[SearchOfSub]

HD800 has more clarity and bigger soundstage than the NH for sure. But it also lacks the most important thing to me, which is musicality. Compared to NH, the HD800 has no rythem and flow. It's detailed yes, and would be good for movies and fps games which dosent really need "soul" to its sound like music's do. I think the WA6 covered some of that shortening of the HD800 signature. From where I demoed, I demoed the two headphones from exact same source and setup doing a/b because shop had both headphones and this was what I found with my ears. First thing that popped in mind

Audeze open back el8 - thin and distorts.
Hd650 - lacks refinement and details in bass
hd800 - no rythem and soul.
Audeze lcd2 - not as airy
Grado 1000i - not as refined and soundstage width lacks

These were compare to NH.

 

[SearchOfSub]

Since everyone discusses HP in a subjective manner I've been eagerly awaiting my own audition of the Nighthawks. I finally found time to visit my local HP shop. 

I do not want to appear a negative reviewer but with my findings I found the blooming bass to interfere with jazz vocals. Just listening to Norah Jones "Feelin' the same way" the clarity of her voice just sounded veiled and lack of clarity. I continued to listen to other genres and I still did not hear the clarity or sweet mids I thought I would hear with these headphones.

Please note I was listening to .flac files driving the NH with a Woo Audio WA6.  Just before the NH headphone audition I was testing the HD800/WA6 combo and Hifiman 400S/WA6 combo.  The mids were much more meaty with clarity using the 400S in comparison. I was taken back how drastic the SQ was going from the 400S and NH.

Immediately after I auditioned the NH I plugged in the [COLOR=424242] Denon AH-MM400 to the WA6. The Denon seamed dark and the bass would satisfy most "bass heads" but what the excellent bass response did not over power the vocals. This is where I wonder if the NH is a poor match to the WA6. The NH made the vocals extremely muddy. The Denon portable headphones was a different league to the NH while it's price point is less. I did not think a portable could sound that good. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=424242]Is there something I'm missing??? I really thought the NH would meet my expectations. [/COLOR] 

I didn't try 400S but I do have the HE500 for what it's worth and he500 is good headphone, I actually think both are kind of on the same level in different ways but NH little better. NH sounds smoother and more extended in treble but he500 having more details and clarity.

I still prefer NH because of its musicality as a whole and smoother signature. NH gives me more euphonic listening sessions. If you weigh in comfort, efficiency of the headphone and build quality and design, overall I take NH.

Edit: Also I never tried NH with tube amp, from other owners they sound NH sound better with solid state.

 

[kman1211]

I didn't try 400S but I do have the HE500 for what it's worth and he500 is good headphone, I actually think both are kind of on the same level in different ways but NH little better. NH sounds smoother and more extended in treble but he500 having more details and clarity.

I still prefer NH because of its musicality as a whole and smoother signature. NH gives me more euphonic listening sessions. If you weigh in comfort, efficiency of the headphone and build quality and design, overall I take NH.

Edit: Also I never tried NH with tube amp, from other owners they sound NH sound better with solid state.

The Nighthawks are very picky with tube amps and tubes in my experience. Though I do generally prefer them on a tube amp with good synergy to solid state. It's safer to get an SS amp that has low output impedance and low amounts of distortion with the Nighthawks.

 

[AlanU]

I didn't try 400S but I do have the HE500 for what it's worth and he500 is good headphone, I actually think both are kind of on the same level in different ways but NH little better. NH sounds smoother and more extended in treble but he500 having more details and clarity.

I still prefer NH because of its musicality as a whole and smoother signature. NH gives me more euphonic listening sessions. If you weigh in comfort, efficiency of the headphone and build quality and design, overall I take NH.

Edit: Also I never tried NH with tube amp, from other owners they sound NH sound better with solid state.

I'll need to head over to my local shop "Headphonebar" to pickup something I've ordered. 
 
I think I'll test the NH once again but this time with a solid state setup. 
 
I'm can't speak technically but my ears had the impression that there's a drop in high frequencies somewhere along the lines. This is where I felt there was a veil in jazz vocals. Diana Krall's raspy deeper voice sounded like her voice recessed and the music became more forward. Her voice appeared to get muddy and less defined. I'm not an ESS Sabre fan so my definition of detail is more along the lines of "enough details" to get emotionally engaged.  The NH with the WA6 really turned the bass into an overpowering presence.
 
I tested so many HP that my "memory" cannot recall every single pro/cons of every headphone. However using the WA6 with virtually most of the headphones I tested it provided smoother sound expected from a tube component.
 
The NH mids were good but I still can't pinpoint something I felt lacking. I really thought a tube amp would have sweetened up the mids.

 

[Krutsch]

   
Since everyone discusses HP in a subjective manner I've been eagerly awaiting my own audition of the Nighthawks. I finally found time to visit my local HP shop. 
 
...
 
Is there something I'm missing??? I really thought the NH would meet my expectations.  

 
If you read my (probably too long) previous post, I had a similar experience and I needed give these 'phones time for my ears/brain to acclimate.  YMMV.

 

[AlanU]

HD800 has more clarity and bigger soundstage than the NH for sure. But it also lacks the most important thing to me, which is musicality. Compared to NH, the HD800 has no rythem and flow. It's detailed yes, and would be good for movies and fps games which dosent really need "soul" to its sound like music's do. I think the WA6 covered some of that shortening of the HD800 signature. From where I demoed, I demoed the two headphones from exact same source and setup doing a/b because shop had both headphones and this was what I found with my ears. First thing that popped in mind

Audeze open back el8 - thin and distorts.
Hd650 - lacks refinement and details in bass
hd800 - no rythem and soul.
Audeze lcd2 - not as airy
Grado 1000i - not as refined and soundstage width lacks

These were compare to NH.

Yes the HD800 really is a speedy transducer extremely detailed and transparent. This is where the components driving the HD800 can tweak the sound signature. 
 
I wanted to test the WA6 with an HD800. The amp changed the "fast" headphone to mellow out the sound characteristics.  I'm torn because I'm currently driving my HD650 and HD800 with a Burson Virtuoso (non sabre dac chipset). I'm currently softening the sound with a Grant Fidelity B-283 mk2 Tube processor/buffer. I'm thinking of changing things around on my headphone rig. 
 
This is where changing the speakers/HP will be a dramatic change in sound. When the NH first hit the market I was eager to audition....it's taken me this long to finally test one out LOL!!
 
I was finding the Hifiman 400S seemed to be a lateral move to the HD650. I was hoping the NH would make a lasting impression. I cannot believe the  Denon AH-MM400 provided an extremely engaging audition with dark full bodied sound to jazz vocals. I prefer the  Denon AH-MM400 alot more than my HD650. I convinced myself to "not" walk out with a denon headphone.  I thought I could simply buy the NH and have a different flavor of sound. I'm now not sure if I have good synergy with my burson and NH.   
 
This headphone world  has such a dramatic difference in SQ. 

 

[AlanU]

   
If you read my (probably too long) previous post, I had a similar experience and I needed give these 'phones time for my ears/brain to acclimate.  YMMV.

 
Now my interest has peaked once again. I guess the Woo Audio just doesn't play well in that match.
 
The Woo Audio WA6-SE was a consideration to sweeten the sound of my HD650 and HD800.  I'll have to say the regular WA6 made the NH so incredibly bad in the mids.
 
Too many options!!!

 

[Krutsch]

   
Now my interest has peaked once again. I guess the Woo Audio just doesn't play well in that match.
 
The Woo Audio WA6-SE was a consideration to sweeten the sound of my HD650 and HD800.  I'll have to say the regular WA6 made the NH so incredibly bad in the mids.
 
Too many options!!!

 
Well, I have a WA3 which is an OTL that really only works with high impedance 'phones. With the HD-650, it's the best match I've personally heard.
 
The WA6 is output transformer coupled and works well with low impedance cans - I've personally listened to one with 32-ohm Grado 'phones and it sounds fantastic, but I can't speak to the synergy with the NightHawks.
 
I am really loving these headphones and I am going to add a low output impedance solid-state amp to my collection, just for these cans. Thinking about a Burson or a Lehmann (I am setting up an audition for the latter).

 

[Luckbad]

Nighthawk with a balanced cable coming from am Audio-GD Master 11 = Awesome!

I didn't think the Nighthawk scaled much with gear until hearing this combo. It sounds great!

Smooth, detailed, and engaging.

 

[kman1211]

   
Well, I have a WA3 which is an OTL that really only works with high impedance 'phones. With the HD-650, it's the best match I've personally heard.
 
The WA6 is output transformer coupled and works well with low impedance cans - I've personally listened to one with 32-ohm Grado 'phones and it sounds fantastic, but I can't speak to the synergy with the NightHawks.
 
I am really loving these headphones and I am going to add a low output impedance solid-state amp to my collection, just for these cans. Thinking about a Burson or a Lehmann (I am setting up an audition for the latter).

It could also be bad synergy with the DAC or source used. I found the Nighthawks extremely sensitive to DACs, especially when it comes to it's vocals. 

 

[Klonatans]

I just got a Nighthawk and will probably sell it soon. I don't know why but I had different impressions about Nighthawk at a Hi-Fi show in Old Windsor.

 

[SearchOfSub]

Most likely the source? I play it with aq dragonfly 1.2 and it sounds very good to me.

 

[Hachiko270296]

I have both hd650 with silver drivers (latest revised version)and NH in my hands right now and imo NH is alot more details in bass and more refined overall. HD650 has a little more treble emphasis but it also lacks details and extension to NH. I rate HD650 level 1 compared to NH level 2. NH sounds alot more hifi.

NH has this thing where nothing gets annoying and everything just flows together well. I just end up enjoying the music as a whole piece, not paying attention to one "part" of emphasis the headphone makers tend to concentrate on these days to make it stand out. NH does everything well. Usually when I feel this way about a audio gear, whether it'd be amps, dac, speakers etc, it's usually a "stop" upgrade time and just time to enjoy simply because its not lacking in any department, why would you want to upgrade? It does everything well but with the added refinement that takes it higher than mid level and to hifi.
so far I got this kind of feeling from Chord Hugo as a DAC, Evolution Acoustics MicroOnes as speakers and still searching for speaker amp although Goldmund Job225 came the closest for price to performance ratio.

The HD650 doesn't have a treble emphases  at all. Are you sure nothing is wrong with you HD650? The treble tilts dark where the NH continues on in comparison(See every graph and impression ever). The NH is dark because it's bass is so elevated but technically speaking it isn't really that dark.The NH also has a rough upper end, it's tizzy, a bit rough sounding but most will not hear it since they will only hear the bass which mask a lot of the upper ranges giving the impression it's smoother. Graphs also back this.
 
The HD650 has literally no peaks or dips making it a smoother headphone. It's mid range is linear so you get more full sounding mids, the NH has a massive mid bass hump so it will appear thicker in the lower mids but the HD650 is more complete, more heavy bodied with female vocals where the NH is more distant.
 
If you EQ down the bass you will really see the flaws in the NH's FR but also it's merits such as good air, good imaging. It's made on bass which is why it's so polarising. I've come to really like it but I also see it's flaws the more I listen. 
 
When you listen to vocals the HD650 just more real, alive, breath taking but at the same time the NH has this really fun bass! The important thing with the HD650 is to find a good match amp wise. The NH runs from anything.

 

[colgreen]

My NH came out of the box for the first timeTuesday. Initially plugged in my nexus 10 tablet, they produced ok volume, but were rather uninteresting. A little later, using my Oppo HA-1 on low gain, with the volume around 3, produced my first smile of the session. I only have about 5 hours on them, but having auditioned a well used demo pair through the same dac, I am not expecting anything but improvement as time goes by. Funny thing was though, going back to the tablet at bed time, how shrill and tizzy the Musical Fidelity something or others (mf-100?) sounded. It did pass through my mind that a percentage of my expected burn in improvement might be in the head, not just the drivers?

 

[inthere]

My NH came out of the box for the first timeTuesday. Initially plugged in my nexus 10 tablet, they produced ok volume, but were rather uninteresting. A little later, using my Oppo HA-1 on low gain, with the volume around 3, produced my first smile of the session. I only have about 5 hours on them, but having auditioned a well used demo pair through the same dac, I am not expecting anything but improvement as time goes by. Funny thing was though, going back to the tablet at bed time, how shrill and tizzy the Musical Fidelity something or others (mf-100?) sounded. It did pass through my mind that a percentage of my expected burn in improvement might be in the head, not just the drivers?

I'd say 100% of the burn in is in your head; there's an adjustment period when you go back-and-forth between headphones. Once you adjusted to the Nighthawks signature, then MF sounded different.