[Venture Guy]

  The way the bass hits is just yummy. My planars just sound anaemic after listening to the my NH Carbons..in fact so do most of my headphones!

I know what you mean. I have a pair of PMx2s and while they have a flat FR down to 20 Hz, the bass just isn't as fast as the NHs... 

 

[Venture Guy]

  The way the bass hits is just yummy. My planars just sound anaemic after listening to the my NH Carbons..in fact so do most of my headphones!

whoops!

 

[knowhatimean]

I was going to comment on the few seconds I spent checking out yet another "whiney music video", but thought "Na a ah"
 
You guys actually don't get annoyed enough to actually continue listening ?, or are you really watching it due to how the "whiner" is pretty shapely & doesn't appear to spend much time by letting anything like thought waste her time.
 
Hmmm.. Look like I did comment, afterall.

 

[EdwardPL]

  @x RELIC x nice post.
 
I think the distinction is between detail retrieval and musicality.
 
It seems to me that audiophilia in general gets lost in the quest for detail and misses musicality... COMPLETELY!
 
I think Skylar has created a headphone that is unique in its musicality.

 I think the whole detail think is that people focus too much on "boosted" detail or over sharpened detail. An example is take a K701, it's resolving for the price but it's actual detail like micro detail isn't very good as say a NH, 650, Elear that are consider warm musical headphones. Those three do detail well, if you focus more on a track they will extract micro detail better than say a K701 variant even though a K701 is leaner, and would appear to be more detail due to the brighter natural. Look at the cheapo ATH AD700 it's detailed in the sense it's lean, no bass so it appears you hear it all but in reality you are not hearing deep into a track.
 
The NH has great detail extraction but most people are listening for that over sharpend kind of detail which the NH doesn't do as it has a full rich sound. The HD800 is an example of both, it's ridiculously resolving but it's on the lean side. It doesn't give you that cheap detail boost found in a lot of wannabe detail headphones but it's leaner sound will give in an edge in top end clarity over say the HD800S which has a bass boost.
 
 
 
The NH is that return to fun. Remember as a kid, you go to school disco's, You'd listen to steps, Five, Backstreet Boys etc and you'd hear the bass, warmth, that emotion when you see your crush and you want to dance with her, that little butterfly feeling in your stomach. You feel happy, music makes you happy, gives you confidence, makes you want to be something. The room feels up with music, you drink your fizzy drinks like Coke, or Root beer for you US guys, I'm UK - those fun times. 
 
We then get all serious, everything is serious; you have to grow up, be boring, sit in a suit on the train. reading a paper to start your 16 hours shift and the only music you hear is from a few youths playing out loud and you look down upon them because you've become a boring old fart, Mr serious. We then have to look down upon that huge bass, no no no it's not accurate, listen to this treble, the detail let's analyse this track to see how much detail I can hear..with my boring set up that is as much fun as watching a tortoise foraging for that last peanut.
 
 
Along comes Skylar, nope screw that! let's being back that old school sound, let's keep resolution and detail because it doesn't have to go, it just doesn't need to be boosted. Bass comes back, the room in the NH feels with bass, you hear mids, treble, soundstage is meh! but who cares, it's music, it's loud, its exciting, you feel emotion, you feel like how you used to feel, that kdi inside you who wants t have fun, relax, think it's all there in this headphone. 
 
We all look down upon that Beats user on the train or in public but I bet he's having the time of his life not having to worry about detail. Beats are damn fun, the NH gives me that beats fun but with a better quality driver. 
 
 
I'm sick of hearing about detail, about "too much bass" seriously let's have fun! we are not too far gone from that little kid who is having fun at the disco.

 

[EdwardPL]

  whoops!

Hehe

 

[Venture Guy]

@EdwardPL Discovering the NHs and their musicality has me lightening up on Beats. I am definitely going to drop by the Apple store and listen to their latest and greatest...

 

[EdwardPL]

  @EdwardPL Discovering the NHs and their musicality has me lightening up on Beats. I am definitely going to drop by the Apple store and listen to their latest and greatest...

I like them, always have. The Solo2 are fantastic, think the older ones have better musicality. 
 
 
@inthere - I've noticed that with a lot of tracks the NH doesn't hide that, background presence that could be considered bloat, or murkiness in a track but I quite like it there it gives that room feel, presence, haunting character. 

 

[nmatheis]

I really like x RELIC x's comments a few posts up. I've also used that analogy of boosted treble being similar to oversharpening in image editing software. On first glance, it seems better - more appealing and exciting. But after prolonged exposure, it starts to seem unnatural and fatiguing. At least that's how I view boosted treble.

And I take an exception to describing NH's soundstage as "meh". I think it sounds pretty natural. It's just not exaggerated by boosted treble, which would bring a certain sense of airiness to the recording.

 

[EdwardPL]

Soundstage isn't just from a boosted treble. There's a lot going on. Angling, leanness, driver placement are all factors in the perception of soundstage. Most fuller headphones will have a more closed in staging in general. With a lot of lean, cheap headphones you get a massive width but crap depth, I care about depth more than width for music and the NH is fine for me, it's not great in staging but it's also not a focus I look for in music listening. I really don't care about soundstage for music at all. If it's gaming then staging is my number one priority which is why I use my HD800 as purely my PS4 headphones along with my Game Zero if I fancy telling someone how much they suck at Ark Survival Evolved if they try to attack me then end up getting bummed by my Raptors. 

 

[nmatheis]

EdwardPL: Just to clarify, I didn't say that soundstage was solely dependent on boosted treble. I don't want to give that impression. Just that there could've been more soundstage and airiness of Skylar had increased the treble presence. But I wouldn't want that. NH sound great just the way they are for my tastes!

 

[EdwardPL]

Ah Gotcha
 
Yeah I agree. I'm a big gamer so I generally run most headphone through a gaming test. Funny enough, all the headphones I enjoy for music have not been great at delivering that open space feel I like with games. The HD800 was the first headphone that can do that without selling me short on vocal, sub bass and other areas that headphones like the K701 variants , AD700's etc didn't give me.
 
 
I do like the NH for games, bass is great but when I want to travel Ard Skelliger in the witch I need that space, hear the wind in the distance and the sounds of natural as if I'm walking there myself. I think the NH and HD800 will keep me going for many years, infact; if they break I might buy them again lol

 

[nwavesailor]

  I think the whole detail think is that people focus too much on "boosted" detail or over sharpened detail.
 
I'm sick of hearing about detail, about "too much bass" seriously let's have fun!

 
I also have learned to enjoy the NH.
Are they fun? Yes. Are they musical? Absolutely. Do they have nice bass? Yes. Too much bass, NO. All of this is there with the OEM pads.
 
We differ in that I want more detail / clarity in the NH. Skylar and AQ now have an option for us, the boost and US pads! You may not want to try these and the good news is you love the sound with the OEM pads. There are some of us who want a slightly different sound and these 2 pad options allow us to experience that sound. I am not a gamer so the NH are for music only.

 
We all are looking for what brings us more joy in listening to music, and for me, the new pads have done just that.............brought more joy..................and FUN!!!

 

 

[knowhatimean]

@EdwardPL: Just to clarify, I didn't say that soundstage was solely dependent on boosted treble. I don't want to give that impression. Just that there could've been more soundstage and airiness of Skylar had increased the treble presence. But I wouldn't want that. NH sound great just the way they are for my tastes!

The truth is that unless the "Noisefloor" of the signal path (going back to the recorded source material) is low enough, most of what you think is Soundstage information isn't just that, as there is any amount of signal path noise that is added to what you're hearing at each step of the production stage of the music you're listening to.
 
All of the Equipment that you're using ( & at the recording location) that sits before whatever traducer (loudspeakers or headphones) has a much greater impact on how things sound, than is ever considered here & elsewhere. It's simply not as straightfoward as the headphones having a sound (they're just transducers transmitting the sound)
 
I very rarely have types of concerns about what I listen to, mostly due to the fact I've spent some effort paying attention to what is most likely occurring at earlier stages of the production of the music I'm listening to & taken some precautions. This normally translates into spending a bit more $$$ on the System that is bringing the final result of the Music Making Process to its output stage.
 
There used to be a saying that "You should spend 50% of your Audio Budget on the Speakers (Headphones here) if you were looking for good sound." I think that spending ratio is way out of line if you're serious about that result. I think another 30% of that 50% is better spent at an earlier stage. (& even that 30% might be a bit low).
 
Headphones can only output what they hear & if that isn't up to snuff the majority of the reason is because the information presented to them wasn't sufficient enough for a better result.
 
(Skylar & Bill Low aren't going to come out state the facts this way, but I'm not worried about treading on anyones toes as they have to be !) (& to compound matters even further , what kind of SS does exist in recordings isn't always planned; it just happen to be there through default; It's Music Genre specific & location dependent if it was)

 

[Amrit-R]

Is it me or is the NH just absolutely perfect with this song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYgZEMMWxo


I can just picture The Joker Machine Gunning down a city wearing the NH lol

:-0 Brrrr ... (I'm getting old and grumpy )

I wonder if Money for Nothing, Dire Straits is the perfect showcase. Brothers in Arms was the showcase for the compact disc early in the 80's.

But now imo we can hear it as it was meant to be, with the Nighthawk

I'm sure Mark Knopfler owns a Nighthawk. And if he doesn't, he should!

Someone PM him!

 

[betula]

Headphones can only output what they hear & if that isn't up to snuff the majority of the reason is because the information presented to them wasn't sufficient enough for a better result.  

 
I pretty much agree with this. Amp/DAC should be on the same level of quality as the headphones. Otherwise you miss out quite a lot, and you do not use the full capacity of the better equipment.