[Devodonaldson]

That might be worth a shot. But I wonder if that would ultimately help for me, as I actually find the treble to be fine for me. Detail is there without fatigue. It's the lower frequencies that muddy the picture. If the protein leather ear pads effectively boost the treble by fixing those lower frequencies that would probably do the trick. I still may try those pads though - thanks for the suggestion.

BTW, I've tried to do the same by equalizing but I've never been able to arrive at a satisfactory setting.

The microsuede pads reduce the lower frequencies a tad. Those pads would most likely be to your liking. I tend to use those for instrument based genres, and especially classical. Brings out the upper mid to high freq as the kids are tempered a bit

 

[Joong]

The microsuede pads reduce the lower frequencies a tad. Those pads would most likely be to your liking. I tend to use those for instrument based genres, and especially classical. Brings out the upper mid to high freq as the kids are tempered a bit

I agree.
The microsuede pads also reduce the characteristics of echoic chamber effect of NHs, which realizes a realistic sonic characteristics of a hall of an orchestra where we can hear some reflection of the sound.
All so-called-well balanced phones put the orchestra in open field, where we listening to only the orchestra, which makes me think unrealistic or artificial or too much engineered.
Whenever I listen to NHs, this some degree of reverbrant sound through NHs might really represent the real music staged on real hall of orchestra where there are walls and seats.

 

[Joong]

This might be related to the transient performance of the phone.
The chamber effect might be no difference from transient in certain case. This might be the reason why planar makers adopt the thinest possible membrane in their flagship.
On the otherhand dynamic manufacturer tend to increase the magnetic flux more than 1 tesla for better control of the motor.
NHs have 1.2T and Th900s 1.5T to overcome the increase the weight of the biocel cone that can generate longer transient.
I think that whether those transient-contributed-wall effect or its being real revealation of real reverbrant acoustic chamber which is captured by NHs is applicable, I feel it is no bad at all in general.

 

[Joong]

Consequently NHs are not that transparent, but they have details in different way or show different colors to the music especially to the complex orchestral music.
Therefore those who seek transparent / neutral / typical sound signature which has been regarded as prototypical phones where we might all been used to from long time before, must pay high cost to buy those so-called flagships; whereas those who seek a music in different perspective have enough reasons to enjoy these great NHs with small cost ownership.
The phones are so rich in the sonic and technical chatacteristics; one example is the linearity that allows very high volume level listening in such that at a sudden strong drum bit you might be very surprised due to high dynamic performance upto hurting your ears.
Another one is that at high volume you might recover transpatency back to NHs.
I do not know this much dynamism on other phones with so much details on them.

 

[Devodonaldson]

Consequently NHs are not that transparent, but they have details in different way or show different colors to the music especially to the complex orchestral music.
Therefore those who seek transparent / neutral / typical sound signature which has been regarded as prototypical phones where we might all been used to from long time before, must pay high cost to buy those so-called flagships; whereas those who seek a music in different perspective have enough reasons to enjoy these great NHs with small cost ownership.
The phones are so rich in the sonic and technical chatacteristics; one example is the linearity that allows very high volume level listening in such that at a sudden strong drum bit you might be very surprised due to high dynamic performance upto hurting your ears.
Another one is that at high volume you might recover transpatency back to NHs.
I do not know this much dynamism on other phones with so much details on them.

You sound like someone who loves Rhese as much as I do!

 

[betula]

NightHawks remain the quirkiest headphones in this hobby. They definitely do something special, but don't fit any standards.
Changing from any other headphones to the NightHawk from similar or higher category can easily be a disappointment. Coming from lower categories the experience is more likely to be positive.
The NightHawk really shows what it can do if you listen to them exclusively and ignore all other headphones for quite a while.
The biggest advantage of NigtHawk is the exceptional comfort and fatigue free sound. The sound is also organic and rich. Soundstage is a bit small, or let's call it 'intimate'.
Once you try higher rated and more popular (and more expensive) headphones, the NightHawk's shortcomings become more obvious. The sound is not very well balanced. All dynamic headphones have some level of a mid-bass hump, but on the NHs this hump is pretty enormous. Fun for certain genres, but not very natural. Treble also lacks some shimmer and spaciousness. I know AQ's marketing about the NHs treble, and to a certain degree it is true but not completely true. It is not that the NH's treble is the only 'right' treble and everything else is wrong. More like it is one interesting approach of treble presentation, but far from perfect. Compared to something like the LCD2 or Focal Clear, NH's treble sounds like the instruments were toys instead of real ones. Expecially the percussion. On the two fore-mentioned headphones percussion sounds real, airy and the shimmering sound of the cymbals float around. On the NH in comparison drums and percussion almost sound like when my 5 year old nephew is hitting his plastic drum set.
NightHawk requires exclusivity. When you only listen to the NHs for a long period of time, they give you something really special. Technically not necessarily right from an audio perspective, far from neutral, but a special flavour. For this unique flavour I can see why people keep them. But I don't think they will become a classic like the Sennheiser HD6X0 models or the LCD2 for example.
I loved my NightHawks for a long time, but I was listening to them almost exclusively. I liked the warm, fatigue-free sound and comfort. My LCD2C has a much more balanced and accurate sound. Still warmish and smooth, but much clearer and much more balanced. Linear bass response down to 20Hz. I actually rebought the NH for sentimental reasons, but sold again since the LCD2C has much superior sound quality overall. I could have kept the NH for fun but I didn't.
Finally let me leave here something encouraging:

As most of us know AQ pretty much said these headphones are discontinued.
Let me just copy here my comment on an AQ post on another platform and their reply:
Me: - It is a shame you decided to discontinue them.
AQ: - It's much too soon to say with certainty, but the possibility remains that we'll release a variation of NightHawk/NightOwl at some point in the future. We shall see!

 

[Joong]

NightHawks remain the quirkiest headphones in this hobby. They definitely do something special, but don't fit any standards.
Changing from any other headphones to the NightHawk from similar or higher category can easily be a disappointment. Coming from lower categories the experience is more likely to be positive.
The NightHawk really shows what it can do if you listen to them exclusively and ignore all other headphones for quite a while.
The biggest advantage of NigtHawk is the exceptional comfort and fatigue free sound. The sound is also organic and rich. Soundstage is a bit small, or let's call it 'intimate'.
Once you try higher rated and more popular (and more expensive) headphones, the NightHawk's shortcomings become more obvious. The sound is not very well balanced. All dynamic headphones have some level of a mid-bass hump, but on the NHs this hump is pretty enormous. Fun for certain genres, but not very natural. Treble also lacks some shimmer and spaciousness. I know AQ's marketing about the NHs treble, and to a certain degree it is true but not completely true. It is not that the NH's treble is the only 'right' treble and everything else is wrong. More like it is one interesting approach of treble presentation, but far from perfect. Compared to something like the LCD2 or Focal Clear, NH's treble sounds like the instruments were toys instead of real ones. Expecially the percussion. On the two fore-mentioned headphones percussion sounds real, airy and the shimmering sound of the cymbals float around. On the NH in comparison drums and percussion almost sound like when my 5 year old nephew is hitting his plastic drum set.
NightHawk requires exclusivity. When you only listen to the NHs for a long period of time, they give you something really special. Technically not necessarily right from an audio perspective, far from neutral, but a special flavour. For this unique flavour I can see why people keep them. But I don't think they will become a classic like the Sennheiser HD6X0 models or the LCD2 for example.
I loved my NightHawks for a long time, but I was listening to them almost exclusively. I liked the warm, fatigue-free sound and comfort. My LCD2C has a much more balanced and accurate sound. Still warmish and smooth, but much clearer and much more balanced. Linear bass response down to 20Hz. I actually rebought the NH for sentimental reasons, but sold again since the LCD2C has much superior sound quality overall. I could have kept the NH for fun but I didn't.
Finally let me leave here something encouraging:

As most of us know AQ pretty much said these headphones are discontinued.
Let me just copy here my comment on an AQ post on another platform and their reply:
Me: - It is a shame you decided to discontinue them.
AQ: - It's much too soon to say with certainty, but the possibility remains that we'll release a variation of NightHawk/NightOwl at some point in the future. We shall see!

This nice summary represents general consensus in a compact way, and also NHs might influence you to choose LCD-2 Classic.
NHs would poison the mind of the possesors, and change the course of action.

 

[Krutsch]

The microsuede pads reduce the lower frequencies a tad. Those pads would most likely be to your liking. I tend to use those for instrument based genres, and especially classical. Brings out the upper mid to high freq as the kids are tempered a bit

+1 ... for classical music, the microsuede pads help the smoothness, detail and surprising lack of grain come through. Unfortunately, the soundstage isn't there, so these aren't go-to cans for classical.

For classic rock (i.e. old stuff, like Cream or Jimi Hendrix) which has subdued bass, relative to modern recordings, the hybrid pads are magic. For that genre, these are my go-to cans, as they bring new life to old recordings.

However, with a lot of the current music to which I listen, the NH woodies overwhelm with their bloated upper bass / lower mids. Piano notes, for example, can almost sound painful (example: Agnes Obel).

 

[sageamagoo]

Has anyone heard the Massdrop x Airist Audio R-2R DAC with the Nighthawk yet?

 

[TDL-speakers]

Chaps,

Just recently acquired Nighthawk headphones. Second hand.

I notice some slight creaking noise coming from the right side. The noise is coming from the rubber ring/suspension area. Should I be worried about this? Both suspensions feel fine though.

Nice sound, I quite like their tone.

 

[.Sup]

There should be no noise. These headphones are really well designed so if these fail aynwhere I would be sursprised.

 

[TDL-speakers]

The creaking noise is not severe. But yes, silent is best.

 

[TDL-speakers]

I see what is causing the creaking noise. It's the rubber jigsaw that slots into the cup (around the mesh cover) The left side rubber jigsaw is fine, grips and stays in place. The right one doesn't grip as well and comes out easily. So it's putting some pressure on the rubber ring. Hence the creaking noise when moving the cup around.

Keep these or move them on?

 

[groucho69]

I see what is causing the creaking noise. It's the rubber jigsaw that slots into the cup (around the mesh cover) The left side rubber jigsaw is fine, grips and stays in place. The right one doesn't grip as well and comes out easily. So it's putting some pressure on the rubber ring. Hence the creaking noise when moving the cup around.

Keep these or move them on?

There are a host of modders on this site who can advise you as to the best method to cure your phones. Ideas gents? Calling all modders!

 

[TDL-speakers]

To be frank with you I'm not interested in doing any mods. I'm just going to leave them as they are. They still operate well.

I get the funny feeling that these NightHawks left the factory like this.