[leomitch]

  Thx Jackson 9696. Yes, the Nighthawk remains my favourite based on feedback so far...

 
 
...everything Jackson9696 said plus one more very important feature...the designer of the NH is a presence here. He  2 pin cableis here to support his baby and its users. Which other company do you know which daily interacts and counsels NH owners and prospective buyers. Excellent service! I have dealt also with AudioQuest itself in discussing and ordering a balanced XLR 4 pin cable and they couldn't have been more helpful.
Put all of these positives together and you can be pretty sure of a satisfying relationship. I am enjoying my music more than ever in 65 years of listening in a meaningful way.
Best of luck mate!
 
Leo

 

[albaman]

Thx Leo.
 
Customer service? Bonus.

 

[JMCIII]

  Thx Leo.
 
Customer service? Bonus.

 
 
Good customer service is a bonus these days. The first thing to go in any company trying to fix the bottom line is customer service. I know, I'm in that business. So when you find "good" customer service customers are surprised.

 

[SearchOfSub]

[COLOR=FF0000]ATTENTION AUDIOQUEST-IONERS[/COLOR]
I'm curious. I have just scanned the 47 pages of this discussion thread and I haven't encountered such a passionately disparate set of opinions since I moved to Australia and experienced vegemite on toast for my first corporate breakfast. And I have survived watching Celtic vs Rangers live in Glasgow.

But I'm nervous. I want to ask a question but fear the consequences of my action; not the least of which is likely to be the extension of the thread to 48 pages...so I am prepared for continued critical cabaret

 I am broadly kit happy. I am considering buying a second set of on/over ear headphones to complement my Sennheiser HD700s in a desktop system that comprises high res files on a Mac Mini sent via Amarra to a Yulong DA8 dac and A28 amp plugged with half decent cables. balanced but either balanced or unbalanced at headphone output.

I'm inexplicably satisfied. I like the HD700s for their energetic but musical output. I trade off some treble 'glitter' for loads of accurate detail and an otherwise balanced sound.

I'm certain. I do NOT want to replicate or exaggerate my HD700s experience so I have ruled out eg the Sennheiser HD800 BUTs - 'BUT's because whenever they are mentioned the commentary begins with "great headphones, BUT..." These phones have more BUT factor than that Kardashian woman.

I'm considering... So I have been looking at Phillips' Fidelio X2 and Audioquest's Nighthawks and maybe even the Sony MDR Z7s and my entirely unqualified / untested ranking currently looks like 1) NH 2) X2 3) Z7. ( I live in a remote area so pre-testing is out.) I am NOT considering Hifiman, Beyer or Ultrasone as my previous experience with these brands' products did not constitute long term relationship potential

I'm hungry for... Informed, insightful or experienced based feedback on sound qualities - in isolation and in combination with the above-mentioned system -  would be most welcome. Humour, as always, would be a bonus.

I'm ALBAMAN. Be gentle.
;<)

I have the hd650, he500, audio Pandora hope iv (with VI stock pads). I have heard the hd800, lcd 2, grado 1000i and Nighthawks sounds best balanced and more musical to me than all above. if you read from beggining of thread, I was on same boat and was undecided and kept asking owners to almost a "trolling" point lol. Then finally found a local demo shop, listened and was the best headphone of all. And it was direct a/b comparisons back and forth with hd800, grado, lcd, and another headphone. (forget what it was)

It's very musical and does something to sound that keeps it very engaging. Very comfortanle, build quality is better than all headphones imo. Sound does leak.

One of the members sold the NH, and ended up buying it back. That should say it all. If product is not good, it's long gone for all people.

You need to get used to sound. It seems to me like compared to pandora hope vi playing the same track, the vocals come from a higher frequency. It's different, and I like it better.

 

[piaudio]

I have the hd650, he500, audio Pandora hope iv (with VI stock pads). I have heard the hd800, lcd 2, grado 1000i and Nighthawks sounds best balanced and more musical to me than all above. if you read from beggining of thread, I was on same boat and was undecided and kept asking owners to almost a "trolling" point lol. Then finally found a local demo shop, listened and was the best headphone of all. And it was direct a/b comparisons back and forth with hd800, grado, lcd, and another headphone. (forget what it was)

It's very musical and does something to sound that keeps it very engaging. Very comfortanle, build quality is better than all headphones imo. Sound does leak.

One of the members sold the NH, and ended up buying it back. That should say it all. If product is not good, it's long gone for all people.

You need to get used to sound. It seems to me like compared to pandora hope vi playing the same track, the vocals come from a higher frequency. It's different, and I like it better.

 
One of the members sold the NH and ended up buying it back
 
Who and where may I ask?

 

[SearchOfSub]

One of the members sold the NH and ended up buying it back

Who and where may I ask?

It's Hachiko! Although I have no idea where he bought it again though.

 

[piaudio]

On other side, HD800S was announced a while ago with deeper bass enhancement, fans are worried if price will shoot up further than H800. It makes more sense to get NightHawk, now burn-in my NightHawk.

 

[inthere]

Well, I modded my Nighthawk. Two sorbothane mods. I'm perfectly happy with my Nighthawks, but I was...........curious.

I had two sets of sorbo discs, one large and one small. I tried the large 1st...............




Taking everything apart was extremely easy, just take off the pads and remove 4 screws. Once open, I saw the grill and turns out the larger sorbo disc covered it completely. So immediately I'm thinking I'm about to turn my Nighthawk into the ultimate closed headphone right? Well.............. Not exactly. Leakage was improved, but not to the point where I'd wear Nighthawks in a library.

I decided to compare the modded Nighthawks with my current go-to portables, the Audeze EL-8........



The clarity was improved, and I mean noticeably. Obviously more treble, clearer mids and low mids, less bass. Clarity was much better than the EL-8, HOWEVER, My EL-8 had a better soundstage and felt more musical and magical.............NOTHING is more musical and magical than a Nighthawk.

Now, my EL-8 is also modded; I put speaker padding under the EarPads to improve the soundstage and it worked great, but the Nighthawks's soundstage was still better before the mod, so even with the increased clarity I considered the experiment a failure because the leakage problem was still there and I lost the soundstage.

Nighthawks are already perfectly tuned, so the best I think you can hope for is not screwing them up too badly.

With that in mind, I STILL decided to try a sorbo mod with smaller discs since I was in a self-destructive zone.



Now the discs weren't self adhesive so I had to hope they were thick enough that the drivers would hold them into place. I think they held because when I opened the Nighthawks again I found they stuck to the back of the driver, even though they weren't exactly dead center like I hoped:



Clarity was slightly increased, but not as much as with the bigger discs. The soundstage was better but still not "magical", so I took them out.

My opinion on modding the Nighthawk? If you love them like I do, don't do it!

 

[albaman]

Thx SearchofSub for your helpful reply.
 
It does seem to me that a lot of the concern / criticism of the Nighthawks is centred on them sounding different with different being equated to lesser. i WANT my next headphones to sound different. Why would you buy a second set that sound like the ones you already own?
 
I used to own the Senn HD600s and liked them a lot but, after extended A-B testing, I switched to the HD700s and was rewarded with a different but in my opinion equally musical take on my music. Similarly, I tried some Ultrasones later vs the 700s and, whilst recognising a different sound signature, decided they were not for me. I like the HD700 sound a lot and I'm keeping my pair. If my new phones don't give me a different and musical take on my music I will resell them and move on.
 
Incidentally, I applied the same approach to my in-ear purchases and, after a string of buy and try tests (Westone, Shure, RHA and Brainwaves), I settled on a pair of FAD Heaven IVs that I enjoy to this day.
 
The headfi market seems very 'me-too' to me. In product and mindset. I'm not a kit expert but have a good ear. Given the choice, good/different will always outscore good/same with me. So, even though I haven't heard them yet. I feel favourably pre-disposed to champion products like the Nighthawks. (And if I'm wrong, I learn something and move on.)
 
If Audioquest's NHs don't work for me, I suspect the next test will be something like the Audeze EL-8. These appear to be good/different too!
 
;<)
albaman

 

[inthere]

  If Audioquest's NHs don't work for me, I suspect the next test will be something like the Audeze EL-8. These appear to be good/different too!
 
;<)
albaman

 
 I have Audeze EL-8 closed headphones and they are my favorite portables. You may think they're a bit heavy. The weight doesn't bother me though. If you do decide to get them just put something under the ear pads and you'll get a great soundstage: 

 
 The soundstage STILL won't be as good as the Nighthawk's, but it will be extremely sweet for a closed portable headphone. Nobody will see the tissue paper/cottonballs or whatever you decide to put under the ear pads as long as you're wearing them, lol.

 

[SearchOfSub]

Thx SearchofSub for your helpful reply.

It does seem to me that a lot of the concern / criticism of the Nighthawks is centred on them sounding different with different being equated to lesser. i WANT my next headphones to sound different. Why would you buy a second set that sound like the ones you already own?

I used to own the Senn HD600s and liked them a lot but, after extended A-B testing, I switched to the HD700s and was rewarded with a different but in my opinion equally musical take on my music. Similarly, I tried some Ultrasones later vs the 700s and, whilst recognising a different sound signature, decided they were not for me. I like the HD700 sound a lot and I'm keeping my pair. If my new phones don't give me a different and musical take on my music I will resell them and move on.

Incidentally, I applied the same approach to my in-ear purchases and, after a string of buy and try tests (Westone, Shure, RHA and Brainwaves), I settled on a pair of FAD Heaven IVs that I enjoy to this day.

The headfi market seems very 'me-too' to me. In product and mindset. I'm not a kit expert but have a good ear. Given the choice, good/different will always outscore good/same with me. So, even though I haven't heard them yet. I feel favourably pre-disposed to champion products like the Nighthawks. (And if I'm wrong, I learn something and move on.)

If Audioquest's NHs don't work for me, I suspect the next test will be something like the Audeze EL-8. These appear to be good/different too!

;<)
albaman

Now that you mention the EL-8, the "other headphone" I demoed at the shop was the EL-8 open back. After hearing the NH, I was dissappointed with the EL-8 Open. It sounded thin and lacking in dynamics in comparison. I don't know about the closed back version, but the open back version was not good to my ears. I rather preffered the lcd2 and I preffered NH over lcd2 so it was like 2 levels down from NH to me.
I really have no idea why those who do not like NH do not like it. Maybe because they don't like Audioquest brand that makes $2,000.00 hdmi cables? who knows. But I know Nighthawks were used to voice a new Chord DAC called Mojo, and it seems like people love it and is considering it a game changer. Even the ones that didn't quite like the NH are raving about the Mojo, and they are voiced very closely to eachother since it was used for tuning while in development so that leaves me wondering how credible some of these guys who leave negative feedback are.

 

[SearchOfSub]

Well, I modded my Nighthawk. Two sorbothane mods. I'm perfectly happy with my Nighthawks, but I was...........curious.

I had two sets of sorbo discs, one large and one small. I tried the large 1st...............




Taking everything apart was extremely easy, just take off the pads and remove 4 screws. Once open, I saw the grill and turns out the larger sorbo disc covered it completely. So immediately I'm thinking I'm about to turn my Nighthawk into the ultimate closed headphone right? Well.............. Not exactly. Leakage was improved, but not to the point where I'd wear Nighthawks in a library.

I decided to compare the modded Nighthawks with my current go-to portables, the Audeze EL-8........



The clarity was improved, and I mean noticeably. Obviously more treble, clearer mids and low mids, less bass. Clarity was much better than the EL-8, HOWEVER, My EL-8 had a better soundstage and felt more musical and magical.............NOTHING is more musical and magical than a Nighthawk.

Now, my EL-8 is also modded; I put speaker padding under the EarPads to improve the soundstage and it worked great, but the Nighthawks's soundstage was still better before the mod, so even with the increased clarity I considered the experiment a failure because the leakage problem was still there and I lost the soundstage.

Nighthawks are already perfectly tuned, so the best I think you can hope for is not screwing them up too badly.

With that in mind, I STILL decided to try a sorbo mod with smaller discs since I was in a self-destructive zone.



Now the discs weren't self adhesive so I had to hope they were thick enough that the drivers would hold them into place. I think they held because when I opened the Nighthawks again I found they stuck to the back of the driver, even though they weren't exactly dead center like I hoped:



Clarity was slightly increased, but not as much as with the bigger discs. The soundstage was better but still not "magical", so I took them out.

My opinion on modding the Nighthawk? If you love them like I do, don't do it!

No more mods and no more headphones for me until NH 2 comes out

 

[albaman]

Thx again SearchofSub
A mountain of weekend research had me considering upping my budget for the EL-8s but I have decided to plump for the Nighthawks. Will spend the next week shopping around for the best deal I can find and then will report back once I have put them to work.
;<)

 

[inthere]

  Thx again SearchofSub
A mountain of weekend research had me considering upping my budget for the EL-8s but I have decided to plump for the Nighthawks. Will spend the next week shopping around for the best deal I can find and then will report back once I have put them to work.
;<)

Nighthawks sound way better than EL-8 imo, although EL-8 is not a bad headphone at all. 

 

[lerthedc]

I think this has already been established on this thread but in case any more feedback is necessary, I very much enjoy my Nighthawks. They are more comfortable than the philips fidelio x2s I had for a while and overall sound cleaner and bigger. The sound signature does take a bit to get used to but I think after listening a while you realize the point that Skylar Gray and Audioquest are making about contemporary headphone voicing.