[davidmolliere]

  What IEMs would you guys suggest under £400 with somewhat similar sound signature to NH? Natural presentation with good (but not overwhelming) bass what I am after.

 
Above your budget but anyway, someone on the Campfire thread (forgot who) said Campfire Lyra II was very similar to the nighthawk in terms of sig.

 

[betula]

   
Above your budget but anyway, someone on the Campfire thread (forgot who) said Campfire Lyra II was very similar to the nighthawk in terms of sig.

Yes, that is a very nice one, but I can't justify more than £3-400 for a flight-only IEM, which I'd use 6-7 times a year.
Maybe JVC FX series, I am just worried about little isolation and too much bass. Maybe for this price I won't get much better than my IE80. However, there must be something more balanced and natural..
I don't want to derail the thread though, so it might be better to PM me, if someone has a winner suggestion.

 

[bugeyed]

I have been using IE80 with custom tips for my flights in the past 5 years. Never had a problem with pressure change. There are different ways to equalize pressure in your inner ear, it is not that difficult.  

 


Thanks. Good to know.

kev

 

[HipHopScribe]

  Yes, that is a very nice one, but I can't justify more than £3-400 for a flight-only IEM, which I'd use 6-7 times a year.
Maybe JVC FX series, I am just worried about little isolation and too much bass. Maybe for this price I won't get much better than my IE80. However, there must be something more balanced and natural..
I don't want to derail the thread though, so it might be better to PM me, if someone has a winner suggestion.

 
I had the FX850s before before the Cardas A8s, and they're great, but the bass can get a bit boomy and I found the highs could be harsh at times. There are some mods people have done to address those issues, I only used them stock

 

[betula]

   
I had the FX850s before before the Cardas A8s, and they're great, but the bass can get a bit boomy and I found the highs could be harsh at times. There are some mods people have done to address those issues, I only used them stock

Thanks, that Cardas A8 actually looks like quite a good candidate for the purpose. 

 

[elnero]

What IEMs would you guys suggest under £400 with somewhat similar sound signature to NH? Natural presentation with good (but not overwhelming) bass what I am after.

I'll second the Cardas A8 recommendation. I also really like the Oriveti Primacy. The Primacy has a little more treble energy and less bass which might be good or bad depending on what your looking for.

On the cheaper side I'll throw out the NuForce HEM2. Not quite the bass, not quite the resolution and not quite the stage but as a whole it's very coherent and balanced.

 

[nmatheis]

What IEMs would you guys suggest under £400 with somewhat similar sound signature to NH? Natural presentation with good (but not overwhelming) bass what I am after. I would not use it too often, only on planes, therefore I do not really want to spend more than this. I can not really listen to my IE80s anymore which I kept only for this purpose. I know, AQ IEM is coming at some point, but I can't wait for that. What do you guys think about the Bose QC35 as an alternative solution for planes? It has to be either IEM or noise cancelling hp, as regular closed backs (e.g. M100) just don't isolate enough on a noisy aircraft for my liking. I am not expecting NH quality sound, but I do need something better and more lifelike than IE80. Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions on this.

Unless you need them immediately, you could always wait for Skylar to announce the upcoming Audioquest IEM.

If you can't wait, then I think the choices mentioned above are good ones. I've heard all three (A8, HEM2, and Primacy). I'd also throw TFZ B2M into the mix.

 

[betula]

Thank you for the many suggestions guys! So difficult to choose one blindly (only after reading reviews). I would wait for the AQ IEM, but having seen how late the NH earpads became available after announcement I have no illusions about the AQ IEMs availability. It easily could be another 6 months or more. In a week I am having an intercontinental flight, so it is quite urgent, but I can always sell and buy. Some of your suggestions are hardly available in the UK, so this will narrow down the options. I am leaning towards the A8, (although I could buy FX850 for half the price). Thanks again. 

 

[arielelf]

I would not suggest the fx850 for a plane at all. I've had it and it is horrible for isolation. Also I agree that it is a bit too peaky.

 

[arielelf]

You might want to take a look at the Echobox Finder. I tried them out yesterday at canjam and was blown away with their price/performance. They had a show special for $100.00 but I'm not sure if it is available still or not.
They had nice bass and relaxed treble. Very pleasurable sounding. I should have jumped on the deal but I have decided to save my pennies for the CA Andromeda which was absolutely insanely amazing. One of the best sounding headphone of everything I tried yesterday. By far the best sounding iem.

 

[starman93]

  just paste surgical tape inside the cups only;This will definitely reduce the midbass and treble peak  and also cup reverbation.No need to remove anything as i said earlier.
For me it works very best to hide nighthawk shortcomings;by the way my impression are  with stock pads .Now i am using Nighthawk without EQ.

Hi,i'm not sure i see what you mean(if you ever mean something anyway)do you MEAN around the grille of the driver(see pic 1)?If so it already has thin felt glued around it,so i don't see the benefit of surgery tape.If you mean inside the cup behind the driver it has foam all over(pic 2),i don't see where you would stick your tape,and moreover the effect(if any)of it.i think your tape has more to with the famous placebo effect or auto-suggestion.
PS i'm one of those unsatisfied customers  who've been fooled by the buzz you can read about the Nighthawks(especially on these pages),the famous burn in issue supposed to reveal the true magical nature of those headphones and all the s**t blah blah around it,but please if you have any REAL suggestion as how to smooth out the highs(contrarily to what 99,5% of what the hi-fi press says the problem of those cans are the little too obstrusive highs for me) i'll buy them,i would personnally suggest placing a thin felt on the middle of the grille where the highs are emitted,
qui m'aime me suive as we say here(France)..
2nd PS i have no permission to insert images(too bad,they were more speaking than any word),but trust me the only place you can place tape is on the grille

 

[nwavesailor]

   
PS i'm one of those unsatisfied customers  who've been fooled by the buzz you can read about the Nighthawks(especially on these pages)
 
 

The NH's may simply not be the headphone for you.
 
There's plenty of hp in the sea to choose from if the NH isn't the right one for your ears!

 

[lugnut]

  The NH's may simply not be the headphone for you.
 
There's plenty of hp in the sea to choose from if it isn't the NH for your ears!

I agree !  So many phones out there, no need to spend time, money and energy on a headphone you don't like.

 

[kman1211]

  Hi,i'm not sure i see what you mean(if you ever mean something anyway)do you MEAN around the grille of the driver(see pic 1)?If so it already has thin felt glued around it,so i don't see the benefit of surgery tape.If you mean inside the cup behind the driver it has foam all over(pic 2),i don't see where you would stick your tape,and moreover the effect(if any)of it.i think your tape has more to with the famous placebo effect or auto-suggestion.
PS i'm one of those unsatisfied customers  who've been fooled by the buzz you can read about the Nighthawks(especially on these pages),the famous burn in issue supposed to reveal the true magical nature of those headphones and all the s**t blah blah around it,but please if you have any REAL suggestion as how to smooth out the highs(contrarily to what 99,5% of what the hi-fi press says the problem of those cans are the little too obstrusive highs for me) i'll buy them,i would personnally suggest placing a thin felt on the middle of the grille where the highs are emitted,
qui m'aime me suive as we say here(France)..
2nd PS i have no permission to insert images(too bad,they were more speaking than any word),but trust me the only place you can place tape is on the grille

I personally have problems with the Nighthawks highs myself, some reason I find them piercing, especially the longer I listen to them, my ears can't relax with them. The headphones aren't for you. They turned out not to be for me either and I owned my Hawks for well over a year. I found my ears much prefer and are more comfortable with the Beyerdynamic Amiron, Beyerdynamic DT 1990, and Beyerdynamic DT 480 despite Beyers notorious reputation for treble, the Hawks simply sound harsh and fatiguing to my ears compared to these headphones. The Focal Elear also agreed with my ears.
 
Honestly just find what your ears are most comfortable with whatever it may be and stick with those.

 

[kartik7405]

  Hi,i'm not sure i see what you mean(if you ever mean something anyway)do you MEAN around the grille of the driver(see pic 1)?If so it already has thin felt glued around it,so i don't see the benefit of surgery tape.If you mean inside the cup behind the driver it has foam all over(pic 2),i don't see where you would stick your tape,and moreover the effect(if any)of it.i think your tape has more to with the famous placebo effect or auto-suggestion.
PS i'm one of those unsatisfied customers  who've been fooled by the buzz you can read about the Nighthawks(especially on these pages),the famous burn in issue supposed to reveal the true magical nature of those headphones and all the s**t blah blah around it,but please if you have any REAL suggestion as how to smooth out the highs(contrarily to what 99,5% of what the hi-fi press says the problem of those cans are the little too obstrusive highs for me) i'll buy them,i would personnally suggest placing a thin felt on the middle of the grille where the highs are emitted,
qui m'aime me suive as we say here(France)..
2nd PS i have no permission to insert images(too bad,they were more speaking than any word),but trust me the only place you can place tape is on the grille

 
Just paste on the earcup and put the foam as it is .Do not put any tape on the grill.
Have you noticed most of headphone have one hole in diffusing paper place on back of driver to help driver air flow.Just do a small hole on paper like fig-2.
 
Though it is claimed that nighthawk has no reflection from earcup;but measurment proved that it have echo/reflection from the cups;surgical tape is all in one solution but you can use acoustic foam alsol to prevent reflection only.
 
Regarding Perfect headphone;most headphone have somehow any design flaws .we can do slightly mod to improve its performance.Simply buying and getting a new one is not at all feasible for all.Nighthawk is great headphone after all with some flaws;just need some time and 1$ investment to make it from good to great.