liquid wood (already a self-damped material) that much better at preventing resonance.
 

Here you see the integral support ribs (inside NightHawk's earcups) enabled by liquid wood along with our unpigmented (clear) rubber coating, which has viscoelastic damping properties. Kind of hard to see the coating without knowing what liquid wood looks like uncoated. For comparison, you can sort of see the lighter-colored ridges that are uncoated in the bottom left and right corners.
 
Jul 3, 2015 at 1:19 AM Post #35 of 10,194
I received my pair of AudioQuest NightHawks this afternoon. One of three pair that made it to my local Audioquest dealer. Managed to have a quick listen out of the box and then let them run for a few hours.
 
First impressions on the product and packaging is very high. These look the part with the liquid wood ear cups and fantastic finishes all around. Materials that wouldn't look out of place in a top tier auto. Nice job.
 
The sound initially took a bit to get used to but the main thing I found is that they do sound very clean. Details are all there for sure just not the typical in your face presentation. These also seem to like power. Tried them on my Sennheiser HDVD 800 and found the level is a bit higher than I would normally listen to my HD 800s.
 
I'll post more later as I put a few more hours on them.
 
Jul 3, 2015 at 12:40 PM Post #36 of 10,194
skylargray said:
  Yes, we do have plans to introduce headphones that are more affordable than NightHawk. We also plan to intro headphones that are more expensive (these won't be for a while though—lots of research needed).
 
In the past I have built prototypes using ceramics, but they typically end up being twice as heavy as other alternatives, so that seems like a dead-end since minimizing weight in a headphone is so crucial in my opinion. The resonances are also a concern as you mention.
 
NightHawk's liquid wood cups were a serious challenge to develop. But now that we have refined the process and material over about 1.5 years, our cups are much easier to manufacture than would be from ceramics. Also, ceramics are limited with regard to dimensional stability, fine details, and wall thickness. For instance, we would not have been able to integrate stiffening ribs with ceramics like we were able to do with liquid wood. Further, liquid wood beats out ceramics for sustainability since we are essentially reclaiming the raw material from an industry where it would otherwise be wasted by incineration. Ceramics would probably be cheaper...but not significantly so.
 
Your idea about using rubber to coat an enclosure for resonance damping is spot on. That's why we do this on the internal surfaces of NightHawk's earcups. This makes liquid wood (already a self-damped material) that much better at preventing resonance.
 

Here you see the integral support ribs (inside NightHawk's earcups) enabled by liquid wood along with our unpigmented (clear) rubber coating, which has viscoelastic damping properties. Kind of hard to see the coating without knowing what liquid wood looks like uncoated. For comparison, you can sort of see the lighter-colored ridges that are uncoated in the bottom left and right corners.
Click to expand...

Ya weight would be the killer to ceramics...
 
I often though about making a mold for making my own head phones, using several layers of some sort cloth like material and some resin or epoxy. I might try it some time since my ability to fabricate any is limited by space, tools , and my level of skill.
 
Edit: Just thought of also sandwiching some sort of flexible mesh in between the fabric layers to help with keeping its form after it drys.
 
Would be pretty cool if it worked out... cloth ear cups =D
 
Jul 18, 2015 at 8:50 PM Post #42 of 10,194
Been enjoying mine since this past Monday 7/13. Very comfy and listenable. Will keep listening and breaking them in. Great job to Audioquest and the team for their first foray into the headphone game. I'll be curious what their Beetle can do.
 
Jul 19, 2015 at 9:10 AM Post #45 of 10,194
nopc0de said:
   
I have no idea what I'm talking about. My limited English makes it hard for me to describe sound. I think the EL-8 sounded a bit more dark, deep and warm.
Click to expand...

The EL-8 seems to be as controversial as the Nighthawk, with some loving it and others really disliking it.  My brief impression of the Nighthawk was very similar to what a lot of people are posting here, i.e., smooth, dark, bassy, but I also thought it was not as good as the HD650's at instrument separation or complex passages of music.  The 650's had a more spacious sound that was not as forward as the Nighthawk.  When I first put them on I though they sounded pretty excellent, but the more tracks I tried, the more unnatural I thought some things sounded.  Male vocals sounded a little muted, for instance.  I kept wanting a little more treble to open it up just a bit.  Beautiful headphone, and one that will surely please many people.  I also think that's it fully worth the $600 they are asking, but the sound is just very different than what many expect in a $600 headphone.  My experience with this headphone was very similar to my experience with the PM-1 when I heard it, although I felt the PM-1 was more dynamic and had better separation.
 
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