[lugnut]

I have been using the iBasso SR1 for several months now too and could not resist to a unbeatable offer to buy the NH a third time... quite happy cause I was missing them.

Do you use the perforated ear pads for the SR1 ?

 

[CaptainFantastic]

... here and there some are available on the used market, where I bought them this time. No marks smelling (ahhhh...) like new complete for a steal
Original pads are not available anymore in europe, but shure pads1540 should be worth a try (or brainwavz hm5 hybrids with little dampening on the highs for a more open signature sometimes if there is a need for variation)

Yes, the hybrid pads are out of stock forever now. Are you saying that the shure or brainwavz pads would actually attach to the Hawks or Owls? Do they have the same plastic 4-pin system? Same shape?

 

[jaco61]

Do you use the perforated ear pads for the SR1 ?

yes, I mounted them and never changed again (thus I did like the standard pads too)

 

[jaco61]

Yes, the hybrid pads are out of stock forever now. Are you saying that the shure or brainwavz pads would actually attach to the Hawks or Owls? Do they have the same plastic 4-pin system? Same shape?

You have to punch 4 holes in other pads to fit (you should mark the spots before) and use the stock pads plastic mounting ring which is flexible enough. The shape of these pads is ok and they fit well.

 

[billbishere]

Amazon still have new NH for 250. If and when the night owls get down to 250 I may get a pair of those as well. It sucks they took so much break-in and some folks never heard what they really sound like. They should have done a pre break-in or something. I have listened to A LOT of different cans and always come back to NH.

 

[Quasimodosbelfry]

Are the NO so significantly different but offer the same house sound that I should pick them up to?

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

The break in is pure rubbish. It's more of a mental break in if anything. Listen to any headphone for a number of months and you'll adjust to the sound. If the difference was that drastic after the "break in" they would've done it before hand. I had an OG Nighthawk and then some new carbons, they sounded exactly the same with the same pads on.

I've had so many headphones and multiple pairs of the same headphones and they've always been the same endless theres production variation. Things like boomy bass can be easily adjusted to.

My LCD-2C is the perfect example, I'd listen to them only for weeks, they would "Mellow out" then I'd switch to the HD650 then back to my 2C then all of a sudden my 2C sound less detailed, more rough and grainy and recessed mids so back to square one.

 

[billbishere]

That's fine and all but the sound on these changed to me.... It wasn't mental because I switch between many different headphones throughout the day depending on what I am doing. I also compared them to my 58x randomly over the last 6 months. Not looking to argue... You believe what you will and I will do the same. You had your experience and I had mine.

 

[lugnut]

I hear people say the Nighthawk is an easy listen but I find once you adjust to the sound the uneven mids and treble peaks become graiting.

Do you ever get tired of coming to this thread and just being so negative about everything ?

 

[Devodonaldson]

Are the NO so significantly different but offer the same house sound that I should pick them up to?

IMO the Nightowl sound more like the general masses would have wanted out of the original nighthawk. Mids are more forward. Sound much more like your typical headphone. Having more forward mids makes vocals and instruments, etc more present at lower volumes, but the owl just isn't quite as special as the hawk IMO. I have both and love both. My significant other likes me sleeping in the Owl more, cuz she doesn't have to hear it as much

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Do you ever get tired of coming to this thread and just being so negative about everything ?

Negative? In-fact I've given both positive and negative thoughts. If you want to use facts to counter what I've said to create a discussion to give potential buyers some knowledge to read feel free to reply.

 

[billbishere]

IMO the Nightowl sound more like the general masses would have wanted out of the original nighthawk. Mids are more forward. Sound much more like your typical headphone. Having more forward mids makes vocals and instruments, etc more present at lower volumes, but the owl just isn't quite as special as the hawk IMO. I have both and love both. My significant other likes me sleeping in the Owl more, cuz she doesn't have to hear it as much

Maybe I will just get another pair of NH because I don't want a different sound. I am so bored with that standard audiophile sound most go for in expensive headphones . always blows my mind they all want the headphones to match that one graph everyone always references. Harmen whatever target

 

[Sonic Defender]

Maybe I will just get another pair of NH because I don't want a different sound. I am so bored with that standard audiophile sound most go for in expensive headphones . always blows my mind they all want the headphones to match that one graph everyone always references. Harmen whatever target

I get where you're coming from, or so I think, likely you are sick of people coming in and dumping on the NightHawk, or "driveby dissing" as I call it. Sometimes I am even guilty of it and I apologize as that must make people who like the headphone feel bad. Try to remember these are not personal attacks, we are not our headphone preferences. What we like is simply what we like now, and that could change. I know with my headphone journey I have come to realize that I do like a warmer signature that does tend to align with the Harman Curve you are referring to, but I'll come back to that.

First off, you are over-simplifying quite a bit, but your frustrated I believe so that is normal when people feel annoyed they tend to blunt their messages so no worries. There is plenty of variety out there among the preferences with the "expensive headphones" (at release the NightHawk wasn't cheap although affordable for many) and there are plenty of dissenting opinions. Go into the Utopia thread and you will find people who have negative, or less positive things to say, same with pretty much any expensive headphone. There isn't some zombie like cult of conformation out there.

And to be fair, have you had enough significant, at home listening with some of these expensive headphones that you are suggesting you are bored with? If not, allow me to suggest that you might really like some of them, I would be shocked if you didn't like some of their signatures. Our preferences and understanding of what we respond to is not static, it is dynamic to an extent so experimentation and an open mind is good. Again, I realize from your comment I couldn't know if you had an open mind so I am most certainly not suggesting otherwise.

As for that Harman Curve, we should be so very appreciative that there is some actual scientific inquiry happening at a rather sophisticated level. The Harman Curve is where the consensus about what sound signature most find pleasant, it isn't meant to be completely prescriptive, nor does it suggest that everybody will prefer the signature as much. However, on average, people who are exposed to the curve tend to identify it as pleasing so that is a good thing. There are many flavours of sound signatures that are crafted from the curve, but they all deviate and differentiate themselves in ways. There is a continuum of preferences, and a great deal of variety of signatures that people respond to, the Harman Curve is simply a meta target, not a one size fits all prescription of what sounds good.

Certainly some of the traits the NH exhibits would fall upon parts of the curve so please understand the curve is not a monolithic, prescriptive formulae, it is simply a suggestion of a particular sonic balance that tends to be perceived as pleasing and listenable for the majority of the samples who have been exposed to it during experimentation. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[billbishere]

Yah, defiantly over simplified frustration! ha I do also understand the importance of the Harman Curve and totally agree it's a nice point of reference. Nice response.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Yah, defiantly over simplified frustration! ha I do also understand the importance of the Harman Curve and totally agree it's a nice point of reference. Nice response.

I feel that frustration. I used to experience it believe me almost on a daily basis it seemed somebody had to come into the Z1R thread and tell people how terribly over-priced and ordinary sounding the Z1R was. So your response was very relatable for me and I am glad that you didn't feel I was attacking you, or trying to shame you. Cheers.